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Bernardo “Bernie” Bastien-Olvera, a recent Ph.D. graduate from the Geography Graduate Group at UC Davis, is this year’s recipient of the Kinsella Memorial Prize for his doctoral research on the effects of climate-driven impacts on global ecosystems and the influence on human well-being.

Mia Karisa Dawson was awarded a 2023 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at UCLA working under the mentorship of Dr. Kelly Lytle Hernández. She will work with the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, in connection with the departments of History and Urban Planning. As a visiting scholar, Mia will continue her research and writing about the intersections race, property, and policing in the contemporary movement for abolition.

Gabi Kirk received the UC Davis Graduate Studies Travel Award to present at the Association of American Geographers in Denver March 23-27, 2023. Her paper, "The University of California as Settler Colonial Model: Ideologies of Yield and Cultivation from California to Palestine-Israel, 1917-1967," received the Rural Geography Specialty Group Student Presentation Award, the Middle East Specialty Group Student Paper Award, and an Honorable Mention for Student Paper Award from the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group.

Chevon C. Holmes earns National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award

Congratulations to Chevon C. Holmes for winning a 2023 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support and annual stipend of $37,000. The NSF GRFP is prestigious, highly competitive, and a significant national accomplishment.

Congratulations to PhD Candidates Gabrielle Kirk and Gwyneth Manser who recently received travel awards from the Office of Graduate Studies to present their research at the Association of American Geographers in March 2023. 

Gabrielle's presentation is titled: The University of California as Settler Colonial Model: Ideologies of Yield and Cultivation from California to Palestine-Israel, 1917-1967

UC Davis Geography faculty member Mark Cooper was awarded the 2021-22 Award for Excellence in Service to Graduate Students by the UC Davis Graduate Student Association.  The award is the only university-wide award for graduate mentoring and service and is based on nomination and selection by the graduate student community.

Cooper is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Ecology and the Department of Animal Science, and serves as Geography Vice-Chair and Lead Graduate Advisor.

UC Davis Geography PhD candidate Mitchell Snyder recently won first place in the Landscape Photography Competition, hosted by the American Association of Geographers' Landscape Specialty Group.

Mitchell's winning photo was titled, "Rodeo." The judges commented that his photo “captures the character of a region, conveying movement and a timelessness that is captivating.”
 

Asprooth Selected to Receive Sustainable Agriculture Grant from NCR-SARE
 
(November 10, 2021) - Lauren Asprooth along with Dr. Ryan Galt at the University of California, Davis in Davis, CA has been selected to receive a $14,850 grant from the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) for the project, "Identifying Determinants and Opportunities for Expansion of Organic Small Grain Acreage in Wisconsin."
 

What FEMA's New Flood Risk Rating Means for Californians | UC Davis

Risk Rating 2.0: A first look at FEMA’s new flood insurance system | California WaterBlog

Analysis finds heat inequities in Southwest

Congratulations to Geography postdoc and grad group alumni, Erica Orcutt, Sarah Byer and Laura Daly, who are winners of the CA Election 2020 Data Challenge! They will present their project at the Challenge’s finale – a public webinar on Wednesday evening, Oct 21st (free but registration required). Below is the full event announcement, and you can find out more about the Challenge on our website: https://datalab.ucdavis.edu/ca-election-2020-data-challenge/. 

Congratulations to PhD student, Gwyneth Manser, who has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 Gamma Theta Upsilon Buzzard Graduate Scholarship.

Each year Gamma Theta Upsilon International Geography Honorary Society recognizes five GTU members who have demonstrated academic and service excellence to their departments, their GTU chapter, their community, and geography as a whole.  Four of these scholarships are awarded to undergraduate students and the Buzzard Graduate Scholarship is awarded to a continuing graduate student.

Professor Art Shapiro was invited to write as the person who reinvigorated butterfly study in Argentina after decades of dormancy! In fact, virtually nothing had been done since WWII except by a British expat, Kenneth Hayward (and one of my tasks was correcting some of his mistakes!). Sorry, no Nobel Prize this year. I also gave about 7 oral presentations to Master Gardeners' groups and the like and participated in a WWF-sponsored "Monarch butterfly summit" held here at UCD.