2020 NAREA Award Winners
Master's Thesis Awards
The Master's Thesis Committee awarded two Outstanding Master's Thesis awards this year instead of the usual one outstanding award and one award of merit. This is because the two top theses this year were essentially tied in the rankings by the committee. Each student receives a $250 prize.
Julia Dumaine (University of Connecticut), "Understanding Trade-Offs between Built and Natural Assets in Coastal Management Projects for Inland, Coastal Residents using Latent Class Modeling Techniques: An Application to the Connecticut Coastline"
Rashmit Arora (Penn State University), "Assessing the Viability of Meat Alternatives to Mitigate the Societal Concerns Associated with Animal Agriculture in India"
Annual Meeting Best Presentation Awards
There are two best presentation/paper awards, one for a student and one for a young scholar. Each award winner receives a $400 prize, a plaque recognizing the accomplishment, and if they submit their paper to ARER, expedited review and, if accepted, waiver of APC charges.
Student Best Presentation Award: Louis Sears (Cornell University), "Groundwater Under Open Access: A Structural Model of the Dynamic Common Pool Extraction Game"
Young Scholar Best Presentation Award: Belinda Archibong (Barnard College, Columbia University), "The Politics and Economic Burden of Epidemic Disease: Evidence from the Meningitis Belt"
NAREA is Committed to the Fight Against Anti-Black Racism and Structural Inequality
NAREA leadership denounces the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, whose deaths follow a horrifying pattern laid out by our country's history of anti-Black racism and structural inequities. We condemn police brutality. We stand with the families of the victims and with all of those who cry out for justice and for an end to systemic racism.
We are committed to lending our voices to this fight. Environmental quality and natural resource conservation are of little value if their fruits are not shared equitably. Environmental justice depends on social justice, and on an end to racial inequity. The fight against structural racism requires the contributions of all of us as individuals, and NAREA as an organization.
NAREA has made efforts to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our association and in our profession but we know that these are just small, starting steps. We recognize that we need to do more to end anti-Black racism and racial injustices in our communities and beyond. We are committed to redoubling our efforts in this fight. We commit to unflaggingly pursuing projects that increase racial diversity, and that make NAREA a more inclusive community. Specifically, we will: host a session at each annual NAREA conference that addresses racial and social inequities; put out a call for papers for a special issue on social justice in the NAREA journal ARER; and engage more Black scholars and other scholars of color in NAREA leadership and initiatives like our mentoring program CAM.
We call on all NAREA members to join us in this effort, and look forward to hearing from you on other concrete steps that NAREA can take to further these goals. To share your ideas and contribute to these efforts, please attend the listening session at the 2020 virtual annual meeting from 1:00-2:00pm on Wednesday, June 17th (register here to attend this session via Zoom). You may also contact any member of the leadership team or the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
The racial injustices in our world are real and have persisted for generations, perpetuated by people, practices and institutions. Our profession and our association are microcosms of that world. We will work tirelessly to create the change we all seek, and we are grateful for your partnership in this endeavor.
Sincerely,
NAREA Presidents and Board members
Message from the President regarding 2020 Annual Meeting
May 1, 2020
Dear Friends & Members,
As the conversations surrounding COVID-19 changed from 'bending-the-curve' to 'opening the economy,’ we decided this year to redirected our efforts and move to a virtual meeting for this year.
We plan to return to an in-person conference in June 2021 in Annapolis Maryland. We have postponed the meeting in Mystic, CT until June of 2022. We are looking forward to enjoying this beautiful shipbuilding seaport village, which was settled in 1654.
This year, we will have a virtual meeting from June 15 to June 19. More details pertaining to that meeting will be posted on our website and also shared with you via our newsletter, which will go out around the third week of May. The registration deadline will be extended to just prior to the virtual meeting, and registration this year will be free.
With best wishes,
Gal Hochman
NAREA President
NAREA is soliciting research and factsheets on the impact of COVID-19 on employment and production activities including, but not limited to, agriculture, resource management, and food supply chains. The factsheets will undergo an expedited review before being posted on our website.
