E-Nouncements - April 2024

Carbon Dynamics in the Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest: An Ecosystem Science Approach

Quantifying forest carbon stocks is crucial for policy decisions and the management of forests in the face of global climate change. Investigation of forest carbon stocks at the regional scale provides insight into the fine-scale variability that is not captured by global models. In my dissertation, I investigated the spatial relationships of forest carbon stocks and plant biodiversity across the perhumid region of the Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest of North America – the largest temperate rainforest on the globe. Join me for my dissertation defense to learn about the spatial patterns of forest carbon in this region, its relative contribution to the global carbon budget, and how other management objectives such as managing for biodiversity may interact with forest carbon.

Date: Friday, April 19th, 2024

Time: 12:00pm

Where: UCD Science Building, Room 2001

The following students will be defending their Master's Thesis:

• Fayelynn Scheideman M.S. Thesis Defense - April 10th
• Margaret Garcia M.S. Thesis Defense - April 15th
• Jasmine Vidrio M.S. Thesis Defense - April 17th
• Nicole Laurita M.S. Thesis Defense - April 25th

The following students will be taking their Ph. D. comprehensive exams:

• Simone Mellert - April 19th

The following students will be defending their Ph.D. Thesis: 

• Trevor Carter Ph.D. Defense - April 19th

Congratulations to Michelle Deprenger-Levin for successfully defending her Ph.D. thesis on March 15th!

Congratulations to Evan Webber for successfully defending his Master's thesis on April 3rd!

CLAS has announced the inaugural year of the Brenda J. Allen Scholarship! The deadline for applications and nominations is April 12, 2024 at 5:00pm.

Student Identity & Inclusion Scholarship ($500): The scholarship will be awarded to a currently enrolled student who advocates for a culture of inclusion on campus and/or within the surrounding community by mentoring, volunteering, or engaging in activities that support the university’s mission to be an inclusive campus. Currently enrolled CU Denver students can APPLY NOW: www.tinyurl.com/bjastudent

Faculty Inclusive Leadership Award ($500): Please nominate faculty or staff members who embody inclusive leadership qualities, including but not limited to advocating for equity and fairness, fostering collaboration, and prioritizing diversity and inclusion in the decision-making processes, policies, or practices. APPLY NOW: www.tinyurl.com/bjaaward

Please nominate yourself or others!

Congratulations to the 2024 Spring Integrative Biology Student Excellence Award recipients! The Department recognizes outstanding graduate and undergraduate students for their accomplishments in teaching or research. Teaching can include any formal teaching-related activities (e.g., teaching assistants, learning assistants, tutors, supplemental instructors, etc.). Research can include scholarly activities that make an original, intellectual, or creative contribution to the biology discipline (including the scholarship of biology teaching and learning). Each student is awarded $250 and their names are added to the awards plaque on the 4th floor. 

Graduate Student Excellence in Research Award:

Goran Shikak in Paula Cushing's lab.

Undergraduate Student Excellence in Research Award:

Julio Jaime Nichols at CU Anschutz

William Leary in Sara Branco's lab.

Undergraduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award:

Brady Reichert nominated by Laurel Beck.

Congratulations to M.S. Student My-Lan Le who received 3 awards last month: the Garden Club of America Summer Scholarship in Field Botany, the Colorado Native Plant Society Myrna Steinkamp Grant, and the Field Inclusive Research Grant to conduct research this summer on the Avery Peak Twinpod (Physaria alpina), a rare plant species endemic to Colorado. 

Congratulations to M.S. student Fayelynn Scheideman for recently being awarded a fellowship through the highly competitive NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award (GRFP)! GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated the potential to be high achieving scientists and engineers, early in their careers. Fayelynn will be continuing her academic career with UCD as a Ph.D. student in the Fall semester. 

Ph.D. student Sarah Nalley in the Moore lab recently won an award for Best Poster Presentation at the Front Range Student Ecology Symposium. Sarah’s research examined how the reproductive traits of dragonflies are influencing their vulnerability to extinction in the face of global warming and intensifying wildfires. Way to go Sarah!

Congratulations to Ph.D. student Trevor Carter for being named the CLAS Outstanding Ph.D. Graduate for Spring 2024! Trevor will receive his award at the CLAS Dean's Awards Reception on Friday, May 3rd. 

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Informational Technology Committee (CLAS IT) is seeking one undergraduate and one graduate CLAS degree-seeking student to serve as representatives to the committee for the 2024-2025 academic year. CLAS IT is responsible for advising the College regarding its information technology needs and issues, and serves as a liaison between CLAS IT Staff and the Dean’s Office, and students, staff, and faculty within CLAS.

The committee meets once a month (Fall 2024 schedule to be arranged). Meetings may be in person or conducted online via Zoom. To prepare for each meeting, student members are expected to spend approximately 1-3 hours soliciting opinions and feedback from other undergraduate and graduate students across CLAS regarding their IT needs and issues. This is a year-long commitment.

