Even if the Nobel Prize committee overlooked Sonoma County this year, our local university is home to one professor who recently received a prestigious national prize for his work on poverty and deforestation in developing lands. The Cozzarelli Prize is sponsored by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, recognizing work of exceptional quality and significance.

One result of the work by Merlin Hanauer and colleagues was the creation of "suitability maps," showing where protected areas could be established in the future to promote both conservation and economic development

Hear more about Hanauer's work in a podcast from PNAS. (Images courtesy of Merlin Hanauer/SSU.)