Spotlight Student

In search of pika (Rocky Mountain PBS)

David J Lubinski — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 19:05:11 +0000

In search of pika (Rocky Mountain PBS) David J Lubinski Thu, 08/15/2024 - 13:05

Graduate student Airy Gonzalez Peralta grew up far from pika habitat. Now she strives to understand how climate change could affect these adorable mountain mammals. Join her on a multimedia journey to her pika research site on Niwot Ridge, Colorado and the backstory on how she ended up there.

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5 CU �鶹ӰԺ students, alumni receive 2024–25 Fulbright awards (CU �鶹ӰԺ Today)

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2024 19:00:56 +0000

5 CU �鶹ӰԺ students, alumni receive 2024–25 Fulbright awards (CU �鶹ӰԺ Today) Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/07/2024 - 13:00

PhD student Millie Spencer is 1 of 5 Fulbright awardees from CU �鶹ӰԺ. She will use her award to expand her work with Mapuche-Pehuenche communities in Chile: mapping glaciers, gathering oral histories of glacier retreat and hydrological change, and illuminating water insecurity.

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Q&A with Katie Gannon, Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship winner

Anonymous — Mon, 06 May 2024 22:31:10 +0000

Q&A with Katie Gannon, Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship winner Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/06/2024 - 16:31

Shelly Sommer

Incoming PhD student Katie Gannon (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) has garnered this year’s Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship. She will investigate greenhouse gas emissions from seasonally ice-covered lakes, working with advisor Bella Oleksy.

Gannon is returning to CU �鶹ӰԺ, where she was an undergraduate student, after earning her master’s degree from Montana State University. She was most recently the lab manager for the Holgerson Lab at Cornell University, and before that was a wilderness instructor and naturalist working to expand equitable access to wilderness and the outdoors.

We asked Katie about her research, plans for the summer, and life as a scientist and outdoor advocate.

Q: What is your research about?

Lakes and inland waters produce a lot of greenhouses gases—most people don’t realize that. They’re creating methane and CO₂ [carbon dioxide]. Lakes in high places are especially interesting, because they have ice cover during the cold part of the year. Think of the ice as a lid, a kind of layer that keeps the greenhouse gases from coming out. We don’t know exactly what is going on under that lid or what happens in spring when the ice melts. That introduces a lot of uncertainty about where greenhouse gases are coming from as we look at inputs into climate change.

It’s still a pretty big unknown. When the ice melts, what happens? Do the gases come out in one big burp, or more gradually? How do we measure it? If we miss ice off, how does that throw off our measurements?

My work is to look at accumulation rates of greenhouse gases under the ice and release in the spring.

Q: What will you be working on this summer as part of your Crump Fellowship?

Doing field research in New England.

We’ll choose which five lakes we’re going to use. I’ll spend time scouting and finding lakes. Working in alpine areas, you have all these big gradients in a small space. It’s really, really nice as a study system. I also just love the mountains, so it’s a fun place to be.

We’ll be able to instrument all these lakes. And I’d like to build these sensors—I’ve been working with a collaborator of mine, Jonas Stage Sø at the University of Southern Denmark who did his PhD on building machines that are $400 each and continuously measure CO₂ and methane. Whereas, the lab-based machines are closer to $40,000 each. We want to bring in and deploy these machines in Green Lakes Valley.

I’m also trying to pilot some methods this summer. There are a lot of ways to measure greenhouse gases. I’ll be working with Kevin [Rozmiarek] and Sylvia [Michel] in the Stable Isotope Lab to look at greenhouse gas abundance and isotopes. One of the best things about being here is all of the collaboration and cross-pollination.

Also just sitting with the data and looking at it!

Q: You’ve been involved in many adaptive programs for equity in the outdoors—can you tell us about that?

On a trail run in the alpine.

A thing that’s really, really important to me is improving access to the outdoors and access to science.

A bad accident in high school meant I was in a wheelchair for a while. And getting out into nature or into science is a lot harder with any kind of disability.

I’ve taught a lot of adaptive skiing to people with different physical abilities and who are neurodiverse.

