Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

WEST BOOTHBAY HARBOR, MAINE - Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is pleased to announce that Katelyn A. Tracey of Franklin, Maine is the recipient of the eighth annual scholarship in memory of Maureen D. Keller.  Katelyn was chosen from a field of over 50 applicants to receive $1,000 for college expenses.  A 2009 graduate of Ellsworth High School, Tracey is attending the University of Maine in Orono and majoring in Chemical Engineering. She has been a peer tutor in Algebra and Latin, vice president of her senior class, and group leader of a robot project at a summer engineering program at the University of Notre Dame, where she won first place for "Most Ingenious Design." 

Tracey is a member and past president of the National Art Honor Society.  She is an award winning vocalist, performing the national anthem at Portland Seadogs baseball games, UMaine basketball and hockey games, and appearing as a soloist in a number of musicals including Miss Saigon, Wicked, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast. She has also contributed extensive hours of volunteer work in her community for UNICEF, the Red Cross, and the March of Dimes.

Dr. Maureen Keller worked at Bigelow Laboratory from 1979 to 1999.  Dr. Keller was an expert in the ecology and physiology of marine phytoplankton, the single cell algae that form the base of the food web in the ocean.  In addition to her research, Dr. Keller was a leading advocate for teaching science and was instrumental in establishing educational programs for young people at Bigelow Laboratory. When she died suddenly in 1999, memorial donations from her family and friends established the scholarship fund. The scholarship is awarded each year to a Maine high school senior or college freshman who plans to major in science.  Information on the scholarship and applications are available on-line at http://www.bigelow.org/education/scholarships.php.

Established in 1974, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is a center for global ocean research. An independent, nonprofit research institution, the Laboratory is supported by federal research grants and private funds. The laboratory’s research focus ranges from microbial oceanography -- examining biological productivity in the world’s oceans at the molecular level -- to the large-scale biogeochemical processes that drive interactions between ocean ecosystems and global environmental conditions. These programs have taken Bigelow scientists around the world to every ocean and the polar seas.###

Photo: Katelyn A. Tracey, with Bigelow Laboratory Executive Director Dr. Graham Shimmield.