Kelley Watson Fellowship

The Kelley Watson Fellowship recognizes a student who exhibits academic excellence and leadership and has excelled in the core courses during the first year of graduate study. The fellowship is named in memory of Kelley Watson, a member of the incoming class of September 2000 who impressed her teachers and fellow students with her enthusiasm, commitment to academic excellence, and strong promise for a successful marine science career.

This year the core course instructors have enthusiastically nominated Karinna Núñez for the Kelley Watson Fellowship.

Karinna received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of the Republic in Uruguay, where she studied primary production in the Rio de la Plata estuary. As a young researcher in Uruguay, Karinna analyzed hydrocarbons for the Uruguayan navy using gas chromatography, cultured microbial communities for a hospital clinic, studied reproductive periods in electric fishes for a research institute, and analyzed lipid composition in nursing South American fur seals for a university project. In 2004, she came to VIMS with her husband Eduardo, and began working in the Center for Coastal Resources Management as a GIS technician. To stay busy, she also had a daughter, Kamilla, and enrolled as a student at VIMS.

In her brief tenure in the School of Marine Science, Karinna has proven to be an outstanding student and a remarkably productive researcher. Her intellectual abilities are matched by an enthusiasm for learning and an irrepressible spirit that make her an asset in any research effort. Karinna is already well on her way to completion of a thesis developing and applying a multi-level erosion risk assessment model to tidal shorelines in Maryland. We wish her the best of luck and congratulate her on this award.

Felicidades, Karinna!