UC Riverside’s Chris Cosma, a doctoral student studying evolution, ecology, and organismal biology, is one of the winners of the 2022 Ecological Society of America awards.

The organization recognizes outstanding contributions to ecology in new discoveries, teaching, sustainability, diversity, and lifelong commitment to the profession. Cosma is the winner of the Forest Shreve Research Award, which supplies up to $2,000 to support research by graduate or undergraduate students in North American deserts.

Cosma was recognized for his dissertation work on moth pollinator networks in the Sonoran Desert. The research, at Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center, a UC Natural Reserve in southeastern California’s Colorado Desert, will help inform predictions about how plant and insect communities will be impacted by climate change.

The awards will be presented in August at the society’s annual meeting, which will take place in Montréal, Québec.