This award recognizes excellence in research by a graduate student in the College of Science for the 2021 – 2022 academic year. Qian Liu significantly contributes to the reputation and mission of the College of Science and George Mason University. Her nomination by Dr. Phil Yang and endorsed by the Chair of the Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science, Dr. Dieter Pfoser, emphasized her excellence in research and scholarship. Her efforts thus far have culminated in twenty- one publications, eight as first author, with two first-author manuscripts under review and two peer-reviewed book chapters.
Furthermore, Dr. Qian Liu received her PhD degree in May 2022. Her research found that the COVID-19 changed short-term climate/environment patterns and published a series of papers including the influence on air quality (AQ) in California (Science of the Total Environment, STOTEN, IF 7.96) and AQ globally (STOTEN, IF 7.96). Her 20 top-tier journal publications were cited over 300 times in less than one year. The findings are captured by public media such as Atlantic Magazine and Public Health Post.