Senior Faculty Research Assistant Janet Barnes was given the inaugural President’s Award for Outstanding Research Support at this year’s Commencement ceremony. The award represents an honor bestowed by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) to recognize professional achievements of faculty research assistants.
Barnes been a mentor and a positive role model for UMCES’ faculty research assistants, exhibiting long-term commitment to excellence, a genuine scientific curiosity, analytical thinking, and always going above and beyond with support of research and the UMCES community.
“Thank you, President Goodwin, for recognizing the importance of creating this award,” said Barnes. “I’m glad that the substantial contributions of FRAs to UMCES research and outreach will be acknowledged into the future.”
She started at Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in summer of 1978 and was the first female mate on research vessel at UMCES. She helped start the Solomons Harbor Monitoring Project, worked with the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic program coordinating logistics and science support, and led the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation as Chief Operating Officer.
She was brought on to help with the Alliance for Coastal Technologies and later the Marine Environment Resource Center to serve as research coordinator, where she does both hands-on science and management, coordinating with private sector and agencies to facilitate the development and adoption of green ship and green port innovations.
Faculty research assistants, or FRAs, conduct much of the day-to-day science that goes on in UMCES’ labs. They are often our primary people doing field sampling and conducting lab analyses. Many UMCES faculty have an FRA that manages their lab for them, as well.
The award, which includes a plaque and a monetary award, will be presented to one individual FRA annually who has made outstanding contributions to achieving the UMCES mission through discovery, integration, application, or teaching.
