The Crustacean Society

We announce here the winners of the 2021 The Crustacean Society student and early career awards. This first set were selected in April (please note that the travel awards are offered twice per year).  The Crustacean Society provides a wide range of grants and scholarships for students and postdoctoral researchers, and we really encourage all who are eligible to apply (please visit the TCS website for more details). 

TCS Fellowship in Graduate Studies

TCS annually awards up to six US$1,000 Fellowships in Graduate Studies in any research concerned with the biology of crustaceans. The fellowship is to support the research objectives and career goals of graduate students. This award requires a letter of support from their faculty sponsor/TCS mentor. Both the student and their faculty sponsor/TCS mentor must be a TCS member at the time of application. Further details and requirements are in the application (see website). The deadline for application is 31 March annually.

Our winner for 2021 Brooke Bogan, a masters student at State University of New York Fredonia, USA. She is sponsored and mentored by Dr. Thomas Hegna. Darby’s study title is; ‘A new method of morphometric analysis for extant and extinct Notostracans (Branchiopoda)’

TCS Early-Career/Post-PhD Travel Awards

TCS annually awards up to three US$1,500 travel grants for early-career Ph.D. researchers. The Ph.D. must have been awarded within five years of the application deadline. Extension of up to eight years post-Ph.D. will be considered at the discretion of the Program Officer for applicants having taken a career break for family reasons. The grants cover travel to give a presentation, preferably oral, at a TCS meeting (SICB, Mid-Year, or ICC) on the results of their research in any field of study involving crustaceans. Applications that result in a manuscript suitable for publication in the Journal of Crustacean Biology are given preference. The deadline for application is 15 March and 15 September annually (see TCS website for more details).

 Our winner for 2021 is Dr. Prema Mani is a research fellow at the Crustaceans Research Lab, Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, and she was sponsored by former TCS president Dr. Jeffrey Shields. She plans on presenting at the next in person TCS or SICB meeting her research entitled: ‘Comparative study of the gastric teeth of mangrove crabs Sesarmidae (Brachyura: Decapoda) with reference to phylogeny and morphological traits difference between herbivore, carnivore, and detritovore’

TCS Student Travel Awards

TCS awards a maximum of five (5) US$500 awards twice a year to support student attendance at TCS meetings (TCS mid-year/ICC and SICB). Applicants must be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program, be the presenter of an oral or poster presentation at the TCS/ICC/SICB meeting they attend, and demonstrate financial need for TCS support of travel to the meeting. Both the student and their faculty sponsor/mentor must be a TCS member at the time of the application. The deadline for application is 15 March and 15 September annually (see TCS website for more details).

Our winners for 2021 are:

Darby Leana Pochtar, a doctoral student at George Mason University, USA. She is sponsored and mentored by Dr. Amy Fowler. Darby’s study title is; ‘Do zombies eat less and get eaten more? The effects of castrating parasites on a host crab’s diet and predation risk’

Sisamu Baepi, a doctoral student at the Namibia University of Science and Technology, Namibia. He is sponsored by Dr. Martin Schwentner (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Austria), and his research project title is ‘Phylogeography of Namibian large Branchiopoda)’

Timothy Cronin is matriculated at Clemson University, USA, and is sponsored by Dr. J. Antonio Baeza, who is also an associate editor for the Journal of Crustacean Biology. Timothy’s study is entitled: ‘Sexual Conflict and Unconventional Sexual Strategies: Do protandric simultaneous hermaphrodites experience sexual conflict?’

I want to congratulate all our winners: you did well!! I want to thank all the students who participated, their sponsors, and especially the judges who helped determine the winners.

TCS Program Officer, D. Christopher Rogers

Oxford University Press and The Crustacean Society have recently made the decision to convert Journal of Crustacean Biology to an online-only publication from the start of 2021. We have taken this decision in the light of the extensive online usage of the journal and that fact that we are now supplying few print subscribers with copies of the journal. The online journal, which is now considered the version of record, provides enhanced functionality, much of which cannot be offered in the print environment. This includes access to the most current versions of articles at all times; immediate access to the most recently published content via Advance Access; access to further digital content, such as supplementary data, enhanced figure display, reference linking, and other article-level metrics. Thousands of libraries and individuals around the world access JCB online. Readers are able to access a more flexible, modern user interface, which has driven readership increasingly online over the past few years. Finally, a move to online only publication is more environmentally friendly, eliminating the need for paper, shipping materials, and transportation, thus significantly reducing the journal’s carbon footprint. Published content is available to readers instantly upon the day of publication, rather than after a delay as the content is assigned to issue, prepared for print, and dispatched.