ASU School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning celebrates excellence at 35th annual awards ceremony

Arizona State University's School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning honored students, faculty and staff for academic excellence, leadership, research achievements and service during its 35th annual awards ceremony on April 17 at the ASU University Club.

The celebration recognized the people and milestones that continue to shape the school's impact across Arizona and beyond. The event also celebrated two faculty retirements, honoring Graduate College Vice Provost and Dean Elizabeth “Libby” Wentz and Erinanne Saffell, climatologist and associate teaching professor, for their years of service and lasting contributions to the school. Associate Professor David Hondula served as master of ceremonies for the event and included plenty of heartfelt moments and laughter.

“This event is a unique opportunity to recognize the creativity, dedication and impact of the SGSUP community,” said Director David Sailor. “These achievements reflect the strength of our school and the dedication of our students, faculty, staff and partners who make this work possible. We appreciate the generosity of our donors who have made many of these awards and scholarships possible for our students.”

Sailor noted that the 2025–26 academic year was especially significant for the school, with graduate enrollment increasing 40% year over year, driven in part by the launch of the school’s new online Master of Urban and Environmental Planning (MUEP) program. Undergraduate enrollments also remained strong with more than 18,000 enrollments, a 2.2% increase from academic year 2024–25. Across the school and its research centers, faculty and students continue advancing work focused on extreme heat, climate resilience, housing, transportation and urban development.

Throughout the year, the school hosted more than 30 events and lectures, including the annual Career Navigator networking event with more than 50 community partners, the SPARC Workshop featuring 35 national leaders in GeoAI, the Urban Climate Research Center poster event with a record-breaking 40 posters, and the launch of ASU GIS Day. The school also celebrated more than 20 years of the Master of Advanced Study in geographic information systems program and the 10th anniversary of YouthMappers, now connecting more than 400 university chapters across 80 countries.

• 5 years: Christopher Clanahan, Huê-Tâm Jamme, Jose-Benito Rosales Chavez

• 10 years: Charlene Becher, Meagan Ehlenz, Jonathan Kelman, David Sailor, Shannon Zweig

• 15 years: Stephanie Deitrick

• 25 years: Duncan Shaeffer

• Excellence, Legacy and Impact Awards: Robert Balling, Shea Lamar and Stephanie Deitrick

• Faculty Excellence Award for Outstanding Instruction and Service: Kelli Larson

• Faculty Excellence Award for Exceptional Contributions to Scholarship: Huê-Tâm Jamme

• Staff Excellence Award for Exceptional Contributions to Advance the Reputation of SGSUP: Ariana Pup

• Staff Excellence Award for Excellent Support of the School and its Key Functions: Christopher Clanahan

• Outstanding APA Student: Julius Addai 

• Outstanding MUEP Student: Frankie Perry 

• Gage Davis Urban Planning Travel Scholarship: Bridget Ediger 

• Kihl Leadership Award: In Soo Kim 

• Swanton Urban Planning Scholarship: Md Shahriar Sharif and Kendall Tise

• Dean’s Medal, fall 2025: Bethany Hawthorne 

• Dean’s Medal, spring 2026: Bianca Arreola 

• Ray Henkel Award: Brian Crist

• Anthony J. Brazel Research Award: Jiwon Jang 

• Matthew G. Bailey Scholarship Award: Benjamin Biney 

• Pat Gober Water Prize: Dwanjai Oprien 

• Balling Family GIS Fellowship Endowment: Elizabeth Klein 

• Graduate Student Committee: Representatives Nikita Soni, Consolata Macharia and Leonardo Brandao do Prado

• YouthMappers: 

  Jazmin Gascot (secretary), 

  Ana Feinson (vice president) and 

  Anesadora Hightower (president)

• Weather and Climate Club: 

  Kayla McDonald (president), Ross Federico (vice president), 

  Madison Kaminski (treasurer) and 

  Bianca Arreola (social media coordinator)

• Student Planning Association: 

  Christian Roemke (president), 

  Casey Ratigan (vice president), 

  Corey Wittenwyler (APA national representative), 

  Wendy Oliver (APA Arizona representative), 

  Frankie Perry (MUEP representative), 

  Valerie Tafolla (undergrad representative) and 

  Arjav Rawal (social media coordinator)

• SW-IFL Interdisciplinary Design Challenge, first place: Joseph Karanja and Rababe Saadaoui

• National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award: Joseph Karanja

• Arizona Media Association 2025 Arizona Media Hall of Fame: Royal Norman

• American Association of Geographers: 

  Warren Nystrom Award for Best Dissertation — Garima Jain; 

  Gilbert F. White Dissertation Award — Garima Jain; 

  AAG-IGIF Scholarship Award — Jiwon Jang, Dylan Connor, Zhining Gu and Yilei Yu

• American Association for the Advancement of Science, first place, Science & Society E-Poster Competition: Owen Bachhuber

• American Planning Association of Arizona: 

  Best Student Project — Emma Bodine, Henry Pearson, Christopher King, Turki Aljuhimy; h

  onorable mention — Nikita Soni

• WTS Metro Phoenix Chapter: 

  AzTA Transit Planning Graduate Scholarship — Yichi Zhang; 

  Bridgette Beato Leadership Legacy Scholarship for Graduates — Wendy Oliver

• 2025 American Association for the Advancement of Science AAAS Fellow: Martin (Mike) Pasqualetti
• 2026 American Association of Geographers Fellow: Patricia Solis
• 2026 Regional Science Association International Fellow: Daoqin Tong

• Cambridge Journal of Regions Editor’s Choice Award: Dylan Connor
• American Planning Association JAPA Emerging Scholar Award: Huê-Tâm Jamme
• Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Rising Scholar Award: Huê-Tâm Jamme
• Phoenix Magazine Best Legit Climatologist: Randy Cerveny
• University of Redlands Spatial Hub Graduate Award for Excellence in Spatial Business: Shiloh Johnson
• Geological Society of America M. Lee Allison Award For Geoinformatics: Wenwen Li
• American Geophysical Union Open Science Recognition Prize: Prithvi-Geospatial AI Foundation Model Team (Wenwen Li, Sizhe Wang, Hyunho Lee and Chia-Yu Hsu)
• Association of American Geographers Latin America Specialty Group Vice Chair: Jose-Benito Rosales Chavez
• The Atlantic Council Climate Resilience Center, senior advisor of heat resilience exchange: Sara Meerow
• NASA Group Achievement Award for Developing AI Foundation Models: Wenwen Li and team
• Natural Hazards Center Fellow of the Enabling the Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researchers Program: Aaron Flores
• MacArthur Foundation and Lever for Change, 100&Change, top proposal: YouthMappers, Patricia Solis
• Arizona Geographic Information Council Geospatial Volunteer of the Year: Robert Balling
• American Planning Association of Arizona Distinguished Planning Professional: Meagan Ehlenz