Faculty News

Dr. Alan Brockway and family It is with great sadness that my colleagues and I report the passing last summer of Professor Emeritus Alan P. Brockway, Ph.D. at the age of 83. News of Alan’s passing came to us through his longtime Denver friends Everett and Margaret Perkins. Alan and...

“The daughter of two teachers, young Laurel Hartley looked forward to annual summer trips with her parents to national parks across the country. Those opportunities led her to CU Denver, where she is an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, and co-director of the STEM Learning Assistants Program...

Lifeline dangled for Y’stone whitebark pine Jacksonhole News & Guide Seedlings that are rust-resistant are source of hope for struggling conifer. University of Colorado-Denver professor Diana Tomback, a former longtime director of the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation, has been engaged in creating a U.S. Forest Service-led national restoration plan that...

Dr. Brian Buma, Assistant Professor with CU Denver Integrative Biology, recently coauthored a Tamm Review on the effects of salvage logging in forests around the world. Tamm reviews are an invited, high-profile series of reviews on rapidly changing topics of interest worldwide. Salvage logging is when disturbed forests, like post-fire...

Dr. Michael Wunder and Scott Yanco , PhD candidate in the Wunder lab, recently co-authored a publication in the journal Ecology and Evolution entitled “Evidence of post-breeding prospecting in a long-distance migrant”. This work showed evidence of prospecting (wherein birds search for and evaluate the quality of habitat) during the...

Audrey Dignan Spencer (MSES, 2019) recently published the first chapter of her thesis research in the Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society . Therein, she and thesis research advisor Professor Emeritus Leo P Bruederle describe geographical variation for a taxonomically important morphological trait that has long confused North American botanists...

The many years of Dr. Diana Tomback’s whitebark pine research got some recognition on December 2nd, when the whitebark pine was selected for possible protection under the Endangered Species Act. If the proposal is approved, whitebark pine would become listed as a “threatened” species under the ESA. Interest ran high...

In July, Sara Branco , PhD, won the Mycological Society of America ’s prestigious C.J. Alexopoulos Prize. The annual award goes to the “most outstanding mycologist early in their career.” The MSA evaluates nominees primarily on the basis of the quality, originality, and quantity of their published work. Branco, an...

Scientists say that wildfires have become hotter, more intense and more destructive in recent years. In Colorado, the threat has also intensified as the fire season has grown longer. “This is exactly what we expect from climate change,” Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology Brian Buma said. “It’s not going to...

The Presidential Initiative on Urban Research, sponsored by the CU system to bolster each campus’s unique area of expertise, is intended to support CU Denver’s urban and place-based research and creative work. The winners were selected by the seven deans, with assistance in proposal review from eight faculty. The College...