{"id":66508,"date":"2025-03-24T10:38:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T14:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=66508"},"modified":"2025-03-28T08:02:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T12:02:48","slug":"from-the-ground-up-award-winning-utc-grad-students-research-reshaping-plant-conservation-in-tennessee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2025\/03\/from-the-ground-up-award-winning-utc-grad-students-research-reshaping-plant-conservation-in-tennessee\/","title":{"rendered":"From the ground up: Award-winning UTC grad student\u2019s research reshaping plant conservation in Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Julia

Julia Prins was recognized with the North Carolina Botanical Garden\u2019s Best Student Oral Presentation at the 2025 Association of Southeastern Biologists\u2019 annual meeting. The award was presented by Brandon Wheeler, the botanical garden\u2019s conservation ecologist. Photo courtesy of Dr. Gretchen Potts.<\/p><\/div>\n

Julia Prins arrived on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus in early 2021 seeking a fresh start after a less-than-stellar initial collegiate experience.<\/p>\n

Five years later, she\u2019s about to leave UTC with two degrees, multiple academic awards and a clear purpose: to protect the ecosystems she has loved since childhood.<\/p>\n

Prins, who will receive a master\u2019s degree in environmental science in May, was recently recognized with the North Carolina Botanical Garden\u2019s Best Student Oral Presentation award at the 2025 Association of Southeastern Biologists\u2019 annual meeting.<\/p>\n

Her award-winning presentation, \u201cModeling NatureServe Subnational Conservation Status Ranks for Tennessee Vascular Plants,\u201d was one of two talks she gave at the meeting. She also co-presented \u201cA Vascular Flora of a Historically African American Recreation Area, Booker T. Washington State Park in Hamilton County, Tennessee,\u201d alongside fellow graduate student Sevyn Brothers.<\/p>\n

For Prins, the honor was both gratifying and deeply meaningful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent so many hours working on this project\u2014late nights almost every single day for the last two years,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really great to be recognized for all that hard work, but it\u2019s also important for getting my research out there so more people can hear about it and learn from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The honor marked the second consecutive year Prins was recognized for her research on Tennessee\u2019s plant species, following a 2024 award from the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.<\/p>\n

\"Julia

Julia Prins<\/p><\/div>\n

Originally from Minneapolis, Prins began college as a civil engineering major at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. However, when COVID-19 forced students home in 2020, she reassessed her direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized I didn\u2019t want to go back to L.A. or keep studying engineering,\u201d she said. \u201cI reignited my passion for the outdoors that summer\u2014camping, hiking\u2014something I remembered loving to do as a 10-year-old kid. It clicked that this was what I wanted to do: protect natural areas and work in conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prins said that she \u201cGoogled environmental science programs\u201d and UTC came up. She had visited Chattanooga once as a kid and \u201cI really liked the area but didn\u2019t really know much other than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I went on a limb and applied for school here,\u201d she continued, \u201cand then a couple of months later I started going to UTC without even touring the campus. It\u2019s been one of my best decisions. I love Chattanooga, I love environmental science and I have loved going to school here at UTC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly before earning her bachelor\u2019s degree in environmental science in 2023, Prins approached UTAA Distinguished Service and UC Foundation Professor Joey Shaw about entering UTC\u2019s master\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she came to me as an undergraduate, Julia told me she wanted to work and do something important for plant conservation\u2014but she had very little plant training,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cThe funny thing was that she told me she wanted to work in my lab\u2014but she hadn\u2019t taken any of my classes. I really didn\u2019t know who she was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prins laughed when explaining why she hadn\u2019t taken Shaw\u2019s classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard they were hard,\u201d she said. \u201cPrior to talking to him, I had only taken one dendrology class\u2014a tree class\u2014as an undergrad, but I did a lot of research looking into different areas and I discovered I really liked the research side of things.<\/p>\n

\u201cI discovered on my own through hiking that I really enjoyed seeing plants. I\u2019d stop and look at a plant, a flower, a tree or whatever I was passing by\u2014and that made me realize that that\u2019s what I was interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prins said she has always been interested in protecting the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlants are such key central aspects of our ecosystems,\u201d she said. \u201cBy working to protect plants, I can also help to protect our ecosystems in general, protect our habitats, and protect the animals and other life that rely on plants for their survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I decided to talk to Joey Shaw. Luckily, he decided to take me on even without having any plant knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaw said, \u201cShe hit the ground running and her strengths just took off from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cI

\u201cI reignited my passion for the outdoors that summer\u2014camping, hiking\u2014something I remembered loving to do as a 10-year-old kid,” Julia Prins said. “It clicked that this was what I wanted to do: protect natural areas and work in conservation.\u201d Photos courtesy of Julia Prins.<\/p><\/div>\n

Prins\u2019 master\u2019s thesis work focused on assessing the extinction risk of Tennessee\u2019s plant species. Currently, only about 50% of the state\u2019s flora has an assigned conservation status.<\/p>\n

She set out to fill the gap by using modeling to generate subnational conservation status ranks for more than 3,000 vascular plant species in Tennessee under the NatureServe system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough my thesis, I developed this automated way of generating these ranks for species,\u201d said Prins, who successfully defended her master’s thesis in February<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t require that long species-by-species assessment process; instead, we can automate it by mapping range, assessing threats automatically so it requires less time. We can rank 3,000 species in a matter of days rather than only a few species, so this allows for a greater impact on plant conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaw said Prins\u2019 modeling work is now under review by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and may help shape future decisions about development, rare species protections and resource allocation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study is going to make a huge impact,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not only relevant for science and education, but it gives policymakers new tools to help protect Tennessee\u2019s rarest plant species.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the thesis work, Prins developed a manual to help other states implement similar modeling methods\u2014a contribution she hopes will elevate plant conservation efforts nationwide.<\/p>\n

A graduate teaching assistant since fall 2023, she also worked as a 2024 summer intern for the Tennessee River Gorge Trust and completed a vascular flora inventory of Booker T. Washington State Park in Chattanooga.<\/p>\n

Her next stop? A seasonal position with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of my favorite places,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ll get paid to hike in the woods and look at plants\u2014which is my favorite thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long term, she hopes to work with NatureServe or in another role advancing plant conservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudying plants is how I contribute to protecting ecosystems,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we protect plants, we protect everything that depends on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her journey from California engineering student to award-winning conservation scientist in Tennessee, Prins flashed a big smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, if someone told me five years ago, \u2018You\u2019re going to be living in Tennessee and not doing engineering,\u2019 I wouldn\u2019t have believed them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think 10-year-old me would have. I\u2019m following the dreams that I had when I was a little kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In addition to Julia Prins and Sevyn Brothers, other UTC personnel presenting at the Association of Southeastern Biologists\u2019 annual meeting included:<\/p>\n