Doctoral Student Parikrama Sapkota Earns Prestigious Ecology Award
EL PASO, Texas (May 6, 2026) – UTEP doctoral student Parikrama Sapkota is the 2026 recipient of the E. Lucy Braun Award from the Ecological Society of America (ESA). The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of ecology.
Sapkota is a Ph.D. candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology at UTEP who studies the complex relationship between native Chihuahuan Desert plants and soil microbial communities.
“I feel honored to receive this nationally prestigious award, which reflects years of dedicated research,” Sapkota said. “The Ecological Society of America has been an invaluable scientific community for me, offering a space to share ideas, learn from leading ecologists, and grow as a researcher. I also want to thank my advisor, Dr. Kelly S. Ramirez, for her mentorship and guidance throughout this journey.”
Lucy Braun, an eminent plant ecologist and one of the charter members of ESA, studied and mapped the forest regions of eastern North America and described them in her classic book, The Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America. To honor her, the E. Lucy Braun Award for Excellence in Ecology is given to a student for an outstanding poster presentation at the ESA Annual Meeting. Papers and posters are judged on the significance of ideas, creativity, quality of methodology, validity of conclusions drawn from results and clarity of presentation.
Sapkota is the recipient of the award for her poster presentation at the 2025 Annual Meeting titled, “Fungal, but not bacterial, communities show strong differences across dryland transition states.”
Sapkota’s poster examined how microbial communities vary across ecosystem state transitions in the Chihuahuan Desert, using field and greenhouse experiments to assess microbial assembly across plant groups and land degradation states.
Her research explores how fungi contribute to ecosystem responses during dryland transition dynamics. By linking belowground microbial composition to vegetation state change in the Jornada Basin, her work contributes to a deeper understanding of the biological processes underlying ecosystem transitions in arid landscapes.
Originally from Nepal, Sapkota holds a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from Kathmandu University. She defended her doctoral dissertation in April 2026 under the mentorship of Assistant Professor of Biological Science Kelly S. Ramirez, Ph.D. Her doctoral research was supported by graduate student fellowships from the Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research program, the Native Plant Society of Texas and New Mexico, the Botanical Society of America and a Dodson Research Grant, among others.
ESA will formally present the awards at the Society’s upcoming Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. The awards ceremony will take place Monday, July 27 in the Salt Palace Convention Center’s Grand Ballroom.
Last Updated on May 07, 2026 at 12:00 AM | Originally published May 07, 2026
By MC Staff UTEP Marketing and Communications
