The University of Vermont Graduate College is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2022-2023 Thomas J. Votta Scholarship:

Daniel Pratson, Ph.D. student in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

Daniel Pratson spent his formative years growing up and exploring in Southern Maryland, a region whose culture is informed both by a rural, agrarian past and recent expansive development. As a result, he is interested in understanding the diverse relationships among people and nature. Daniel works with Professors Rachelle Gould, Brendan Fisher, and Tony D’Amato and is currently researching decision-making of maple syrup-producing forest landowners. Specifically, he is interested in shedding light on whether incentivizing forest management for multiple ecosystem services aligns (or not) with landowner values. Daniel hopes this work can inform conservation initiatives, aiming to support human-nature relationships and livelihoods through sustainable natural resource use.

Daniel is also interested in the role education plays in human-nature relationships. He has worked in various outdoor education settings and earned his M.S. conducting research on environmental education organizations across the United States. Daniel has also worked as a lab analyst for a municipal water treatment facility and instructed chemistry and physics classes as a high school teacher.

In time outside of work, Daniel enjoys biking and taking his sailboat out on Lake Champlain.

The Thomas J. Votta Memorial Fund is established by the friends and family of Tom Votta to provide annual scholarship assistance to UVM graduate students in the Grossman School of Business, College of Engineering and Mathematics, or Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources who, like Tom, wishes to make a difference in solving environmental problems and using environmental best practices to meet this goal.