Spotlight Faculty Fellow

New faculty fellow Nathalie Vriend brings avalanche expertise to INSTAAR

Gabe Allen — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 18:00:00 +0000

New faculty fellow Nathalie Vriend brings avalanche expertise to INSTAAR Gabe Allen Wed, 04/23/2025 - 12:00

Gabe Allen

This month, INSTAAR welcomed associate professor of mechanical engineering Nathalie Vriend to the institute as a senior faculty fellow. Vriend’s research aims to deconstruct the physics of granular flows in nature. In particular, her work provides insight into the physics of avalanches and migrating sand dunes.

As a senior faculty fellow, Vriend will become a voting member of the INSTAAR directorate while continuing her teaching and research in the Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering College of Engineering and Applied Science. She is also eager to explore new collaborations with other INSTAAR scientists.

“Nathalie is an outstanding scientist who will enhance our interdisciplinarity, deepen our expertise in fluid mechanics, and expose INSTAARs to novel laboratory techniques for the study of geophysical phenomena,” INSTAAR director Nicole Lovenduski said, adding that her appointment will strengthen ties between INSTAAR and the Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering College of Engineering and Applied Science.

In light of her recent appointment, INSTAAR sat down with Vriend to talk about her career, research interests and aspirations for future collaborations at the institute.

Q: Why were you interested in joining INSTAAR?

A: When I came to CU �鶹ӰԺ two-and-a-half years ago, I heard about the different institutes, but I wasn't really aware what the mechanics or benefits of joining were. More recently, I struck up a conversation with INSTAAR director Nicole Lovenduski, and I realized that INSTAAR’s focus overlaps with at least half of my work, because snow and avalanches occur in the arctic and alpine.

After talking with Nikki, I saw great potential in connecting with people that do field work in these environments. I’m in mechanical engineering and barely any of my colleagues actually go out into the field. INSTAAR’s logistical support, storage facilities, and experience in applying for field grants and executing field campaigns—those things were big selling points for me.

Q: Tell us about your research on avalanches.

A: It goes back to my very first research job after my PhD, where I studied avalanches in Switzerland. In essence, my research has always focused on moving snow. So we're not talking about fracturing or the initiation of a snow avalanche, which is a completely different topic. But, if a snow avalanche has already started and is moving along, how fast does it go? What kind of pressures are exerted on it? What's the reach? What's the run out? I’m interested in the physics of avalanches.

Then come the implications. Where could you build infrastructure safely? What kind of defensive structures could you build to divert an avalanche out of the path of greatest danger? How can we model avalanches, so that we can predict where they might go?

I recently gave a guest lecture on snow avalanche field work and one of the students was like ‘Wow. You went and built this experiment and recorded three artificial releases of snow throughout the winter and that’s all the data you could collect?’ Yeah. Field work with avalanches is just hard because you’re dependent on factors you can’t control. And, if an avalanche goes, you have to get the data there and then. If something fails, you’re out of luck.

So, because of those factors, I moved more into the lab. It’s much more controllable. We can repeat it. We can change certain parameters to nudge behavior in a certain direction. In my lab right now, we’re specializing in a technique called photoelasticity. It creates these fantastic images that are not only beautiful, but hold a lot of quantitative information.

Q: Fascinating. I know you also do research on sand dunes. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

A: Sand Dunes were my first scientific love. It’s what I did my PhD on, which was 15 years ago mind you, I guess I’m getting a bit old. I looked at the booming sand dunes or the singing sand dunes. Basically, if you create an avalanche on a sand dune it creates a very musical tone. We explained that using geophysical methods, acoustics and some, you might say, granular mechanics.

It creates such a magical, mystical sound, and there were a ton of TV news segments about the research—PBS, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel. It was 15 years ago, and PBS even asked me to do an interview a couple of years ago. They keep coming back to it.

Since then, I’ve done several field trips to Qatar and White Sands National Park here in the U.S. to investigate the structure of sand dunes—how they are layered and what that tells us about their history.

When you cut a cross-section of a tree you get tree rings. You can count them, measure them and see which years the tree was growing slow or fast. The same thing happens to sand dunes. As they migrate, they continuously avalanche and form layers. Depending on the width, you can see how fast it was moving.

Q: Why does your research matter? Why is it important?

A: It’s very simple in both cases. For sand dunes, we’re living in a drying world. We have a loss of agricultural resources. Rivers are drying up. Playas are drying up and creating more sand and more dust. So sand dunes are really important.

