Kaminski receives 2022 CANR Outstanding Alumni Award
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EmailRichard Kaminski, Ph.D., will receive the 2022 CANR Outstanding Alumni Award during ANR Week.
Richard Kaminski, Ph.D., of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, will receive the Michigan State University (MSU) College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) Outstanding Alumni Award at the March 11 ANR Awards Program.
The CANR Outstanding Alumni Awards are given to those who have distinguished themselves by obtaining the highest level of professional accomplishments, and who possess the highest standards of integrity and character.
Kaminski is the director of the James C. Kennedy Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation Center for the Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science at Clemson University in Georgetown, South Carolina, a role he has held since 2015.
He earned both a master’s degree and a doctorate in wildlife biology and management from the MSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Upon graduation, Kaminski became a research biologist for the Biological Services Group of Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), conducting research on waterfowl habitat use and evaluating DUC’s wetland management practices in western and eastern Canada.
In 1983, he joined the faculty at the Mississippi State University Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture as an assistant professor. He rose to the position of full professor and was later named the James C. Kennedy Endowed Chair in Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation. From 2007 to 2012, he served as associate dean of the Mississippi State University College of Forest Resources.
Kaminski’s interests have spanned almost all aspects of waterfowl management, including basic biology, hunter attitudes and behaviors and more. However, his greatest contribution has been working to better understand waterfowl habitats and how waterfowl and other migratory birds use resources and respond to changes in landscapes.
Along with his students, he has completed numerous projects that have directly informed the management of wetlands, both for the benefit of lifeforms that inhabit them and for humankind. He has dedicated the last several years to recognizing and establishing educator and research positions at universities across North America to ensure the expertise on waterfowl ecology and management continues well into the future.
Kaminski has received many awards for both academic and conservation achievements, including the 2014 Distinguished Alumnus from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources and the 2013 C.W. Watson Award, the most prestigious life-long conservation and service award in the southeastern U.S.
