The University Award for Recent Achievement in Scholarship

Brody Sandel studies ecosystems--specifically how the impact of humans has changed our land, water, and atmosphere. To accomplish this, they use a combination of field studies and biodiversity databases, while collaborating with scientists from many different fields. They are phenomenally talented at analyzing so-called Big Data – large, complex data sets that continue to grow. Our honoree has co-authored 43 papers in 5 years, and has had 17 SCU students working in their research lab.  In addition to students mentored in their own lab, they have co-authored papers with undergrad students from other research labs, In 2021, they received a prestigious NSF CAREER grant for $627,832 to support his project entitled “Global change and the functional ecology of grasses.