Award Recipients

John W. Davies Memorial Award Recipients

2023	Joshua Veber, BEng, MEng, PhD Candidate, Memorial University of Newfoundland
.	Joshua Veber received this award while a PhD student in the Ocean and Naval Engineering department at Memorial University. His research is focused on quantifying ship performance metrics in Arctic Ocean environments. The goal of this research is to mitigate environmental impacts of the marine industry while informing optimized techniques for ice management.
2022	David Babb, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD Candidate, University of Manitoba
	David Babb received this award while completing a PhD relating to sea ice transport and melt, and the loss of Multiyear sea ice in the Beaufort Sea. His research is broadly focused on sea ice dynamics in the Canadian Arctic, with a focus on how climate change is affecting the ice pack and how these changes affect the local environment, local communities and shipping activities.
2021	A Winner and Runner-Up were awarded in 2021
Winner	Annika Heimrich, MSc, PhD Candidate, University of Victoria
	Annika Heimrich received this award while a PhD student in the Juanes Lab at the University of Victoria, Department of Biology, in cooperation with the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. Her research is focused on evaluating the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of marine mammals and fish in the western Canadian Arctic using passive acoustic monitoring. Given the rapid decrease in sea ice in the Arctic due to climate change, Annika's work is further aimed at assessing the impact of increasing ship traffic and ship noise on resident and migrating marine wildlife populations.
Runner-Up	Veronica Coppolaro, MSc, PhD Candidate, University of Manitoba
	Veronica Coppolaro is a PhD student at the Centre for Earth Observation Science of the University of Manitoba. Her research focuses on the influence that noise from increasing marine transportation in the Canadian Arctic may have on marine mammals. Passive acoustic monitoring can determine whether marine mammals modify their vocalizations, movements, and behavior in response to vessel traffic underwater noise. The results will be used to support marine mammal conservation efforts by suggesting updates to local marine traffic regulations and find a balance between economic growth and marine wildlife health.
2020	Aikaterini Tavri, MSc, PhD Candidate, University of Victoria
	Aikaterini Tavri received this award while a PhD candidate in the Ice Climate Ecosystem remote sensing laboratory at the University of Victoria, Department of Geography. Her research is focused on enhancing sea ice melt stage detection and ice type discrimination during melting conditions in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from three satellite missions, advanced polarimetric parameters will provide proxy information about sea ice mechanical properties and hazards, with implications for marine transportation during the active summer season, as well as ecosystems information related to the seasonal progression of bioavailable light to the upper ocean.
2019	Abigail Dalton, MSc, PhD Candidate, University of Ottawa
	Abigail Dalton received this award while a PhD student in the Laboratory for Cryospheric Research at the University of Ottawa. Her research is focused on understanding iceberg production from the Prince of Wales Icefield on SE Ellesmere Island, iceberg drift through Baffin Bay, and assessing potential shipping risk associated with icebergs along primary shipping routes in Canadian waters.
2018	Jordan Carlson, MES, PhD Candidate, Queen's University
	Jordan Carlson received this award while a PhD candidate at Queen's University, Department of Geography and Planning. His research is focused on tidal energy, renewable energy transitions, and energy security in off-grid communities. This project will offer insight into two major Arctic issues in Canada. First, options for sustainable energy transitions and lowering diesel reliance in communities, through tidal energy modeling for coastal Labrador. Second, the methods employed here offer an example of a more people-centered way of considering “development” projects in Inuit Nunangat, with socio-cultural impacts considered explicitly and decisions about future work left in community hands.
2017	Two scholarships were awarded in 2017
	Marjan Boroojerdi, MSc, PhD Candidate, Memorial University of Newfoundland
	Marjan Boroojerdi received this award while a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering, at Memorial University of Newfoundland's Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Her research focuses on the freeze-bonding processes between ice blocks in an ice ridge, and aims to understand the role of freeze-bonds on the strength development of first-year ice ridges via a combination of laboratory experiments, and empirical models.
	Laura Gillard, MSc, PhD Candidate, University of Alberta
	Laura Gillard received this award while a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Her research is focused on the ocean and ice interactions in fjords containing marine terminating glaciers along the Greenland Ice Sheet.
2016	Three scholarships were awarded in 2016
	Anna Crawford, HBSc, MSc, PhD Candidate, Carleton University
	Anna Crawford received this award while a PhD candidate at Carleton University's Water and Ice Research Lab, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. Her research is on occurrence and deterioration of ice islands in eastern Canadian waters.
	Moritz S Schmid, MSc, PhD Candidate, Université Laval
	Moritz Schmid received this award while a PhD candidate in Oceanography, Laboratory Louis Fortier, Québec-Océan, Unité Mixte Internationale Takuvik, ArcticNet, Université Laval, Québec. He received the award for his PhD studies on underwater imaging of plankton in the Arctic and the development of a machine learning model which automatically identifies species on images. In concert, these technologies can provide an unprecedented insight into the Arctic ecosystem.
	Mohamed Ahmed, MSc, PhD Candidate, University of Calgary
	Mohamed Ahmed received this award while a PhD student at the University of Calgary. His research focuses on studying carbon cycling and air-sea CO₂ exchange in response to climate change across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Hudson Bay. This study combines ship measurements (collected on-board of the CCGS Amundsen icebreaker), GIS, and remote sensing techniques to extrapolate field observations over larger spatial and temporal scales.

