ENST Faculty, Students Among 2015 AGNR Alumni Award Winners

April 22, 2015

Congratulations to the ENST recipients of the 2015 College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Alumni Awards! The honorees were celebrated at an awards banquet held at the University of Maryland's Riggs Alumni Center on April 16. The College of AGNR Alumni Chapter selected the award winners from a pool of nominations.   Angela Perantoni: Outstanding Student, 4-year program Angela Perantoni will graduate in May 2015 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Technology with a concentration in Ecological Technology Design. She will also complete three minors in soil science, sustainability studies and Spanish language. During her four years at the University of Maryland, Perantoni has built an impressive resume of research experience. She was selected to participate in a highly competitive NSF program during which she led a pilot research study measuring erosion control of riparian saltgrass in an ecological rehabilitation zone at Sunland Park, New Mexico. Perantoni also studied abroad researching plant taxonomy in Costa Rica and worked in Dr. Stephanie Lansing’s anaerobic digestion laboratory on the College Park campus assisting with water quality data collection and analysis. Perantoni plans to pursue a graduate degree in ecological engineering.   Nicole Fiorellino: Outstanding Graduate Student Nicole Fiorellino is a Ph.D. candidate researching the accuracy and sensitivity of the University of Maryland’s Phosphorous Management Tool (PMT) as well as subsurface phosphorus dynamics in the Maryland Coastal Plain Region. Fiorellino has been invited to translate and present her research findings at a number of national and international scientific professional meetings and works closely with Extension educators to bring her research directly to practitioners across the state through trainings, workshops, instructional videos and presentations. Fiorellino also served as a Graduate Assistant for four different courses in both animal science and soil science and received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the AGNR Student Council in 2010. Fiorellino was a member of the 2015 Class of LEAD Maryland – a professional development and leadership program for young professional leaders involved with agriculture, natural resources and rural communities.     Peter May ’92: Outstanding Alumnus Biohabitats, Inc. Baltimore, MD Peter May, PhD, is currently a Senior Environmental Scientist with the consulting firm BioHabitats located in Baltimore, Md. and previously worked as an Environmental Specialist in the Watershed Protection Division for Washington, D.C. May helped construct and operate an ecologically-engineered algal production system on the Baltimore Inner Harbor as a contribution to Baltimore’s Clean Harbor Initiative. As a result of that work, the Chesapeake Stormwater Network gave May their Best Urban BMP in the Bay Award in 2014. He also coordinated an algal production system project in New York City, which received recognition from Mayor Bloomburg’s office. In the last few years, May has returned to his roots in the Department of Environmental Science & Technology, where he is now teaching a course in Ecosystem Ecology.