March 2024

Hello Warner Colleagues –  

I am continually inspired by Warner College’s exceptional interdisciplinary work, which initially drew me to this role. Upon my arrival, I was determined to further cultivate transdisciplinary collaboration within our community. As part of this commitment, I created the Dean’s Transdisciplinary Grants, made possible by the generous support of Ed Warner’s endowment. 

We made the first of these awards nearly a year ago with five grants to fund travel to conferences outside of individuals’ disciplines, and three project awards. I’ve been pleased to hear accounts from travel grant recipients about the unique connections they made through this effort. I’m also thrilled with the significant progress the funded projects have made.  

The Just Social-Ecological Transitions program (JSET), led by Drs. Joel Correia and Andrea Baudoin Farah, is building a transdisciplinary community of practice at CSU. JSET has hosted 14 seminars and two workshops on innovative approaches to nexus environmental wicked problems and social justice in Latin America. The meetings have convened scientists, practitioners, and community members from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, the United States, and across CSU. JSET also convenes a bi-weekly informal lunch event called Jakaru! where folks from across CSU can build community and speak in Spanish or Portuguese. This semester, JSET will continue with the weekly seminar series and Jakaru! in addition to hosting a workshop in April with leaders from other transdisciplinary research programs, presenting at the CSU International Symposium, and convening at the CSU Todos Santos Center in Mexico this coming May. The seminars, workshops, and lunches are open to everyone at CSU. 

Dr. Liba Goldstein has been leading a project with the City of Fort Collins to evaluate the potential for informal greenspaces to support biodiversity, deliver ecosystem services, and promote equity in urban landscapes. Their team created the first comprehensive map of greenspaces in Fort Collins and will use the map to understand which ecosystem services these spaces provide, and whether those benefits are equitably accessible to all residents, including underserved populations. Student team members will begin the field components of the project in May, visiting informal green spaces across the city to conduct semi-structured interviews with residents.   

Finally, a transdisciplinary team with members from all eight academic Colleges at CSU, led by Kevin Crooks and Jonathan Salerno is focusing on human-wildlife coexistence in agricultural and developed landscapes, a pressing global One Health challenge. This team also generated matching funds from two academic colleges. The group held a Facilitated Science of Team Science workshop in Fall 2023 identifying multiple promising transdisciplinary research tracks, with proposals under development. They are also collaborating with the International Biodiversity Network, which we hosted last September here on campus, to develop a manuscript framing human-wildlife coexistence as a global One-Health challenge.  

The team launched the Handprint Challenge to engage undergraduate students, supported by a collaboration between the Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence and the One Health Institute. Student teams will come together from across colleges to propose solutions to a human-carnivore conflict in agricultural landscapes. On April 18, the teams will give ‘Shark Tank’ style presentations to a panel of experts, with the opportunity to win cash prizes. 

I encourage all members of our community to seize this opportunity to contribute to our shared goal of fostering collaboration and innovation across disciplines. There is still time to submit proposals for this year’s Transdisciplinary Grants (details below).  

Thank you for your unwavering dedication to advancing our mission here at Warner College. Your contributions are invaluable, and I am immensely grateful for your ongoing support. 

This is the Warner Wire's second edition in its new format. We would love your feedback so that we can make adjustments to future editions. On a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) stars, how would you rate the new format? You will have the chance to leave anonymous feedback when you click on the stars below. Thanks you!

How would you rate the new format of the Warner Wire? 

Watch John Mola's interview

Butterfly Pavilion and CSU formed a groundbreaking partnership to battle the "invertebrate apocalypse."  John Mola, assistant professor in the Forest and Rangeland Stewardship department in the Warner College of Natural Resources, joins CSU's College of Agricultural Sciences and College of Natural Sciences to increase invertebrate research, conservation, and education with the Butterfly Pavilion. John Mola and Rich Reading, Vice President of Science and Conservation at the Butterfly Pavilion, talk about the partnership on 9News. 

Ecosystem Science and Sustainability student Haydyn Deason is the inaugural recipient of the Mollie H. Beattie Congressional Award for Distinguished Environmental Scholarship. Haydyn received the award in December for her efforts on waste diversion and coalition building.

Elisa McGhee, Geosciences Ph.D. student received the 2024 Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists Foundation Veterans' Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship seeks to award geologic excellence to a graduate student at any accredited college or university who is a veteran or who is currently serving in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. 

The Department of Geosciences and the Warner College of Natural Resources, in association with the CSU Office of the Vice President for Research, has completed an order for a $1.4M state-of-the-art Electron Probe Micro-Analyzer from JEOL Inc. The instrument will occupy a renovated lab in the MSNR building to realize new opportunities for research, teaching, training, and will facilitate broader collaborations in micron-scale elemental research of geological and other materials.

Dean Aguirre is once again soliciting proposals for the Warner College Dean’s Grants for Transdisciplinary Approaches to Wicked Problems this academic year. The fund offers two $25,000 grants and one $50,000 grant for transdisciplinary projects by multidisciplinary teams from across the College and University. Read more about the program and last year’s winners

The deadline for grants for Transdisciplinary Approaches to Wicked Problems projects is March 8, 2024.  

Applications will be accepted through the College's Intranet System under OVPR and Warner College Research Opportunities. 

Winners from the transdisciplinary grants' inaugural year. From left to right: Professor Kevin Crooks, Assistant Professor Andrea Baudoin Farah, and Assistant Professor Joel Correia. Not pictured: Professor Liba Goldstein

Warner College of Natural Resources students receive awards at the 2023 Awards Ceremony.

The deadline is approaching to nominate worthy colleagues and students for a Warner College Award!

New this year is an award for innovation and impact in Experiential Education in support of the College's strategic goal #3: to enhance experiential education.

