Congratulations to all students who presented their research at the 86^th annual meeting of the Pacific Division. The presentations were of high quality and a pleasure to experience.

Special congratulations go to those students who won Awards of Excellence. We have listed their names and awards below.

DIVISION-WIDE AWARDS

BEST POSTER AWARD
Jesse Steinman (Department of Chemistry, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR) "Effect of Counterion Variation in NMR Studies of Reverse Micelles."

GERALDINE K. LINDSAY AWARD
Daniel Perrakis (College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, WA) "Prescribed Fire at Crater Lake: Burning, Beetles, and Beyond."

LAURENCE M. KLAUBER AWARD
Fred Kizito (Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR) "Soil Water Balance Dynamics in Two Semi-arid Shrub Communities: A Case for the Millet-Peanut Rotation System in Senegal's Peanut Basin."

AFFILIATED SOCIETY AWARDS

WESTERN SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENCE
First Place Oral: Fred Kizito (Department of Crop and Soil Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR) "Soil Water Balance Dynamics in Two Semi-arid Shrub Communities: A Case for the Millet-Peanut Rotation System in Senegal's Peanut Basin."

Second Place Oral: Tabitha T. Brown (Crop and Soil Sciences Department, Washington State University, Pullman, WA) "Assessing Stratified Soil Acidity in Inland Northwest Direct-Seed Cropping Systems."

First Place Poster: Neil Brauer (Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA) "Mineralogical Characterization of Seasonally Submerged Wetland Soils."

SECTIONAL AWARDS

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES SECTION
First Place: Brianna Karhu (Department of Biology, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR) "Isolation and Characterization of Heterotrophic Bacteria at Blue Ledge Mine."

Second Place: Nicholas J. Tucci (Departments of Biology and Geochemistry, Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Butte, MT) "Algal Bioremediation of the Berkeley Pit Lake System: An In-Situ Test Using Limnocorrals."

CHEMISTRY SECTION
First Place: Jesse Steinman (Department of Chemistry, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR) "Effect of Counterion Variation in NMR Studies of Reverse Micelles."

ECOLOGY and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SECTION
First Place: Michael Bates (Department of Biology, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA) "Isolation of Zinc Resistance Genes from Serratia proteamaculans by mRNA Subtractive Hybridization."

Second Place: Phillip Wunder II (Environmental Sciences Teaching Program, University of California, Berkeley, CA) "Assessing Recovery from Salinity Induced Stress in Water Hyacinth."

Honorable Mention: Emily A. Miller (Environmental Sciences Teaching Program, University of California, Berkeley, CA) "Using Macroinvertebrates as a Rapid Assessment Technique for Determining Soil Quality."

EDUCATION SECTION
First Place: Rachelle Callenback (Environmental Sciences Teaching Program, University of California, Berkeley, CA) "CalSci Academies Increase Student Interest in Science and Enhance College-bound Eligibility."

Honorable Mention: Heather N. Bischel (Environmental Sciences Teaching Program, University of California, Berkeley, CA) "Creating Student Interest in Science: A Design-Build Project for Personal, Portable Water Purification Systems."

IDUSTRIAL SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY, and PHYSICS SECTIONS
First Place: Clay D. Mortensen (Department of Chemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR) "Advancements Towards the Synthesis of (Bi₂Te₃)_x (Sb₂Te₃)_y Superlattices."

GENERAL and INTERDISCIPLINARY SECTION
Honorable Mention: Matt Bernstein (California State University, Northridge, CA) "Relativity in Science-Fiction: the Einsteinian Kurt Vonnegut."

Honorable Mention: J.N. Nodelman (Department of English, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada) "Space, Technology, and the Possibility of Dialogue between Engineers and Literary Critics."

HEALTH SCIENCES and PSYCHOLOGY SECTIONS
First Place: Suzanne Farnsworth (Department of Psychology, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR) "Cognitive Mathematics: Using the Brain's Innate Abilities for Mathematical Understanding."

Second Place: Deborah Ann Shoemaker (Washington State University - Tri-Cities, Richland, WA) "Children's Early Socialization Experiences in Urban Coffehouse."

Honorable Mention: Amanda C. Johnston (Livermore High School, Livermore, CA) "Immortal Athletes: A Study of the Lifespan of World Class Athletes."

Honorable Mention: Stuart Davis (Department of Psychology, Washington State University - Tri-Cities, Richland, WA) "The Psychology of Signage for Long Term Radiological Storage Facilities."