UTMSI grad wins award for research

DR. NANCY RABALAIS

Dr. Nancy Rabalais is the 2008 recipient of the National Water Research Institute (NWRI) Athalie Richardson Irvine Clark Prize for excellence in water research.

Rabalais, who received her Ph.D. from UT-Austin Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) in 1983, will be presented with a gold medallion and $50,000 on Thursday, July 10, in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Renowned for her research on hypoxia, or severe oxygen depletion, Rabalais has been the driving force behind identifying and characterizing the dynamics of the large hypoxic region in the Gulf of Mexico, which receives excess nutrients from the Mississippi River. Her team recognized that much of the nutrients in the Mississippi River originated from agricultural runoff caused by increased fertilizer application and artificial soil drainage.

Such efforts have delineated the relationship between a large, nutrient rich river, its watershed, the nutrients in the discharge, and the coastal ecosystem, and have resulted in national and international interest in the reduction of hypoxia through improved management in the Mississippi River watershed and coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Rabalais has successfully advocated national legislation and policy changes to protect marine environments.