2015	Graham Warner, PhD Program, University of Victoria
	Graham Warner received this award while a PhD student in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria. Graham has developed passive hydro-acoustic monitoring methods to localize bowhead whales in the Arctic Ocean using recordings of their calls.

2014	Larissa Pizzolato, MSc Program, University of Ottawa
	Larissa Pizzolato received this award while a MSc student at the University of Ottawa focusing on "Trends and Spatial Variability of Sea Ice and Arctic Shipping Activities in Canada, 1990 to 2013". Larissa's work identifies the knowledge gap between recent decline in Arctic sea ice and subsequent increase in Arctic marine transportation activities 1990 to 2013 and associated potential marine disasters. Our selection committee noted that Larissa's work was fully marine Arctic focused and its attention to Arctic shipping/structure safety is directly relevant to SNAME's Arctic shipping goals.

2013	Adrienne White, Doctoral Student, Laboratory for Cryospheric Research, Department of Geography, University of Ottawa
	Adrienne White received this award while a PhD student at the University of Ottawa. Her research focused on the determination of the recent changes to the ice masses (eg, ice shelves, sea ice, glaciers) of northern Ellesmere Island, using a combination of field and remote sensing techniques. Adrienne is pictured here during her last field season (May 2013).

2012	Matthew Gale, MSc Candidate, Biological Oceanography, Centre for Earth Observation Science, Department of Environment and Geography, University of Manitoba
	Matthew Gale received this award while a MSc candidate at the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba. His research was biological oceanography with a focus on under ice bloom dynamics - specifically the driving factors associated with it, as well as temporal and spatial changes. The study's goal was to help predict ecosystem changes associated with climate change.

2011	Two scholarships were awarded in 2011
	Courtney Fidler, MASc, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography & Planning, University of Saskatchewan
	Courtney Fidler received this award while a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography & Planning at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research focused on regional strategic impact assessment in offshore energy development in Canada's western Arctic, Beaufort Sea.
	Travis Hamilton, MScEng Student, Department of Geodesy and Geomatics, University of New Brunswick
	Travis Hamilton received this award while a MScEng student with the Ocean Mapping Group at the University of New Brunswick. His research was part of the Ocean Mapping Groups efforts to improve upon the uncertainties, and distribution of multibeam echo sounder data. The work's goal was to improve the ability to detect and understand seabed geohazards discovered in the Arctic each summer through opportunistic and planned multibeam surveys aboard the CCGS Amundsen.

2009	Rocky Taylor, PEng, MEng, PhD Candidate, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's
	Rocky Taylor was the successful recipient of this award for 2009. At the time the award was conferred, Rocky was a PhD candidate at Memorial University. His research focused on scale effects associated with compressive ice failure, with particular emphasis on contributions due to random averaging of loads across a region, and statistical aspects of fracture. This work aimed to guide the development of improved methodology for estimating design loads for ships and structures operating in ice conditions through improved understanding and modeling of ice failure processes.