SDSU geographers receive two peer awards
by Leslie L.J. Reilly, San Diego State University
May 30, 2024
San Diego State University postdoctoral scholar M. Brooke Rose and her faculty mentor Janet Franklin, received two awards for their work in geography and biodiversity.
In April, the Biogeography Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) selected Rose, Franklin, Endowed Campanile Foundation Professor of Geography in the Center for Open Geographical Sciences, and their co-researchers for its 2024 Henry C. Cowles Excellence in Publication Award.
Then in May, Rose and Franklin were among the recipients of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) 2024 Cooper Award, which honors the authors of an outstanding publication in geobotany, physiographic ecology and related fields.
“Receiving these awards for this particular paper feels extra special because it’s the result of my first dissertation chapter as well as my first couple of years getting familiar, and falling in love, with California’s amazing biodiversity,” Rose said. “This project required me to learn about the ecology of many of California’s iconic plants, from redwoods, to blue oaks, to manzanitas – and to understand what makes these plants so unique.”
Rose was lead author of a study on species rarity and geography and their exposure to climate and land use change, co-authored by Franklin and others and published in 2023 in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.