Student Research
In support of interdisciplinary student training, the GCSC offers research grants to eligible graduate students. These funds are awarded in support of thesis-related research that broadens a student’s disciplinary focus into a new interdisciplinary direction. Grantees present their research at our annual Environment and Sustainability Research Symposium.
Projects that have been supported by GCSC Graduate Student Research grants are listed below.
| Evan | Kipnis | Geology and Geophysics | Are changes to surface halite linked to shallow brine aquifer geochemistry at the Bonneville Salt Flats? |
| Jordan | Herman | Biology | Breeding Birds and Climate Change: Can Nest Type Provide Shelter From the Storm? |
| Sabrina | McNew | Biology | Does climate mediate the tolerance of Galapagos mockingbirds to invasive nest flies? |
| Andrew | Bartlow | Biology | The Effect of Pinyon-Juniper Invasion on Parasite Communities in the Great Basin |
| Ian | Summers | Communication | This land is your land? The role of social identity within land disputes |
| Joshua | Mueller | Geography | Paleotempestology of the British Virgin Islands |
| Kate | Magargal | Anthropology | People and Fire in Prehistory in the Upper Escalante Watershed, Utah |
| Alexei | Perelet | Mechanical Engineering | Exploration of the microclimate over structured sparse canopies using area averaged measurements from large aperture scintillometry |
| Joyita | Roy Chowdhury | Economics | Cooperation and Water Resource management: Experimental Evidence from villages affected by natural disasters in rural Odisha, India |
| Maria | Groves | Geography | An Ecological and Climatic Reconstruction of Range Creek Canyon, Utah |
| Casey | Duncan | Geology and Geophysics | Development and Deployment of a Low-Cost Multispectral Camera and UAV |
| Leah | Campbell | Atmospheric Sciences | Mountain Effects on Precipitation in the Chilean Andes |
| Ralph | Burrillo | Anthropology | δ18O Variability in Water Sources and Plant Cellulose on Elk Ridge, Southeast Utah: Data Collection for Models of Environmental Adaptation on the Prehistoric Colorado Plateau |
| Logan | Frederick | Geology and Geophysics | Assessing Sedimentary Records of the Quimsacocha Region of Ecuador for Potential Paleoclimate Analysis |
| Tyler | Huth | Geology and Geophysics | High resolution soil CO2 and soil water isotope profiles from Torrey, Utah |
| Cornelia | Rasmussen | Geology and Geophysics | Environmental effects of bolide impacts during the Late Triassic |
| Joyita | Roy Chowdhury | Economics | Poverty Traps, Risk and Natural disasters: Micro evidence from rural Odisha, India |
| Rose | Verbos | Parks, Recreation, and Tourism | Weather and outdoor recreation: A weather dependency framework and an exploration of outdoor recreationists’ perceptions of weather dependency |
| Amanda | Bertana | Sociology | Doctoral Dissertation Research: Environmentally Induced Migration |
| Leah | Campbell | Atmospheric Sciences | Mountain Effects on Precipitation in the Chilean Andes |
| Megan | Moser | Parks, Recreation and Tourism | Understanding Potential Visitor Responses to the Possible Recession Of Exit Glacier At Kenai Fjords National Park |
| Katherine | Schide | Geology | A Geomorphic Study of Transgressive Deposits and Local Climate Change in Late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville |
| Nicole | Torosin | Anthropology | A comparative study of human and howler monkey Toll-Like Receptor 7 under the selective pressure of yellow fever virus |
| Danielle | Ward | Geography | Laser Diffraction Analysis of Range Creek Canyon Sediments |
| Chris | Zajchowski | Parks, Recreation and Tourism | Valley flight: Normative standards for alpine recreation during air pollution events |
Ralph Burillo collects samples.
| Ralph | Burrillo | Anthropology | 18O Variability in Water Sources on the Colorado Plateau: Preliminaries to Stable Isotope Models of Prehistoric Irrigation. |
| Vanessa | Chavez | Geography | Ciénega Activity and Climate Responses for a Desert Wetland in Baja California. |
| Mark | Chynoweth | Biology | “Human-wildlife conflict in eastern Turkey: gaining perspective from community surveys” |
| Mohd Yusuf | Jameel | Geology & Geophysics | Deciphering the source of carbon in the anthropogenically modified rivers of the Great Salt Lake basin |
| Patrice | Kurnath | Biology | Chill Out – Microclimate Use by Mammalian Herbivores Challenged with Temperature and Toxins |
| Kate | Magargal | Anthropology | Fetching Firewood: Access to fuels as a constraint for prehistoric settlement |
| Nathan | Miller | Mechanical Engineering | An Experimental Study of Block-scale Particle Dispersion in Grape Vineyards |
| Emily | Schulze | Biology | Hidden Water Worlds of Red Butte Canyon |
| Tracy | Maezumi | Geography | Neotropical Climate, Vegetation, and Fire Histories on Local and Regional Scales |
| Tracy | Maezumi | Geography | Identifying the extent of Human Landscape Modification in the Bolivian Amazon |
| Crystal | Tulley-Cordova | Geology & Geophysics | Recording the North American Monsoon in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah |
| Megan | Walsh | Civil & Environmental Engineering | Using Remote Sensing, GIS, and Field-Collected Data to Determine Erosion and Sedimentation Effects of the Oil & Gas Industry in the Uinta Basin |
| Kathryn | White | Parks, Recreation & Tourism | A Spatial Analysis of Rock Climbers in Indian Creek, Utah |
Jerry Schneider deploys an ozone monitor in the forest canopy (photo by Christian Ziegler).
