Off

Waleed Abdalati testified to Congress for the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. 

Waleed Abdalati

On April 15, 2021, Professor Abdalati testified in a hearing held by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. The hearing was titled 鈥淢aking the Case for Climate Action: The Growing Risks and Costs of Inaction.鈥�

While Dr. Abdalati spoke to the underlying physical mechanisms of climate change, their current expressions, and future implications, other witnesses included the city manager for Tybee Island in Coastal Georgia, who talked about the challenges they face in confronting sea level rise; a lawyer from Mississippi, who spoke to the ethnic and racial inequities associated with climate change; and an economist, who spoke to the social costs of climate change. 

Dr. Abdalati remarked, "hearing these different perspectives on climate change really drove home the geographic dimensions of climate change in a very powerful way, as well as the critical role that geography serves in meeting these challenges.鈥�

Also see  and 

Holly Barnard

Holly Barnard Awarded Boulder Faculty Excellence in Leadership & Service Award for 2020-2021

Chosen from amongst many excellent nominees, Professor Holly Barnard was selected as a recipient of the BFA Faculty Excellence in Leadership and Service Award this year. 

She was jointly nominated by the Department of Geography and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) for her leadership in advancing justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in both units, across the 欧美口爆视频 campus, and beyond. In addition, Professor Barnard has also taken on numerous leadership roles in the discipline, through the American Geophysical Union and through her past service as Lead Program Manager for the Hydrological Sciences Program at NSF. 

Additionally, Dr. Barnard was also recently honored for her efforts to promote diversity by the Arts & Sciences Council of the College of A&S.

Emily Yeh Winner of the 2020-2021 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award

Emily Yeh

Yaffa Truelove

Yaffa Truelove Wins Best Urban Studies Article 2020

The Urban Studies Best Article is awarded by the editors to the authors of the most innovative and agenda-setting article published in a given year. Eleven articles were shortlisted by the editors from those published in print copy in 2020.  is an international journal for research in urban and regional studies.

Dr. Truelove's article, Disambiguating the southern urban critique: Propositions, pathways and possibilities for a more global urban studies, has been voted by the editors as the Urban Studies Best Article for 2020. In agreement with the publisher, SAGE, they will be allowing Open Access to the article on the journal鈥檚 website.

Katherine Lininger

Katherine Lininger

Professor Katherine Lininger was part of a team given a 欧美口爆视频 Outreach Award for the outreach proposal, 鈥溑访揽诒悠� Restoration Ecology Experimental Learning Program鈥�, by the 欧美口爆视频 Boulder Outreach Awards Committee. The effort was led by Tim Seastedt, professor emeritus of INSTAAR and EBIO, and also included Professor Sharon Collinge from the Department of Environmental Studies.  The project builds on three years of work, partnering with the non-profit Wildlands Restoration Volunteers (WRV). WRV uses service-learning and education programs to help local youth build relationships with nature. Over 70% of the youth engaged in the program come from low-income, minority, or at risk populations. As a result, underserved youth will have access to the many benefits of a connection to nature and will be able to explore potential careers in environmental sciences and see their own capacity to make a positive impact.

Their team was selected from amongst a very competitive pool of 40 applications. 

Morteza Karimzadeh

Morteza Karimzadeh awarded RIO Seed Grant

Morteza Karimzadeh and Terra McKinnish were awarded the 欧美口爆视频 RIO Seed Grant for the project entitled  鈥淩ecovering from a Pandemic: Unraveling Neighborhood Geographic Disparities in Consumer and Business Behavior in 2021鈥�.

They will use foot-traffic data to identify business patrons鈥� residence neighborhoods and the level of recovery in consumption by residents living in those neighborhoods as characterized by different sociodemographic, political and economic conditions.

The 2021 Research & Innovation Seed Grant program resulted in 16 new grants with approximately $700,000 being awarded to 欧美口爆视频 Boulder faculty across disciplines, with each grant providing up to $50,000 in funding.

Heide Bruckner

MeatOut Day: Heide Bruckner Interviewed on 欧美口爆视频 Public Radio

In February, word started to get out that Gov. Jared Polis has proclaimed the 20th as MeatOut Day. The day, , is meant to encourage non-vegetarians to consider moving toward a plant-based diet.

Heide Bruckner's research involves the intersections of food and identity. 鈥淢eat has always been politicized and meat-eating tied to a lot of perceptions of American identity and masculinity, especially here in the American West,鈥� she said.

