Abigail Reed, undergraduate student in ESP, was the first undergraduate student to ever win the best poster award at the University of Florida Water Institute Symposium. Competing against 80 student poster presenters, Abby emerged as one of the four winners, earning a $1,000 award to support her participation in future academic conferences. Her poster, "Tampa Bay Groups with Few Financial Resources Lack Benefits from Natural & Artificial Wetlands," showcased her Honors Thesis research conducted with the USF Ecohydrology Research Group. Her work built upon insights gleaned by the ERG in the spatial analysis of waterbodies in the Tampa Bay Region, including the distribution of natural and artifical waterbodies, but newly incorporated the angle of Environmental Justice. View Abby's abstract here.
The UF Water Institute Symposium brings together individuals from a broad range of disciplines and organizations to explore water issues from multiple perspectives. In addition to Abigail Reed, there were nine other University of South Florida School of Geosciences students presenting.