UH Hilo MOP students compete in annual UH System MOP symposium

Seven students of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Marine Option Program (MOP) recently presented their work in the statewide Annual MOP Student Symposium on Maui where two students received top honors for UH Hilo.

Bryant Grady won Best Research Presentation for his research project on “The Impacts of Habitat Complexity on Reef Fish Ecology.” This award has been won by UH Hilo MOP students for 26 of the past 31 years.

Alexa Runyan received the Pacon Award for the project using the best use of technology, with a Pacific focus, for her project “Creating Three-Dimensional Models of Coral Reefs at Papahanoumokuakea Marine National Monument Using Structure-from-Motion Software.” 

The following MOP students also presented outstanding projects in the competitive field:

• Aliona Megedyuk presented her internship “Temporal Variation in Recruitment & Condition of Cabezon (Scorpaenichthys marmoratus) Along the Oregon Coast”
• Jon Ehrenberg presented “Steps Towards Establishing a Coral Nursery: Baby Steps”
• Clara Smith presented results of her summer internship “Mapping Metal Contaminants with Mangrove Leaves in Jobos Bay, Puerto Rico”
• Mia Lamirand debuted her “Audio-Visual Promotional Videos of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s Marine Science Department and Marine Option Program”
• Michaela Setzer presented her internship with The Nature Conservancy studying “Water Quality and Spatial Dynamics at the Mauna Lani Coral Reefs & Fishponds”