Reno Reporter

Elizabeth Koebele; assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno's (UNR) College of Liberal Arts; was named a recipient of the 2022 Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board of Regents' Rising Researcher Award.

The award is presented annually to a faculty member in each Nevada research organization for early career achievement and the capacity for future advancement and recognition in research, a recent news release from UNR said. 

"It's really neat to be recognized in a system-wide context and represent the State of Nevada and to be linked in with all the other folks who are doing amazing things at UNR," Koebele said in the release.

Additionally, Koebele was recently promoted to full professor. She is a 2021 National Science Foundation CAREER Award winner and a 2020 College of Liberal Arts Mousel-Feltner Award winner. Koebele has received more than $1 million in grant awards and has won numerous other noteworthy awards and recognitions since she began teaching at UNR in 2017.

The professor is renowned for her water sustainability policy research in the Colorado River Basin. 

"Being able to study a process as its happening and one that is so relevant to Nevada is one that's really important to me," she said in the release. "This process needs to ultimately help the issue we're trying to solve [water sustainability] and advise the next round of policy for the Colorado River Basin."

Koebele is also a member of the Risk and Social Policy Working Group, an interdisciplinary group of public policy, public health, political science, psychology and communication researchers, the release said. She is slated to represent UNR at the European Consortium of Political Research Conference in Austria this summer.