It’s easy for adventure science to be filled with only people who look like me. So it’s important that we open up science and open up the outdoors to everyone.

The thing that continuously strikes me is that if you really try to include people, there are small things that all of us can do that can make a big difference. For example, I volunteered at Big Sky Ski Resort and when they put in a new chair lift system, it was really hard for people using sit skis to get on the lift. (There was a bar they couldn’t get the ski over). We asked the resort to accommodate sit skis, and all it took was removing a small plastic piece on every third chair so that folks in sit skis could sit comfortably and safely. That opens up so much more terrain and so much more space for people.

Making outdoor spaces welcoming and accessible to everyone is deeply important to me and I think that we can all engage and make a difference.

Q: What do you like to do when you’re not sciencing?

I’m a runner. I trail run a lot. I’m actually training for a 50K right now.

I really like winter running. I love to ski. I read a lot of books.

That’s basically me: I do a lot of reading, I do a lot of running, I do a lot of skiing, I do a lot of science!

Crump Fellowship award ceremony

After receiving her Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship at the 2024 INSTAAR celebration luncheon, Katie Gannon is flanked by Sarah Crump's parents, Liz Anderson and John Crump, as well as Sarah's PhD advisor Giff Miller (far left) and Sarah's partner, Nodin de Saillan (top).

Giff Miller speaking at the 2024 INSTAAR celebration luncheon.

Katie Gannon speaking at the 2024 INSTAAR celebration luncheon.

Learn about the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship, which provides summer support for a graduate student researching Earth or environmental science in Arctic, Antarctic, or alpine regions.

Incoming PhD student Katie Gannon (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) has garnered this year’s Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship. She will investigate greenhouse gas emissions from seasonally ice-covered lakes, working with advisor Bella Oleksy.

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Katie Gannon is awarded the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 19:39:27 +0000

Katie Gannon is awarded the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/02/2024 - 13:39

Shelly Sommer

Katie Gannon

INSTAAR is pleased to announce that incoming PhD student Katie Gannon is this year’s recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship.

Gannon will enter CU �鶹ӰԺ as a PhD student at INSTAAR and in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, working with advisor Bella Oleksy.

Gannon’s research explores murky questions around greenhouse gas emissions from seasonally ice-covered lakes. As the climate warms, ice cover is disappearing earlier in the year from lakes in cold regions. This shortened duration of ice has consequences for ecosystems that aren’t well understood, in particular the amounts of methane and carbon dioxide produced in lakes.

Gannon has devised a research program to test hypotheses about productivity, carbon cycling, and greenhouse gas emissions in seasonally ice-covered lakes. Using funds from the Crump Fellowship, she will visit and select sites, pilot sample collection and analytical methods, and build and deploy sensors in lakes in the Green Valley Lakes area of the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research area.

As well as a creative and dedicated researcher, Gannon is an activist for wider, more equitable access to mountain science and mountain experiences. She has guided backcountry trips for girls and gender minorities; been a wilderness instructor for K-12 students; and has helped students with various physical cognitive and physical abilities to learn to ski. This integrated focus on research and community was also a hallmark of Sarah Crump’s life and work.

See also:

See more about Katie in a followup article: Q&A with Katie Gannon, Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship winner.
Learn more about the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship, including Sarah's extraordinary legacy.

An INSTAAR student works in the Green Lakes Valley, where Katie Gannon will conduct her research. Photo by Dillon Ragar.

INSTAAR is pleased to announce that incoming PhD student Katie Gannon is this year’s recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship. Gannon will work with advisor Bella Oleksy to explore murky questions around greenhouse gas emissions from seasonally ice-covered lakes.

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Aiken Graduate Fellowships awarded

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 19:12:21 +0000

Aiken Graduate Fellowships awarded Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/19/2023 - 13:12

Shelly Sommer

George Aiken at the start of a day of fieldwork.

INSTAAR is pleased to announce four George R. Aiken Graduate Fellowships for 2023. CU �鶹ӰԺ graduate students Mackensie Bowen, Allison Cook, Tim Higgins, and Millie Spencer received the awards, which come with funding to support their research over the next year.

