Dr. Maria Celia Portella, a long-time AquaFish Innovation Lab and ACRSP partner, was recently elected to serve as the President of the World Aquaculture Society's (WAS) Board of Directors. Dr. Portella is currently a professor at Sao Paulo State University (Universidade Estadual Paulista) and Associate Professor at the University’s Aquaculture Center. She brings many years of experience in research, education, and extension to the position as she served as a scientist at the Fisheries Institute in Brazil for 16 years, as the Co-Coordinator of the Latin America & Caribbean Regional Center of Excellence for the AquaFish Innovation Lab since 2013, and is the current coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Brazil.

As President, Dr. Portella hopes to broaden WAS membership and reach, as she said, "the Society should expand its borders, strengthening its commitment to excellence in aquaculture through science, technology, and education, and definitely establish itself as a main leader in the sector." She intends to focus on locations "where aquaculture production is high and the Society is underrepresented." Given the fast growth of the aquaculture sector, Dr. Portella is hopeful that WAS can serve as a primary source of aquaculture information moving forward.

Meanwhile, in Bangladesh the Bangladesh Agricultural University Research System (BAURES) honored Dr. Md. Abdul Wahab, former AquaFish Innovation Lab Host Country Principal Investigator, as one of the top five researchers. The top five researchers were identified by BAURES based on their contributions, overall productivity, and global research impact of their publications. Read more on the recognition in the article published in the Daily Observer.

Currently, Dr. Wahab is a professor in the Department of Fisheries Management at BAU with 35+ years of experience in teaching, research, and extension. As a professor at BAU, he has supervised and mentored over 100 Master’s and PhD students. Some of his research interests include water quality management, the environmental impacts of aquaculture, periphyton (mixture of algae and microbes) enhancement in aquaculture, and climate change. Check out some of his AquaFish Innovation Lab publications on the AquaFish Innovation Lab pubs webpage.

Congratulations to Dr. Portella and Dr. Wahab for their recent accolades! We are honored to work with such strong leaders in the aquaculture field.