I visited places in Qatar where dunes were engulfing roads. In the capital of Mauritania, Nouakchott, a dune field is slowly encroaching on the city. It's just engulfing houses, and there's nothing they can do about it. And, closer to home, we have Lake Michigan. They have a row of villas next to these sand dunes and, one by one, they are getting overtaken. They’re trying to get them out with bulldozers, but, of course, it isn’t working. So one by one, you can see your neighbors losing your house, and you know you're next.

Sand dunes can have a huge impact on human infrastructure, so we need to understand how sentiments move, and how we can adjust their behavior. Can we stabilize them? Can we divert them?

The rationale is very similar for avalanches. We might have been able to rely on historical data in the past, but with climate change avalanches may be bigger. They may be happening in different areas. Their impact may be much, much more significant. So we really need to understand how avalanches move, and how other debris flows and landslides move.This might allow us to predict their behavior and plan for it. I approach that through physical modeling.

Q: What kind of collaborations do you envision might be possible within INSTAAR?

A: I’ve been talking with Julia Moriarty, who does coastal research. She does a combination of sedimentology, fluid dynamics and coastal oceanography. We had been talking about potentially applying for an NSF grant, but in the end we split the project into separate proposals with the postdoc involved. Nonetheless, we know we have a common research interest that could lead to further collaborations.

There’s also a very clear overlap between my research and Irina Overeem’s work. She works with glaciers and ice streams and sediments.

Finally, Bob Anderson has worked on geomorphological problems that I’m interested in. There might be something there.

I still want to reach out to Mountain Research director Scott Taylor and the people in charge of cold rooms to explore more possibilities. I’ve talked with Nikki and some others about the possibility of doing some small experiments in the cold room, because some of my work could definitely benefit from a cold environment. We’re still investigating whether our cameras, which are quite fancy, could deal with minus 10 degrees.

I will also be giving a talk at the Mountain Research Station summer seminar series (see our events page for more info).

Vriend, an expert in avalanches and sand dunes, will join INSTAAR as a senior member of the directorate. Institute leadership hopes her appointment will strengthen ties with the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

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New RIO Faculty Fellows cohort continues legacy of leadership development across campus (RIO)

David J Lubinski — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 22:31:57 +0000

New RIO Faculty Fellows cohort continues legacy of leadership development across campus (RIO) David J Lubinski Tue, 03/11/2025 - 16:31

Julia Moriarty (INSTAAR & ATOC) is one of 14 faculty members selected by the Research and Innovation Office as their 2025 RIO Faculty Fellows cohort. The program supports faculty in achieving their goals through tailored training, experiential learning and leadership development opportunities.

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Scott Taylor to receive a 2025 CU �鶹ӰԺ Faculty Excellence Award (�鶹ӰԺ Faculty Assembly)

David J Lubinski — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 23:34:03 +0000

Scott Taylor to receive a 2025 CU �鶹ӰԺ Faculty Excellence Award (�鶹ӰԺ Faculty Assembly) David J Lubinski Wed, 03/05/2025 - 16:34

INSTAAR Fellow and EBIO Associate Professor Scott Taylor is just one of three faculty members to win an award for Excellence in Leadership & Service from the �鶹ӰԺ Faculty Assembly. The award includes a monetary prize and an awards ceremony event on April 2nd. Congratulations!

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Katharine Suding named a 2025 Franklin Institute Bower Award winner (Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine)

David J Lubinski — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 00:48:15 +0000

Katharine Suding named a 2025 Franklin Institute Bower Award winner (Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine) David J Lubinski Fri, 02/14/2025 - 17:48

CU �鶹ӰԺ distinguished professor Katharine Suding was recognized for making “transformative contributions to restoration ecology by increasing our understanding of degraded ecosystems and their recovery dynamics.”

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Franklin Institute selects Katharine Suding for the Bower Award for Achievement in Science

David J Lubinski — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 21:41:28 +0000

Franklin Institute selects Katharine Suding for the Bower Award for Achievement in Science David J Lubinski Thu, 02/06/2025 - 14:41

Gabe Allen

The Franklin Institute named INSTAAR Faculty Fellow Katharine Suding the recipient of the Bower Award and Prize for achievement in Science today, citing her “transformative contributions to restoration ecology.”

Katharine Suding

Each year, the Bower Awards go to outstanding scientists and innovators who have led paradigm shifts in their respective fields. Past winners include Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and Marie Curie.

“These are some of the greatest minds and most influential pioneers of our time,” Franklin Institute President and CEO Larry Dubinski wrote in a press release.

