Awards

Innovation Award for Students

Award Goal & Scope

The Innovation Award for Cryospheric Sciences is granted once a year to students within the Cryosphere Section showing great potential and innovative work within the field. This award is designed to provide the student with resources, in the form of a mini-grant, to advance their innovation. Innovative projects may include, but are not limited to, instrument design, model adaptation, field techniques, studies in new geographic regions, studies involving new collaborations including inter-and trans-disciplinary partners, science communication and education, and remote sensing methods.

Eligibility

Student nominees must be an AGU member with the Cryosphere Section listed as their primary or secondary affiliation and registered at the AGU Annual Meeting. Student is defined as currently enrolled in an institution at the time of the Annual Meeting.

Event Format

Approximately twenty (20) applicants will be selected for participation in the Flash Freeze competition and will be notified by November 7, 2025. During the competition, the student will give a two-minute pitch of their innovative idea to a panel of judges. Slides or props may be used but the pitch cannot exceed the two-minute allowance. This year it is expected that up to 3 awards will be awarded ($2,000 first prize and two $1,500 prizes, amounts subject to change) to the student winners from the Flash Freeze event to pursue their innovative research.    

Judging Details and Specifics

Applicants will be judged on their two-minute presentations by the creativity of the proposed innovative work, the feasibility of the proposed work, and the persuasiveness of the presentation. Any material presented beyond the 2-minute period will not be judged. The Cryosphere Section Executive Committee will appoint a Flash Freeze Committee, and the Flash Freeze Committee will use AGU conflicts of interest policy for award selection. The Flash Freeze Committee will convene directly after the Flash Freeze competition and select the winners of the mini-grant associated with the Cryosphere Innovation Award.

Requirements and Deadlines

The Flash Freeze competition will take place during the Fall Meeting (Thursday, December 18, 2025 at 7:00 pm CST). Format will be 2-minute flash talks open to both in-person and remote participation.

Students who wish to participate in this year’s competition must submit:

•              A letter of intent (maximum one page)

•              A CV (maximum two pages)

Submissions should be sent by email to the Innovation Award Subcommittee (ksmattingly@wisc.edu, skw5660@psu.edu, Aleah.N.Sommers@dartmouth.edu, mitkari@wisc.edu) no later than October 31, 2025, at 11:00 PM (US Eastern Time).

2024 Winners

  • 1st Place: Deborah Rhee (University of Oxford)
  • 2nd Place: Julia Andreasen (University of Minnesota)
  • 3rd Place: Rudolf Aleksander Hansen (University of Colorado Boulder) and Jordan Tucker (Stanford University)

2023 Winners

  • Alissa Choi (University of Wisconsin Madison),
  • George Lu (Columbia University)
  • Mohammad Shadab (University of Texas, Austin)

2022 Winners

  • Madison Woodley (Syracuse University),
  • Pawan Singh (Indian Institute of Technology)

2021 Winners

  • Hannah Verboncoeur (Colorado School of Mines),
  • Megan Thompson-Munson (University of Colorado),
  • Thomas Teisberg (Stanford University),
  • Anna Broome (Stanford University), and
  • William Harcourt (University of St Andrews)

2020 Winners

  • Catherine Breen (University of Washington),
  • Raven Mitchell (Michigan State University),
  • Johannes Landmann (ETH Zurich),
  • Zachary Keskinen (Montana State University), and
  • Austin Carter (University of California - Sand Diego)

2019 Winners

  • Ugo Nanni (University of Grenoble),
  • Martin Altenburg (Stanford University),
  • Laura Halbach (Aarhus University),
  • Julia Stuart (Northern Arizona University), and
  • Richard Barnes (University of California, Berkeley)

2018 Winners

  • Caroline Aubry-Wake (University of Saskatchewan),
  • Tom Hudson (University of Cambridge),
  • Mickey MacKie (Stanford University),
  • Emma Kahle (University of Washington), and
  • Kelly Kochanski (University of Colorado Boulder)

2017 Winners

  • Lukas Preiswerk,
  • Emma Menio,
  • Yiyi Huang,
  • Rohi Muthyala, and
  • Sean Peters

2016 Winners

  • Mike MacFerrin,
  • Sasha Leidman,
  • Jim Coll,
  • Jakob Steiner,
  • Denis Felikson, and
  • Chris Marsh

2015 Winners

  • Camilo Rada,
  • Aleah Sommers,
  • Mathieu Casado,
  • Nikolas Aksamit,
  • Mia Bennett, and
  • Phillip Harder