According to NAU alumnus Michael Marquess, brewing beer is an art form.
In 2011, his passion for brewing led him to open Mother Road Brewing Company—now one of the highest-rated breweries in the state.
With popular brews like Tower Station IPA, Conserve and Protect Kolsch, Daily Driver Session IPA and Lost Highway, all the beers relate to Route 66 and Flagstaff’s own mother road.
NAU-TV has the story.
Sept. 16, 2019
Scientists with the Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research have received a four-year, $859,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to assess how cottonwood trees have evolved to tolerate environmental stresses, including changing temperature and insect herbivory. The results will aid ongoing river restoration projects across the Southwest by helping identify which trees will continue to support healthy ecosystems in a changing world.
Along rivers in the southwestern United States, cottonwood trees provide shade, habitat and food for a wide range of species. As such, cottonwoods influence a much larger community of understory plants, insects, microbes, birds and mammals.
Previous research at NAU has shown that the genetic makeup of a cottonwood tree can impact traits such as leaf size and chemistry, and these traits affect all of the species that depend on the tree. However, in a changing environment, the tree’s genetics are only part of the equation for predicting tree health and ecological effects. Genes may be expressed differently when a tree is exposed to new environmental cues, leading to leaves that are thicker or thinner or more or less protected from insect herbivory. Known as phenotypic plasticity, this change in trait expression might be higher in trees that have evolved to deal with constantly changing climates than in trees from very stable environments.
“A tree’s genes probably set it up not just to do the same thing all the time, but to respond to environmental stresses like hot or dry conditions or insect outbreaks in particular ways that will help it survive. Without ways to predict these responses or their effects on ecosystems, our ability to understand the consequences of climate change is really limited,” said Rebecca Best, the project’s principal investigator and assistant professor in NAU’s School of Earth and Sustainability. “Our hope is that by understanding the stresses this species has experienced in the past, we can better predict what these trees will be able to do in the rapidly changing landscape of the future.”
To investigate these stresses and responses, the researchers will use trees of the same genetic identity planted in three common gardens distributed across a steep environmental gradient from Yuma to Utah.
“NAU is recognized as a world leader in the field of community and ecosystem genetics, and this effort continues an important tradition of excellence in this area,” said David Schultz, NAU vice president of research. “Additionally, this project will use three existing common gardens and build on research initiated by a previous NSF grant.”
The experimental gardens, Emerging Frontiers Macrosystem Biology grant #1340852, were designed by Gery Allan, Thomas Whitham, Kitty Gehring, Kevin Grady and Samuel Cushman at NAU and Kevin Hultine at the Desert Botanical Garden.
Co-principal investigators on the new grant are Whitham, Allan and Richard Lindroth, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Other collaborators include Christopher Doughty and postdoctoral researcher Hillary Cooper. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1914433.
At Northern Arizona University, Aug. 26 not only brings the start of classes for the Fall 2019 semester, but also the Second Annual Community Welcome—an event to foster a sense of community amongst students and long-term Flagstaff residents.
Volunteer teams made up of NAU students, faculty and staff, city employees and Flagstaff and NAU police go door-to-door visiting homes in neighborhoods close to campus, and distribute valuable educational materials on being a good neighbor and city ordinances, and spend time getting to know and hearing from the neighbors.
In order to knock on more than 450 doors, NAU is asking for your help. Considering volunteering from 4:30-8 p.m. on Aug. 26 to help connect NAU to Flagstaff.
More information can be found on the Community Welcome website.
Aug. 23, 2019
Get your fruits and vegetables here!
Faculty and staff at Northern Arizona University can soon be “prescribed” a healthier diet and fill their prescription with bags of free groceries.
According to the 2018 wellness survey conducted as part of the Healthy U program, though NAU employees ranked strong in wellness, they believed they should be eating more fruits and vegetables. In an effort to help, NAU’s Employee Assistance and Wellness (EAW) is partnering with Campus Health Services, Student Health Promotion and Campus Dining to implement a produce prescription program called Fruits/Veggies Rx.
“Students have been taking advantage of this program for a couple of years,” said Heather Nash, director of EAW. “After seeing the survey results, we thought extending this program to faculty and staff would be a great way to elevate their concerns of not getting enough nutrition in their diets.”
The program works like this: If an employee feels they are not getting enough produce in their diets, they can visit a provider, physician, nurse or counselor to get a “prescription” of increasing their fruit and veggie intake. Then, the employee can take that prescription to the EAW office, room 2601 in the Health and Learning Center, to pick up a voucher for one free bag of fruits and vegetables per week, for six weeks, redeemable at the Open-Air Market on NAU’s pedway starting in September.
“Once they’ve picked up the voucher, they can swing by the EAW table at the market and we’ll talk about nutrition, provide some fun recipes and preparation ideas, then send them on their way with a bag of produce.”
Nash said a lot of the produce provided is locally sourced and introduces people to different varieties of fruits and vegetables that they may have otherwise not tried.
“We wanted to provide a jumping-off point for people to access fruits and vegetables, learn how easy it is to prepare them and just how tasty they can be. Our hope is that once they realize how easy it is, more produce can be incorporated into their diets to create a healthier lifestyle.”
Those who do not qualify for the prescription can use dining dollars, cash or credit card to purchase produce and other goods at the Open-Air Market, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Wednesday in September and October.
More information, including other EAW offerings, can be found online.
Aug. 22, 2019
President Rita Cheng and other administrators will don aprons and serve lunch at a free picnic for students, faculty and staff as part of Welcome Week.
The picnic is planned for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28, in the central quad area between Aspen Crossing and Wilson Hall. Stop by for a free hamburger, hot dog or veggie burger with all the trimmings.
When you’ve finished, look nearby for the Alumni Association’s ice cream giveaway.
Welcome Week is a great way for students to get acquainted with all that NAU has to offer. Open houses, concerts, games, movies, meetings and plenty more fill the calendar through Aug. 30.
A complete list of Welcome Week activities is available online.
Aug. 15, 2019
Each spring, Northern Arizona University students have the opportunity to develop skills and experience the legislative process firsthand while working alongside professionals at the state capitol through the Arizona State Legislative Internship Program.
Interns practice research, writing and public speaking, while participating in the democratic process during the legislative session. The program is open to students of all majors, and previous knowledge of the legislative process is not required to apply.
Faculty and staff are encouraged to remind students about this opportunity as the application deadlines for Spring 2020 are quickly approaching.
Interns are selected for positions with the Arizona State Senate, the Arizona State House of Representatives, the Arizona State Governor’s Office and the Arizona State Supreme Court. Selected broadcast interns join the Arizona Capitol Television team.
Those selected for the legislative and broadcast internships work full-time in Phoenix during the legislative session from January through May.
In addition to the experience, interns receive a stipend of $5,000, a tuition or fee waiver and earn 12 hours of undergraduate upper division credit or 9 hours of graduate credit upon successful completion of the internship.
“In week one, 13 interns and myself were seated in a white room and given more information than I expected to learn throughout the semester. I imagined grabbing coffee for higher-ups, making copies and not much else. I could not have been more mistaken,” said Adrienne Austill, international affairs major and former House of Representatives intern. “This internship allowed me to gain skills such as public speaking, research, writing, patience and a true understanding of the legislative branch.”
Descriptions of the different positions within each office or agency as well as a link to the application can be found online.
Application materials for the legislative and broadcast internships must be submitted via Handshake. This includes a completed application, personal statement, unofficial transcript, two signed letters of recommendation and a current resume.
Legislative internship applications are due by 5 p.m. Sept. 25. Broadcast internship applications for Arizona Capitol Television are due mid-October.