The Prairie Research Institute earlier this year recognized employees who were nominated by colleagues for their outstanding achievements and excellent work. The Employee Recognition Program celebrates effort, achievement, excellence, and PRI’s appreciation.
The 2025 honorees, as described by their nominators:
Mark Davis is the recipient of the Distinguished Research Scientist Award. This award recognizes outstanding performance and demonstrated professional excellence by an individual or group of PRI researchers through their exceptionally outstanding and meritorious research support over an extended period.
Mark’s nominators celebrated his mentorship, the atmosphere of inclusion he fosters in his lab, and his emphasis on collaboration, noting that he is a leading scientist in his field. He balances with energy and passion his research and manuscript writing, significant grant writing and administration, mentorship and teaching, and other commitments. He additionally seeks out professional development and service opportunities, and is a skilled science communicator who ensures the people of Illinois know about the work being done at INHS.
Mark founded the Collaborative Conservation Genetics Lab in 2016 and is “at the forefront of designing and validating eDNA protocols to detect local, national, and global biodiversity (in particular, rare species) in a less intrusive way.” His expertise in eDNA is sought out, for example by state and federal agencies, and he “continues to develop the methodology that provides data and results to decisionmakers in a precise, efficient, and cost-effective way.” Mark and his lab have developed methods of extracting eDNA from soil and sampling airborne eDNA. He is co-lead and PI for the Illinois Bat Conservation Program and has curated an extensive collection of tissue samples, contributing to the Midwest Bat Repository.
Mark has worked to secure more than $13 million in funding, including major federal grants and grants from several state agencies and nonprofit organizations, and helps students secure important funding for their work. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed papers, three book chapters, and six brief communications, making sure anyone who contributes meaningfully, including those who might be institutionally unrecognized, receives recognition as co-authors. “His attitude is one of inclusion, and his rising publication record serves to better, not only his own career but, everyone in his community,” his nominator wrote. Mark is “developing the next generation of scientists” by “facilitating the development of field, lab, and bioinformatics skills necessary to pursue their career aspirations” and “diligently fosters a culture of diversity, support, inclusion, and creativity” in his lab, attracting many early career researchers.
Michael Krasowski is the recipient of the Early Career Investigator Award. This award recognizes PRI researchers early in their scientific careers who show exceptional potential and outstanding service through research and technical contributions in any field served by the institute.
Mike’s nominator describes him as a rising star, a visionary, and a doer. Mike is always seeking ways to improve his modeling and the data collection that supports it, as well as how the team can improve as mentors, colleagues, researchers, and science communicators. He is collaborative, always willing to share his skills and methodologies, as well as mentor others.
Chief among Mike’s accomplishments at the Illinois State Water Survey so far is his development of a groundwater flow modeling framework in Python. He has contributed to helping the flow modeling team modernize their tools and skills, incorporate the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign high performance computing cluster to increase modeling capacity, apply genetic algorithm toolkits to groundwater flow models, evolve their interactive capabilities with GitHub, and pave the way for more integrated modeling in the future.
Devin Edmonds is the recipient of the Graduate Research Award. This award recognizes outstanding research at PRI performed by a graduate student.
A member of the PACE lab, Devin’s research, collaboration, science communication, and mentorship have not only contributed to the study and conservation of Illinois’ turtles and amphibians, but also represented important contributions to PRI. “His ability to integrate research, mentorship, and applied conservation leadership has strengthened both PRI’s research output and its collaborative impact within the broader scientific community,” his nominator wrote. He has published 18 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as PeerJ, Wildlife Biology, and Evolutionary Ecology, and authored a species action plan for ornate box turtles in Illinois, among other reports. His doctoral work on the endangered Malagasy poison frog in Madagascar provided the first population estimates for the species and led to the development of conservation plans.
Devin has engaged with state and federal agency partners, presented at national and international conferences, and coordinated with NGOs and other external collaborators. At PRI he has guided undergraduate and graduate students through the research process and is someone whose colleagues describe him as a positive presence in the lab, a dedicated mentor, encouraging and supportive, and a successful scientist. He is also a Writers Workshop consultant and has worked with the McNair and Illinois Scholars programs.
Bethany Warner is the recipient of the Undergraduate Research Award. This award recognizes outstanding research at PRI performed by an undergraduate student.
Bethany’s nominator describes her as an exceptional undergraduate student and said she should be a role model for future undergraduate students at PRI. Bethany has been first author and co-author on two publications, in Ecology and Evolution and Global Ecology and Biogeography, respectively. Currently a senior, she is working on two more papers as a lead and co-author. She excels at field work, acting as lead technician on three projects, and is now developing her own project. She has presented at conferences and has taken on significant responsibility in the Illinois Natural History Survey mammal collection.
Cathy Bialeschki is one of the recipients of the Distinguished Support Staff Award. This award recognizes outstanding performance and demonstrated excellence by non-scientific staff at PRI through their exceptionally meritorious work over an extended period.
For 25 years, Cathy has been a kind and supportive presence at INHS. As an administrative aide, she coordinates meetings and events, assists with important staff emails, arranges domestic and international travel, assists with purchasing, makes sure staff take all required training, and more. She has been asked to support and mentor other PRI staff with her institutional knowledge and has been a “calming influence and a helpful resource” that can be counted on during periods of change.
Despite her already excellent work and experience, Cathy continues to seek opportunities for self-improvement and professional growth, and is an active, dedicated member of Illinois Administrative Professionals. The organization named her Office Professional of the Year for 2025. One of her recommenders reflected that one of her biggest strengths is “her endless pursuit of how to make things better.”
Torie Strole is one of the recipients of the Distinguished Support Staff Award. This award recognizes outstanding performance and demonstrated excellence by non-scientific staff at PRI through their exceptionally meritorious work over an extended period.
Torie is a senior grants and contracts coordinator for PRI. She has been a source of support and guidance for “countless PIs and projects” and has had a more-than-25-year career at the Illinois State Geological Survey. “While PIs are commonly recognized when proposals are selected for award, Torie Strole humbly continues the hard work of making sure the project smoothly transitions from proposal through negotiation to award,” her nominator wrote.
As funding opportunities and projects have increased in recent years, the quality of Torie’s work has never wavered. When those projects involve new partners, new models of cost sharing, and unique situations, she has been a source of creative ideas, finding “ways to make even the most complex research project workable.” Torie additionally continues to develop her own expertise through the Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance training program and cultivates others as a mentor.
Holly Pankow is the recipient of the Outstanding New Support Staff Award. This award recognizes non-scientific support staff who have shown exceptional performance and outstanding service in their work and are making an impact on PRI.
As assistant director of grants and contracts at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, Holly addresses challenges head-on. She is responsible for ensuring projects follow SPA and federal regulations, often delivering tough news, but always willing to work together to find the solution. When faced with complex questions, Holly provides detailed, well-researched, thoughtful notes and resources.
Tri-Level Pumping Area Technical Advisory Group is the recipient of the Outstanding Collaboration Award. This award recognizes collaborations between interdisciplinary teams of PRI professionals, as well as collaborations of PRI professionals with individuals or groups outside of PRI, that involve working across multiple areas of expertise and responsibility and that generates outstanding scientific or administrative contributions that could be achieved only by effectively working together.
Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd., is the recipient of the Friend of PRI Award. This award recognizes outside individuals or organizations for significant contributions that benefit and promote the mission of PRI.
15 for 15 Planning Team is the recipient of the Executive Director Appreciation Award.