NOAA CESSRST Scholar Receives the 2020 Mike deGruy Bays and Bayous Award

Posted on January 8, 2021

NEW YORK—January 08, 2021- Today, NOAA EPP/MSI CESSRST Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing graduate scholar, Karla M Lopez received the 2020 Mike deGruy Bays and Bayous Symposium Student Presentation Awards. She competed in the 12-minute oral presentation category which was part of the December 1st-3rd virtual coastal symposium. A team of 28 judges evaluated 50 presentations based on varied criteria and announced Karla as the winner for the third place. Motivated by the symposium’s theme Sound Science, Sound Policy: A 2020 Vision for the Future, and the focus on resilience, Karla titled her research presentation as Enhanced engagement and risk communication for underserved communities: research findings and emerging best practices.

Karla’s research topic aligned with her interests and NOAA’s mission. It’s a result of her NERTO: NOAA Experiential Research and Training Opportunities training that she undertook at the NOAA Office of Coastal Management in summer 2020. She commented, “I learned about this topic and project from Dr. Valerie Were, CESSRST Social Science Lead and knew from the beginning that I wanted to be part of it. Being a Latino and from the under-represented minority group, I know firsthand the problems that exist within my community. I felt my research topic was an opportunity for me to contribute to the solution of this problem.”

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