The Dean’s Travel Award recognizes a select number of BESE graduate students whose research is demonstrating exceptional quality and momentum. The award supports these students in presenting their work at leading international conferences, where they share new findings, engage with global research communities, and contribute to scientific dialogue in their respective fields.

This year’s recipients reflect the strength of graduate research within BESE. Through work addressing coral reef processes, coral disease, crop–pathogen interactions, and plant adaptation to extreme environments, they are advancing research that is being discussed and evaluated on international platforms. The Dean’s Travel Award enables their work to reach a broader audience and supports their development as emerging researchers within the global scientific community.

Gage Mele

PhD Student, Marine Science
Advisor: Michael D. Fox
Conference: Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM), Glasgow

Research focus
Gage’s research challenges long-standing assumptions about how coral reefs function. While reefs were once considered largely self-sustaining, his work demonstrates that they rely heavily on external pelagic food sources that are significantly underestimated by satellite observations. 

By combining 15 months of biweekly in situ sampling across the Red Sea and Tropical Pacific with advanced Bayesian modeling, Gage showed that satellites can underestimate pelagic productivity near reefs by more than 80 percent. His findings reveal a vast, previously overlooked deep chlorophyll resource pool that plays a critical role in reef resilience and post-bleaching recovery.

Presenting this research internationally
At the Ocean Sciences Meeting, a leading global conference in oceanography, Gage will present his findings to researchers specializing in ocean optics, remote sensing, and reef ecology. Engaging with this community will allow him to receive expert feedback on his methods and interpretations and to situate his work within broader efforts to understand how pelagic processes influence coral reef ecosystems.

Student quote
“Ocean Sciences Meeting is the leading conference in marine science and brings together experts from the fields of oceanography, marine ecology, and sustainability to discuss the most pressing topics in ocean science.

Laura Beenham

PhD Student, Marine Science
Advisor: Raquel S. Peixoto
Conference: International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS), Auckland

Research focus
Laura’s research addresses one of the most urgent and least understood drivers of coral reef decline: disease. Her work provides one of only a handful of experimentally confirmed demonstrations worldwide identifying a microbial pathogen responsible for coral disease using Koch’s postulates. 

By isolating, sequencing, and experimentally validating Vibrio owensii as the causative agent of rapid tissue loss in Acropora hemprichii, Laura has made a rare and significant contribution to coral disease ecology. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates coral husbandry, microbial genomics, infection assays, and environmental stress experiments, advancing the scientific foundation needed for effective reef management and restoration.

Presenting this research internationally
The International Coral Reef Symposium is a primary global forum for coral reef science. Presenting this work at ICRS allows Laura to share a rare experimental validation of a coral disease pathogen with the international research community, engage with experts in coral disease and reef management, and contribute to ongoing discussions on microbial approaches to reef conservation.

Student quote
“Receiving the Dean’s Travel Award is such an honour. It gives me the opportunity to present my research on a newly described coral pathogen at an international conference in New Zealand, helping to support restoration efforts by improving our ability to combat coral disease.”

Natalia Arango López

PhD Student, Plant Science
Advisor: Simon G. Krattinger
Conference: International Wheat Congress (IWC), Perth

Research focus
Natalia’s research explores one of the most durable forms of disease resistance in crops: non-host resistance. Her work has revealed a conserved molecular mechanism that enables plants such as barley to resist fungal pathogens that devastate related cereal crops.

By identifying glycoside hydrolase enzymes as key ligands recognized by receptor kinases, Natalia has helped demonstrate that this resistance mechanism is conserved across multiple cereal species. This discovery advances understanding of plant–pathogen interactions and opens pathways for engineering durable disease resistance in major food crops.

Presenting this research internationally
The International Wheat Congress brings together scientists, breeders, and industry leaders working across wheat research and crop improvement. Presenting at this forum enables Natalia to share her findings with a broad international audience and to engage with researchers focused on translating disease resistance mechanisms into future breeding strategies.

Student quote
“Attending this year’s International Wheat Congress is a key opportunity for my career development. This biennial conference serves as a platform for advancing discussions on wheat-pathogen interactions and their implications for global food security, which are central to my PhD research. By winning the Dean’s Travel Award I get to represent KAUST by sharing our advances in the field with the global wheat research community!”

Yunchuan Wang

PhD Student, Plant Science
Advisor: Mark Tester
Conference: Plant Biology 2026, Ottawa

Research focus
Yunchuan’s research focuses on understanding how extreme halophytic plants such as Salicornia tolerate and manage high salinity. Using comparative genomics and transcriptomics, he investigates how these plants compartmentalize sodium in shoot tissues, preventing cellular toxicity.

By developing multiple Salicornia genomes, Yunchuan has identified candidate genes linked to salt tolerance. His work contributes new insights with implications for improving crop resilience on salt-affected soils worldwide. 

Presenting this research internationally
Plant Biology is one of the largest annual conferences in plant science, bringing together experts across genomics, physiology, and stress biology. Presenting his work at this meeting enables Yunchuan to engage directly with researchers working on plant adaptation to extreme environments and to place his findings within a wider international research context.

Student quote
“Dean’s Travel Award means I can bring my research on Salicornia—a halophyte—to an international plant biology conference. It will give me the opportunity to present and promote our research, receive valuable feedback from experts in related fields, and learn about new techniques and recent advances.”