The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Editorial Board awarded Georgia State University Professor Paul J. Ferraro, GSU alumnus Merlin M. Hanauer and Katharine R.E. Sims (Amherst College) the 2011 Cozzarelli Prize for their article, “Conditions associated with protected area success in conservation and poverty reduction.” Ferraro, a professor of economics in GSU’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, lives in Winnona Park.

The prize “recognizes outstanding contributions to the scientific disciplines represented by the National Academy of Sciences,” according to the organization. Named the best in PNAS’s Applied Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences category, Ferraro and Hanauer’s article was one among six recognized for their scientific excellence and originality from a pool of more than 3,500 research articles published in the journal last year.

“We look for papers that are not merely technically superior but have had special impact and maybe novel techniques or novel applications of techniques or very important discoveries,” reports Randy Schekman, PNAS editor-in-chief, in a podcast interview about the award. “…the overall goal is to make the journal even more powerful and to have it represent the very best science.”

Hanauer accepted the honor at the PNAS Editorial Board meeting during the National Academy of Sciences annual meeting this spring in Washington, D.C. The PNAS has posted a podcast interview and transcript with APSPS alumnus and Cozzarelli Prize winner Merlin Hanauer online at www.pnas.org/podcasts. The winning article is also available online:  www.pnas.org/content/108/34/13913.abstract.