The American Ornithological Society (AOS) bestows Student Presentation Awards on students at all levels (undergraduate, masters, and doctoral) who present outstanding posters or oral presentations at our annual meeting. This year, the Society presented nine awards and 10 honorable mentions to deserving students at the AOS 2025 meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.
We extend our sincere thanks to the Student Presentation Awards Committee, our 64 volunteer judges, and 86 student presenters in our competition this year. Congratulations to these winners, each of whom will receive an honorarium with their award. Those receiving Honorable Mentions are granted a free one-year membership in the AOS.
Nellie Johnson Baroody Award
Given for the best presentation on any topic in ornithology, typically given to a student prior to the Ph.D. level
Ashwin Sivakumar
Harvard University
“Modularity and constraint in wing morphology across the oscine radiation”
Robert B. Berry Student Award
Given for the best oral presentation on a topic pertaining to avian conservation
Franco Gigliotti
University of Connecticut
“Distributed experiment reveals short-term benefits of saltmarsh restoration on vegetation and bird communities”
Mark E. Hauber Award
Given for the best oral presentation on avian behavior
Facundo Duque
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
“Sex-specific endocrine mechanisms mediate the variation in facultative biparental care”
A. Brazier Howell Award
Given for the best presentation on any topic in ornithology
Miguel Costas-Sabatier
University of Puerto Rico
“Habitat structure and biodiversity drive the biogeography of breeding bird community songscapes across north America”
Frances F. Roberts Award
Given for the best presentation on any topic in ornithology
Cameron Piper
Cal Poly Humboldt
“Spatial ecology and migration of Lewis’s Woodpeckers in a post-fire landscape”
AOS Council Awards
Given for the best presentations on any topic in ornithology
Taylor Verrett
University of Oklahoma
“The concrete tangle: tolerance of anthropogenically disturbed habitats influences cophylogenetic congruence between migratory birds and their haemosporidian parasites”
Anna James
University of Oklahoma
“Interactive effects of the social environment and habitat quality on maternal hormone allocation”
Maria Mendiwelso
Universidad de los Andes
“Nest location and architecture as primary drivers of the variation in UV reflectance in avian eggs”
Will DeMott
University of Oklahoma
“Network dynamics of aerial insectivore roosts revealed by weather radar”
Honorable Mentions
Joshua Angell
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
“Using fecal metabarcoding to determine prey selection among grassland songbirds and the influence of environmental factors on diet composition”
Mac Chamberlain
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
“Cowbird connections: Using telemetry to study adult-juvenile interactions and habitat use in a brood parasite”
Katherine Eufemia
Western Carolina University
“No evidence of trade-offs between aggression and parental provisioning in male Song Sparrows”
Aidan Healey
Cal Poly Humboldt
“Effects of experimental structural retention placement and arrangement on bird communities in managed forests of the pacific northwest”
Isabel Jorgensen
University of Waterloo
“A bird’s eye view on terminal lake decline in the western United States: Bayesian modelling reveals new evidence for regional conservation strategies”
Abhimanyu Lele
University of Chicago
“Elevation, dispersal ability, and habitat fragmentation shape genetic connectivity in a tropical biodiversity hotspot”
Richard Lyon
University of Pittsburgh
“Acoustic recorders improve occupancy model precision compared to point count surveys for the large-scale monitoring of two species of eastern forest birds:
Jon Merwin
Drexel University
“Community science images, museum specimens, and whole genome sequencing reveal the molecular underpinnings of mimicry in toucans”
Keeta Moore
University of Georgia
“Where the warblers are: Habitat effects on pairing and occupancy of Kirtland’s warblers (Setophaga kirtlandii)”
Ben Wiens
University of Kansas
“Hybrid zone analysis with the R package triangulaR: lessons learned from simulations and empirical datasets”