Georgia Sea Grant-funded researcher and Odum School of Ecology doctoral student Daniel Harris received the Sea Grant Award for Best Student Presentation at the joint meeting of The Coastal Society and Restore America’s Estuaries held in New Orleans in December. The award was presented by The Coastal Society and the Sea Grant Association.

Harris’s talk, “Drones for Living Shoreline Design: Using Remote Sensing to Study Oyster/Spartina Facilitation in an Era of Change,” covered his exploration of how interactions between oysters and spartina—both organisms that provide services beneficial to humans—might affect the environment. His research, which is funded by Georgia Sea Grant, will help inform management of natural resources in Georgia and neighboring states.

Restore America’s Estuaries, a nonprofit alliance of coastal conservation organizations from across the nation, is a leader in the science and practice of coastal habitat restoration and a national voice for the protection of coastal ecosystems. The Coastal Society is an organization of private sector, academic, and government professionals and students dedicated to actively addressing emerging coastal issues through dialogue, partnerships, communication and education. The Sea Grant Association is made up of academic institutions that participate in the National Sea Grant College Program.

Approximately 1,200 people attended the New Orleans meeting, which served as Restore America’s Estuaries’ eighth National Summit on Coastal and Estuarine Restoration and the twenty-fifth biennial meeting of The Coastal Society.

For more information about Harris’s research, visit robertdanielharris.com

This story was originally published on the Odom School of Ecology website https://t.uga.edu/2Tz