Claudia Benitez-Nelson received the 2014 Sulzman Award for Excellence in Education and Mentoring at the 2014 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award is given for "significant contributions by a mid-career female scientist as a role model and mentor for the next generation of biogeoscientists."  

Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson is a College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor in the Marine Science Program and Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of South Carolina (USC). She is the recipient of the 2014 Sulzman Award for Excellence in Education and Mentoring, which “recognizes women in AGU who have sustained an active research career in a field related to biogeosciences, while excelling in teaching, mentoring young scientists, and serving as critical role models for the next generation of female scientists.”

Dr. Benitez-Nelson has made mentoring, teaching, and outreach a critical component of her career. Her impact at South Carolina was immediate, resulting in her being named the 2002 South Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation Outstanding Mentor. In 2005, she received the Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award and was named Outstanding Faculty of the Year by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Since then, she has continued to receive awards for excellence in outreach and teaching. In 2013 she was named USC Distinguished Professor of the Year, USC’s highest honor.

What makes Dr. Benitez-Nelson so special is that she also maintains a high profile and active research program. Her research focuses on understanding the ocean’s role in climate change, as well as human impacts on nutrient biogeochemistry and coastal ecology. She has authored or coauthored over 80 publications in a wide range of journals and is the recipient of over $4 million in research funds. In 2006, Dr. Benitez-Nelson’s research was recognized by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), who awarded her the Ocean Sciences Early Career Award.

Those who know her best agree that Dr. Benitez-Nelson’s many accomplishments in her career, her vast connections within the oceanography community, her service on prestigious committees and boards, and her passion for education, mentoring, and outreach are why she is the recipient of the 2014 Sulzman Award for Excellence in Education and Mentoring.

—Deidre Gibson, Hampton University, Hampton, Va.; and Adina Paytan, University of California, Santa Cruz

It is a great honor to receive the 2014 Sulzman Award. Dr. Sulzman is a true inspiration to many, and it is a privilege to receive an honor established on her behalf. I believe that the mentoring and education of scientists throughout their career is critical to the success of our field. Creating a diverse population of researchers brings new insights and allows for novel interactions that might otherwise be lost within more homogeneous groups. Indeed, we now recognize how important biodiversity is to the Earth’s ecosystem; is it so hard to believe that the same is true for the geosciences? The difficulty is to convince students from varied backgrounds just how exciting, challenging, and, ultimately, rewarding a science career can be. I feel I have the best job ever! I have the opportunity to conduct research in any area that I choose and to interact with scientists and students from cultures all over the world. I am fortunate to be surrounded by a truly wonderful support group—strong female mentors and colleagues; the faculty, staff, and administration at the University of South Carolina who have allowed me to be innovative in both research and education; and an incredible partner who always supports me in everything that I do. I thank Dr. Adina Paytan and Dr. Deidre Gibson for nominating me for this wonderful award, Dr. John Farrington and Dr. Mary Jo Richardson for their letters of support, and the Biogeosciences section of AGU for giving me this wonderful honor. —Claudia Benitez-Nelson, University of South Carolina, Columbia

Claudia Benitez-Nelson received the AGU Ocean Sciences Early Career Award at the 2006 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., in recognition of significant contributions to and promise in the ocean sciences.  

It gives me great pleasure to introduce the AGU Ocean Sciences Early Career Award winner, Claudia Benitez-Nelson. Claudia grew up in Seattle and entered the University of Washington as a chemistry major at the age of 13. It was at UW that Claudia was introduced to oceanography, and by the time she finished, she had B.S. degrees in both physical chemistry and chemical oceanography. At UW, Claudia was a member of the women’s soccer team, an interest she still pursues with great passion. Claudia went on to get a Ph.D. in 1999 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program where she studied phosphorus cycling under the tutelage of Ken Buesseler. Following a postdoc at the University of Hawaii, Claudia was hired as an assistant professor at University of South Carolina in 2002 and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2006.