Dr. Bruckner favors the idea of a MeatOut Day, as a way to introduce people to the idea that they can reduce the amount of meat in their diet without becoming a full vegetarian.

鈥淭here is a large area in between that all-or-nothing approach that we really should explore,鈥� she said. 鈥淩ealistically, one day isn鈥檛 going to radically shift perception, change behaviors or reduce meat consumption. But I do believe it can provide an opening for some to consider the role that meat plays in their diet.鈥�

The governor鈥檚 office notes that Polis issues numerous proclamations each year celebrating the state鈥檚 agricultural sector, including 欧美口爆视频 Ag Day, Farm Bureau Day, and Rocky Ford Cantaloupe Day. But that has not stopped the criticism. After word of the proclamation got out, several state Senators spoke out against MeatOut Day on the chamber floor.

John O'Loughlin: Ukrainian Resident鈥檚 Divided Views on the Donbas Conflict

John O鈥橪oughlin

On February 12, 2015 the Minsk II accords left the Donbas region territorially divided with the Ukrainian government controlling the western side and two separatist entities controlling the eastern side. O鈥橪oughlin and his research team conducted a survey on both sides and they found drastically different opinions regarding the war in Donbas.

On the eastern side, they found trust in the authorities to be higher among residents; however, on the western side, they found trust in the authorities to be much lower among residents. Their survey also shows that residents disagree on the future status of Donbas as an autonomous region. 

The team also made a research presentation on the results at George Washington University鈥檚  in February; the video of the talk is available on . 

Off

Undergraduate student, Mykael Pineda, was awarded an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Individual Grant for her 鈥淐limate Sensitive Post-Fire Management鈥� project. She will be co-mentored by Holly Barnard and GEOG Alum Teresa Chapman from The Nature Conservancy. Mykael will be using this work as the basis of her honors thesis.

Mykael will be using GIS mapping technology to determine the accessibility of seedling planting sites by foot and reports she is "grateful for the opportunity and optimistic about what the future holds!"

欧美口爆视频 Boulder has a rich culture for cultivating undergraduates as emerging scholars, artists and practicing researchers. UROP provides consultation services, workshops, and grants to promote undergraduate research as a high-impact learning practice for student success. Each year UROP funds hundreds of students who produce new knowledge and creative work with 欧美口爆视频's world-class faculty. For more information see the 欧美口爆视频 Boulder Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program page.

Off

Thirteen students, staff and faculty members are being honored for their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder College of Arts and Sciences.

The winners are the recipients of the first awards from ASCEND, or the Arts and Sciences Consortium of Committees on Climate, Equity, Inclusion and Diversity. 

The winners were selected and announced by the Diversity Committee of the Arts and Sciences Council, which is the primary representative body for the college鈥檚 faculty.

Celine Dauverd, associate professor of history and diversity-committee member, said the committee created the awards to acknowledge the 鈥渙utstanding work of faculty, staff and students who work tirelessly and most times in the dark鈥� in support of diversity and inclusion.

Undergraduate winners are Rita Disibio and Chris Casta帽eda, both BFA students in theater and dance. They were nominated by Kevin Rich, associate professor in theater and dance. 

In his nomination, Rich said Disibio and Casta帽eda 鈥渉ave been deeply engaged in efforts in the Department of Theatre and Dance to interrogate and decolonize our curriculum and production season.鈥� 

Last summer, they and alumni and music students co-authored an open letter to the department 鈥渄emanding that we implement anti-racist policies and practices in all of our classes and productions,鈥� Rich said.  

Since then, they have been regularly meeting with department administration and helped form a student organization called 欧美口爆视频 IDEAS, 鈥渨hich is committed to issues of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access in the Department of Theatre and Dance and across campus.鈥� 

Graduate-student winners include Shen Lu of mathematics and Leanna Luney in ethnic studies. 

Lu, a PhD student in the Department of Mathematics, was nominated by the department鈥檚 diversity committee, which noted Lu鈥檚 work both as a graduate teacher and an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion. 

The committee characterized Lu this way:

鈥淗is work has been exemplary. Shen is one of the driving forces of the Diversity Committee, and has organized numerous events including, the 鈥楲GBTQ Safe Zone: LGBTQ Inclusion Presentation,鈥� and the 鈥榃ait Your Turn: Interrupting Sexism鈥� event.鈥�  

Luney, a PhD student in the Department of Ethnic Studies, was nominated by department faculty members Nishant Upadhyay and CheyOnna Sewell.

