Storm surge risk and South Caucasus archaeology win Fisher Prizes

Lydia Gaby, a senior at Harvard College, and Nathanial Erb-Satullo, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, were recently awarded the Howard T. Fisher Prizes for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Excellence. Gaby’s prize-winning entry (undergraduate category), titled “Constructing a Storm Surge Risk Profile: Lower East Side and Chinatown, Manhattan, NY,” analyzes different socioeconomic factors related to storm surge risk, presented in a series of thematic maps.

Erb-Satullo was awarded the Fisher Prize (graduate category) for his project:  “From Micrometers to Kilometers: Integrating Spatial and Chemical Datasets in the Study of Metal Production in the South Caucasus c. 1500-500 BC.” This project uses varying spatial scales to determine the patterns of metal production and consumption in the South Caucasus during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. Erb-Satullo’s entry also won the Davis Center GIS Prize for Excellence in Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies.

Both students will receive a $500 cash award for the Fisher Prize. See both prize-winning posters and judges’ comments here.

The Fisher Prize was established in 1999 to promote and reward student work in this broad and potentially interdisciplinary area, from both undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard University. The prizes were presented May 1 at the of the Center for Geographic Analysis Annual Conference.