Those of you who are sports enthusiasts should be familiar with the term ‘franchise player.’ This is the one individual that a team wants to protect and keep at all costs. As the director of our Marine Science Program, I consider Claudia to be our ‘franchise faculty member.’ Claudia teaches with a great deal of passion, and despite being a very demanding teacher, the students give her rave reviews. This past year Claudia won the Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award, USC’s most prestigious teaching award. For her efforts outside the classroom Claudia received the 2005 Faculty of the Year Award from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Claudia gives an inordinate amount of her time to both professional and community activities. On a local level, Claudia has established a program called ScienceQuest. This started out as an after-school activity at a local middle school and has grown into an NSF-funded project with science clubs at several parks in Columbia. On the national level, Claudia serves on the ORION Science and Technology Advisory Committee and the 2007 ASLO Meeting Organizing Committee.

Claudia’s research utilizes a variety of geochemical and radiochemical tools to examine the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in the ocean. Her research has been instrumental in demonstrating that the incorporation of particulate phosphorus in biologically produced material is the primary mechanism for the removal of phosphorus from the upper ocean. Her work has shown that the remineralization of particulate phosphorus occurs rapidly and is an important process for the regeneration of both inorganic and organic phosphorus compounds to the dissolved phase. Recently, Claudia has begun using both solid and liquid state 31P NMR to elucidate the chemical composition of particulate P.

Although Claudia’s accomplishments to date are exceptional, I have no doubt that the best is yet to come. She is quickly becoming one of the leaders in the field of chemical oceanography and serves as a mentor and role model for aspiring young scientists. Claudia Benitez-Nelson is most deserving of the 2006 Ocean Sciences Early Career Award.

—Robert Thunell, University of South Carolina, Columbia.

Thank you, Bob, for those generous words. I would also like to thank Billy Moore, Ken Buesseler, Adina Paytan, Michael Rutgers van der Loeff, Peggy Delaney, and Dave Karl for writing letters of support. It is such an honor to be recognized by the Ocean Sciences section of AGU. I have had the good fortune to work with excellent scientists. The common bond they share is their dedication to research and education. My first exposure to ‘real’ oceanography occurred on a cruise with Jim Murray and Al Devol at the University of Washington. They showed me how to work hard while having fun. While I was a first-year graduate student at WHOI, my advisor, Ken Buesseler, sent me half way around the world to participate in an Arabian Sea JGOFS cruise. The trust Ken had in me to accomplish the job set the foundation for a fantastic advisor-student relationship that exists to this day. Ken taught me how to be an outstanding scientist and the importance of surrounding oneself with excellence. I would not be here if weren’t for the expertise of his research group, Café Thorium. After 5 years in New England, I jumped at the opportunity to work with Dave Karl at the University of Hawaii. He taught me the importance of long-term data sets and how to glean complex interactions in marine systems by viewing them as a whole. When it came time for me to find a permanent position, my mom gave me an important piece of advice: Go to the place that wants you the most. I found that at the University of South Carolina, an environment that has been supportive and encouraging and provided me with many opportunities for following my true passion of interdisciplinary research. Billy Moore and Bob Thunell have been incredible mentors and have made my time at USC so productive. I love my work and have the best job in the world. Whether it’s having a graduate student propose a new research avenue, seeing a struggling undergraduate finally understand the material, or just waiting on deck for a glimpse of that elusive green flash—it’s all a joy. In fact if it weren’t for my husband, Bryan, and two wonderful children, Julia and Noah, I’d lose myself completely in my work. To say I lean heavily on all those mentioned above and many others for support would be an understatement. Every day I strive to develop similar relationships with the students in my lab. As this is called an Early Career Award and based on the subsequent performance of previous winners, I think it’s safe to say that I’m expected to keep up the good work. Fortunately, I am surrounded by excellent colleagues, students, and an amazing technician, Renee Styles. All of whom make it easy to carry on and pass the excitement and knowledge onto others. —Claudia Benitez-Nelson, University of South Carolina, Columbia.