Spotlight Research Staff

INSTAAR’s Outstanding PRA Award goes to Wendy Roth

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 20:57:18 +0000

INSTAAR’s Outstanding PRA Award goes to Wendy Roth Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/14/2024 - 14:57

Shelly Sommer

INSTAAR is pleased to announce that Wendy Roth has received its 2024 Outstanding PRA Award. The award recognizes a professional research assistant (PRA) who has demonstrated excellence both in their role and within the larger communities of INSTAAR and the University.

As her fellow PRA Sylvia Michel says, “Wendy helps everybody with everything! And she does it with grace and good humor.”

Roth first came to INSTAAR as an undergraduate student of John Andrews. She made such an impression working in the Sedimentology Lab that its manager at the time, Rolf Kihl, suggested she run the lab when he retired. After Roth earned her master’s degree, that’s exactly what she did.

Almost 30 years later, Roth bridges between multiple research programs and analytical areas. Roth manages three laboratories at INSTAAR: the Sediment/Plant Processing Lab, Sediment/Plant Analysis Lab, and the XRD/Sediment Prep Lab. She is responsible for the complex maintenance and organization needed to keep labs running smoothly. She coordinates schedules for instrument and resource sharing. She ensures that students using her labs are well trained in safety and science processes, giving them the tools to succeed in their future lab settings.

Roth also organizes conferences, most notably the Arctic Workshop.

A community builder, Roth pitches in to bring people together toward worthy goals. She has been a newSTAAR mentor for several incoming INSTAARs, ensuring that they find their footing within the institution. She participates in numerous JEDI activities. She has organized the open house for middle school students each year for decades. She has also frequently led or co-led an annual drive for food and necessities for those in need.

At the awards ceremony during the INSTAAR spring Celebration Luncheon, INSTAAR Fellow Bob Anderson said simply, "INSTAAR is indeed lucky to have Wendy!"

INSTAAR is pleased to announce that Wendy Roth has received its 2024 Outstanding PRA Award. This new award recognizes a professional research assistant (PRA) who has demonstrated excellence in their role and within the larger communities of INSTAAR and the University.

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Sylvia Michel receives INSTAAR’s first Outstanding PRA Award

Anonymous — Wed, 24 May 2023 22:40:37 +0000

Sylvia Michel receives INSTAAR’s first Outstanding PRA Award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/24/2023 - 16:40

Bruce Vaughn presents Sylvia Michel with the Outstanding PRA Award.

INSTAAR is pleased to announce that Sylvia Michel is the first recipient of its Outstanding PRA Award. This new award recognizes a professional research assistant (PRA) who has demonstrated excellence in their role and within the larger communities of INSTAAR and the University.

“It is really an honor to receive this award—because the PRA community is such a stellar group!” said Michel. “These are the folks that power INSTAAR as a research engine. They have amazing technical skills, and so much experience, and as a community we really help each other. I’d really like to see all PRAs get proper recognition for their commitment to our scientific mission.”

Michel leads the team within the Stable Isotope Lab that measures stable isotopes of carbon dioxide and methane in air samples from the NOAA Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. She ensures the quality of the measurements as well as running and maintaining the instruments needed to take the samples. These measurements are vital for our understanding of sources and sinks of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere, which is needed to understand our changing climate.

John Ortega, also a PRA in the Stable Isotope Lab, says of Michel, “She is a critical link between us and our NOAA partners and the “go to” person for all our outreach activities. The equipment that we use requires technical knowledge and expertise of high vacuum operations, mass spectrometer maintenance, thermal cycling and computerized instrument control. She is truly the master of the lab and the critical consistent 30+ year global record of CO₂ and CH₄ isotopes has remained successful in large part due to her efforts. In addition to her work ethic and scientific skills, she’s a pleasant person to work with—always looking to maintain professionalism of the lab while being sensitive and accommodating to peoples’ individual styles.”

Michel is also a community builder. She organized the professional research assistants at INSTAAR into a group that relies on each other for information sharing, professional support, and advocacy. With leadership from Michel and others, the group has also organized annual blood drives, food drives, and collections of warm clothing and other necessities for people in need in Boulder.

PRA Leanne Lestak said, “Sylvia is plugged into the inner workings of PRAs here at INSTAAR. She is approachable, shares her knowledge readily, and asks deep questions, all in the context of supporting the greater good for all PRAs here at INSTAAR and even university-wide.”

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New children’s book explores The Living Landscape

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 18:15:43 +0000

New children’s book explores The Living Landscape Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/10/2022 - 12:15

Shelly Sommer

A new children’s book is centered in the Critical Zone, the thin outer layer of Earth’s surface from the tops of the trees down to bedrock where life exists and interacts with rock, soil, water, and air. Designed for 8 to 12-year olds, the book is by INSTAARs Eric Parrish and Suzanne Anderson and is published by Muddy Boots Books.

The Living Landscape: Discovering the Critical Zone follows a young girl on a hike in the mountains. A fallen tree becomes a gateway for her to explore the ways air, water, plants, animals, soil, and rock cycle and affect each other. Naturalistic illustrations and informational text let readers follow her through her adventure. The story treats the landscape in an integrated way that is rare in children’s literature.

Cover of the Living Landscape

The book emerged from the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory (Boulder Creek CZO), a research program that ran from 2007 through 2020 to study the critical zone from the Continental Divide to the western edge of the plains. Working with short stretches of time between other efforts and with small pieces of funding, creating the book took several years.

