People

Jesse Barber
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Website
Jesse studies behavioral, evolutionary and conservation-related questions by employing bioacoustic and videographic techniques to quantify how animals process sensory input and act on the resulting information.

Lisa Brady
Professor, Department of History
208.426.4309 | lisabrady@boisestate.edu  | Website
Lisa studies the history of war and the environment. Her work explores how war impacts landscapes and landscapes impact war.

Brittany Brand
Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences
brittanybrand@boisestate.edu  | Website
Brittany works to bridge the gap between science and society in the field of natural hazards and risk through research, outreach, and education.

Rebecca Castellano
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
208-426-3418 | rsomcastellano@boisestate.edu | Website
Our research group is interested in examining stratification, sustainability, and social action in the changing agriculture and food system.

Trevor Caughlin
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
trevorcaughlin@boisestate.edu  | Website
Trevor is interested in seed dispersal, ecological restoration and landowner decision-making.

Cynthia Curl
Assistant Professor, Department of Community and Environmental Health
(208) 426-3924 | CynthiaCurl@boisestate.edu | Website

Dr. Curl’s research focuses on the intersection between agriculture and human health, and her primary interests are in assessing human exposure to agricultural pesticides and improving health and safety in agricultural workplaces. Dr. Curl founded and directs Boise State’s Agricultural Health Lab. Current projects in her lab include a randomized intervention to assess the effect of an organic diet on pesticide exposure during pregnancy; an investigation into crop uptake of inorganic bromide following field fumigation with methyl bromide; and a collaboration with the Washington and Idaho Potato Commissions to improve worker health and safety during Northwest potato production.

Marie-Anne de Graaff
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Marie-AnnedeGraaff@boisestate.edu

Our lab studies how changes in climate and land-use affect ecosystem processes that drive the global carbon cycle. We are especially interested in the question of how plant roots and soil microorganisms interact to affect soil carbon and nutrient dynamics.

Kathryn Demps
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
(208) 426-4690 | kathryndemps@boisestate.edu

Kathryn is interested in how knowledge and behavior interact with local ecologies and examines the conflict of interest between formal schooling and knowledge about the forest, economic pressures and marketing behavior, and group formation and cooperation.

Kevin Feris
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
kevinferis@boisestate.edu | Website

My research program strives to understand how microbial communities respond to anthropogenic influences on natural ecosystems, including changes in climate, presence of chronic ecosystem stressors, and emerging pollutants.

Jennifer Forbey
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
jenniferforbey@boisestate.edu | Website

Jen’s research focuses on plant-herbivore interactions employing a combination of field and laboratory approaches to understand the links between the phenology and chemistry of plant and  the behavior, physiology and population dynamics of vertebrate herbivores.

Michail Fragkias
Associate Professor, Department of Economics
michailfragkias@boisestate.edu | Website

Michail is an applied economist and interdisciplinary social scientist working on issues of urbanization, land use and the environment.

John Gardner
Professor, Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering
jgardner@boisestate.edu | Website

John’s research and teaching focuses on the integration and control of energy systems.

Julie Heath
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
208-426-3208 | julieheath@boisestate.edu | Website

Dr. Heath addresses questions about how birds respond to environmental change. She uses physiological and behavioral ecology approaches to understand  mechanisms underlying responses at the individual-level, and population ecology and modeling to understand impacts on populations.  Most of Dr. Heath’s research focuses on avian reproduction or migration, and current studies are designed to explore effects of global change across the full annual cycle. Studies that increase understanding about the links between environmental conditions, physiological or behavioral responses, and impacts on survival and reproduction inform wildlife management and aid in biodiversity conservation in a rapidly changing world.

Kendra Kaiser
Post-doctoral Research Fellow and Affiliated Faculty
kendrakaiser@boisestate.edu | Website

Kendra is a watershed hydrologist interested in landscape ecology, remote sensing, and coupling of field and modeling techniques to examine social – ecological systems.

Eric Lindquist
Professor, School of Public Service
ericlindquist@boisestate.edu | Website

Eric’s research interests are in public policy and decision processes, agenda setting, earth systems governance.

Mojtaba Sadegh
Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering
mojtabasadegh@boisestate.edu | Website

Mojtaba uses a variety of modeling and simulation tools in the field of water resource management and stakeholder engagement.

Jen Schneider
Associate Professor & Director, Department of Public Policy and Administration
208-426-2514 | jenschneider@boisestate.edu | Website

Jen is interested in addressing challenges in the public communication of scientific and environmental controversies, with a particular focus on industry rhetoric and discourses of technical expertise.

Emily Wakild
Professor, Department of History
208-426-3529 | emilywakild@boisestate.edu | Website

Dr. Wakild’s research examines the origins of biodiversity as a concept and its on-the-ground applications through conservation biology, the politics of parks, and the social and ecological implications of conservation, mainly in Latin America. She specializes in the collection and analysis of social data from textual, oral, and ethnographic sources and the application of this data to past and present issues of land use and conservation.

Pei-Lin Yu
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
pei-linyu@boisestate.edu | Website

Pei-Lin’s research is in cultural heritage resources, human response to climate change, archaeology, paleoclimates, public lands law and policy, indigenous consultation, and traditional/local ecological knowledge as resiliency to climate change and other stressors.

Lejo Flores
Professor, Geosciences, Boise State University
Website

Dr. Flores is a Professor in the Department of Geosciences who collaborates with HES faculty.

Mark Ditmer
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
markditmer@boisestate.edu

Mark is an applied wildlife ecologist who is passionate about understanding how human decisions alter animal movement, behavior, resource use, and demography while utilizing emerging quantitative research approaches.

