Awards & Accolades

Liverman elected to two national academies

Diana Liverman, Regents Professor and director of the School of Geography and Development, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The National Academy of Sciences honors achievement in science and provides science, engineering and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. The American Academy of Arts is an honorary society that honors excellence in a wide variety of professions as well as an independent research center that brings together leaders from multiple disciplines to address significant challenges.

Liverman's research focuses on how climate change affects society – especially the most vulnerable populations – and how the world can adapt to climate change.

Read more about Liverman's achievements on UANews.

Pietz named Carnegie fellow

David A. Pietz, a professor of Chinese history, has been named an Andrew Carnegie fellow, an honor given to "extraordinary scholars and writers" doing scholarly research in the humanities and social sciences.

Pietz and 26 others will receive $200,000 each to pursue research "that addresses important and enduring issues confronting our society," according to the Carnegie website.

Pietz will use the award to work on a project titled "Death and Life on the Yangtze: Extinction, Conservation and Environmental Change in China."

The Andrew Carnegie Fellows program, established in 2015, "seeks to include emerging and established scholars from across the country."

Pietz's research has focused on the environmental history of China, including the consequences of how the country has managed its water resources. In April, Pietz was awarded a 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Bronstein elected president of American Society of Naturalists

Judie Bronstein, University Distinguished Professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, has been elected president of the American Society of Naturalists. She will serve as president-elect in 2021 and president in 2022.

The organization is a membership society "whose goal is to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance the conceptual unification of the biological sciences."

Bronstein's research focuses on how population processes, abiotic conditions and community context determine net effects of the interactions for the fitness of each participating species.

Trademarks and Licensing wins another Operation Hat Trick award

For the second straight year, the University of Arizona has earned the Excellence in Service Award from Operation Hat Trick, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting wounded U.S. combat veterans. The University's Trademarks and Licensing office was recognized for its efforts to support military service members and veterans through the sale of camouflage hats, shirts and other gear.

In honor of that effort, Operation Hat Trick has donated $12,000 to the Tucson Fisher House on behalf of the university. The Fisher House Foundation provides homes across the country, where the families of military members and veterans can stay free of charge while a loved one is in the hospital.

The University sold more than $100,000 in Operation Hat Trick merchandise since November. The effort included a photo shoot with student veterans to promote the products. Royalties from those sales went to Operation Hat Trick, which distributes the money to charities on behalf of the participating schools.

The effort was led by Alixe Holcomb, director of trademarks and licensing, and Katherine Schenck, assistant director of trademarks and licensing.

Read more about the award on UANews.

University team earns second place in Campus RainWorks Challenge

A team of University of Arizona students and faculty advisers has earned second place in the Master Plan category in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's eighth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, which calls on teams to design on-campus green infrastructure solutions to help address stormwater pollution.

The students' faculty advising team included Bo Yang, associate professor of landscape architecture, Grant McCormick, adjunct professor of environmental science, Tanya Quist, associate professor of practice in the School of Plant Sciences, Vanessa Buzzard, senior research specialist at the School of Natural Resources and the Environment, and Laura Meredith, assistant professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment.

The team's "Against the Grain" project involves enhancing flood protection through bioretention facilities with native plants and trees and using stormwater runoff as a resource by using cisterns for irrigation.

The student team's members were Jinqiao Deng, Isaac Palomo, Mario Nuño-Whelan, Tess Wagner, Hannah Talkington, Joyce Chen Wang, Jesus Mulgado, Jesus De Los Reyes and Peter Price.

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