Awards and Recognition
Conference Travel Award
The Conference Travel Award is provided to any Data and Technology Section member who wishes to represent the section at the 2026 Ohio AFS Conference. The award is meant to encourage networking with members of the Section and AFS, and to broaden the knowledge and exchange of ideas in fisheries science.
To be eligible, you must be a current member of the Data & Technology Section (if you are not currently a member, it is not too late to sign up…go to the AFS web page, join our Section, and then enter for the travel award).
The $500 travel award will be provided to 3 members of the section at the annual business meeting of the Data & Technology Section at the September 2026 Ohio AFS Conference (actual day and time of meeting to be communicated to recipients).
The three recipients will be selected randomly among the applicants of this award by July 15th (please note the deadline below).
Apply Here
Deadline to apply: 03 July 2026
Partnership Travel Award
The Partnership Travel Award encourages networking with groups associated with fisheries science and with AFS, to share knowledge and exchange ideas.
Partnership Travel Award recipients represent the Section at other society’s conferences. The award covers up to $1,000 in travel expenses and may be used to cover airfare/driving expenses, meals, registration, and lodging. The award recipient will represent the Data and Technology Section during the conference and provide a formal summary of their experience to the Section afterward, and is encouraged to submit a paper for the meeting.
Apply today on the Partnership Travel Award page.
Student Poster Award
The Data and Technology Section’s Best Student Poster Award was offered from 2006-2013. The award encourages the dissemination of knowledge gained from using cutting-edge technology in fisheries management and science. In addition to providing recognition from AFS fisheries professionals, the award is accompanied by a plaque and a $250 cash prize. Students presenting posters at the AFS Annual Meeting that emphasize computer-electronic and/or information technology are encouraged to compete for this award during years offered.
2013
Brittany Schwartzkopf, Louisiana State University
The AFS Fisheries Information and Technology Section (FITS) awarded Brittany Schwartzkopf of Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge with its “Best Student Poster Award” for 2013. Schwartzkopf’s poster, Seasonal Relationships of Caloric Content and Liver Weight in Red Snapper on Natural Hard-Bottom Banks in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico, was judged to be the best presentation by a student on the application of information / technology in fisheries management and research during the 2013 AFS Annual Meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. Unlike a lot of red snapper research, “which has focused on small artificial reefs in the eastern Gulf of Mexico”, Brittany’s research is directed at red snapper utilizing three large natural hard-bottom reefs, and one artificial reef (toppled oil platform) on the Louisiana continental shelf. This approach allows for direct comparison between natural and artificial reef sites, as well as comparison within the three natural reef sites – all of which differ in the amount of hard substrate present. Brittany’s co-author and major professor is Dr. James Cowan, also with Louisiana State University. Upon completion of her Master’s degree, Brittany looks to continue her work as a Fisheries Biologist with NOAA or a private consulting firm.
2012
Matthew DeAngelo, Saint Louis University
Congratulations to Matthew DeAngelo, this year’s winner of the FITS Best Student Poster Award. Matthew DeAngelo of Saint Louis University; Labor of Love: Female nurse sharks swim less but expend more energy than males during the mating season. Matt participated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the Mote Marine Library. His mentor was Dr. Nick Whitney. View the poster: Large (8mb) | Small (1.5mb)
2011
Ryan Lokteff, Utah State University
Ryan’s poster was Spatial Distribution and Species Segregation of Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, Brown Trout, and Brook Trout . His advisor was Joe Wheaton.
2010
Alicia Landi, University of Connecticut
Alicia Landi of University of Connecticut: Estimation of wave energy using fetch and wind data at horseshoe crab spawning beaches along the Connecticut coast. Her advisor was Dr. Jason Vokoun.
2009
Justin Spinneli, Montana State University
Spatial and Temporal Fish Entrainment through Hauser Dam, Montana.
2007
James R. Watson, University of California, Santa Barbara
A Spatially Explicit Nearshore Demographic Model for the Santa Barbara Channel.
2006
Tom Lang, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff
Evaluation of the Use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) for Collecting Angler Survey Data.
