Wednesday, January 28, 2004

By Rebecca D’Amico, PR Intern

Wilmington, N.C. - A University of North Carolina at Wilmington marine biology graduate student, Chip Collier, received first place in the Student Poster Award Competition at the 18th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society Tidewater Chapter. Collier is the first UNCW graduate student to achieve this honor.

Collier’s presentation, “A molecular genetic marker for the taxonomic identification of kingfishes, Menticirrhus spp. (Perciformes: Sciaenidae),” described the research he is conducting with the marine biology department here at UNCW. Thomas Lankford, an assistant professor in the biological sciences department at UNCW, said “The award recognizes the high quality of Chip’s research and is a symbol of UNCW’s commitment to excellence in graduate education.”

The 18th annual meeting of the AFS was held Jan. 8-10 in Salisbury, Maryland and was attended by university researchers, state and federal biologists, and private industries representatives from North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New York.

Collier earned his undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University in 1998 and is now working towards his masters of science degree in marine biology at UNCW.



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