Dr. Kelly A. Rusch and her former student Dr. Barbara C. Benson received the 2006 Superior Paper Award by the Aquacultural Engineering Society for their paper Investigation of the light dynamics and their impact on algal growth rate in a hydraulically integrated serial turbidostat algal reactor (HISTAR). (Aquacultural Engineering 35(2), 122-134). The award was presented at Aquaculture America 2008,  February 11th, 2008.