Congratulations to Mary O’Connor, who received the 2019 Steacie Prize for Natural Sciences, which recognizes a young scientist or engineer under 40 for outstanding scientific research carried out in Canada.
Dr. O’Connor is one of just three ecologists of the 60 recipients of the prize since its inception 56 years ago. Her research centers on understanding change in marine ecosystems, including causes and consequences of biodiversity change and climate change impacts. She leads a team of researchers who study ecosystems, including seagrass meadows in BC, through fieldwork, lab experiments, and data synthesis.
Dr. O’Connor’s CHONe research project seeks to understand how seagrass meadows support biodiversity in the context of the landscape – specifically, links to other seagrass meadows as a function of distance.