Parrish, an illustrator and designer, worked for the Boulder Creek CZO as a communicator. He conceived the idea for The Living Landscape and wrote a first draft in 2015. He also created all the illustrations. Anderson, an INSTAAR Fellow, Professor of Geological Sciences, and director of the Boulder Creek CZO, signed on to add scientific content.

“We were really wordsmithing, making sure that concepts were appropriate, that we had the right number of words on the page [or] appropriate vocabulary. We were tuning in concepts,” said Anderson. The goal was to bridge between scientific concepts and most people's lived experiences as they spend time outdoors.

Eric developed a new illustration style over the course of working on the book. “I transitioned from traditional media—oil and watercolor—to digital painting,” said Parrish. “I entered a 100 illustrations in 100 days challenge during COVID, and I made a jump at illustration number 50 to digital.”

The new techniques helped Parrish rework his illustrations to show the details of the natural environment. “Being part of the Critical Zone Observatory, I know the nuance. I got to study dirt,” said Parrish. “It definitely has variations in color and sedimentary layers. Showing that is all about light and texture and artistic tools.”

“I think my favorite page is the one about cycles,” said Anderson. “I love Eric’s graphic that connects the water cycle—which is taught widely—to the carbon cycle and plants, and this all connects to this big, slowly-turning rock cycle. This is how soil is made, at the interface between hydrosphere (water cycle) and lithosphere (rock cycle).”

It’s important to understand how connected everything is. We all think we’re separate, but we’re not.
--- Eric Parrish

The search for an agent or publisher took years, and eventually ended at the door of Muddy Boots, an imprint of Globe Pequot, the trade division of Rowman & Littlefield. Ironically, a previous incarnation of Muddy Boots had published a series of children’s books from the Long-Term Ecological Research program, including some with INSTAAR ties: the My Water Comes from the Mountains series and The Lost Seal. “They understand science,” said Anderson.

In the meantime, the Boulder Creek CZO program concluded and was succeeded by the Critical Zone Network in 2020. The Dynamic Water Cluster, part of the Critical Zone Network led by Holly Barnard, is supporting The Living Landscape as part of its public engagement activities.

While the book isn’t specific to a particular landscape, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ readers may recognize scenes from Rocky Mountain National Park, Elk Meadow, and Gordon Gulch.

Example pages of the Living Landscape

The book is designed for 8 to 12-year olds. “They’re at an age where they’re asking questions about how things work and connections between things,” said Anderson. She added, “We still have questions too.”

“When I came into the CZO, I didn’t think I’d ever love the Critical Zone,” said Parrish. But the principles of connection soon had him hooked. “It’s important to understand how connected everything is. We all think we’re separate, but we’re not.”

Parrish said, “The underlying message of my projects—if I am successful anyway—is all things are connected. Life, love and caring for our world and each other.”

The Living Landscape is available wherever books are sold, including Rowman & Littlefield, Tattered Cover, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and local retailers.

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In memoriam: Rolf Kihl

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

In memoriam: Rolf Kihl Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/04/2021 - 00:00

Rolf Kihl, a meticulous and inventive scientist who established INSTAAR’s Sedimentology Lab and ran it for decades, passed away on January 19, 2021.

Kihl left a legacy of procedures for analyzing samples and training students that are still used both within INSTAAR labs and in analytical facilities around the world. Known for his photography, love of Olivia Newton John’s music, and obsession with ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ football, he was a friend and mentor to many. The INSTAAR community mourns his loss.

Rolf Kihl came to INSTAAR as part of an influx of scientists from Canada and the United Kingdom in 1968, when INSTAAR was still a small group housed in the Armory. He had been part of a 1963 expedition, led by John Andrews, to the margin of the Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island, along with Patrick Webber. At the time, Kihl was a Sedimentology Technician in the Geographical Branch of Canada’s Department of Energy, Mines, and Resources (now Natural Resources Canada). He helped Gunnar Ostrem quarry ice from the ice-cored frontal moraine of the Barnes Ice Cap for radiocarbon dating. Subsequently, when Andrews, Webber, and others moved to the University of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ, a position was created for Kihl to establish and run a Sedimentology Lab.

Wendy Roth, who studied as a graduate student with Kihl and now runs the Sedimentology Lab, said, “He pretty much created the Sed Lab methodology. He was very organized and did a lot of analytical testing. He came up with a lot of the procedures in running samples and training students that his former grad students still use today.” She added, “He was just a really nice person.”

Kihl talks with students about sediment particle size during one of INSTAAR's first open houses for middle school students. Photo courtesy of Wendy Roth.

The lab flourished, earning an international reputation for precise and accurate analysis. John Andrews said, “He also established protocols for the processing of samples for radiocarbon dating. Rolf was meticulous and he was often sought out by individuals seeking to establish sedimentology facilities at other colleges and universities.” Kihl was also a mentor for many graduate students who passed through INSTAAR.

“He was so deeply invested in accurate analysis,” said INSTAAR Fellow and former INSTAAR Director Jaia Syvitski. “To do the kind of work, he invented things in the lab, he fixed them to make them work better.”

Kihl retired and moved to Florida with his wife, Mary Eleanor Kihl, in spring 1999. More about his life and family can be found in his obituary.

Rolf Kihl, a meticulous and inventive scientist who established INSTAAR’s Sedimentology Lab and ran it for decades, passed away on January 19, 2021. The INSTAAR community mourns his loss.

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