The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation has chosen Gloucester Board of Supervisors’ chairman and emeritus professor Dr. Robert “JJ” Orth of the College of William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science as a joint recipient of its 2021 Odum Award for Lifetime Achievement, along with Dr. Ken Heck of the University of South Alabama and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

The award committee said the selection honors Orth and Heck’s individual and joint achievements, as well as “sustained accomplishments throughout their long and distinguished careers, contribution of seminal papers that have shaped estuarine-coastal science, and sustained engagement with contributions to CERF.”

The pair’s nomination letter noted that “both candidates have shaped our understanding of seagrasses and marine ecology—through a series of foundational papers, edited volumes, and synthetic reviews. Moreover, their science has had a lasting societal impact through their long and successful track re...