The Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research (CCR) held its 14th annual Reid Bryson Scholarship poster session on February 9, 2026, as part of the Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences Community Poster Reception. There were 52 student participants representing 21 departments and centers across multiple colleges and institutes, including Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Agricultural and Applied Economics, Geography, Grasskamp Center for Real Estate, Mathematics, Bacteriology, and Plant Pathology. The posters embodied the interdisciplinary nature of Professor Reid Bryson’s studies.
Three undergraduate students and five graduate students were awarded scholarships based on the quality of their posters.
The winners of the 2026 Reid Bryson Undergraduate Scholarships are Leo Liu (Materials Science and Engineering), with runners-up Eliana Bernat (Chemistry) and Night Zawlocki (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences). The winners of the 2026 Reid Bryson Graduate Scholarships are co-winner Cara Scalpone (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences) and Shane Visaga (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences), and runners up Soni Ghimire (Soil and Environmental Sciences), Sidi Liu (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences), and Shuchao Ye (Soil and Environmental Sciences). Individual awards range from $375 to $1,000.
Leo Liu, winner, undergraduate researcher in Material Science and Engineering, “Covalent Adaptable Networks: Building the Next Generation of Recyclable Plastics”
Eliana Bernat, runner-up, undergraduate researcher in Chemistry, “Safer Solar Materials: Designing 2D Tin Perovskites in Mixed Solvents”
Night Zawlocki, runner-up, undergraduate researcher in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, “Terrain Impacts on Microphysical Processes of Deep Convective Storms in Central Argentina”
Cara Scalpone, co-winner, graduate student in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, “Understanding Wintertime Air Pollution: the Roles of Building Heating Emissions and Temperature”
Shane Visaga, co-winner, graduate student in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, “Air Quality Impacts of Biomass Burning Transport during 2019 CAMP2Ex using MUSICAv0 with Regional Refinement over Southeast Asia”
Soni Ghimire, runner-up, graduate student in Soil and Environmental Sciences, “Using mid-infrared spectroscopy to estimate soil microbial properties at the continental scale”
Sidi Liu, runner-up, graduate student in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, “Down to ice: Satellite Detection and Analysis of Iceberg Size Distributions”
Shuchao Ye, runner-up, graduate student in Soil and Environmental Sciences, “Crop diversity enhances the resilience of crop yield to excessive rainfall”
In addition to these winning posters, the scholarship session attracted an interesting and diverse range of research topics from across the UW campus, including: machine learning and explaining AI for Earth system models, soil erosion, fish habitat, urban heat islands, indigenous agriculture, agrivoltaics, ocean circulation shifts, wildfire impacts to organic matter, microbiology in mines and agriculture, nitrogen cycling, and climate change impacts to wine yeast.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we plan to award more Reid Bryson Scholarships in 2027!