Emily Beam

Emily Golden Beam is a PhD candidate working with Dr. Joanna Lambert. She focuses on how to study predator behavior in the Anthropocene both non-invasively and in ways that honor all stakeholders. Her work primarily takes place in the American West. Website: http://emilygoldenbeam.com/

• Michaela Perez ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Aditi Bhaskar

Aditi Bhaskar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.  

Dr. Bhaskar specializes in changes to water resources that accompany urban development with a focus on interactions between streams, groundwater, stormwater, and urban irrigation. 

Bhaskar received a Sc.B. in Geology-Physics/Math from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Then, Dr. Bhaskar was an National Science Foundation Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow, which took her to the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia.  Dr. Bhaskar was at Colorado State University for 6 years where she was a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award before joining CU in 2023. 
 

• Anacarina Acuña ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Marianne Davenport

Marianne Davenport is a dedicated forest entomologist contributing her expertise to the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States Forest Service (USFS) at the Lakewood Service Center. In her role with Forest Health Protection, Marianne applies her comprehensive knowledge of entomology, familiarity with the unique ecosystems of the Rocky Mountain Region, and proficiency in spatial analytics to advance the mission of the USFS. Marianne's career with the Forest Service spans several key roles, including serving as an Aerial Surveyor/Biological Scientist at the Regional Office, Aerial Survey Program, and earlier positions as a Biological Science Technician at the Lakewood Service Center dating back to 2017.

Prior to joining the Forest Service, Marianne played a valuable role in United States Geological Survey projects, particularly examining forest fuel changes along Colorado's front range after the last mountain pine beetle epidemic. Her commitment to the field is underscored by her academic achievements, culminating in a Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Colorado in May 2020. Her thesis, titled “Variability in Adult Reproductive Diapause of the Spruce Beetle, Dendroctonus rufipennis,” reflects her commitment to advancing scientific understanding in the field of forest entomology.

Marianne's journey in forest entomology began in 2015 during a transformative research experience as a community college student. This early exposure not only fueled her passion for the field but also instilled a deep appreciation for collaboration, effective communication, and partnerships in achieving common goals. Throughout her academic and natural resource career, Marianne has remained dedicated to fostering positive contributions aligned with the USFS mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands for the benefit of present and future generations.

• Anna Zerkle ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Nicholas Dragone

Nick is a Postdoc at CIRES in the Fierer Lab. His research focus on using genomics techniques to study the how organisms survive in challenging environments, mainly Antarctic soils and volcanic systems. Prior to arriving at CU Boulder, Nick worked as a marine biologist studying microplastic trash in the Pacific Ocean.

• Noah Mendez ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Noah Fierer

Microbial ecology. Terrestrial ecosystem ecology. Microbial biogeography. Impact of global change factors on microbial communities and processes.

• Danny De Souza ( RECCS cohort 2021 )
• Savanna Pierce ( RECCS cohort 2019 )
• Cora Rutledge ( RECCS cohort 2018 )
• Scott-Wesley Bean ( RECCS cohort 2016 )
• Caihong VanderBurgh ( RECCS cohort 2015 )
• Patrick Marsden ( RECCS cohort 2014 )
• Julissa Rubio Soto ( RECCS cohort 2022 )
• Noah Mendez ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Jonathan Henn

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher working with Marko Spasojevic and Katie Suding to characterize long-term change in alpine plant communities. Previously, I was a Postdoc with Anne Bjorkman at the University of Gothenburg on arctic plant responses and adaptation to climate change. I completed my PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Damschen Lab. I studied how functional traits can help explain plant responses to factors like climate change, species invasions, and changing disturbance regimes. Overall, my research focuses on these issues to improve the restoration and management of ecosystems under rapidly changing conditions. In addition to doing research, I actively work on developing effective mentoring, teaching, and outreach skills because I believe that scientists need to be effective mentors, teachers, and communicators to help cultivate the next generation of scientists and engaged citizens.

• Alexandra Emond ( RECCS cohort 2022 )
• Caelan Sullivan ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Alex Hewett

Alex is an associate scientist within the Assimilation and Verification Innovation Division (AVID) of the NOAA Global Systems Laboratory (GSL). His work is with the Forecast Impact and Quality Assessment Section (FIQAS) team, where he evaluates aviation weather products and performs core research to investigate techniques and data sources for forecast verification.

Alex previously served six years in the US Navy as a search and rescue swimmer and helicopter aircrew. He then studied for a few years at San Diego Community College, where he did internships with NASA and Northrop Grumman, before transferring to the University of Washington, where he completed a B.S. with honors in atmospheric sciences and meteorology and conducted research with NOAA PMEL and his university department. He then spent a brief period as an operations engineer at SpaceX before making his to NOAA/CIRES.

• Leah Shipley ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Emmy Longnecker

Emmy received a BA in Chemistry from Smith College in 2020 and is currently an Atmospheric Chemistry PhD candidate working in Paul Ziemann's lab. Her work has included kinetic modeling, studies of indoor surface films, and fundamental mechanistic studies of atmospheric systems. When she isn't doing chemistry puzzles in lab, she plays the violin in a band, cooks with friends, and spends as much time as possible in the mountains. 

