Congratulations to all those that entered the GeoPRISMS Student Prize. Of all the quality entries, this page recognizes those that were most highly rated by the judges. Many of the outstanding presentations are available to download via the links from this page.
The GeoPRISMS Prize accepts international entries from any student who can establish a topical link between their research and a stated aim of a GeoPRISMS Program Initiative. To date, winners and honorable mentions have come from both the U.S. and abroad and have gone to around the same number of male and female entrants, and poster and oral presentations.
Thank you to the Judges and the students who entered, whose efforts allow the GeoPRISMS Student Prize to take place.
Poster Presentation Winner

Andrew Parsons – University of Leeds
Microstructural analysis of the Greater Himalayan Sequence, Annapurna-Dhaulagiri Himalaya, central Nepal: Channel Flow and Orogen-parallel deformation
Coauthors: Richard J Phillips, GE Lloyd, MP Searle, RD Law
From the Judges: “Andrew was clearly an expert in his subject” “student did a super job” “well presented and clear poster on interesting, cutting edge study”
Oral Presentation Winner
Kristina Walowski – University of Oregon
Slab melting and magma generation beneath the southern Cascade Arc
Coauthors: Paul Wallace, Michael Clynne
From the Judges:“Kristina was poised and confident, with a great scientific result” “student demonstrated an expert’s knowledge of her research […] carried herself professionally and gave an overall excellent, timely presentation” “I enjoyed this presentation very much!”
Honorable Mention
Yelebe Birhanu – University of Montana
GPS Constraints on the Spatial Distribution of Extension in the Ethiopian Highlands and Main Ethiopian Rift
Coauthors: Rebecca Bendick, Shimeles Fisseha, Elias Lewi, Robert Reilinger, Robert King and Gladys Kianji
From the Judges:“Yelebe presented his work very clearly to show significant results” “student had a very clearly presented poster and a very clear explanation of the implications of his work” “had fairly novel ideas about kinematics of extension […] and was willing to intelligently argue his point”
Honorable Mention
Lucile Bruhat – Stanford University
Inverting for Shear Stress Rate on the Northern Cascadia Megathrust Using Geodetic Data
Coauthors: Paul Segall, Andrew Bradley
From the Judges:“Lucile gave a clear presentation” “presentation was clear and organized”
Honorable Mention
James Farrell – University of Connecticut
Brittle deformation within the eastern North American volcanic margin: Paleostress inversion of faults in the Hartford basin
Coauthors: Jean Crespi, Denali Ostebo, Megan Weingart
From the Judges: “Terrific poster that was presented in a completely clear and accessible way […] one of the best poster I saw at the meeting” “poster presentation was very nice laid out” “attractive poster with clearly laid out goals and results”
Honorable Mention
William Hutchison – University of Oxford
Integrating remote sensing, field studies and CO2 surveys to unravel structural controls on fluid pathways at a young rift volcano
Coauthors: David M. Pyle, Tamsin A. Mather, Juliet Biggs, Gezahegn Yirgu
From the Judges: “Excellent talk, relaxed but effective communication” “Excellent presentation […] William had engaging slides and expressed his results clearly and convincingly” “Speaker provided a good conceptual introduction and moved through all the results with good attention to detail”.