Awards, Honors, & Funding 

(2025) 

Awarded the "50 Rising Stars of 2025", Geospatial World (PDF)

(2024)

Forward Award, Wisconsin Alumni Association at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Franklin Award, U.S. Department of State

Intra-Departmental Engagement Award, U.S. Department of State 

(2023)

Young Professionals Group, Golden Ticket Winner, (Bio HERE) United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) 

(2022)

Emerging Alumni Award, University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities 

(2020)

Brown Fund Award, University of Minnesota’s Geography Department    

Best Student Paper, American Association of Geographers (AAG) Eurasian Specialty Group's Student Paper Competition: “Conditions for Ethnic Conflict in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Applying Multi-Criteria Evaluation to Ethnic Conflict in Kyrgyzstan."

(2019)

1st place, 3 Minute Thesis Competition (3MT), Department of Geography, Environment & Society

Best Poster, Population Association of America (PAA) poster session: Population, Development, & the Environment; Data & Methods; Applied Demography’s poster competition: “Which Region of Kyrgyzstan is Most Vulnerable to Ethnic Conflict? Evidence from fieldwork”

Best Student Paper, American Association of Geographers (AAG) Eurasian Specialty Group's Student Paper Competition: “Mapping Azerbaijan's Vulnerability: Analysis of toxic hotspots and migration"

2nd place American Association of Geographers (AAG) Cartography Specialty Group's Illustrated Paper Competition:“Azerbaijan's Regional Vulnerability: Analysis of pollutant and demographic data”

2nd place from the American Association of Geographers' West Lakes Regional Division (WLDAAG) Best Doctoral Presentation Award for her presentation on “Visually Linking Azerbaijan’s Social Inequality & Environmental Vulnerability"

3rd place from the American Association of Geographers' West Lakes Regional Division (WLDAAG) Best Doctoral Presentation Award for her presentation on "Where are 'Human Rights' positioned within the Environment? A Closer Look at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)”

(2018)

Brown Fund Award, University of Minnesota’s Geography Department    

(2017)              

1st  place, American Association of Geographers (AAG) Cartography Specialty Group's Student Illustrated Paper Competition: “Soya Production within Uzbek-Kyrgyz Communities: Identifying the Inputs of Ethnic Conflict in the Field.”

Honorable Mention, American Association of Geographers (AAG) Eurasian Specialty Group's Student Paper Competition: “With Love, From Russia: The Art of 'Gifting'”

(2013)

National Engaged Leadership Award, National Society of Leadership & Success (NSLS)  

(2010)                                    

Clay Batts Award: Outstanding Graduating Senior Award

(2003)

National Latin Examination - Cum Laude      

(2002)

National Latin Examination - Magna Cum Laude

(2024) 

Emerging-Tech Fellows Program, U.S. Government

(2021)

United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) Doctoral Scholarship, selected by Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) panel. 

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities

Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) alumni refresher course, Advanced Azerbaijani

(2020) 

United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) Doctoral Scholarship, selected by Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) panel. 

Diversity Predoctoral Teaching Fellowship, Visiting Lecturer at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) 

Davis Peace Fellowship, Middlebury Language Institute, Advanced-Superior level, Russian 

Foreign Languages and Area Studies (FLAS), Advanced Russian

Title VIII Fellowship, Advanced Russian; U.S. Dept. of State Bureau of Intelligence & Research   (declined) 

(2019)

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Intermediate Farsi

Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), Advanced Azerbaijani

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Beginner Tajik (declined)

Title VIII Fellowship, Beginner Tajik; U.S. Dept. of State Bureau of Intelligence & Research (declined)

Title VIII Fellowship, Advanced Russian; U.S. Dept. of State Bureau of Intelligence & Research   (declined)

(2018-2019)

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Beginner Farsi    

(2017-2018)

Boren Fellowship, Azerbaijan

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Advanced Russian (declined)

(2017)

Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), Advanced Azerbaijani (declined)

Title VIII Fellowship, Advanced Russian; U.S. Dept. of State Bureau of Intelligence & Research  

(2016-2017)

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Advanced Russian

Dr. Nancy “Rusty” Barceló Scholarship

(2016)

Minnesota Population Center (MPC) Diversity Fellowship

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Advanced Turkish

NSF funded research project, “From 0 to 2” with Dr. Claudia Neuhauser. To develop an online platform for crowdsourcing innovation and foster the search for solutions to societal problems under societal, engineering, and scientific constraints.

Summer Language Institute Scholarship, University of Pittsburgh, Advanced Russian (declined)    

(2014-2015)

Fulbright, English Teaching Assistant (ETA), Baku, Azerbaijan 

(2012)

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Intermediate Turkish

(2008-2009)

Laurence N. & Anella W. Scholarship

Dorthy Strong Scholarship      

(2007-2008)

College of Agricultural & Life Sciences Scholarship      

(2006-2007)

Cargill Diversity Scholarship

Target Corporation Scholarship

Miss Teen of Minnesota, Scholarship & Recognition Program    

(2021) 

Population Reference Bureau (PRB)'s U.S. Policy Communication Training Program, Research & Travel Grant, Washington DC, USA 

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) Travel Grant, University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities

CARES Graduate Degree-Completion Grant, University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities

(2020)

Population Reference Bureau (PRB)'s U.S. Policy Communication Training Program, Research & Travel Grant, Washington DC, USA 

Berkeley University Population Center's Formal Demography - Bayesian Methods Workshop, Research & Travel Grant, Berkeley CA, USA              

Center for Environmental Politics' Environmental Policy and Governance Workshop, Reserach & Travel Grant, Seattle, WA, USA

(2019)

University of Colorado Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Sciences (IBS)'s Climate Change, Human Migration and Health: Integrating Social and Environmental Data to Accelerate Innovative Science Conference and Collaborative Workshop, Research & Travel Grant, Boulder, CO. USA

North American Cartographic Info. Society Travel Grant (NACIS), Tacoma Washington, USA 

Minnesota Population Center (MPC) Travel Grant, Boulder, CO. USA

Minnesota Population Center (MPC) Travel Grant, Austin, TX. USA

Community of Scholars Program (COSP) Travel Grant, IA, USA 

(2018)

Council of Graduate Student Travel Grant (COGS), Stanford University & Washington DC

(2017)

Council of Graduate Student Travel Grant (COGS), Moscow & Siberia, Russia

Center for Austrian Studies (CAS) Travel Grant, Bonn, Germany UNFCC COP23

Minnesota Population Center (MPC) Travel Grant, Chicago, IL. USA

(2016)

College of Liberal Arts Travel Grant (CLA), Boston, MA. USA

Council of Graduate Student Travel Grant (COGS), Colorado Springs, CO. USA

North American Cartographic Info. Society Travel Grant (NACIS), Colorado Springs, CO. USA

Council of Graduate Student Travel Grant (COGS), Kazan, Russia

Community of Scholars Program Travel Grant (COSP), Kazan, Russia

(2008)

WiscAMP International Research Grant, Jordan