Freeman Volunteer of the Year Award
This award is named for Robert Mallory Freeman, a former VIMS Council member and supporter who passed away in 2004. Bob was chairman of Signet Bank in Richmond until 1996. He was active with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Virginia Environmental Endowment, among many other community leadership activities. At VIMS, Bob was interested in oyster restoration, advancing research with cutting-edge scientific equipment, and helping to leverage resources through his many generous donations.
This year’s Freeman Award goes to Ms. Hannah Bradley.
Hannah Bradley has been volunteering in the laboratory of VIMS Assistant Professor Emily Rivest since the summer of 2017, where she has made significant contributions to ongoing research projects.
Hannah spent one full day each week volunteering at a level on par with staff. She quickly mastered crucial laboratory skills, helped develop protocols for field projects, and designed experimental deployment cages. Hannah also helped train school-teacher partners, and mentored a summer Governor’s School student on data-collection and analysis techniques.
On returning to her undergraduate studies at James Madison University last fall, Hannah continued to volunteer remotely on a literature-review project. She has spent six hours per week designing and refining the review criteria, and her intellectual contributions have earned her co-authorship on the resulting publication. She has devoted many months to this project, despite her busy senior schedule and her own Honors Thesis work.
Hannah is a volunteer dedicated not only to getting work done but to contributing as an integral member of a lab group. She has surpassed expectations with her dedication and commitment to high-quality work and contributed significantly to the productivity of the Rivest lab.