In the Spotlight: Dec. 7, 2018

Kudos to these faculty and staff

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• Brett Dickson, co-director in the Lab of Landscape Ecology and Conservation Biology, is lead author on “Circuit-Theory Applications to Connectivity Science and Conservation” published in Conservation Biology. The article explores circuit theory, which is research pioneered by alumnus Brad McRae, who died of cancer last year.
• Professor of invertebrate zoology Stephen Shuster is lead author on “The Opportunity for Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Non-Responsiveness to Pesticides, Sterility Inducers and Contraceptives,” published in Elsevier’s. The article discusses a method for delaying and possibly eliminating the evolution of non-responsiveness to treatment, through a process similar to sexual selection.
• Criminology and criminal justice lecturer Parwez Besmel presented “The Dilemma of Peace and Justice in Afghanistan” at the 36th Annual Conference of Association of Global South Studies in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Besmel also submitted the paper to the International Journal of Transitional Justice.
• Maiah Jaskoski, associate professor in politics and international affairs, was an invited speaker to present her book in progress, “New Extraction in Latin America: Territorial Rights, Participatory Institutions, and Conflict,” at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, Chile. The book is a study of 30 social conflicts over new hydrocarbon and mining projects in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru.
• Project manager Andrew Iacona was accepted into the inaugural class of the Arizona Forward Emerging Sustainability Leaders Program. Iacona was accepted for his personal and professional commitment to sustainability and the capacity to drive change. During the program, he will apply new skills to advance sustainability in the community.
• The High Country Conference Center won gold in the Best Conference Center in the southwest region category in the Stella Awards. To be a finalist in this award, HCCC had to at least rank in the top three for public voting. Once the finalists were picked, they had to send in documentations to support their nomination, after which the judges reviewed and picked a winner.
• Program managers for Institute for Tribal Environmental Professional’s Climate Change Program contributed to the Fourth National Climate Assessment. Nikki Cooley, a School of Forestry alumna, was a technical contributor for the Forests chapter, while Karen Cozzetto was the review editor for the Tribes and Indigenous Peoples chapter.
• Björn Krondorfer, the director of the Martin-Springer Institute, has been invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia to present in in Yerevan on Dec. 9-11. Krondorfer will speak at the Third Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide, where he will present his paper “Framing an Active Educational Agenda: Social Reconciliation, Memory Work, and Unsettling Empathy.”