Zuzana Buřivalová, assistant professor of environmental studies and forest and wildlife ecology (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences), recently received the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award by the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. She is the 10th recipient of the global award, which recognizes and supports changemakers under the age of 40 with a $100,000 grant.
Buřivalová received the award for her work with bioacoustic monitoring, which she leads through her Sound Forest Lab on the UW–Madison campus. Her work culminated this May with the publication of a landmark study in Global Change Biology, which solidified her Soundscape Baselines Project as a method for redefining how we define and evaluate biodiversity conservation efforts.
“I am truly honored to receive the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award this year,” Buřivalová said. “It’s so encouraging to see biodiversity conservation science recognized. I am also very grateful to my lab members, and all collaborators in our Soundscape Baselines Project.”
Take a deep dive into Buřivalová’s work in the latest issue of The Commons Magazine.