Charlotte Levy was awarded the 2016 American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) Kevin Flanagan Student Travel Award at the annual AAUS conference in September. Charlotte presented preliminary results from her undergraduate research at APU on the long-term colonization of a subarctic marine artificial reef in Whittier, Alaska. This research investigates successional changes in demersal fish, invertebrate and macroalgal populations that have occurred over the past decade since Alaska’s first artificial reef system was deployed in 2006 by NOAA. Through bi-monthly scuba surveys conducted from June-December 2016, Charlotte ultimately aims to gain insight into how effective artificial reefs are as a mitigation tool in subarctic Alaskan waters.

“Scientific diving has given my love of the ocean and being underwater a sense of purpose. I feel so fortunate I can work towards a career where I actually love what I do. I’m very excited to see where this path takes me and how I fit into the scientific community.” – Charlotte Levy

Charlotte is a distance student at Oregon State University, who lives in Anchorage and enrolled at APU to become a scientific diver and complete a dive-based Senior Research Project through the Scientific Diving Program under the guidance of Eloise Brown. She currently lives in Anchorage, Alaska and is also an employee of the Aleutians East Borough administrators, where she has gained valuable insight into fisheries management. After completing her degree, Charlotte plans to attend graduate school to pursue a future in marine research.