Benitez‐Nelson receives 2006 Ocean Sciences Early Career Award

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.