Nominations are now open and are due by end of business on March 22. Winners will be announced and honored at the College's Awards Reception during NR Days on Monday, April 22. 

As part of Colorado State University's Thematic Year of democracy and civic engagement, CSU President Amy Parsons will moderate a conversation with CSU panelists on free speech on campus.

This event will provide insight into what free speech looks like on a public college campus and share resources and best practices for faculty and staff to navigate issues and questions around the First Amendment and free speech on campus.

The event is free, but seating is limited. Please register below.

Panelists include:

Monday, March 25, 2024 | Noon-1:30 p.m.

Never No Summer Room | Lory Student Center

The February edition of the WCNR Faculty/Staff Diversity Digest Newsletter is now available. 

The Symposium for Inclusive Excellence will be held October 21 – 25, 2024. We are inviting proposals to the 2024 symposium. We welcome presentation topics in areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education, current national dynamics, and topics directly relating to equity initiatives at Colorado State and the Northern Colorado community. Presenters may be students, faculty, staff, community members, researchers, local, regional, or national organizations, programs, and more. The deadline for submission is Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

If you are interested in submitting news, photos, opportunities or information to the CSU Office of Inclusive Excellence newsletter, please submit your materials by the first Tuesday of each month. 

Warner College Business Services is your integrated support team for all
Financial Services, Human Resource Services, and Proposal Support Services

The WCNR Development Team is excited to share that 29 faculty, staff, and emeriti faculty donated $500 or more in 2023 to funds in the Warner College of Natural Resources! Many more of you also gave generously in the past year through one-time gifts and payroll deduction—every gift matters and makes a difference. We thank each and every one of you for your support of our students, departments, and centers.

If you are interested in learning how you can make a monthly philanthropic contribution to a destination of your choice via payroll deduction, please reach out to Jenny Cleveland and someone on the Development Team will provide more information.

Need hardware or software for instruction? Have ideas for how new technology could help your students? WCNR IT is accepting department instructional technology proposals through Friday, March 8. Apply for the "Student Technology Fee Department Funding Program" on the WCNR Intranet Opportunities site.

After more than 20 years of collecting data, David Cooper and Tom Hobbs, research scientists in the Warner College of Natural Resources, found that the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park did not have a rapid or notable impact on those ecosystems in the park. The removal of wolves from ecosystems has a more rapid impact on the area than the reintroduction does. 

In an article published in Nature Communications, scientists report that by examining the seismic noise created by interactions between the ocean and Earth they can infer a gradual, general increase in the amplitude of wind-driven ocean waves. In other words, the ocean’s waves are getting bigger. “This global dataset spans over three decades and shows that microseism energy has progressively increased at an average rate of about a quarter of a percent per year,” said Rick Aster, department head and professor in the Geosciences department. 

Ambassador Massinga attended the Cheetah Conservation Workshop and delivered remarks highlighting shared goals that promote cheetah conservation, organized by Colorado State University.  The workshop is part of a three-year project initiated in January 2023 titled “Cheetah Trafficking:  An Adaptive Management Strategy for Building Regional and National Capacity in the Horn of Africa.”

New Commitment to Campus benefits are now available to CSU employees including SkiSU, RamCash matching funds, and discounted tickets to The Act Human Rights Film Festival and the Colorado Eagles. 

Join us for WCCN Confluence 2024 this April in Tucson, AZ for peer-to-peer learning, field trips, and networking with collaborative conservationists across the West. Registration closes March 19th.

See the powerful effects collaborative conservation has had on the West in the WCCN Collaborative Voices quarterly newsletter: Valentine's Day Edition. We love all these passionate conservationists- see why!

Keep up with the Center for Collaboration by checking out our monthly newsletter. Inside, get to know the CCC better: who we are, what we are thinking about, and how we are taking action.

Registration is now available for Talent Development's late spring (March 18– May 10) professional development opportunities.  Class selections rotate and Talent Development will alternate many classes between online and in-person formats throughout the year to provide both options.

The next Pathways: Human Dimensions of Wildlife Conference will be held October 13-16, 2024. The conference will be held in Cordoba, Spain, and has the theme, “Revisiting What is Wild for Coexisting.”

Pathways is currently accepting organized session and abstract submissions for the conference. The organized session deadline is March 12, 2024, and the individual abstract & poster deadline is April 12, 2024.

Spring Seminar Series: Jianguo Liu 
“Systems Integration for Global Sustainability” 

Lory Student Center Ballroom, 4:00 p.m.

Host: GDPE

Happy Hour

Avogadro's Number, 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. 

Host: Center for Collaborative Conservation

Spring Seminar Series: Antônio Alves Meira Neto "A framework for timescale propagation of hydrologic variability"

Lory Student Center Ballroom, 4:00 p.m.

Host: Ecosystem Science and Sustainability

NR Days Begin

Duration: April 15 - May 2 

Host: Warner College of Natural Resources

Celebrate Innovation Demo Day

Host: STRATA Colorado State University System

CURC Showcase 

Host: The Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT)

Year of Democracy: Presidential Conversation with Johns Hopkins President, Ron Daniels

Never No Summer Ballroom | LSC, 11 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 

Host: The President's Office

CSUnity

Register by: Wednesday, March 27

Host: Student Leadership, Involvement, and Community Engagement.

Nature Fair & Film Festival 

Lory Student Center, West Courtyard and Theatre
12:00 - 3:30 p.m. 

Host: Human Dimensions of Natural Resources

You are receiving this Warner College digest because you are a member of the College community. If you would like to submit an update, announcement, or kudos for consideration, submissions are due by the last Monday of each month for inclusion in the following month’s digest. Please submit ideas to Director of Communications and Strategy, Rob Novak.