Upadhyay and Sewell said Luney has demonstrated 鈥渋nspiring leadership toward racial justice on campus and beyond.鈥� 

The nominators added: 鈥淎s the co-founder of BIPOC Radical Womxn/Femmes Collective, Luney has played a pivotal role over the last two years to create spaces to build community, organize and heal together. The anti-racist statement by the collective, co-authored by Luney, has been a foundational document for instructors on campus to address anti-racism in their classrooms.鈥� 

Staff winners include Erin Cunningham, Kurt Gutjahr, Shelly Hammonds, Angie Jimenez, Karen Hawley and Victoria Romano, who are members of the staff-summit planning committee. 

This planning committee focuses on providing and supporting opportunities for greater learning which, they argue, increase job satisfaction, bolster staff retention, enhance productivity, and promote supportive, collaborative and sustainable working environments for all employees in the College of Arts and Sciences. The staff summit was born out the of the Be Seen initiative (part of the larger Be Heard program). Be Seen stands for Better Engaged Staff through Effective, Efficient Networking.

Bernadette M. Stewart, the college鈥檚 assistant dean of administration, noted that Be Seen views the role of community as central to creating diverse and inclusive work environments, adding that the ASC Diversity Committee recognizes the importance of staff partnership in the college鈥檚 broader mission and celebrates staff members. 

Faculty winners include Holly Barnard in geography, Mithi Mukherjee in history and Michele Simpson in the Farrand Residential Academic Program.

Barnard, associate professor in geography, was nominated three times鈥攂y Assistant Professors Coleen Reid and Katherine Lininger, and by the Antiracism and Diversity Committee of the Department of Geography.

The nominators said Barnard has worked 鈥渢irelessly to create an inclusive and diverse community鈥� within the department, adding:

鈥淪he has played a key role in identifying possible candidates for STAR/FDAP (diversity) hires. She also led the effort to change the graduate admissions process in geography, including permanently dropping GRE scores in the admissions process due to their documented bias against underrepresented applicants.鈥�

Mukherjee, associate professor of history, was nominated by 13 colleagues and students.

Nominators said that as an international faculty member, she has worked hard to promote the principles of diversity and inclusive excellence on campus for 20 years. They also praised Mukherjee's engagement in the field of human rights, dedication to diversifying course offerings, and her support of graduate students, undergraduate students and junior faculty members. All those she has worked with "have described Professor Mukherjee as supportive, creative and truly inspirational,鈥� the nominators said. 

Mukherjee has been described as a model for scholarly excellence, pedagogical creativity and effectiveness, and commitment to diversity at 欧美口爆视频 Boulder.  

Simpson, senior instructor in the Farrand Residential Academic Program, was nominated by fellow faculty members Elizabeth Anderman and Laura DeLuca, who said that Simpson has demonstrated a commitment to the principles and actions of diversity and inclusion. 

They added that Simpson 鈥渃ontributes to enhancing equity, diversity and inclusion through active community involvement, creative pedagogy and student mentorship.鈥� 

They added: 鈥淗er community involvement is particularly germane to our current political moment. In response to the murder of George Floyd, Michele was active with the Boulder Police commission on racial justice as well as the Boulder Police oversight Implementation Team. She hosted a Boulder Diversity and Inclusion Summit: Listening to Community Voices. She launched a monthly radio show: Black Talk. And she was an organizer and moderator for 鈥楤lack in Boulder.鈥� She is a staunch supporter for BIPOC and LGBTQ students, in and out of the classroom.鈥�

The Arts and Sciences Council ASCEND Awards are supported by James White, interim dean, and Hillary Potter, associate dean of inclusive practice. The diversity committee comprises:

路      Ceciia J. Pang, theatre and dance, chair

路      Celine Dauverd, history

路      Mara Goldman, geography

路      Angelica Lawson, ethnic studies and cinema studies and moving image arts

路      Carla Jones, anthropology

路      Colleen Scanlan Lyons, environmental studies

Off

Exciting news for Holly Barnard and the department! She recently recieved the following letter:

It is a pleasure to write to you with the news that you have been chosen to receive a Boulder Faculty Excellence Award for AY 2020-2021.  There were many nominations submitted to the BFA this year, and given the extraordinary quality of the submissions, the selection committees had to make difficult choices. Be sure to know that your colleagues think very highly of your work, and we are all pleased to celebrate this recognition with you.

This award also includes a $4,000 monetary prize. Please read through the attached Excellence Awards Monetary Prize document and follow the steps listed in order to process the monetary award.  Due to COVID event protocol, we will be hosting a Zoom ceremony for you and your colleagues on Tuesday, April 6th from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Please hold this time on your calendar. We will have more details about the ceremony for you later this month.

