PEEP Awards

Student Awardees, 2026 Permafrost Engineering Education Program (PEEP) Spring Cycle

Valentina Ekimova, University of Virginia 

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia studying how Arctic infrastructure reshapes near-surface permafrost conditions. My work combines geophysical methods (ERT and GPR) with field observations to resolve small-scale variability in thaw beneath and around roads and buildings in Utqiaġvik, Alaska. I am particularly interested in how infrastructure, snow redistribution, and water flow create localized zones of degradation and stability that are important for community-level risk assessment.

 With support from the USPA PEEP award, I will attend the Asian Conference on Permafrost (ACOP) 2026 in Mongolia to present my work and engage with the international permafrost community. This support will enable me to share my research, receive feedback, and build collaborations that contribute to the development of monitoring approaches and inform engineering decisions for Arctic infrastructure.

Student Awardee, 2025 Erv Long Memorial Award:

Daniela Morganti, University of New Hampshire

I am a Ph.D. student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. My research focuses on developing an in-flight soil-freezing system for geotechnical centrifuge modeling that enables realistic simulation of freeze-thaw cycles and their effects on seismic site response in Arctic soils. The 2025 USPA Erwin "Erv" Long Memorial Award will enable me to attend conferences and workshops where I can meet colleagues interested in Arctic infrastructure resilience. Participating in these activities will provide me with valuable opportunities for sharing findings, exchanging ideas, and enhancing collaboration within the permafrost community. I am very thankful to the United States Permafrost Association for this recognition and continued support of early-career researchers in permafrost science and engineering.

Student Awardees, 2025 Permafrost Engineering Education Program (PEEP)

Valentina Ekimova, University of Virginia 

I am a Climate Fellow at the University of Virginia Environmental Institute and a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Environmental Sciences. My research focuses on permafrost–infrastructure interactions: I combine micrometeorological sensor networks, satellite-derived snow metrics, geophysical imaging, and environmental data analysis to quantify how urban form influences ground temperatures, active-layer dynamics, and hydrology. Within the Environmental Institute’s Climate Collaborative, I work in an interdisciplinary team spanning geology, terrestrial ecology, landscape architecture, and the social sciences, co-producing research with Tribal and municipal partners in Utqiaġvik, Alaska. Together we study how snow redistribution and surface-water management around infrastructure affect permafrost stability and community resilience. This award supports my participation in AGU 2025, where I will present an oral talk on lagoon and lake hydrology across an infrastructure gradient and a poster on satellite-based assessment of snow cover dynamics in Utqiaġvik. Both projects advance practical understanding of permafrost dynamics in Arctic cities. The PEEP Award offsets travel costs and enables me to share findings, engage with the permafrost engineering community, and expand collaborations across cryosphere science, geospatial analysis, and Arctic adaptation.

Sophia Henze, University of Southern California 

I am a graduate student in Environmental Data Science at the University of Southern California. While at USC, I have had the opportunity to conduct research at the intersection of environmental science and data science in the MiXIL lab, part of the Department of Electrical Engineering. My work focuses on understanding how soil organic carbon (SOC) in Arctic permafrost responds to rapid environmental change. A key aspect of my research involves a community synthesis project aimed at consolidating and harmonizing soil property data across boreal–Arctic Alaska. This includes integrating diverse datasets from field measurements, historical records, and collaborative networks to improve the representation of permafrost carbon in scientific analyses, modeling frameworks, and remote sensing applications. These data synthesis efforts are critical for reducing uncertainty in permafrost carbon estimates and supporting more accurate predictions of how Arctic ecosystems will respond to climate change. I am deeply grateful to USPA for their generous support in attending AGU 2025 in New Orleans, LA. I'm thrilled to present our work to leading researchers, connect with fellow scientists in the permafrost community, and learn about cutting-edge technologies in climate data analysis, including advances in AI and machine learning. Thank you to USPA for investing in early-career researchers and fostering the next generation of permafrost science.

Student Awardees, 2024 Permafrost Engineering Education Program (PEEP)

Mohammad Abweny, Clarkson University

My name is Mohammad Abweny, a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Clarkson University. My research directly addresses key challenges in permafrost engineering, specifically the structural stability and resilience of pile foundations in warming permafrost environments. By studying the thermo-mechanical performance of both conventional and thermosyphon pile foundations, my research aims to enhance our understanding of how increasing temperatures impact load transfer mechanisms, pile settlement, and creep behavior of pile foundations in frozen soils. Additionally, my research explores optimizing thermosyphon performance to stabilize permafrost more effectively and reduce the risk of settlement. These efforts contribute to developing adaptive foundation designs capable of withstanding climate-induced warming in Arctic regions. Winning the USPA PEEP award will provide crucial support for my travel to the PanAm UNSAT 2025 Conference in Ottawa, where I will present my findings and engage with the scientific community. 

