Student wins American Geophysical Union awardANN ARBOR—University of Michigan graduate student Casey Hermoyian of Birmingham, Mich., recently received the Outstanding Student Paper Award from the Ocean Sciences Section of the American Geophysical Union. Hermoyian received the award for a paper, “The Late Miocene-Early Pliocene Biogenic Bloom: A Worldwide (and Possibly Pulsed) Event,” presented May 31 at the spring meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Boston.

In research conducted with Prof. Robert M. Owen of the U-M Department of Geological Sciences, Hermoyian documented a worldwide increase in oceanic biological productivity that occurred between about 6 million and 4 million years ago. Earlier research had suggested that the “biogenic bloom” occurred only in certain areas, but by studying phosphorus accumulation rates in core samples, Hermoyian and Owen were able to show that biological productivity increased by two to 30 times above background levels throughout the world ocean during the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs of geological history. Studying biological productivity patterns helps scientists draw inferences about climate change.

A biographical sketch and photo of Hermoyian and other winners will appear in an upcoming issue of Eos, AGU’s weekly newspaper of the geophysical sciences.

Ocean Sciences SectionRobert M. OwenEos