Congratulations to Karen Carvajal for receiving three travel awards to support her recent trip to the 156th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) in Columbus, Ohio, held August 30–September 3, 2026. Karen received the Fish Culture Section Student Travel Award, the American Fisheries Society Student Travel Award, and a School of Forest, Fisheries and Geomatics Sciences (SFFGS) Travel Grant.
During the meeting, Karen presented two oral presentations highlighting her research and experience in fisheries and aquaculture. Her presentations were “Desaturase Activity in the LC-PUFA Biosynthesis Pathway of Three Florida Fish Species” and “Innovative Compact Hatchery: Enhancing Fish Production and Sustainability in Limited Spaces.”
“Attending the AFS Annual Meeting gave me the opportunity to share my research with the broader fisheries and aquaculture community. Receiving the Fish Culture Section Student Travel Award was especially meaningful because it allowed me to connect with members of the section for the first time and become more involved in a network closely aligned with my research interests. The conference was also a great opportunity to meet other students and scientists, exchange ideas, and build professional connections.”
Karen Carvajal is a Ph.D. candidate in the Ibarra-Castro Lab at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience. Her doctoral research focuses on LC-PUFA biosynthesis in marine fish species of interest for aquaculture, with the goal of improving our understanding of their nutritional physiology and supporting the development of more sustainable aquaculture feeds.
Karen recently successfully completed her doctoral candidacy examinations and will continue her dissertation research during a doctoral research stay at the Instituto de Acuicultura Torre de la Sal (IATS-CSIC) in Spain. Her research stay is supported by the Cynthia A. Melnick Scholar Award, which supports graduate students conducting research in marine systems and recognizes the importance of interdisciplinary research. Karen’s work brings together fish nutrition, physiology, molecular biology, and aquaculture to investigate LC-PUFA biosynthesis and its potential applications to sustainable aquaculture.