CU �鶹ӰԺ graduate students conducting water-related research are eligible for the fellowship. It was established to honor George Aiken, a distinguished organic biogeochemist who contributed significantly to our understanding of aquatic ecosystems during his 40-year career with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The fellowship aims to support collaborative research in water and earth science that contributes to the wise and sustainable management of Earth’s natural resources within the context of environmental change. Funds may be used to pay for research expenses.

Mackenzie Bowden, a PhD student in the Environmental Engineering program, is investigating contaminants from fires at the wildland-urban interface. These contaminants work their way into streams and watersheds, presenting risks to downstream communities and ecosystems. Yet few studies have begun to identify and quantify the individual compounds or traced them back to their source materials. Bowden will sample building materials of concern, such as treated lumber, asphalt roofing shingles, and PVC pipes. She will use her fellowship funds to perform chemical analyses on the samples after combusting them in a lab. The results will help assess the hazards posed by pyrogenic compounds in fresh water.

See Mackenzie's report

Allison Cook is a master’s degree student in the Environmental Engineering program. She is passionate about tracing and control of pathogens in the urban environment for stronger public health. Her research group is investigating the outfalls of stormwater sewers, where the built and natural environments intersect. The City of �鶹ӰԺ has noticed an increase in E. coli concentrations at locations in �鶹ӰԺ Creek. Cook will sample the stormwater system and sediments in the creek to identify the strains of E. coli that are infiltrating the creek, and see whether they are from mammal, human, or soil sources. The research could help the City mitigate the source of the E. coli.

See Allison's report

Tim Higgins, a PhD candidate in the department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, is investigating the impacts of climate change on atmospheric rivers and extreme precipitation events that affect the western United States. He is using a unique regional climate data set from the Weather@Home project, and has applied a convolutional neural network to track atmospheric rivers within the data. He is also researching how atmospheric rivers and extreme events might be predicted more accurately farther in advance of when they happen. With his fellowship funds, Higgins will travel to the World Climate Research Program Open Science Conference in Kigali, Rwanda to present his research.

See Tim's report

Millie Spencer is a PhD student in Geography, studying hydrology and glaciology through the lenses of traditional ecological knowledge and knowledge coproduction. She is part of a team of Mapuche, Chilean, and U.S. scientists that has received consent from several Mapuche-Pehuenche communities outside Temuco, Chile, to share scientific perspectives and community knowledge. Spencer will document the perspectives of community members who live in intimate proximity to Chile’s glaciers and hold community knowledge of the landscape dating back generations prior to colonization. She aims to document Mapuche knowledge of hydrological and climatic patterns and trends, greatly expanding upon current Western scientific knowledge of glacier change in the region. Her fellowship will provide funds for travel and lodging while conducting her work in Chile.

See Millie's report

The Aiken Graduate Fellowships are made possible by Ellen Aiken and many other donors. The new Fellows will be recognized at the CU �鶹ӰԺ Hydrologic Symposium in spring 2024.

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Q&A with Sara Padula, first recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 21:19:56 +0000

Q&A with Sara Padula, first recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/14/2023 - 15:19

Shelly Sommer

We are proud to announce Sara Padula as the first recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship. The fellowship provides summer support for a graduate student researching Earth or environmental science in Arctic, Antarctic, or alpine regions.

Padula is a first-year PhD student in EBIO, studying Rocky Mountain birds with Scott Taylor’s research group.

We caught up with Sara to ask about her research, her summer, and life as a scientist.

Q: What will you be working on this summer?

A: I am currently working on three projects. I’m a part of the �鶹ӰԺ Chickadee Study, which is what our lab is known for. The study involves the black-capped chickadee and mountain chickadee. We have about 400 nest boxes from �鶹ӰԺ at 5,000 feet up through the Mountain Research Station at 11,500 feet. We regularly monitor these nest boxes to get consistent data on chickadees: what nest stages look like, the timing of hatching, and genetic data.

