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.
Air Quality Scholars
The Air Quality Scholars program, sponsored by the Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, the Sustainability Office, and the Global Change and Sustainability Center, provides scholarships, training, and engagement opportunities to U of U undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in understanding and improving air quality.
Undergraduates
The GCSC also engages in partnerships that provide undergraduate students with training and mentoring that will help prepare them to address the complex challenges of sustainability and the environment, working in interdisciplinary teams, where data sharing, collaboration, and communication are essential.