Golden Cattail Award

The Golden Cattail Award was created to honor individuals among us who have made exceptional contributions to the study of wetland biogeochemistry throughout their professional career.

2025 Recipient

Curtis J. Richardson (2025)

At the 2025 symposium, the award proudly honored Dr. Curtis J. Richardson, a trailblazer in wetland science and a respected leader in applied ecology. Dr. Richardson is a Professor of Resource Ecology and the Founding and First Director of the Duke University Wetland Center in the Nicholas School of the Environment. He holds degrees from the State University of New York and the University of Tennessee and has dedicated his career to unraveling the complexities of ecosystem responses to large-scale environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution, flooding, and nutrient dynamics.

Dr. Richardson's research has revolutionized our understanding of phosphorus dynamics in wetlands, environmental stress impacts on plant communities, and ecosystem functions and services. His work is driven by a mission to develop innovative ecological solutions to pressing environmental issues, with the ultimate goal of providing predictive models and strategies for effective ecosystem management.

His recent research highlights include:

Beyond his groundbreaking research, Dr. Richardson has overseen the primary analytical lab at Duke University’s Nicholas School, fostering collaboration and mentorship among students and faculty. His contributions extend to leadership roles, including serving as President of the Society of Wetland Scientists (1987-1988) and Chair of the Nicholas School Division of Environmental Sciences and Policy. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society of Wetland Scientists, and the Soil Science Society of America. Additionally, Dr. Richardson has been consistently recognized in Who’s Who in Science since 1989 and has contributed extensively to editorial review committees for scientific journals.

The Golden Cattail Award is a testament to Dr. Richardson’s extraordinary contributions to wetland science and his enduring impact on environmental research and education. We are honored to recognize him as the 2025 recipient.

Previous Recipients

Robert Twilley (2021)

At the 2021 symposium, the Golden Cattail Award was presented to Dr. Robert Twilley, former executive director of the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program and Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Louisiana State University (LSU).

Dr. Twilley is a titan in his field. He continually engages decision makers at all levels in order to ensure they have the very best science available to them when making informed choices for management of these vital coastal systems. We are proud to honor his nearly 40-year career with the Golden Cattail Award in Recognition of Exceptional Contributions to Advancing Knowledge in Wetland Biogeochemistry,” said John White, chair of the symposium. Twilley is a leading national expert in coastal deltaic science and sustainability. He has worked on some of the largest ecosystem restoration efforts in the world including the Mississippi River Delta, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Florida Everglades. In addition, he has worked on mangrove conservation and restoration throughout the neotropics of Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico. He has published extensively on wetland ecology and global climate change, and he has been involved in developing ecosystem models coupled with engineering designs to forecast the rehabilitation of coastal and wetland ecosystems.
K. Ramesh Reddy (2018)

The first inaugural award was presented to Dr. K. Ramesh Reddy in recognition of more than 40 years of extensive contributions to the foundation of our science.

Dr. Reddy has carried out research for over 40 years on biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in natural and managed wetland and aquatic ecosystems focused on water quality, function and recovery, and ecosystem restoration. His early research as a biogeochemist focused on the fate of nitrogen in flooded rice paddies, followed by applying biogeochemical principles to study nutrient/contaminant behavior in primarily freshwater and coastal wetlands. His research contributed to establishing the role of wetland soils as sinks, sources, and transformers of nutrients and other chemical contaminants, and their impact on water quality and ecosystem productivity.
Dr. Reddy promoted the concept that surface water quality is governed by the biogeochemical processes functioning at various spatial and temporal scales. Often, these processes are ignored and the ecosystem is treated as a “black box”. This traditional empirical approach is inadequate for effective evaluation of an ecosystem’s performance. Dr. Reddy and his students and collaborators effectively integrated biogeochemical principles to address these issues by collaborating with scientists from various disciplines including ecology, biology, limnology, and engineering.
Dr. Reddy is author or coauthor of over 350 refereed journal articles, edited 5 books, numerous non-refereed publications, and invited presentations. He was named as “Highly Cited Researcher” in Ecology and Environment by ISI (Institute for Scientific Information). Major findings from his research are summarized in the text book entitled “Biogeochemistry of Wetlands: Science and Applications”. This book, coauthored with Dr. Ron DeLaune, was published in the year 2008 and has become the standard in wetland science.
Dr. Reddy has been the Principal or Co-Investigator on several extramural grants/contracts, with a combined value in excess of $30 million from various state and federal agencies and private industry. Dr. Reddy’s major educational contribution is the development of a strong graduate program, built with students recruited from soil and water science and other related disciplines including biology, limnology, and engineering. He diligently trains his students in an inter-disciplinary framework, and prepares them to apply modern principles of soil and water sciences in solving complex problems. His students have made major contributions to integrating biogeochemistry principles in determining the role of soils and sediments in regulating water quality and other ecosystem functions.
He served as chair of 34 Ph.D and 20 MS students and as graduate committee member of over 130 students and has mentored 27 post docs and 8 Research Scientists. One measure of the success of any graduate educator is how well his former students and mentees become established. Dr. Reddy’s former graduate students and former post-docs are highly regarded as faculty members at major universities, and as research scientists in governmental agencies and private industry R&D labs.
Dr. Reddy developed strong linkages between research and its application to solve real-world problems in ecosystem management. To develop this linkage, he is in constant interaction with state and federal agencies and provides them with the scientific information that can be incorporated into management and policy. The following is just a few examples of Dr. Reddy’s service to the nation in helping to inform policy on Wetlands Issues:
  1. USEPA Science Advisory Board - Ecological Process and Effects Committee (EPEC) 2014-15.
  2. USEPA Science Advisory Board - Panel for the Review of the EPA Water Body Connectivity Report 2013-14.
  3. International Atomic Energy Agency - Expert Mission to Guatemala, March 3-9, 2013.
  4. Member, U.S. National Research Council Committee – Everglades Restoration, National Academy of Sciences - 2007-2014.
  5. USEPA, Science Advisory Board’s Ecological Processes and Effects Committee -2012-2015.
  6. Member of National Committee to develop nutrient criteria for wetland ecosystems, USEPA.
  7. Member, U.S. National Committee on Soil Science, National Academy of Sciences 2003-08.
  8. Member of the National Environment Research Council and the Global Environmental Research Committee of the Royal Society, Feb 8-10, 2010, London.
Dr. Reddy was also one of the first to document the nutrient trigger to the degradation of the Florida Everglades Ecosystem, with research ongoing in this area for the past 25+ years. One of the many remarkable things about Dr. Reddy’s accomplishments is that he has been extremely active in research these past 18+ years while simultaneously serving the University of Florida and the Soil and Water Sciences Department as the Department Chairman. During this time, he developed a distance education graduate degree program in Soil and Water Sciences, Environmental Science Track, for place-bound students.
In addition to his extensive research dossier, Dr. Reddy has taught several classes, even while serving as the department chair. His major educational contribution has been the introduction of interdisciplinary courses in wetland sciences “Biogeochemistry of Wetlands”, “Wetlands and Water Quality” and “Advanced Biogeochemistry”. Dr. Reddy is one of the most accomplished and respected academics in the field of Wetlands and Aquatic Systems and we, as researchers and colleagues, are especially grateful for his contributions to our field!
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