Congratulations once again on behalf of the BFA. We are copying your nominators, department Chair, and Divisional Dean as well. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Best,

Vicki Hendrickson Grove
BFA Vice Chair

and

Janet Casagrand
Selection Committee Chair: Excellence in Leadership & Service

Off

Holly Barnard

See the details on  for students to apply for the Bridge program. 

When an institution is accepted to be a Bridge partner, they have access to a growing database of AGU Bridge student applications and join a community of other institutions engaged in holistic admission practices.

The announcement was posted on the .

The next step in the onboarding process will occur in mid to late January 2021. In preparation for extending your department鈥檚 access to the AGU Bridge Program applicant pool, you will receive a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will need to be signed by the department chair. The MOU details your proposed plan of action for supporting AGU Bridge Program Fellows/Students. The MOU will be used to facilitate departmental check-ins between your institution and AGU at key points during the year. The MOU will also include guidelines for accessing and reviewing student applicant data. The MOU must be signed and returned for your department to gain access to student application materials.

Additionally, the AGU Bridge Program staff will plan to host a virtual meeting (also in mid to late January) for all incoming Bridge Partner institutions to discuss overall program goals, facilitate introductions, and provide a forum for any program related questions or concerns. Please monitor your inbox for a related email to coordinate scheduling for this important meeting. Please feel free to email the AGU Bridge program directly at bridge@agu.org, if any questions or concerns arise in relation to your role as an AGU Bridge Partner. Congratulations again and we look forward to working with you.

Warm regards,
Pranoti Asher, Ph.D.
IGEN/AGU Bridge Program Director
AGU Assistant Director, Grants and Education Programs鈥�

Off

Holly Barnard

Geography professor Holly Barnard is the Principle Investigator and Geography Assistant Professor Katherine Lininger, with Eve-Lyn Hinckley, are the Co-Principle Investigators on a new 5-year $6.9M NSF grant to study the Critical Zone in the American West.

Up to now, Critical Zone Observatories have done a lot of work discovering and quantifying fundamental critical zone processes. But how do those processes integrate and affect each other? That鈥檚 the next frontier for critical zone research, and this project jumps right in. The researchers will look at how water, trees, soils, and rocks interact and change each other in the fire- and drought-prone landscapes of the American West. Their discoveries will uncover links between how water is stored in the landscape and how that affects key processes in forest ecology, rock chemistry, and soil chemistry. Further, they will help predict how climate change will modify these interactions and change water and therefore life in the West. They鈥檙e going to put a lot of theories to the test.

The Critical-Zone Collaborative Network is an adaptive and responsive research enterprise that supports investigations of the Earth鈥檚 surface processes. This network will consist of two components that will work together to advance knowledge, education, and outreach in this convergent science: 1) Thematic Clusters of fixed or temporary locations will conduct basic research on significant, overarching scientific questions concerning the structure, function, and processes of the Critical Zone; 2) a Coordinating Hub that will oversee the compatibility and archiving of the data resulting from the Thematic Clusters, coordinate outreach and community-building activities, support the use of network facilities by outside researchers, and plan for infrastructure needs of the network.

Additional Information:

• Earth Explorers partner school is Westview Middle School in Longmont. See their 
• List of PIs and Institutions:
  • Holly Barnard, Eve-lyn Hinckley, Katherine Lininger: 欧美口爆视频 Boulder
  • Alexis Navarre-Sitchler, Kamini Singha: 欧美口爆视频 School of Mines
  • Li Li: Penn State University
  • Pam Sullivan: Oregon State University
  • Naomi Tague: University of California Santa Barbara
  • Adrian Harpold: University of Nevada Reno
• Federal partners:
  • Sheila Murphy  - USGS (Boulder, CO)
  • Brian Ebel 鈥� USGS (Lakewood, CO)
  • Renee Brooks, US EPA (Corvallis, OR)
• Total award (for five years for all academic institutions combined) = $6.9M

Off

This course is about learning both the principles of hydrology as well as the techniques which can be used to solve hydrologic problems. In practice, hydrologists have to quantify rates at which water is exchanged between the atmosphere, land surface, and the oceans. This often involves processing data and solving sets of equations. It is fairly easy to lose sight of the conceptual part of the problem once you focus on techniques.

Thus, one of our other goals is to give you a balanced view of hydrology--one that includes a description of the physical processes as well as a coherent presentation of the theories and techniques which are used in practice. 

Off