MARGINS Student Prize
AGU Fall Meeting, 2003

Congratulations to all those that entered our first annual student competition, which took place at the AGU 2003 Fall Conference. All 31 applicants have ably expressed a desire and the capability to expand the boundaries of their science. All applicants to the competition were winners, and we recognize here several that have demonstrated great promise for the years to come.

The competition's final scoring, by a panel of independent judges, was so close that it was decided to split and award the top prize to two deserving students. Four Honorable Mentions are also being recognized.

Co-Winners

	Name and School:	Sylvia Nordfjord, University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
	Winner's Comment:	"I am very grateful to be honored as one of two winners in the first annual MARGINS Prize for the outstanding student presentation at AGU. Receiving this award encourages and motivates me to further invest time in my research. The recognition that comes with the prize will really give me a boost of inspiration to keep on doing what I love; the science. Thank you again for your wonderful award."
	Judge's Comment:	The MARGINS judges were particularly impressed with her application of quantitative geomorphology to marine systems.
	Title of Abstract:	Geomorphologic comparisons of shallowly buried, dendritic drainage systems on the outer New Jersey shelf with modern fluvial and estuarine analogs
	Co-Authors:	John A. Goff, James A. Austin, Jr., Craig S. Fulthorpe, Sean P.S. Gulick, Christopher Sommerfield, Clark Alexander, Beth Christensen, Steven Schock

	Name and School:	Donna Shillington, University of Wyoming
	Winner's Comment:	"I would like to thank MARGINS for initiating a prize recognizing MARGINS-related student research—I am honored to be one of the first recipients.  I look forward to seeing more MARGINS presentations inspired by this award in the future."
	Judge's Comment:	"The MARGINS judges were particularly impressed with her familiarity with similar data sets from other non-volcanic rifted margins. One judge noted: "this is one of the most composed, interesting students I've met!"
	Title of Abstract:	Seismic Characterization Of Crust On The Newfoundland Non-Volcanic Rifted Margin: Prestack Depth Migrations Of The SCREECH Survey Around ODP Leg 210 Sites 1276 And 1277
	Co-Authors:	W S Holbrook, B E Tucholke, ODP Leg 210 Scientific Party, J R Hopper, H Van Avendonk, K Louden, H C Larsen

Honorable Mentions

	Name and School:	Heather DeShon, University of California, Santa Cruz
	Winner's Comment:	"I was very honored to have my research recognized by the MARGINS community and excited to see the program's continuing dedication to forwarding student research."
	Judge's Comment:	The MARGINS judges were particularly impressed with the clear organization of her presentation.
	Title of Abstract:	Geometry and velocity structure of the northern Costa Rica seismogenic zone from 3D local earthquake tomography
	Co-Authors:	Susan Y. Schwartz, Andrew V. Newman, LeRoy M. Dorman, J. Marino Protti, Victor Gonzalez

	Name and School:	Jenna Hill, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
	Winner's Comment:	"I am very excited and honored to receive this recognition of my research. I am currently on the R/V Melville in the Gulf of Papua, as part of the NSF MARGINS Source to Sink Initiative for Papua New Guinea."
	Judge's Comment:	The MARGINS judges were particularly impressed with the interesting seismic images included in her poster.
	Title of Abstract:	Large incised channels on the Chukchi Shelf provide new constraints on onshore drainage: Implications for tectonic and climatic evolution of NW Alaska
	Co-Authors:	N.W. Driscoll, J. Brigham-Grette, and Z. Lundeen

	Name and School:	Yajing Liu, Harvard University
	Winner's Comment:	"'I feel very excited and honored to get recognized for the research work I really love to do."
	Judge's Comment:	The MARGINS judges were particularly impressed with her poster's elegant modelling and animated figures.
	Title of Abstract:	3-D numerical modeling of rupture sequences of large shallow subduction earthquakes
	Co-Author:	James R. Rice

	Name and School:	Christie Rowe, University of California, Santa Cruz
	Winner's Comment:	"I am excited and grateful to be recognized by MARGINS, and I look forward to many fruitful discussions with members in the future. MARGINS enables scientific dialog across subfields which enriches my research and facilitates the development of better informed research questions and collaborations."
	Judge's Comment:	The MARGINS judges were particularly impressed with the quality of her discussion with interested audience members.
	Title of Abstract:	The Upper Aseismic to Seismic Transition: A Silica Mobility Threshold
	Co-Author:	J. Casey Moore