• Faith Myers ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Adam Mahood

Adam Mahood is a post-doc in Jennifer Balch’s lab. He focuses on two things: broad-scale fire ecology research at the continental to global scale, and the response of plant communities to fire using remote sensing data to guide the collection of data on the ground. Adam got his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota in conservation biology in 2004, and his master’s degree at CU in 2017 in geography. In between, he worked seasonally for many years for anyone that would pay him to look at plants - usually the National Park Service. When he is not behind his computer, he enjoys biking, rock climbing, keying out plants and perfecting the art of cooking beet greens.

• Adam Thomas ( RECCS cohort 2022 )
• Caelan Sullivan ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Susannah Morey

Susannah Morey is a geomorphologist interested in the role that extreme geomorphic events have on landscapes compared to background, everyday events. Her work combines numerical modeling with field observations and geochronology to reconstruct the impact of historic and ancient events like dam break outburst flooding and landslides. Originally from Houston, Texas, she received her undergraduate degrees in geology and literature from the University of Texas at Austin before she moved to Seattle where she received her PhD from the University of Washington. 

• Alex Shinn ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Chris Ray

Chris Ray studies the dynamics of plant and animal populations threatened by climate change and habitat fragmentation. Her recent projects include estimating bird trends in national parks, and her longest projects have focused on the American pika. Chris has a PhD in Population Biology and is a scientist with The Institute for Bird Populations in California and also the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at CU Boulder. She has studied pikas from here to Mongolia, and is the scientific advisor for the Colorado Pika Project, a community of volunteers who study how pikas respond to environmental change. 

• Juan Garcia ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Sarah Elizabeth Stockman

Sarah is currently a research assistant with the Suding lab in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department. After receiving her associates at Houston Community College, she completed her bachelors at Wellesley College where she majored in the biological sciences. She studies plant communities under global change and the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function. 

• Kayla Foster ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Katie Suding

I am a plant community ecologist working at the interface of ecosystem, landscape and population biology. My goal is to apply cutting-edge “usable” science to the challenges of restoration, species invasion, and environmental change. My research group and I work with a range of conservation groups, government agencies and land managers to provide evidence-based solutions that take into account biodiversity, human well-being, and management opportunities. We employ a combination of long-term monitoring, modeling and experimental approaches in settings that range from alpine tundra to oak woodlands to grasslands. Common themes include plant-soil feedbacks, functional traits, species effects on ecosystem processes, and non-linear and threshold dynamics. https://www.sudinglab.org/about-us

• Rylee Baca ( RECCS cohort 2022 )
• Kayla Foster ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Kristy Tiampo

Kristy Tiampo is a Professor of Geological Sciences and the Director of the Earth Science and Observation Center (ESOC) at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado. Her research program aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the processes which govern natural and anthropogenic hazards and, in particular, those which generate earthquakes, and thus improve the associated estimates of the regional seismic hazard. She is very interested in big data and analysis of remote sensing data such as space-based Global Positioning System (GPS) data, differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR), seismicity and gravity, in order to provide critical information on the nature and scale of these hazards. Significant contributions from her research include development of the first of a new generation of seismicity measures and effective inversions for the sources of surface deformation associated with earthquake and volcanic hazard as well as anthropogenic signals.

• Keith Huckleby ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Gregory Tucker

Landscape evolution, tectonic geomorphology, impacts of climate change on hillslope and fluvial systems, numerical simulation of landform development.

• Mark Irby-Gill ( RECCS cohort 2021 )
• Keely Lawrence ( RECCS cohort 2019 )
• Jessica Ghent ( RECCS cohort 2018 )
• Taylor Schoenfeld ( RECCS cohort 2016 )
• Moana Sato ( RECCS cohort 2015 )
• Alex Shinn ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Samuel Yevak

Sammy has been working the Niwot Ridge LTER Limnology group since his sophomore year of
undergraduate at CU Boulder. Over the years Sammy has been involved in many Niwot Ridge
LTER projects such as the pika survey, alpine plant biomass survey, megacosm experiment,
black sand experiment, gas sampling, and NADP sampling. His main research is focused on
alpine lakes and streams and how these systems respond to a changing alpine environment.
In his free time, you can find Sammy rock climbing, surfing, enjoying live music, camping, and
hanging out with his dog.

• Kyle Greaves ( RECCS cohort 2021 )
• Brian Hertvik ( RECCS cohort 2022 )
• Valerie Ramirez ( RECCS cohort 2024 )

Paul Ziemann

The primary focus of our group's research is to elucidate mechanisms by which volatile organic compounds emitted from biogenic and anthropogenic sources react in the atmosphere to form products that can create submicron-size organic aerosol particles. These reactions are complex and include photochemistry, gas-phase oxidation, and heterogeneous/multiphase reactions. The resulting particles affect global climate, visibility, and human health. We conduct experiments in large-volume environmental chambers under simulated atmospheric conditions and then identify and quantify organic gas and aerosol reaction products using a variety of analytical instruments and methods. This information is used to develop detailed, quantitative chemical reaction mechanisms for predicting organic aerosol formation, which can be used to improve air quality and global climate models. We also conduct laboratory, field, and modeling studies of indoor air chemistry.

https://www.colorado.edu/chemistry/paul-ziemann

• Faith Myers ( RECCS cohort 2024 )