Everybody interacts with birds, and chickadees are a really common backyard bird. So working on them is a great way to connect with our community.

Our overarching question is assessing the extent of hybridization between the two species. Previous members of my lab found that these two birds will mate with each other and produce offspring. Hybridization between black-capped chickadees and mountain chickadees in the Rocky Mountains is the result of human-mediated change. Us disturbing their environment has caused their habitats to overlap. My lab has found that most birds we sampled have genetic inheritance from both species, and that can have some consequences for the outcomes of nests. Can hybridization also help them adapt?

I also got a $10,000 grant to look at how anthropogenic noise impacts bird songs. Studies have found that in high-noise areas birds will initiate their dawn chorus earlier in the day or sing at higher pitches to avoid masking from anthropogenic noise. I’m working with �鶹ӰԺ OSMP to look at bird songs in high- and low-noise areas.

And lastly there is my dissertation work. This is a winter project that I’ll be starting on in the late summer.

Mountain chickadees and black-capped chickadees cache food. They’ll hide their food throughout their environment when resources are plentiful and, in the winter, the birds will retrieve thousands of food these caches in a single season. To recover all those caches, they need a really good spatial memory.

I mean, they can remember the location of thousands of food caches, and I have trouble remembering where my keys are in the morning

Studies have found that the section of the brain that plays a major role in learning and memory, the hippocampus, becomes enlarged in chickadees in the winter, which is when they utilize their memories the most. And, the more harsh the chickadee’s habitat, the better the spatial memory—and the trait is inheritable.

We use automated feeders to perform memory tests on chickadees in the wild. I will put special tags on the birds’ legs that interact with an antenna on the feeders. When a bird lands on the feeder, the antenna detects the tag and, in turn, opens the feeder door allowing the bird to get a seed. I can program the feeders to only open for specific birds. For our memory tests, I will assign each chickadee to a specific feeder and measure the amount of mistakes (going to the wrong feeder) they make in each trial, which serves as a measure of their spatial memory. Previous work has shown the chickadees quickly learn to visit their assigned feeders with few to no errors.

What I want to do is to compare spatial memories between the two species of chickadees, and also correlate that with their genetics.

I find the memories of chickadees fascinating. I mean, they can remember the location of thousands of food caches, and I have trouble remembering where my keys are in the morning. Can they respond to changing conditions and extreme weather using their spatial memory?

Sara Padula and colleagues capture chickadees for measurement, banding, and release.

Q: What did the Crump Fellowship allow you to do that you couldn’t otherwise?

A: I’m able to go to two conferences this summer, which is really nice. And it gives me more freedom in what I ask for from [her advisor] Scott [Taylor], since he isn’t having to find salary.

The Fellowship has been amazing. I got connected with her [Sarah Crump’s] whole family. Her dad includes me in an email chain, and we talk. He participates in kestrel monitoring, so he sends me pictures of his nestlings, and I send him pictures of my nestlings.

Sara presented her science poster at the Evolution 2023 conference in June 2023. Her poster proposes how to investigate spatial cognition in black-capped chickadees and mountain chickadees.

Q: What do you like to do when you’re not sciencing?

A: I love reading. I only got back into reading when the pandemic happened. This year my goal is to read 40 books, and I’m on track for that. Me and my roommates have our own book club, just the three of us.

I’m on an intramural soccer team. And I’ve always loved running. I’m training for a half marathon in October in Moab.

I also love cooking and baking. I’m the designated chef and baker in my house. I’m vegetarian, and my girlfriend is vegan, so I do a lot of vegan and vegetarian stuff. I think vegan baking tastes better. It’s easier a lot of the time, too.

Learn about the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship, which provides summer support for a graduate student researching Earth or environmental science in Arctic, Antarctic, or alpine regions.

We are proud to announce Sara Padula as the first recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship. The fellowship provides summer support for a graduate student researching Earth or environmental science in Arctic, Antarctic, or alpine regions. We caught up with Sara to ask about her research, her summer, and life as a scientist.

