Mike deGruy was born in Mobile, Alabama, on December 29, 1951. It was here, at the confluence of 5 rivers, with an amazing delta flowing through rich swamps, all emptying into Mobile Bay and finally in the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, that Mike gained his enthusiasm for the ocean. A documentary filmmaker, specializing in underwater cinematography, Mike was also known for his storytelling and passionate TED Talk about his love of the ocean on the Mission Blue Voyage. His company, Film Crew Inc., filmed for BBC, PBS, National Geographic and The Discovery Channel, and Mike was part of the Deepsea Challenge, where James Cameron went to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. 
 
In 2010, Mike served as a keynote speaker for the Bays and Bayous Symposium, and in 2016 the Mike deGruy Bays and Bayous Symposium Student Presentation Awards were created in his honor. The Mike deGruy Student Presentation Awards will be awarded to first-, second- and third-place student presenters of both oral and poster presentations. First-place winners will receive $300, second place will receive $200 and third place will receive $100. The student awards are sponsored by the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Foundation.

In 2012, Mike died in a tragic helicopter crash at Jaspers Brush near the town of Berry in New South Wales, Australia, and in 2017 a feature-film documentary about his life and work, titled "Diving Deep," was released. We are proud to once again remember and honor Mike's legacy during this year's symposium.

Congratulations to the 2024 Mike deGruy Bays and Bayous Student Presentation Awards:

Oral Presentations

• First place: Hailee Nigro, The University of Southern Mississippi, "Temperature-Sensitivity of Juvenile Blue Crab Intermolt Period and Growth-Per-Molt," $300.
• Second place: Cynthia Lupton, Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center, "Effect of Sediment Grain Size and Oyster Presence on Oyster Drill Abundance," $200.
• Third place: Jordan Heiman, The University of Mississippi, "Bacterial Communities of Beaches along the Mississippi Gulf Coast," $100.

Poster Presentations

• First place: Catherine Dodd, University of South Alabama, "Xanthum Gum Addition to Improve the Efficacy of Recycled Glass Sand Substrate in Coastal Restoration," $300.
• Second place: Rejane Paulino, Mississippi State University, "Evaluating PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) Spectral Consistency in the Coastal Waters of Mississippi," $200.
• Third place: Daniel Servos, University of South Alabama, "A Novel Approach for Nitrate Removal and Recovery from Wastewater Using Pseudomonas Nitrate Binding Proteins, $100.

For more details about the awards, read this article.