The NAU Review — Honoring the Gold Axe, President’s Prize and Distinguished Seniors, a statewide attack on Valley fever and how NAU promotes volunteerism

April 14, 2022

President Cruz Rivera honored 48 Gold Axe winners, five President’s Prize recipients and nine Distinguished Seniors for their hard work and commitment to their educations and their careers at NAU. “These students have shown incredible resilience and determination to arrive at this point in their academic and personal journeys, and they all have achieved a tremendous amount to excel in their studies and give back in such meaningful ways,” he told the crowd on Tuesday night. The recipients of the President’s Prize, which is the highest award for undergraduates at NAU, are Maylee Acosta, Matthew Billings, Clarreese Greene, Ariana Kelley and Rachell Krell.

The Center for Service and Volunteerism received more than $3 million in grant funding to promote public health and environmental literacy. Building on years of work facilitating programs engaging volunteers in local communities, these two grants will allow continued work supporting the nation’s COVID-19 recovery, among other public health needs, and establish the Environmental Literacy Corps to promote environmental education in northern Arizona.

Modern agriculture is underpinned by a steady supply of fertilizer. However, one of the main ingredients of fertilizer, phosphorus, is running out, putting pressure and financial strain on farmers throughout the world. Now, with war in Europe causing additional supply disruptions, diminishing stocks of phosphorus may compromise the ability of the world to feed itself. In a new study, authors Andrew Abraham, post-doctoral researcher in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, and Chris Doughty, associate professor of ecoinformatics, suggest an age-old solution to this global crisis—wildlife.