Joel Billings was awarded the OSU Foundation Distinguished Graduate Fellowship based on "scholarly contributions to the discipline and/or the academic community, including awards, honors, research projects, publications, presentations at professional meetings, performances, creative writings and leadership activities"

Billings is a graduate research associate at FPP and has a Ph.D in fire and emergency management.

The fellowship provides $2,500 in educational expenses and can be renewed for up to two more years.