Eileen Setzler-Hamilton Memorial Scholarship

The Eileen Setzler-Hamilton Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a graduate student currently enrolled in a fisheries science or closely related curriculum who has displayed a commitment to excellence in research, teaching, professional undertakings, public education, and community service. This award was created in 2003 to remember Dr. Eileen Setzler-Hamilton, a long-time member of the American Fisheries Society and fourth president (1989) of the TAFS. This award really is about a “coastal scientist enthusiast” who passionately engages with other students and the public out of the beauty they feel privileged to witness each day in the field. That, was Eileen.

The application process is open to current graduate students studying fisheries at a university within the three-state Tidewater AFS area and to both first time and applicants who have not previously won. Recipients receive a certificate and $800 scholarship presented during the annual meeting awards banquet.

Past Awardees

Awarded in the listed year for prior year's service:

2024: Sarah Smith

2023: Andrew McMains

  • A doctoral student working under the direction of Jim Morley and studying the ecological impacts of dredging on coastal habitats.

2022: Maddie Johnson

  • A master’s student at ECU advised by Jim Morley and studying habitat use and hatch dates of juvenile sheepshead in North Carolina estuaries.

2021: Maddie Farmer

2020: Vaskar Nepal

2019: Riley Gallagher

  • A master’s student at North Carolina State University under the advisement of Jeff Buckel investigating cobia stock structure and population dynamics in North Carolina and Virginia.

2018: Brendan Runde

  • A doctoral student at North Carolina State University under the advisement of Dr. Jeff Buckel investigating varying management approaches to offshore reef fish species.

2017: Willy Goldsmith

  • A doctoral candidate in the Marine Sciences Graduate Program at the College of William & Mary's School of Marine Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science working to combine biotelemetry with econometrics to quantify the biological impacts and human dimensions of the recreational fishery for Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) along the U.S. East Coast.

2016: Rebecca Peters

2014: David Kazyak (1st place), Chad Smith (2nd place)

2013: Andre Buchheister (1st place), Cory Janiak (2nd place)

2012: Steve Midway

2011: Jacob Boyd

2010: Cecilia Krahforst (1st place), Ryan Woodland and Jacob Boyd (honorable mention)

*Scholarships not awarded annually until 2010 due to funding limitations

2005: Janet Nye

2002: Jennifer Cudney