Jillian Moroney
Post Doctoral Fellow, School of Public Service
jillianmoroney@boisestate.edu

Jillian is interested in social assessment, stakeholder engagement, and working at the interface between society and the natural environment to identify issues, knowledge gaps, and potential interdisciplinary solutions to environmental issues.

Michael J Poulos
Postdoctoral Researcher, Geosciences
mikepoulos@boisestate.edu

My research in the conservation & coexistence group focuses on visualizing spatial data, and applying geospatial and statistical analyses to quantify patterns and explore relationships with environmental factors. Specifically, I am currently focusing on analyzing GPS tracking collar data for lions in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, and performing space-time analyses to map lion home ranges. Mapping lion habitat facilitates studying relationships with wet-dry seasonality, changes in forest cover, herbivore types and abundance, and other factors. Other research foci include studying landforms, erosion, soils, vegetation, and hydrologic processes.

Anand Roopsind
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
aroopsind@gmail.com

I’m a forester at heart and training, with an emphasis on applied research to identify technical prescriptions and policies to improve forest management that has positive outcomes for people, biodiversity and ecosystems provided by forests.

Jean Barney
Data Manager
Jean provides data management services to faculty, staff and students and coordinates data management with university and statewide partners.

Clementina Arriega
ClementinaArriaga@u.boisestate.edu
Cleme is interested in research at the interface of environment and medicine, including our connection to nature, green energy, birth control, stem cells, and prostheses. She is helping design research that will examine how children’s attitudes towards the environment change as they develop.

Omar Betancourt
B.S. Student, Mechanical Engineering
omarbetancourt@u.boisestate.edu

Omar’s research involves developing agent-based models to collect theoretical data about the management of natural resources.

Matt Clark
MS Student, Biology
Matthewclark989@boisestate.edu

Matt examines the social dynamics that influence conservation action in the American West. This research seeks to better understand the arena in which conservation initiatives are realized and to generate a greater capacity for environmental action in the region.

Curtis Crandall
MS Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Student

Curtis is a MS hydrologic sciences student working on urban water use in the Treasure Valley.

Hamid Dashti
PhD Candidate
hamiddashti@u.boisestate.edu

Hamid is working to improve shrub parameter estimation in semi-arid ecosystems utilizing techniques such as: radiative transfer models, spectral unmixing and land cover classification, lidar-hyperspectral data fusion, individual-based modeling, and uncertainty analyses.

Tara Easter
PhD student, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
taraeaster@u.boisestate.edu

I work to understand how various social, economic, political, geographic, and ecological factors interact to affect wildlife conservation. My master’s thesis examined the spatial distribution of mammalian richness and small-carnivore interactions outside of Gorongosa National Park in a multi-use area in Mozambique. For my dissertation research, I am studying the spatial patterns and processes of wildlife poaching and trafficking and the social and ecological drivers of those patterns.

Nayani Ilangakoon
PhD Candidate, Geosciences
nayaniilangakoon@u.boisestate.edu

Nayani is interested in finding methods to monitor and forecast changes in ecosystems caused by land use and climatic changes.

Udaya Jayawardhana
MSc, Research Assistant
udaya.jayawardhana@gmail.com

My research examines the effects of artificial nightlight on the space use and habitat of deer and elk around the Boise area. Rapidly expanding Boise city and its suburbs keep increasing the light pollution, but its impact on wildlife in surrounding natural areas is still unknown. In my research, I am seeking to uncover the effect of artificial nightlight using geospatial and geostatistical methods, and the final results will be used to construct spatiotemporal models showing the impact of artificial nightlight on elk and deer habitats.

Alex Killion
PhD Student, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
alexanderkillion@u.boisestate.edu

I am interested in how humans make decisions when confronted with conflict with large carnivores, and how those decisions affect wildlife conservation. I strive to better understand feedbacks in human-environment systems, such as how actors are influenced by policy and in return how actors are able to shape policy. My work focuses on quantifying such relationships and integrating social information with fine-scale spatiotemporal wildlife data to identify the mechanisms driving human-wildlife conflict.

Kate Markham
PhD Student, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
katemarkham@u.boisestate.edu | Website

​My interests lie in biodiversity conservation, land-use change, and the use of remote sensing to complement conservation and ecological field work. I utilize an interdisciplinary approach in my research, drawing from the fields of ecology, geography, particularly remote sensing, and anthropology. For my dissertation, I am investigating how wildlife in the conterminous US are affected by widespread anthropogenic nightlight and noise. This research is funded through NASA and is in partnership with the National Parks Service.

Laura McSherry
Undergraduate Researcher
lauramcsherry@u.boisestate.edu

My goal is to solve environmental problems caused by urbanization, farming, mining, or industry. Also, to find opportunities that will enhance my practical knowledge and promote interactions with different environmental professionals.

Julie Ramirez
B.S. Student, Research Assistant
julieramirez@u.boisestate.edu

My research is focused on the idea of coexistence between humans and wildlife on shared landscapes. I aim to understand how humans and wildlife adapt to each other, as well as, what methods are best to achieve coexistence. I am also assisting in a night light project that aims at understanding anthropogenic light impacts on elk and deer populations in the Boise Foothills area.

Abigail Sage
MSc Student, Biology
abbysage@boisestate.edu

For my thesis, I will be integrating social data into ecological suitability maps for a high conflict species, the grizzly bear, in the High Divide region of Idaho and Montana. Since the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) population was recently delisted, the attitudes and behaviors of landowners in this region will be a major factor in establishing connectivity between the GYE and the still threatened Northern Continental Divide population. I am also interested in applying discrete choice sampling in social surveys to predict landowners’ behaviors and assess their preferred carnivore management policies that will promote coexistence.

Edward Trout
MS Student, Biology
edwardtrout@boisestate.edu

Edward is interested in questions of how animals use the landscape in the presence of human activity and the best ways of mitigating human-wildlife conflict.