Suding has pioneered theoretical shifts, experimental methods and collaborative efforts with land managers since she entered the field of restoration ecology more than 25 years ago. Her work has influenced ecologists around the world. Suding’s 2004 paper “Alternative states and positive feedbacks in restoration ecology,” remains the most highly-cited article in the field to this day.

Though her theoretical contributions to the field have had a global impact, much of Suding’s work is locally-focused. At INSTAAR, she led the Niwot Ridge Long-term Ecological Research Program from 2013-2023. It is an ongoing National Science Foundation-funded project that has produced insights into alpine ecology for more than 40 years. She also recently formed a collaboration with local municipalities in �鶹ӰԺ that applies insights from grassland ecology research toward mitigating wildfire risk.

On May 1, Suding will join nine other 2025 Franklin Institute Laureates for a ceremony at the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in Philadelphia. INSTAAR sat down with the eminent restoration ecologist for a Q&A on the eve of the big announcement.

What was your path to restoration ecology?

I grew up in Evergreen, Colorado, and I was always really interested in the natural world. I especially loved the open spaces that we have around here and, later in my career, I think that’s why I always sought out grasslands.

Anyways, because of my interests, it made sense to pursue biology and ecology during my undergrad at Williams. When I got to graduate school, I was really interested in theory and quantitative approaches, but I also wanted to be able to work with land managers and provide something useful. That’s when I started to get interested in restoration.

Suding stands under a favorite apple tree, �鶹ӰԺ Open Space. Credit: Matt Talarico, Impact Media Lab.

At the time, it was a pretty new field — it really started in the late 80s and early 90s. One of the premises back then was that if you know how a system works and how all the pieces of the web of life fit together, then you should know how to put those pieces back into a degraded system and restore it. An often-repeated quote from the 80s was that "land restoration is the acid test of our ecological understanding.”

It was pretty appealing to be able to take ideas from the basic science side of things and use them for restoration. And, if that framework did work, it would create a really important role for ecology in terms of providing solutions to some of the negative impacts that humans have had on the environment.

But, I soon realized that this concept was a very simplified, human-centered way of thinking about things. So, one of the first things I started thinking about was shifting our understanding from thinking about ecosystems as linear to thinking about nonlinear dynamics. Maybe, when a system gets stuck in a degraded state, it’s actually stuck and not changing at all. And, if that’s true, you might actually be able to cross a threshold and cause really rapid recovery.

We were bringing in ideas from all kinds of complex system theories, like economics or even marriage dynamics. Really, we were thinking that maybe there’s a more productive way to approach restoration that takes into account alternative stable states.

You’re receiving this award, in part, because you played a major role in changing some of the fundamental theories in the field of restoration ecology. You just referenced some of the ideas in your now famous paper “Alternative states and positive feedbacks in restoration ecology.” What was the next big theoretical shift?

Yeah, so I think this is where you start to get into ideas that are a little more controversial. First, there’s this idea of novel ecosystems. It’s the idea that, in restoration, you might never fully get back to a historical reference state, for instance you might never be able to get rid of certain exotic species. Instead, you might be dealing with a new ecosystem that has no analog, but might still have some value. You might still have an ecosystem that benefits both nature and humans, but has changed forever.

Of course this makes things not so black and white. Some worry that it creates a slippery slope and that people could take advantage of it and say that anything they do is restoration.

But, I think it’s probably going to become less controversial as time goes on. We have to provide ways that people can actually use these ideas in the world. And, these concepts have also spurred growth for things like research into ecosystem services — how nature can provide services. Things like meeting the demands of a productive landscape for rangeland or increasing water holding capacity or controlling flooding.

We can accept that we’re not going to go back to the past, but still set strong goals and maintain strong ideals, like fostering biological diversity and developing nature-based solutions to problems.

I think a lot of people that are just learning about restoration now, like undergrads, are kind of surprised that this was even controversial. The reality is that everything is changing.

Suding's colleague Julie Larson checks instrumentation for the Drought Net Experiment, �鶹ӰԺ Open Space. Credit: Suding.

Suding's colleagues Laurel Brigham and Jane Smith prepare for tundra fieldwork, Niwot Ridge, Colorado. Credit: Nancy Shackelford.

When you look back at your career so far, what are some things that you are proud of?

I hope I have given people some ways to think about management a little bit out of the box. Ways to break negative feedback that aren’t just going with the status quo. I think that has resonated with some people.

I also hope that I've allowed people to think more intentionally about the goals for particular natural systems. Maybe, instead of beating yourself up because you'll never meet certain ideals, maybe you can consider the value that that piece of land still has. Really thinking about how management goals can shift without losing the conservation mandate.

