Application Guidelines

To be considered for this award, eligible students are asked to submit a story map and short paper detailing their project completed as a requirement for their studies in Ontario. Don't have an Esri account? You can make a free account here.   Additional details are as follows:

Questions regarding the bursary, application process, or StoryMap submission should be sent to the attention of the manager of  Education.

2025 Nathan adams STUDENT BURSARY WINNER

Aryan Srivastava – Fanshawe College

Geographic Information Systems

Flood Risk and Community Awareness in London, Ontario: Exploring the Thames River Through GIS

Aryan is a student at Fanshawe College enrolled in the  Geographic Information Systems program, set to graduate in August 2025.  Raised in New Delhi, India he had always wanted to apply advanced geospatial tools to real-world challenges back home, so he came to Canada to gain first-hand experience with leading GIS technologies. His interests centre on spatial analysis, drone-based data capture, and remote sensing—skills he has refined both in class and through field projects.

Aryan's capstone StoryMap, “Flood Risk & Community Awareness in London, Ontario,” integrates city open data, personally captured drone footage and images, and insights from a short Survey123 questionnaire to map Thames River flood vulnerability, visualize past flood events, and assess community preparedness. The project illustrates how community insight and GIS together can guide smarter flood-mitigation planning, and underscore the need for wider public awareness and household emergency-plan readiness.

Long-term, Aryan aims to deploy data-driven flood-management and climate-resilience solutions in Canada, India, and other regions facing similar challenges worldwide.

2024 Nathan adams STUDENT BURSARY WINNER

Helen Plesko - Fleming College

Geographic Information Systems - Applications Specialist

Snapping Turtle Habitat Suitability

Helen Plesko is a student at Fleming College enrolled in the  Geographic Information Systems - Applications Specialist program, set to graduate in June 2024.  She has also achieved her Bachelor of Education in the Queen's-Trent concurrent education program.

Helen's project focused on determining the available suitable habitat for the Chelydra serpentina, more commonly known as the snapping turtle, is an incredible reptile that lives in the southeastern area of North America.  As part of her submission, Helen developed a Story Map that explains her methodology, results, and map products she produced in her site suitability analysis. You can view her storymap here.

2023 Nathan adams STUDENT BURSARY WINNER

Hannah Flores - University of Toronto

Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

In the Line of Fire, The homes of Amazonian indigenous peoples are turning to ash

Hannah Flores is a second-year student at the University of Toronto (St. George) studying human and environmental biology, and Spanish. Inspired by her Guyanese and Cuban heritage, Hannah was eager to study a growing concern at the nexus of environmental health, geography, and indigenous sovereignty in the Amazon: how forest fires impact the health of Amazonian indigenous populations.

As part of her submission, Hannah developed a Story Map that aimed to visualize the geographical infiltration of wildfires into Amazonian indigenous territories as of 2022. Beyond the geographical lens, this Story Map uses scientific, journalistic, and ethnographic data sources to convey the severe negative impacts that these fires have on the forest environments that indigenous communities call home, and the life-threatening health effects that the fires have on isolated indigenous tribes.