GEOG Celebrates Students, Faculty and Staff at 2026 Ceremony

A woman with blonde hair speaks at a podium during an awards ceremony. Behind her, a presentation screen announces the "Dr. Jingli Yang and Dr. Peter Li Endowed Distinguished Fellowship," listing recipients Adebowale Adebayo, Haijun Li, and Xinyuan Li. Two of the honorees stand to the right of the podium against a backdrop of a brick wall.

Event debuts three new honors while recognizing academic milestones, research and service.

The Department of Geographical Sciences held its annual Awards Ceremony this spring, spotlighting the achievements of students, faculty, research staff and administrators, and introducing three new awards that reflect the department's evolving recognition of the people who sustain it.

Associate Chair Sergii Skakun opened the event before handing the mic to Department Chair Tatiana Loboda, who acknowledged the year's challenges while emphasizing the community's resilience. "Our GEOG community has continued to move forward with purpose and impact," she said.

Graduate students took center stage early, with MS GIS and MS GEOINT students recognized for completing capstone projects, and PhD students applauded for passing portfolio assessments, defending proposals and crossing the finish line with their dissertation defenses, which reached a record-breaking number this year.

The Excellence in Graduate Research Awards honored top peer-reviewed publications, while additional fellowships supported work spanning GeoAI, climate policy, mobility modeling and environmental monitoring. 

The inaugural Dr. Jingli Yang and Dr. Peter Li Endowed Distinguished Fellowship, established through a $1 million gift, was awarded to Ph.D. student Adebowale Adebayo, along with postdocs Haijun Li and Xinyuan Li. Professor Kathleen Stewart, director of graduate studies, underscored the global reach of student research, from malaria modeling in Southeast Asia to soil moisture networks in East Africa and crop mapping across the Delmarva Peninsula.

A four-panel collage captures highlights from the 2026 Department of Geographical Sciences awards ceremony. The top images feature groups of faculty and students posing in front of a University of Maryland backdrop, including a woman holding an award box and two men in professional attire. In the bottom-left panel, a man at a podium presents the Staff Appreciation Award to Kristen Halliday, while the bottom-right panel shows a woman standing with Joe Trocino as he displays his framed BSOS Ambassador Award.

Clockwise from top left:  Padmageetha Najaran and Zhuoning Gu with Vicky Berry (middle); Sergii Skakun and Teddy Jorgensen; Tatiana Loboda and Joe Trocino; Kristen Halliday receives the Staff Appreciation Award. See all photos

Among undergraduate honors, Zachary Miller received the James R. Anderson Award, the department's highest undergraduate distinction. Teddy Jorgensen swept both the Outstanding Undergraduate TA and Undergraduate Independent Research awards, while Tekoa Sultan Reisler won the Robert A. Harper Award for a paper on water Infrastructure inequalities. Kyle Pumphrey received the Brian R. Melchior Endowed Research Fund award.

Three new awards made their debut this year. The Staff Appreciation Award was given to Kristen Halliday in recognition of more than a decade of dedicated service to the MS programs.

The GEOG Ambassador Award, which honors individuals outside the department who champion geographical sciences in the broader community, went to Joe Trocino. A former lecturer, Trocino ran the department's study abroad program in the Caribbean for 12 years and has continued to promote geographical sciences, including through his Geography Factory series on social media.

The GEOG Linchpin Award was given to a department member whose wide-ranging, often behind-the-scenes contributions help hold the community together. “This award goes to a member of the department who plays a critical role — without whom the entire department would pretty much fall apart,” Loboda said, presenting the award to Vicky Berry, director of administrative services.

Berry also received the Graduate Student Appreciation Award, presented by the GEOG Graduate Student Organization (GGSO), making her one of the luncheon’s most recognized honorees alongside students Teddy Jorgensen, Haijun Li and Jiaxun Sun.

2026 Department Award Winners:

Excellence in Graduate Research 1st Place: Haijun Li
Excellence in Graduate Research 2nd Place: Jiaxun Sun and Zhili Li
Excellence in Graduate Research 3rd Place: Jingjing Xu
Brian R. Melchior Endowed Research Fund: Kyle Pumphrey
GIS Summer Fellowship: Xin Dong
Jingli Yang Summer Research Fellowship: Haolin Shao
Human Dimensions of Global Change Fellowship: Jiaxun Sun
Dr. Jingli Yang and Dr. Peter Li Endowed Distinguished Fellowship: Adebowale Adebayo, Haijun Li and Xinyuan Li 
Graduate Student Appreciation Award: Vicky Berry
Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant: Fredrick "Teddy" Jorgensen
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant: Elamin Mohamed Elamin 
Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant: Leonid Shumilo
Robert A. Harper Undergraduate Research Paper Award: Tekoa Sultan-Reisler
Undergraduate Independent Research Award: Fredrick "Teddy" Jorgensen
James R. Anderson Award: Zachary Miller
Outstanding MS GIS Student: Alexander Perigon
Outstanding MS GEOINT Student: Theodore Lawrence Hirsch
O.E. Baker Award: Judith Rakowski and Haley Mullen
Outstanding Faculty Specialist: Jacob Orser
Outstanding Postdoctoral Associate: Abdul Qadir
Outstanding Research Faculty: Lei Ma
Outstanding Instructional Faculty: Naijun Zhou
GEOG Staff Appreciation Award: Kristen Halliday
GEOG Ambassador Award: Joe Trocino
GEOG Linchpin Award: Vicky Berry

Main photo: Professor Kathleen Stewart, director of graduate studies, introduces the recipients of the Dr. Jingli Yang and Dr. Peter Li Endowed Distinguished Fellowship: Adebowale Adebayo, Haijun Li and Xinyuan Li .

All photos by Byron Marroquin

Published on Thu, 05/28/2026 - 22:42