Each year at the Society’s annual meeting, the Geology and Society Division gives one or two awards for the most outstanding student presentations in the oral sessions sponsored or co-sponsored by the Division. At last year’s Annual Meeting in Denver, the G&S division sponsored or co-sponsored 20 oral technical sessions and two poster sessions. There were 33 oral presentations scheduled to be delivered by students in the 20 sessions, with 25 actually delivered by students. From the reviews of the student presentations, two really stood out as excellent – both from the quality of the presentation and from the relevance of the presentation to society.
The first award is for a presentation delivered by Mohammed Niaz Morshed of Murray State University entitled “Modeling the Effects of Sea Level Rise in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh.” Sea-level rise is reshaping the landscape of Bangladesh. Since the country is largely low-lying and densly populated, the changing climate has the potential to inundate much of the country. Niaz’s work assessed the impact of sea level rise on farmland, settlements, and infrastructure under different sea-level rise scenarios with the goal of helping decision makers and planners understand the risks and take steps to address them.
Comments from reviewers included:
- Great recognition of the issues facing Bangladesh and the need for changes in policy
- Answered tough questions well
Mr. Morshed has a bachelor’s degree in Soil, Water and Environmental science and a Master’s degree in Environmental science from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He completed a second Master’s in Geosciences from Murray State University, KY, focusing on the application of remote sensing and GIS, and is now pursuing a PhD in GIS from Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas. His research is focused on the factors attributed to the climate change and its consequence to the environment. Bangladesh is the ultimate and worst victim of climate change and global warming, and his ultimate goal is to work for UN and contribute to his country and ultimately render his services for the better and secured life for all humans.
The second award is for a presentation delivered by Kevin McCoy of the Colorado School of Mines, entitled “Analysis of Economic Risk from Post-Wildfire Debris Flows.” Residents of the semi-arid western US are well aware of the direct risks associated with wildfire. Unfortunately, many are not aware of the risks associated with the aftermath of the fire. Kevin’s work was designed to set the stage for optimizing the selection of natural hazard management strategies following a fire based on economic factors.
Comments from reviewers included:
- Excellent presentation, good appreciation for the interface of economics and science
- Great job bringing economics and science together to help address an important public policy issue
Mr. McCoy is a graduate student pursuing a PhD in Geological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden Colorado. He has a BS in Earth Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and an MS in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University. Prior to graduate school, Mr. McCoy worked for 5 years as an environmental hydrogeologist in California. His research interests include landslides and other natural hazards. His current research focuses on developing methods to quantitatively assess economic risk associated with post-fire debris flows.