Awards and Honors
Friends of Long Marine Lab will honor photographer
Frans Lanting with Global Oceans Award
By Tim Stephens
The Friends of Long Marine Lab will present a Global Oceans
Award to renowned nature photographer and conservationist Frans
Lanting at the group's annual Gourmet Dinner benefit event on
Sunday, March 20. The award recognizes Lanting for his outstanding
contributions to public awareness of the natural environment.
Awards will also be presented to two promising marine sciences
students at UCSC. The Global Oceans Awards were established
in 2004 to recognize outstanding individuals who are making
a difference for the world's oceans.
Frans Lanting
Photo supplied by Frans Lanting
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UCSC Chancellor Denice D. Denton will be a special guest at
the Gourmet Dinner, which raises funds for the education programs
at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. The dinner, held this
year at the Bittersweet Bistro in Rio Del Mar, has long been
one of the most popular fundraising events for the Friends of
Long Marine Lab. The event will be hosted this year by the proprietors
of the Bittersweet Bistro, chef Thomas Vinolus and his wife
Elizabeth.
Lanting, a photographer-in-residence at National Geographic
magazine, has been hailed as one of the great nature photographers
of our time. He portrays wild creatures as ambassadors for the
preservation of complete ecosystems, and his many publications
have increased worldwide awareness of endangered ecological
treasures in the far corners of the Earth. Lanting serves on
the National Council of the World Wildlife Fund and is a UCSC
Foundation trustee.
Olivia Cheriton and Itchung Cheung, both graduate students
in ocean sciences, will also receive awards at the dinner. They
had the top-ranked proposals among the 19 students who received
research support from the Friends of Long Marine Lab Student
Research Awards this year. These awards provided more than $11,000
in total funding for undergraduate and graduate student research
projects in the marine sciences.
Cheriton is studying the dynamics of thin layers of ocean water
in Monterey Bay that are associated with the periodic upwelling
of cold, deep water and subsequent "relaxation" events.
These oceanographic conditions play a significant role in the
life cycles of various species of rockfish. Cheriton is working
with Margaret McManus, who was an assistant professor of ocean
sciences at UCSC and is now at the University of Hawaii.
Cheung, who works with professor of ocean sciences Mary Silver,
is studying harmful algal blooms. In particular, he is investigating
possible marine toxin contamination in dungeness and rock crabs
in Monterey Bay.
For information about the Global Oceans Gourmet Dinner and
Awards Gala, contact Lisa M. Rose at (831) 459-3694.
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