Jasmine Bruno, a first-year doctoral student, was recently awarded first place for her research poster presentation at the Society for Range Management’s (SRM) annual conference, held in Reno, Nevada.

In her poster titled “A Systematic Review of North American Rangeland Social Science,” Bruno presented preliminary data about the state of emerging rangeland social science literature. Social science research in rangeland science emerged in the early 1990s, and Bruno explores key research needs and identifies theoretical and methodological gaps in this fairly new discipline.

“I’m honored to receive the award,” Bruno said. “Also, I think this recognition highlights the increased awareness of and appreciation for the contribution of social science in rangeland science.”

She said she received plenty of interest from participants about social science questions currently under study. Her listeners also expressed the need for more social science curriculum in range science programs. Bruno said these questions were important because her research suggests that developing new theoretical frameworks and qualitative research methods could provide additional understanding and knowledge in her discipline.

“Compared to other scientific conferences I’ve attended, there was a good mixture of practitioners, scientists and producers at SRM,” she said. “It really shows that there is a great need for both social and applied aspects of rangeland science.”

Bruno’s research is ongoing and the SRM conference offered an initial opportunity to present her preliminary results. She also presented her work at the Great Plains Grassland Summit poster session in Denver, Colorado in April.

Poster: “A Systematic Review of North American Rangeland Social Science”