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Airy Peralta and Jared Collins garner first INSTAAR Graduate Community Awards

Anonymous — Wed, 24 May 2023 22:11:10 +0000

Airy Peralta and Jared Collins garner first INSTAAR Graduate Community Awards Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/24/2023 - 16:11

Shelly Sommer

Jared Collins and Airy Peralta are presented with their Graduate Community Awards by Brad Markle at the celebration of INSTAAR awards. Photo by Marisa Seitz.

Airy Peralta and Jared Collins are the recipients of the first INSTAAR Graduate Community Awards. The award is a new honor that recognizes students who expend substantial effort in activities that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the INSTAAR community and as representatives of INSTAAR. Nominations can come from any member of the INSTAAR community and are evaluated by the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Task Force.

Airy Peralta is a PhD student (EBIO) studying the ecology of threatened and endangered species, particularly pikas, with Dr. Chris Ray. She is a leader in activities that bring science to underserved communities and elevate our collective ability to address ecological problems through science for all. She frequently engages with college and K-12 students who speak Spanish as their first language, serving as a STEM ambassador and mentor.

A few highlights of her activities include mentoring students in both the Research Experience for Community College Students (RECCS) program and the University Research Opportunities Program (UROP), applying her own experiences as a former student at Front Range Community College. She helped her mentees develop research skills, including programming for data analysis and grant writing.

She helped train a cohort of 150 community scientists collecting data on American pika habitat occupancy throughout the Front Range, which helps us understand local climate change and its impacts, in collaboration with the Denver Zoo and Rocky Mountain Wild.

Peralta spoke in both English and Spanish to nearly 100 Casey Middle School students who were either recent immigrants to the United States or English language learners about her path to becoming a scientist and the importance of science for conservation. She spoke to an equal number of third and fourth grade students at the STEM Launch event in Thornton on endangered species. As part of her Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research requirements, she developed a game to engage elementary school students in predicting species ranges.

In addition, she wrote several successful grant proposals totaling more than $20,000 to support transitioning the landscaping around her housing development in Lafayette away from a typical lawn and toward a community of native plants, using her education at CU to increase community awareness of ecological issues and reducing her neighborhood’s reliance on water and pesticides.

Jared Collins is an MS student (EVEN) whose research with Dr. Diane McKnight focuses on harmful algal bloom detection in urban reservoirs. He is committed to bringing science to underserved groups and to the communities where research is based.

As part of his research, Collins has collected samples from Wonderland Lake in north �鶹ӰԺ each month using a drone. He has engaged thoughtfully with community members, passers-by, K-12 students, and many other members of the public who are curious about and interested in the status of their lake. He has also coordinated his work with the City of �鶹ӰԺ Open Space and Mountain Parks resource managers, giving information about the types of algae in the lake and whether or not they may contain cyanotoxins within 24 hours of sampling.

Collins also led a project to repurpose 1400 misprinted copies of Counting Caribou, a children’s book that presents an Alaska native narrative about caribou migration. Jared worked with three undergraduate students to correct and localize the books for Colorado by adding cards on wolf dispersal and mule deer migration. He has worked with faculty and staff in Engineering and the CU Office for Outreach and Engagement to distribute the books to underserved schools in southwestern Colorado. In addition, he has worked with others within INSTAAR and its partners to find outlets for the books, such as Native American communities in Colorado, attendees of public talks about pika given by Chris Ray, and teachers in Denver schools.

The awards were given to Peralta and Collins at a gathering on Wednesday, where INSTAARs celebrated their contributions. Dr. Bradley Markle, who led the selection process and presented the awards, said, “I’m extremely impressed by how much both these students have contributed to the INSTAAR as well as the broader scientific and local communities. They make our institute a better place to be!”

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Lina C. Pérez-Ángel: Proud to study paleoclimate in Colombia (AGU EOS)

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 19:48:56 +0000

Lina C. Pérez-Ángel: Proud to study paleoclimate in Colombia (AGU EOS) Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/26/2022 - 13:48

As a young Latina, Pérez-Ángel brings a fresh perspective to paleoclimatology. She's profiled in an AGU Eos feature.

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