Department Recognizes Student and Faculty Achievements at Annual Awards Ceremony

A large group of people seated at tables in a spacious room, with a stage in the background.

Event honors academic milestones, research contributions and service.

On May 21, the Department of Geographical Sciences hosted its annual Awards Ceremony to recognize the outstanding achievements of its students and faculty. From research milestones and academic excellence to service and leadership, the event highlighted the many ways members of the department contribute to the field of geography and to the broader community.

Keith Yearwood, director of Undergraduate Studies, opened the ceremony with a warm welcome and introduced Department Chair and Professor Tatiana Loboda. In her remarks, Loboda acknowledged the challenges of the past year while celebrating the strength and accomplishments of the department community. “We’ve thrived,” she noted. “The individuals we recognize today have contributed to the excellence of our department and the discipline of geography as a whole.”

The first round of recognitions celebrated graduate students who reached important academic milestones. Students in the MS Geospatial Information Science and MS Geospatial Intelligence programs were applauded for their successful capstone presentations. PhD students were recognized for progressing through key stages of their programs, culminating in the final dissertation defense.

This year’s Ph.D. graduates included Christian Abys, Yiming Zhang, Allison Bredder, Xiangjie Chen, Baobao Liu, Yuhao Wang, Tiago de Conto, Jennifer Kennedy and Peiqi Zhang. They were joined on stage by their advisors in celebration of this major achievement.

Clockwise from top left: Ph.D. student Monojit Saha with Graduate Director and Professor Leila DeFloriani; Research Director and Professor Meredith Gore and Post-Doc Associate Natacha Kalecinski;  Undergraduate student Matt Heinz and Chair and Professor Tatiana Loboda: Professor Ralph Dubayah and Ph.D graduate Tiago de Conto. See more photos.

Undergraduates were honored next, with awards recognizing academic excellence, research, leadership and service. Faculty offered heartfelt congratulations to students completing honors theses, contributing to research labs, or mentoring peers. 

The ceremony also acknowledged the contributions of faculty and staff who have gone above and beyond in their departmental roles.

2025 Department Award Winners:

Excellence in Graduate Research 1st Place: Tiago de Conto
Excellence in Graduate Research 2nd Place: Yuhao Wang and Shuo Xu
Excellence in Graduate Research 3rd Place: Zhili Li, Yuehui Qian and Jiaxun Sun
Brian R. Melchior Endowed Research Fund: Matt Heinz
GIS Summer Fellowship: Mengyu Liao and Shuo Xu 
Jingli Yang Fellowship: Monojit Saha 
Human Dimensions of Global Change Fellowship: Wen Qi
Graduate Student Appreciation Award: Haley Mullen and Judith Rakowski
Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant: Kyle Pumphrey
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant: Tavis Mansfield 
Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant: Peiqi Zhang
Robert A. Harper Undergraduate Research Paper Award: Iman Smith
Undergraduate Independent Research Award: Beverly Bolster
James R. Anderson Award: Zachary Kinloch
Outstanding MS GIS Student: Kristen O'Shea and Ariana McDermott 
Outstanding MS GEOINT Student: Allison DeBoy
O.E. Baker Award: Jingjing (Elle) Xu
Outstanding Faculty Specialist: Erik Duncan 
Outstanding Post-Doctoral Associate: Natacha Kalecinski
Outstanding Research Faculty: Juan Martin Dabezies 
Outstanding Instructional Faculty: Ruibo Han

Check out the slideshow presentation:

Published on Fri, 05/30/2025 - 16:30