Zeigler Student Achievement Award
The John M. & Marilyn Zeigler Student Achievement Award honors the contributions to student needs of Dr. John Zeigler, the first SMS Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and Mrs. Marilyn Zeigler. The Zeigler award formally recognizes students who excel in scholarship, leadership, research initiative, outstanding publications, and exceptional thesis or dissertation work.
This year’s recipient is Mr. Quang Huynh.
Quang Huynh is an exemplary embodiment of what it means to excel as a student at VIMS. Since arriving in 2013 to pursue his dissertation, Quang has focused on developing and applying techniques that can assess data-limited fisheries stocks, a major challenge in many fisheries. His dissertation and classroom work has already led to 2 first-author publications, with another in review.
The quality and application of Quang’s research has earned recognition from colleagues and fisheries researchers across the world. His work has been recognized with the Best Student Paper award at the Lowell-Wakefield Symposium on Data-Limited Fisheries, as well as a highly competitive 3-year NOAA/Sea Grant fellowship in population dynamics.
Indeed, Quang has already worked with other research institutes and attended a stock-assessment meeting where—although initially not allowed to “sit at the center table” owing to his student status—he stepped up to complete a time-sensitive mortality estimation, and ultimately earned his role at the table. Quang’s expertise is now often requested, leading to participation in 7 meetings hosted by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Quang sets a high standard for what student achievement can mean at VIMS, and his exemplary work in Fisheries makes him highly deserving of the Zeigler Award.