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- Twenty-two NAU students and faculty members were chosen to participate in the 2024 Ecological Society of America annual meeting in Long Beach, California. This year’s meeting focused on highlighting ecologists, who study the natural world, and the importance of supporting their research by raising awareness and investing in their studies. Presentations and workshops led by NAU representatives were as follows:
- Graduate students Darby Bergl and Oscar Zimmerman co-organized a workshop with postdoctoral scholar Mostafa Javadian on PhenoCam, a network of over 700 cameras that uses timelapse photography to study ecosystems around the world.
- Graduate student William Cannon presented research exploring which factors influence how wildfire evacuations are planned and experienced.
- Graduate student Alicia Formanack presented research she co-authored with Kiona Ogle, a professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS), on how climate variability impacts tree growth.
- Ogle also discussed the relationships between tree growth, carbon balance and hydraulic function in the wake of a drought, research she completed with NAU alumni Shelby Lamm, Drew Peltier and former research assistant professor Kimberly Samuels-Crow.
- Peltier presented a study he completed with Ogle, research associate Rohan Boone and associate SICCS professor Jarrett Barber detailing the different ways tree growth is influenced by past climate conditions and major climate events.
- NAU alum and researcher Ivan Gonzalez presented an in-depth look into Connecting Landscapes (CoLa) software based on algorithms he developed with SICCS assistant research professor Patrick Jantz.
- Postdoctoral scholar Jenna Keany detailed a study she co-authored regarding how African forest elephants impact tropical forest structure. Keany originally completed the research with senior research scientist Patrick Burns, Jantz, SICCS Regents’ professor Scott Goetz and SICCS associate professor Christopher Doughty.
- Graduate student Nicholas Link discussed the potential of using fuel breaks, where vegetation is removed or rearranged around vulnerable communities, to combat wildfires. Link’s study was co-authored by graduate student Felecia Amundsen, Department of Accounting, Economics, and Finance chair Joseph Little, biological sciences assistant professor Xanthe Walker and biological sciences Regents’ professor Michelle Mack.
- Graduate student Quentin McCalla investigated the survival of Fremont Cottonwood seedlings along the Verde River, one of the last living forests of its kind. McCalla completed his analysis alongside sustainability professor Abraham Springer and forestry Regents’ professor Peter Fulé.
- SICCS associate professor Joseph Mihaljevic detailed his studies quantifying how temperature influences the infection dynamics of ranaviruses in salamander species. Mihaljevic initially completed this work with research assistant Kelsey Banister, collaborative campus associate Molly Bechtel and biological sciences associate professor Jason Ladner.
- Postdoctoral scholar Kayode Oshinubi presented a study he completed with SICCS professor Eck Doerry, Mihaljevic, SICCS associate professor Crystal Hepp and mathematics associate professor Ye Chen connecting climate variation to mosquito population.
- Jessie Rack, an assistant teaching professor for the Department of Biological Sciences, co-organized a field trip where meeting attendees embarked on a nature walk along the Los Angeles River to learn how its channeling impacted the city over time.
- Graduate student Emma Reich presented research she completed with Samuels-Crow, Boone, Peltier and Ogle evaluating how plants and ecosystems respond to precipitation pulses, which are rapid increases in carbon dioxide levels caused by precipitation.
- Graduate student Jack Scherer spoke about how fire impacts arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), known for alleviating environmental stress on its host plants, in the Sonoran Desert.
- Postdoctoral scholar Alice Stears discussed her work developing models that predict landscape-scale vegetation composition and biomass productivity to help accurately forecast droughts.
- Postdoctoral scholar Brandon Strange presented research examining the impacts of North American Monsoons on forest growth and carbon sequestration in ponderosa pine forests, which he completed with co-authors Peltier and Ogle.
- Barber presented research he conducted with Boone, Ogle, Strange, Peltier, Formanack and Samuels-Crow identifying which climate conditions are most commonly associated with extreme high and low tree growth.
- Assistant forestry professor Catrin Edgeley, NAU alumna and ecologist Sara Gabrielson and postdoctoral scholar Camille Gaillard were also selected to present their research, though these presentations were ultimately canceled.
- Nico Young was one of 10 college athletes featured in the BestColleges article “Here Are Some Standout College Athletes Competing in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games” in early July. Young was recognized for placing third in the men’s 10,000-meter dash at the U.S. Olympic Trials and later finished 12th in the event during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
- Cline Library archivist and collections manager Melissa Lawton and archivist for discovery Samantha Meier co-authored the article “Processing the David Muench Photography Records,” published in the Society of American Archivists newsletter, Archival Outlook.
- NAU was one of five organizations across Arizona to receive grant funding from AmeriCorps in late July to support Public Health AmeriCorps members and ultimately strengthen the public health workforce. AmeriCorps gave NAU $663,071 to support 93 AmeriCorps members in the Center for Service and Volunteerism.
- The Institute for Human Development (IHD) received a second year of funding for its PATHS: Providing Accessible Training and Home Support for Parents with Intellectual Disabilities program from the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council. With this continued funding, the PATHS team will focus on developing and delivering training to educate home visitors about the needs of parents with intellectual disabilities and how to support them.
- The National Institute of Mental Health recently funded a research project developed by NAU IHD and the College of Health and Human Services designed to identify ways of improving the cultural responsiveness of autism spectrum disorder assessment practices for Diné families, titled Advancing Hózhó in Autism Assessment for Diné Families.