| Evan | Buechley | Biology | Conservation agriculture: A study of birds, ecosystem services, and the ecology of Ethiopian coffee farms. |
| Vachel | Carter | Geography | “Forest Disturbance Regimes in the Uinta Mountains” |
| Kendra | Chritz | Geology & Geophysics | “Uncovering isotopic indicators of monsoon-induced terrestrial ecosystem change in eastern Africa. |
| Youcan | Feng | Civil & Environmental Engineering | Study of Stormwater Volume Captured and Evapotranspiration using a Small Automated Lysimeter Constructed on the University of Utah Marriott Library Green Roof. |
| Mohd Yusuf | Jameel | Geology & Geophysics | Modeling Basketmaker II diets through stable isotope analysis of modern indigenous flora: field collection |
| Michael | Lewis | Anthropology | Modeling Basketmaker II diets through stable isotope analysis of modern indigenous flora: field collection. |
| Zachary | Magdol | Civil & Environmental Engineering |
Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Red Butte Garden. |
| Timothy | Price | Mechanical Engineering | “Enhanced Atmospheric Turbulence Measurement System” |
| Gerald | Schneider | Biology | Assessing Trends in Anthropogenic Ozone within an Urban-influenced Tropical Forest and Examining the Effects of O3 on the Foliar Chemical Landscape. |
| Hilary | Sgalitzer | Parks, Recreation & Tourism | Sustainability: Understanding Travelers’ Motivations to Donate to Conservation. |
| Paul | Thomas | Geology & Geophysics | Barrier Complexes in the Deep Creek Mountains, UT as G.K. Gilbert’s “Intermediate Shorelines” of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. |
| Tracy | Maezumi | Geography | Neotropical Climate, Vegetation, and Fire Histories on Local to Regional Scales. |
| Crystal | Tulley- Cordova | Geology & Geophysics | High Frequency Monitoring of Stream Water Isotopes in Red Butte Creek. |
Sarah Knutie
| Sarah | Knutie | Biology | Predicting long-term effects of an invasive parasite: quantifying the observer effect. |
| Tracy | Maezumi | Geography | Neotropical Climate and Fire Histories on Local to Regional Scales. |
| Ann | Bryant | Geography | Reflectance characteristics of dust in snow: in situ data informing remote sensing retrievals. |
| Maria-Jose | Endara | Biology | Towards sustainable insect management in agroforestry: The relevance of host plant defensive traits and phylogeny in determining herbivore host choice in the speciose Neotropical tree genus, Inga. |
| Becky | Hollingshaus | Geology & Geophysics | Quantification of reservoir characteristics in areas of groundwater discharge – A Hydrolic Study in the Red Butte Canyon Research Natural Area. |
| Patrice | Kurnath | Biology | Turning up the heat:Investigating the effects of climate change on liver metabolism in herbivorous mammals. |
| David | Lubbar | Mathematics | Anistropic AC Measurements of Sea Ice. |
| Greg | Maurer | Biology | Sensitivity of soil carbon cycle processes to mountain snowpack variability. |
| Nathan | Miller | Mechanical Engineering | An Experimental Study of Fungal Spore Dispersion in Grape Vineyards. |
| Erin | Spear | Biology | Phytopathogens as determinants of tree species distributions across a rainfall gradient. |
| Johanna | Varner | Biology | Too hot to trot? Factors promoting pika survival in a time of global change. |
| Jennifer | Watt | Geography | “Bark beetle outbreaks and the role that vegetation plays in their disturbance ecology” |
| Brett | Wolfe | Biology | The determinants of drought response in tropical trees. |
| Carina | Maron | Biology | Do southern right whales need to eat krill in order to reproduce successfully? |
Global Changes and Society Project-based Course
GCSC Fellows and other graduate students and others have the opportunity to engage in a unique interdisciplinary course, “Global Changes and Society” (SUST 6000). Offered in the spring, this project-based course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to research related to global changes and sustainability. In this course, students from different disciplines Identify a theme or focus area, begin to learn the language and approaches of other disciplines around the theme, explore perspectives and approaches of different stakeholders, and develop a team project.
Read about the projects from each class at the links below:
- GCS 2012: Red Butte Creek: Begin a dialog about the untapped potential of the stretch of RBC that flows through campus
- GCS 2013: Red Butte Creek: Unite stakeholders to further sustainable stewardship of Red Butte Creek
- GCS 2014: SmartCommUte: Empower commuters to the U of U to make transportation choices to help improve the air
- GCS 2015: MovingU: Help the campus community reduce daily air pollution emissions
- GCS 2016: Changing the Campus Culture to Address Climate Change
- GCS 2017: Behaviors to improve air quality in the Salt Lake Valley
- GCS 2018: Human Relationships with Water: World Water Museum
- GCS 2019: Starting Conversations in the Wasatch Front: Equity and Sustainability
- GCS 2020: A Social Project during Social Distancing: Creating a Collaborative Response to the World as We Know It
- GCS 2021: Climate and Hazard Resilience
Environment and Sustainability Research Symposium
Held every spring, the symposium provides a great opportunity for students from across campus to synthesize and present their research in a poster session. Presenters from past years are listed here.