What questions or problems drive your work today?

Locally, I think the Fire question is super important. We’re working on ways to balance managing fire risk with also supporting the incredible diversity we have in grasslands and their ability to store carbon in the soil. It’s a complex problem without a single overarching goal, but hopefully we can find some more balanced solutions.

One other thing that I’m curious about is potentially finding the best way to get Bison back onto our local grasslands. There’s a lot of potential in terms of both ecological health and cultural significance. This is still in the very early stages though, so who knows what will happen.

The UN declared this the decade of ecosystem restoration, and there’s been some debate over whether that means it’s just a decade of increased tree planting and reforestation, or if grasslands fit into that. These are sites that have huge conservation value on their own.

I think we need more appreciation of what we've been calling old growth grasslands. We can't see all the complexity, because it's below ground. But it's there. There's all sorts of crazy underground roots and dynamics that you could see if you flipped it over. I think it's as amazing as an old growth forest.

Suding heads out for fieldwork on �鶹ӰԺ Open Space. Credit: Matt Talarico, Impact Media Lab.

If you have questions about this story, or would like to reach out to INSTAAR for further comment, you can contact Senior Communications Specialist Gabe Allen at gabriel.allen@colorado.edu.

INSTAAR Faculty Fellow Katharine Suding received the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science today for her “transformative contributions to restoration ecology.” INSTAAR sat down with the eminent ecologist for a Q&A on the eve of the big announcement.

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INSTAAR welcomes a new faculty fellow: Sisimac Duchicela

David J Lubinski — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 20:34:08 +0000

INSTAAR welcomes a new faculty fellow: Sisimac Duchicela David J Lubinski Fri, 12/13/2024 - 13:34

Gabe Allen

INSTAAR will welcome its latest faculty fellow in January. Sisimac Duchicela is an ecologist, botanist and biogeographer. Her research investigates climate change, ecology and human-ecosystem relationships in the Andes.

Duchicela will continue to investigate tropical alpine ecosystems, sustainable management practices and community-driven development at INSTAAR. She is particularly interested in how Andean ecosystems are changing in the 21st century, and what this means for local and indigenous people. Duchicela will also develop comparative climate change studies between tropical mountains and the Rockies, with the goal of understanding how the entire latitudinal range of these ecosystems will change.

“Global environmental change is altering the way humans interact with their environment and, in turn, the feedback obtained from these ecosystems,” she said.

In the past, Duchicela has worked closely with Andean Indigenous and farming communities to design and monitor ecological restoration projects, implement climate change simulation experiments and propose adaptation strategies. She is also an expert in the taxonomy, ecology, and biology of tropical alpine vegetation in the Andes — a field that she had contributed to for more than 15 years.

INSTAAR director Nicole Lovenduski said that Duchicela’s interdisciplinary background and rigorous approach were major drivers behind INSTAAR’s decision to hire her.

“Dr. Duchicela’s research program is focused on alpine ecology, an area that has been a core strength of INSTAAR since its inception,” Lovenduski said. “She studies these rapidly changing alpine regions by bringing together concepts from ecology, botany, biogeography, and ecological restoration – exactly the type of interdisciplinary approach that INSTAAR values.”

Duchicela holds a PhD in Geography and the Environment from the University of Texas at Austin and a MS in Natural Resources and Environment from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Alongside her INSTAAR affiliation, she will hold an assistant professorship in the geography department, where she will teach courses.

INSTAAR will welcome its latest faculty fellow in January. Sisimac Duchicela is an ecologist, botanist and biogeographer. Her research investigates climate change, ecology and human-ecosystem relationships in the Andes.

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INSTAAR welcomes a new faculty fellow: Riley Mulhern

David J Lubinski — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 23:10:01 +0000

INSTAAR welcomes a new faculty fellow: Riley Mulhern David J Lubinski Wed, 11/06/2024 - 16:10

Gabe Allen

Riley Mulhern will join INSTAAR as a faculty fellow in January, concurrent with his role as an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Studies. At INSTAAR, Mulhern will continue his work to investigate environmental contamination and human health-related exposures through a community-engaged approach.

“Mulhern’s past experiences and plans to study water quality in high elevation regions, his innovative use of artificial intelligence techniques to analyze complex observational data, and his connections to the public health sector complement and expand INSTAAR’s interdisciplinarity,” INSTAAR director Nicole Lovenduski wrote. “We are excited to welcome him to our institute!”

