Seminars & Discussions

Speaker's Bio

I’m originally from western North Carolina and grew up in the Appalachian Mountains. I’ve done research on red wolf ecology and gray wolf-prey interactions as part of MS and PhD. I have also worked as a biologist for different tribes doing large carnivore work. More recently, I worked for CDFW for 6 years, where I was the large carnivore researcher for the state. Now, I work for UC Davis as a large carnivore biologist. On a personal side, my wife Nikki and I have been married 14 years and we have 3 pretty cool kids (Jude – 11; Sadie – 8; and Adah – 5). We’re all still adjusting to California!

Speaker's Bio

Professor Rabi H. Mohtar, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University. Mohtar’s research focuses on global resource challenges and the development of a Water-Energy-Food Nexus framework for linking science and policy; on characterizing the soil-water medium using thermodynamic modeling and the efficacy of non-traditional water, and on applications for sustainable integrated water management such as implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Mohtar serves as a Governor of the World Water Council and is an Executive Board member of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), a Distinguished Alumnus of the American University of Beirut (AUB), Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, and a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. He founded the Texas A&M Water-Energy-Food Nexus Initiative (2015) and served as dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences (2018-2021) at the AUB, where he also established the Water-Energy-Food-Health Nexus Renewable Resources Initiative (WEFRAH). While at Purdue University (1996-2014), Mohtar was the inaugural director of Purdue’s Global Engineering Programs (2008) and a founding member of Purdue’s Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering (2006). In 2011, he founded the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute. Throughout his career, Mohtar has received a number of awards. Most recently, he received the PRIMA WEFE Nexus award and was honored at the American Chemical Society Division of Environmental Chemistry Symposium. He received the 2010 Kishida International award and was inducted as an ASABE Fellow in 2018.

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Morfeld is a reproductive physiologist and endocrinologist based in Omaha, Nebraska. She is the founder and president of the non-profit organization, For Elephants Inc., and founder and CEO of Morfeld Research and Conservation, LLC. She serves numerous zoos, the private sector, and several government and conservation organizations through wildlife reproductive services and research. Dr. Morfeld mentors undergraduate and graduate students by providing unique opportunities in conservation and research in the US and through her elephant field program based in South Africa. Dr. Morfeld received her B.A. in Biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University and M.S. in Animal Science from University of Nebraska, Lincoln. For her dissertation, Dr. Morfeld studied body condition in zoo-managed African elephants with a concentration on the reproductive and metabolic health implications of poor body condition at George Mason University. Dr. Morfeld currently serves as the Chair for the AZA Reproduction and Endocrinology Scientific Advisory Group. Although the primary focus of Dr. Morfeld's research has historically been on African elephants, her organization currently monitors the well-being of a diverse number of species including giraffes, polar bears, dolphins, penguins, capybaras, chimpanzees, rhinoceros, European fallow deer, eland, bongos, water buffalo, and many more!

Speaker's Bio

Dana Fritz, Hixson-Lied Professor of Art at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, uses photography to investigate the ways we shape and represent the natural world in cultivated and constructed landscapes. Her work has been exhibited, published, and collected internationally. She is the author of Terraria Gigantica: The World under Glass (University of New Mexico Press, 2017) and Field Guide to a Hybrid Landscape (forthcoming from University of Nebraska Press in January 2023.) Coinciding with this book is an exhibition of her photographs from Nebraska's hand-planted forest at UNL's Great Plains Art Museum September 2, 2022 - March 11, 2023. