At the School of Earth and Sustainability’s Annual Graduate Research Symposium on April 23, PhD student Valeria Cortés Rivas took home the grand prize for effective communication about excellent earth science! Valeria uses seismic data to understand what happens when two plates of the Earth’s crust interact with each other and with water in subduction zones. The annual Montgomery Prize for science communication was established in 2009 by former NAU professor Dr. Errol “Monte” Montgomery, founder of Montgomery & Associates Water Resource Consultants in Tucson, Arizona. The School is so grateful for the continued support of our terrific students and their efforts to share their discoveries with a broad range of audiences! You can see more of Valeria’s science communication talents here.