Despite all the novel challenges of online teaching and learning at the end of this Spring semester, it has been a remarkable year! Our faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students were honored at the national and university level this year for both academic achievements and contributions to building a more sustainable campus community. Congrats to all of you and thank you for all you do!
School of Earth & Sustainability Awards for the 2019-2020 Academic Year
Sustainable Leadership Awards across the School
Faculty: Nancy Johnson (Leadership role), Erik Nielsen (Faculty member), Rod Parnell (Lifetime achievement!)
Graduate Students: (all three from SES!) 1st place: Stephanie Arcusa (PhD student in Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability), 2nd place: Anona Miller (MS student in Environmental Sciences & Policy), 3rd place: Joseph Thomas (PhD student in Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability)
Undergraduate Students: 1st place: Abigail Harman (BS Environmental Sciences), 2nd place: Genevieve Conley (BS Environmental & Sustainability Studies)
Faculty Research Awards
Congratulations to Mary Reid for winning the American Geophysical Union’s Bowen Award in December – a huge honor!
Graduating Undergraduates
Congratulations to not one but TWO SES winners of the top undergrad honor at NAU this spring, the President’s Prize – Genevieve Conley (BS Environmental & Sustainability Studies and BA Spanish) and Mia Piqué (BS Geology and BA Spanish)! Genevieve was also selected as the Distinguished Senior from the College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences, marking the third semester in a row that this honor has gone to an undergraduate in our School. Given the dual commitment to academic success and contributing to community and environmental change-making we see in our students, we’re not surprised!
Gen Conley (above) and Mia Piqué (below), both out in the world during their year abroad with Interdisciplinary Global Programs.
Genevieve and Mia were also joined by four more amazing School of Earth & Sustainability grads in winning Gold Axe Awards – Max Evans (BS Geology), Sheridan Jones (BS Geology), Anthony Mirabito (Environmental & Sustainability Studies), and Sarah Negovan (BS Environmental Sciences).
Graduating BS students in Geology were also awarded with the Distinguished Geology Senior Award – 1st place: Max Evans, 2nd place: Emily Kunkle & Mia Piqué, and the Mueller Family Geology Senior Award – Emily Kunkle & Natasha Voss.
Continuing Undergraduates
For our continuing students, there are also great things ahead on their road to graduation. Across the School 11 students will be completing independent research projects next year with the recognition and support of the Hooper Undergraduate Research Awards – Matthew Johnson (Biology), Catherine Lepp (Geology and Biology), Joshua Rihs (Environmental Sciences), Paige Thompson (Environmental Sciences), Isaiah Ronquillo (Geology), Brynn Anderson (Geology), Henry Moore (Geology), Kaitlin Boren (Geology), Sonya Bogle (Geology), Erin Kaplan (Geology), Ronni Chavez (Geology and French). Congrats to all of you for writing great research proposals!
Thanks to generous support from donors and friends of NAU, SES, and the environment, we were also able to award the following scholarships and honors to support students in their continuing studies:
Environmental Fund for a Sustainable Future Scholarship – Mariah Letowt, Emily Werner, Christina Osterink
Lisa Marie Jones Memorial Scholarship – Cedric Gammon, Dylan Chandler, Kylee Musslewhite, Sarah Burnham
Bill Morrall Memorial Conservation Scholarship – Leah Wilson, Sarah Pytleski
Larry Allyn Headlee Award – Sonya Bogle
Cree Family Award – Henry Moore, Catherine Lepp, Sonya Bogle
Vesto Melvin Slipher Award – Catherine Lepp
Graduate Student Awards
Congrats to Lexi Riche, a PhD student in our Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability program, for being awarded a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!
Graduate students in all our programs were also supported this year by generous alumni, donors, and prestigious national fellowships. In addition to support from the Olajos-Goslow Endowment to students in the Environmental Sciences & Policy program, students are or will be supported by the following:
Wyss Scholars Program for the Conservation of the American West – Ella Samuel, Lindsay Hansen
John Prather Graduate Scholarship in Conservation Biology – Savannah Lehnert
Henry Hooper Student Fund Award – Savannah Lehnert, Lindsay Hansen, Emmy Wrobleski, Caitlin Winterbottom, Ethan Taber, Stephannie Fernandes
Bedwell Earth Physics award – Samantha Berglin, Tim Brickey, Allison Huisa, Paige LaPlant, Ally Murray, John Spruell, Emmy Wrobleski
Montgomery Prize – Rhys Park
David Sanders Geology Research Assistantship Award – Allison Huisa
Ronald Blakey Award – Tim Brickey, Holly Gregorich, Josh Smith, Emily Schottenfels
McCullough Award – Keegan Donovan
Pioneer Natural Resources Award – Samantha Berglin, Tim Brickey, Keegan Donovan, Holly Gregorich Allison Huisa, Paige LaPlant Sela Patterson, Josh Smith, Eva Baransky, Claire Pringle
Basin Structure Award – Tim Brickey
Muehlberger Family Award – Sara Burch, Emily Wrobleski
Becker Family Award – Samantha Berglin
GTA Excellence in Teaching Award – Keegan Donovan, Rhys Park