From left, Jim Luken and Amanda Rotella of Coastal Carolina University and Steve de Kozlowski, chair of the South Carolina Aquatic Plant Management Society Scholarship Committee.

A Coastal Carolina University graduate student recently won two awards from the South Carolina Aquatic Plant Management Society at the 31st Annual Meeting held at Clemson University.

Amanda Rotella, a second year student pursing a master's degree in coastal marine and wetland studies, was awarded $3,000 for the Phillip M. Fields Scholarship and $300 for the Best Student Presentation Award. Her scholarship application and presentation was based on her graduate research studies with biology professor Jim Luken, associate dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. The presentation was titled "The Growth and Distribution of Water Hyacinth in a Tidal Blackwater River System in South Carolina." A teaching assistant at the University, Rotella is president of the Coastal Marine and Wetlands Graduate Association.

Rotella was born in Orlando, Fla., and attended Lake Highland Preparatory School. She earned a bachelor's degree in environmental and international affairs from the University of New Hampshire.