DURHAM, N.C. – Mary Turnipseed, a doctoral student at 91’s Nicholas School of the Environment, and Benjamin Young Landis, a 2009 Master of Environmental Management (MEM) graduate of the Nicholas School, have been named winners of 2010 Walter B. Jones Sr. Memorial Awards for Excellence in Coastal and Marine Graduate Studies.

Turnipseed and Landis will receive the awards June 10 in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., as part of Capitol Hill Oceans Week.

Jones Awards recognize the nation’s most promising graduate students and recent graduates in the fields of coastal and marine science, policy and management. This year, seven recipients were selected from hundreds of nominees nationwide.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) administers the awards, which are named for Walter B. Jones, Sr., who represented North Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1966 to 1992, including many years chairing the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries.

Turnipseed’s doctoral studies focus on ocean conservation, ecology and policy, including issues such as global food security, sustainable aquaculture and marine and coastal ecosystems management. She is the author or co-author of 16 peer-reviewed publications, including two articles and one letter in Science. She has received international media coverage for her work examining the potential benefits of using the public trust doctrine as a policy tool to help resolve conflicts and sustainably manage resources in U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone waters.

Landis’ MEM master’s project, “Commute Sheds as an Integrated Watershed Management Decision Tool,” used Census Bureau software to document that commute sheds can be a practical tool for tracking interdependence among regional water users in coastal regions. Since graduating he has focused on policy and science communications, as a 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and as a 2010 North Carolina Sea Grant science communications fellow. Later this summer, he will join the staff of the U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center as their outreach coordinator.