Doctoral candidate Melissa Pierce received the Thurlow C. Nelson Award for Outstanding Student Oral Presentation from the National Shellfisheries Association. Melissa received the award for her talk entitled “Bivalves maintain a core gut microbiome: seasonal trends and species variation,” at the Aquaculture 2016 meeting. The Thurlow C. Nelson Award is given for an outstanding oral presentation of research that represents a distinctive and valuable contribution to shellfisheries science. The Award is named after the distinguished shellfish biologist who served as NSA President from 1931-1933 and contributed more than 125 papers, many relating to oyster biology.

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