Student Award Winners
2024
4th Southwest Fire Ecology Conference: Student Poster Contest
1st place: Abelino Fernandez Leger, New Mexico Tech
2nd place: Cara Caruolo, Northern Arizona University
3rd place: Tessa Putz, University of California-Davis
Poster: How Does Prescribed Fire influence Yellow Pine Persistence Potential Across California (PDF)
2023
10th international fire ecology and management Congress: Student Poster Contest
1st place: Jenna E. Morris, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington
Katie Jones receiving award at the 2023 Fire Congress Awards Luncheon
2nd place: William Cannon, Northern Arizona University
Poster: Factors influencing evacuation decision-making during fast-moving wildfire events: A case study of two Colorado fires (PDF)
3rd place: Katie A. Jones, Colorado State University
2022
2022 Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award: Nic Dutch, UC Berkeley
Nic Dutch is the co-president, and active member of UC Berkeley's chapter of Student Association for Fire Ecology, and has demonstrated excellence in the field of fire ecology during their time at UC Berkeley. In addition to their leadership within their SAFE chapter and as President of Cal's Forestry Club, Nic has taken many academic classes relating to fire ecology and forest management, as well as NWCG S-courses with PBAs to jumpstart a future career in fire ecology and fire/forest management. As a part of the York Pyrosilviculture Lab and as a forestry technician for Blodgett Forest Research Station, Nic has participated in research focused prescribed fire operations, assisted graduate students on their fire ecology related research, and conducted their own project documenting the prescribed burn planning process. From the field to campus to the trailhead, you can catch Nic always with a smile and eager to put in the hard work. Nic is passionate about community-centered land management and hopes to have a successful career ahead of them within fire ecology and ecosystem management. This Winter 2022, Nic graduated with their degree in Ecosystem Management and Forestry from UC Berkeley, with a minor in Geographic Information Science and Technology. You can now find them in Quincy, CA, where they work as a Post-Fire Forest Resilience Researcher for UC Cooperative Extension or burning with Plumas Underburn Cooperative.
2022 Edward Komarek Sr. Graduate Student Excellence Award: Cara Applestein, Boise State University
Cara Applestein has developed a leadership role in the field of management response to wildfire at an early career stage. She is currently a PhD candidate at Boise State University, and previously earned a MS degree from University of Maryland and a BS degree from Dickinson College, Pennsylvania. After her MS degree, she worked on prairie restoration, which involves fire, in Washington state with the NGO Center for Natural Land Management before becoming a lead technician in the fire ecology program at the US Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center in Boise, Idaho in 2016. She quickly identified basic science information needs for adaptively managing burned sagebrush steppe in the USGS position and thus began her PhD program to focus on the needs in 2018 at Boise State University. Her dissertation focuses on the question of how to best model and know vegetation recovery in recently burned areas, In the past four years, she had led or co-authored 16 publications in peer-reviewed international journals that address fire science, 9 of them as lead author. Her expertise is sought by fire managers, including work on Remote Incident Support Teams (RIST) to provide spatial modeling support to front-line fire attack.
2019
2019 Edward Komarek Sr. Graduate Student Excellence Award: Dr. Laura Marshall, University of Arizona
Laura A. Marshall, PhD from the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research is beginning her career in forest ecology and resilience, with an interest in the intersection of past disturbance and climate as a driver of community change. She is currently working on vegetation type conversion in southwestern US forests, and pursuing a graduate certificate in geographic information science. She is often found running trails in the mountains around Tucson.
Three students were recognized at the 8th International Fire Ecology and management Congress for their superior poster presentations. Congrats to Mark, Scott, and Alex!
8th International fire ecology and management congress: student poster contest
1st place: Mark Kreider, Utah State University
Poster Title: Landscape and micro-scale factors interact to influence post-fire aspen seedling regeneration
2nd place: Scott Sprague, University of Idaho
Poster Title: Us and Them Examining the Cultural Perceptions of Interagency and Private Wildland Firefighters
3rd place: Alexander Howe, Utah State University
Poster Title: Quantifying burn severity heterogeneity using the 2017 Brianhead Fire as a case study.
2017
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Darcy Hammond
2016
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Emma Williams
Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award: Elizabeth Wright
2015
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Emma Vakili
Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award: Leslie Fowler
2014
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Michael Tiller
Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award: Zachary Senneff
2013
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Daniel Godwin and Jena Ferrarese
Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award: Kristen Miller
2012
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Adam Watts and Micah-John Beierle
2011
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Chris Dunn and Garrett Meigs
Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award: Penny Whisenant
2009
Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award: Sparkle Malone
2008
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Andrea Stebleton and Susie Douglas
2007
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Chris Powell and Josh Switzer
2006
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Jay Lininger
Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award: Tyler Hawkins
2005
Komarek Graduate Student Excellence Award: Jennifer Potts
Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award: Micah-John Beierle