Students must be enrolled in classes and pursuing a CLAS degree for the 2024-2025 academic year. To be eligible, the undergraduate student representative must be a full-time undergraduate student seeking a CLAS degree that has completed 15 credits at CU Denver and 45 credits overall by the end of the Spring 2024 semester. The graduate student representative must be a full-time graduate student seeking a CLAS degree that has completed 6 credits at CU Denver by the end of the Spring 2024 semester.

Contact Carly Leonard or Kathryn Hamilton with questions. Click HERE to apply

In a recent article published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Michael Moore, Ph.D. student Sarah Nalley, and undergraduate Dalal Hamadah used an integrative study of dragonflies to show that traits that help species mate can be just as important to inhabiting warm climates as traits that help species survive. This research shows that mating traits have been crucial to determining the climates in which species live now and also major factors of which species are at risk of extinction in the future. 

This article was chosen by the editors as one of the highlights of the issue and was featured by ScienceNews and several other media outlets. 

Read the full article here.

Dr. Sara Branco (Assistant Professor, Integrative Biology) was selected as a Fellow for the Mycological Society of America (MSA). This important distinction recognizes Dr. Branco’s outstanding contributions for the field of fungal evolution and genetics, as well as her extensive work in Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Branco studies the origins and maintenance of fungal diversity and has been studying the genetic and physiological bases of metal tolerance in plant-mutualistic fungi. Over the last decade, Dr. Branco has also actively contributed for diversifying MSA, including being involved in the creation of a Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the MSA Interchange Ambassador Award, and the SPORES mentorship program for undergraduate students.

Dr. Sara Branco (Assistant Professor, Integrative Biology) is the senior author of a paper in New Phytologist, a leading journal in plant science (impact factor = 9.4). The publication is an important contribution that points out the need for genus-level model systems for studying the ecology and evolution of plant mutualistic fungi and argues Suillus is an ideal genus. This paper includes researchers from Duke University, University of Minnesota, University of Hawaii, University of Florida, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, as well as CU Denver Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Jessica Fletcher and Integrative Biology alumnus Alexander H. Smith. The paper summarizes over a decade of work from the International Suillus Consortium, which connects researchers who study all aspects of Suillus and is currently addressing grand challenges to system development.

Read the full paper here.

Summer student hiring submissions are complete! If you have any questions, please reach out to Barb Schmidt or Meghan Manwaring. 

Hiring information for all Fall student hires will be posted shortly. 

Reminder: All course material adoptions are due to the Tivoli Station Campus Bookstore for the upcoming Fall term. Meghan will be submitting textbook and supply orders on Monday, April 15th. Please review the email and submit your spreadsheet soon!

Date: 4/17

Time: 9:00-10:30am

Location: Auraria Campus Center for Safety, 1200 7th St. Denver 80204

The goal of these training opportunities is to help you feel prepared in the unlikely event of an active harmer incident on campus.

You will learn:

• Prevention measures
• Actions to take during an attack
• What to expect once the attack has concluded

Workshop 7: Career Development & Marketing Yourself

Date: 4/19

Time: 12:00-2:00pm

Location: 1405 North Classroom

A workshop series for CU Denver faculty to provide information on the resources available at CU Denver for developing grant proposals, to inform on the processes and protocols related to each stage of a project’s lifecycle, and to provide expert-level knowledge and support to faculty as they launch their careers as independent investigators. CU Denver's new faculty are especially encouraged to attend!

Date: 4/19

Time: 9:30-10:45am

Location: Zoom

Are you a faculty member who wants to learn more about supporting Undocumented students in your classroom?

Please join Dr. Jennifer Camacho Taylor and Estefani Pena Figueroa the undocumented student resource coordinator, as they share how we can better support undocumented students, during The Division for Teaching Innovation and Program Strategy (TIPS) Workshops.

This year’s Open Enrollment runs April 22 – May 10, and all benefits-eligible employees will have the opportunity to change their health plan enrollments, modify optional insurance policies and add or remove dependents. There are some important steps employees should take to be ready to hit the road. Review this checklist of quick actions to ensure you can make plan changes without unexpected detours.

The Research and Creative Activities Symposium (RaCAS) is an annual opportunity for CU Denver undergraduate and graduate students to showcase their scholarly activities.

Faculty and Staff: Click here to learn more about how you can get involved with RaCAS.

There are several events to help students prepare their presentations:

4/10 - RaCAS Oral Presentations: Developing Your Scholarly Talk

4/11 - RaCAS Advanced Poster Prep: Communicating for Your Audience

4/16 - How to RaCAS: Preparing to Present

4/17 - RaCAS Sharing Your Research: Perfecting Your Pitch

4/18 - RaCAS Last-Minute Practice and Prep

4/22 - RaCAS Last-Minute Practice and Prep

Date: 4/26

Time: 10:00am-3:30pm

Location: Student Commons 2504

Faculty & staff training: Learn how to support DACA & undocumented college students.

Date: 5/3

Time: 9:00am-3:00pm

Location: Seminar Room, Lola & Rob Salazar Wellness Center

Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based training course that teaches participants about mental health and substance-use concerns. This course is currently free for students and faculty/staff of CU Denver only, until funds expire.