Student Awardees, 2023 Permafrost Engineering Education Program (PEEP)

Student Awardees, 2022 Permafrost Engineering Education Program (PEEP)

Student Awardees, 2021 Regional Conference on Permafrost (RCOP) & 19th International Conference on Cold Regions Engineering (ICCRE), Virtual

Kaytan Kalkar, University of Alaska Fairbanks My primary research interest is to identify the role of mountain permafrost degradation mechanisms propagating slope instability. I am investigating thaw-vulnerable slopes along the Parks Highway, Denali Highway, and Denali Park Road in the Alaska Range. This research combines geomorphology, field-based observations, and geologic engineering. The findings of my work will be a valuable resource for regional planners and cold regions engineers to promote best land use practices for sustainable land management. I strive to expand my research endeavor to initiate a periglacial slope monitoring network across mountain permafrost sites in Alaska. Attending the RCOP21/19th ICCRE Conference gave me the opportunity to gain valuable inputs from fellow early career scientists and infer current research problems in the mountain permafrost sub-discipline. I thank the PEEP Award Program and the USPA for this award which will help me to accomplish my research goal.

Min Liew, Pennsylvania State University Recent climate warming has resulted in severe permafrost thaw, impacting the life and wellbeing of the Arctic residents. As an early career researcher, I am interested in advancing the knowledge of the resiliency and sustainability of civil infrastructure systems in permafrost regions. In my dissertation, I study permafrost degradation and coastal erosion and their potential impacts on civil infrastructure in the Arctic. I synthesized and analyzed how geophysical and geomechanical properties of permafrost vary with temperature and highlighted the complex processes of permafrost degradation from a geotechnical perspective. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to present my work at the RCOP21/19th ICCRE conference and received the Permafrost Engineering Education Program (PEEP) Award from the United States Permafrost Association (USPA). The monetary award allows me to continue participating in upcoming permafrost conferences, reach out to a greater audience, and receive critical feedback on my work. I am grateful to be part of the supportive USPA community and look forward to collaborating with researchers, engineers, and indigenous knowledge holders and, together, contributing to the research and education of permafrost engineering.

Kristina Levine, Texas A&M University My name is Kristina Levine and I am getting my BS in Geology from Texas A&M University. The research I do is with my internship at Geo-Watersheds Scientific and the USPA Communications Committee for the USPA Permafrost Monthly Alert (PMA) program. At RCOP 2021, I presented on trends in permafrost literature from the PMA collection. The conference was a wonderful opportunity to connect with other people who are working to improve and promote permafrost-engineering educational resources. I am extremely thankful to have been apart of the PEEP awards and would like to thank all involved for their support and recognition of student research.

Elias Manos, University of Connecticut Thank you to the USPA PEEP committee for the awards and generous financial support. At the 2021 RCOP, I presented my undergraduate research on deep learning-based automated mapping of ice-wedge polygon troughs and built infrastructure across the Alaskan North Slope using sub-meter resolution satellite imagery. This was my first time attending and presenting at a professional scientific conference, and even though this was a virtual experience, I was very excited to have the opportunity to share my work with and learn from permafrost experts. In Fall 2022, I will begin pursuing a master’s in remote sensing at the University of Connecticut. Throughout my graduate research, I hope to fuse artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and big image data to work towards pan-Arctic infrastructure mapping at a sub-meter spatial resolution, which will hopefully begin to provide the tools and create the information necessary to advance our understanding of the built environment's vulnerability to Arctic permafrost degradation, as well as its impacts on the natural environment. With the support I have received from the USPA, I can look forward to attending future conferences to present this work and further network with permafrost researchers.

Jaimy Schwarber, University of Alaska Fairbanks I was a geological engineering graduate student at the time of RCOP. I am primarily interested in geohazards within Alaska, and during my education I have had the opportunities to participate with work on frozen debris lobes, landslides, and retrogressive thaw slumps. My thesis research focused on identifying and mapping landslides within parts of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK. I presented preliminary findings of the landslide inventory map for the first time at this conference. This work is the first step for more landslide research in the region. I am grateful to the USPA for the opportunity to attend RCOP to learn the latest studies, network with my peers, and hear from prominent researchers. I am also grateful for the various awards.

Lawrence Vulis, University of California Irvine I am a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California Irvine studying how permafrost influences the morphology and hydrology of arctic river deltas. My research utilizes a combination of remote sensing imagery, in-situ observations, and climate reanalysis data to identify and quantify landscape patterns on arctic deltas and relate them to climate variability across deltas, which in turn is used to inform predictions of delta morphologic response to projected warming. This research is a multidisciplinary effort and involves supervision and collaboration with engineers, physicists, statisticians, and geomorphologists. I would like to thank the USPA and ASCE for hosting the 2021 RCOP and giving me and other students the opportunity to share our research. I would also like to thank the judges for their time in viewing and critiquing my presentation. The conference was an excellent opportunity to learn about ongoing permafrost research and connect with other scientists.

Yue Zhao, University of Alaska My name is Yue Zhao, a Ph.D. student in Engineering based on a joint program between the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Alaska Anchorage. My research is the prediction of climate change impact on highways in warm permafrost. With the help of USPA, I had the opportunity to present at the RCOP2021, even though it is a pre-recorded presentation. However, this is still a great experience in learning new ways to convey research findings. This meeting provides me an excellent chance to learn the latest research trends about permafrost and how to efficiently adapt to climate change and mitigate its associated hazards to the built infrastructure. Thank you again to USPA!

Travel Grant Winners, Tenth International Conference on Permafrost (TICOP), Salhekard, Russia