Previously, Mulhern was the engineering and data science lead on Clean Water for U.S. Kids, a program that tested and remediated lead-contaminated water at child care and educational facilities in Georgia and North Carolina. He has also worked on projects addressing private well water quality, low-income housing and PFAS contamination. His environmental engineering and environmental justice efforts have taken him to Nicaragua, Guatemala, and the Bolivian Andes.

Mulhern earned an MS in Environmental Engineering from CU �鶹ӰԺ in 2016 and a PhD in Environmental Sciences & Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2021. He comes to the institute with a lengthy record of peer-reviewed publications. He received both the Highly Cited and Highly Published Author awards from RTI international in 2021.

Throughout his career, Mulhern has fostered collaboration to expand the bounds of his research and its impacts. At CU, he hopes to develop collaborative projects both within the institute and beyond.

At INSTAAR, Mulhern will continue his work to investigate environmental contamination and human health-related exposures through a community-engaged approach. He hopes to develop collaborations within the institute and beyond.

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Michael Gooseff elected as an AGU Fellow

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 16:30:36 +0000

Michael Gooseff elected as an AGU Fellow Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/18/2024 - 10:30

Shelly Sommer , Susan Glairon (CEAE)

Michael Gooseff has been elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the union announced today.

Gooseff is among 54 scholars in the 2024 cohort of Fellows. AGU, the world's largest Earth and space science association, bestows the honor annually on a select number of individuals who have made exceptional contributions in their fields. Since its inception in 1962, less than one tenth of one percent of AGU members have been selected as Fellows each year.

It’s such an honor and a great surprise. While I am the one receiving this honor, it is really a testament to my collaborations with colleagues and students throughout my career

Michael Gooseff (left) with Anthony Bourdain and Byron Adams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica after shooting outreach science discussions for the CNN show Parts Unknown, January 2017.

Gooseff was selected for his exemplary leadership and for advancing our understanding of how a changing climate affects ecosystems and freshwater supply.

Gooseff has conducted field and modeling research studies from Arctic Alaska to Antarctica, including many sites in the intermountain western U.S. He and his students investigate the relationships between earth systems and ecosystems to better understand mechanisms of natural water movement in the environment, particularly the interactions of surface water and groundwater, and the consequences of these physical processes on the transport and fate of solutes such as pollutants and nutrients. Quantifying these linkages directly informs our understanding of water quality and its response to changes within these systems.

Gooseff is a fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and a professor in the Department of Civil Architectural & Environmental Engineering. He is currently the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Engineering and Applied Science, lead principal investigator of the McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER project, and a co-director of the Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Program at CU.

He is a celebrated teacher and effective graduate student advisor and mentor.

In addition to his academic contributions, Gooseff recently chaired the Water Quality Control Commission for the State of Colorado and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board on Water Body Connectivity for the Environmental Protection Agency.

“It’s such an honor and a great surprise,” said Gooseff. “While I am the one receiving this honor, it is really a testament to my collaborations with colleagues and students throughout my career.”

Gooseff joins a number of AGU Fellows active within INSTAAR, including Robert Anderson, Suzanne Anderson, Diane McKnight, and Gifford Miller. With the rest of the 2024 Fellows, Gooseff will be recognized at AGU’s annual conference in December 2024.

Michael Gooseff has been elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). He was selected for his exemplary leadership and for advancing our understanding of how a changing climate affects ecosystems and freshwater supply.

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CU �鶹ӰԺ scientist shows expeditioners untamed Antarctica (Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine)

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 00:32:47 +0000

CU �鶹ӰԺ scientist shows expeditioners untamed Antarctica (Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine) Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 02/16/2024 - 17:32

Clint Talbott

When she is in Antarctica, Cassandra Brooks (INSTAAR & ENVS) normally works to expand the frontiers of human knowledge. This month, she returned from a trip not focused on scientific research but on expanding the horizons of eco-tourists.

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Research & Innovation Office announces 2024 Faculty Fellows class (RIO)

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 20:59:08 +0000

Research & Innovation Office announces 2024 Faculty Fellows class (RIO) Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/19/2023 - 13:59

Keith Musselman (INSTAAR & Geography) is one 16 CU �鶹ӰԺ faculty members selected by the Research and Innovation Office as their 2024 RIO Faculty Fellows cohort. The program supports faculty in achieving their research/innovation goals and promotes collaboration, all through tailored training, experiential learning and leadership development opportunities. Musselman and his cohort will kick off 2024 with an intensive three-day retreat in January, followed by several more focused retreats and a variety of informal networking activities.

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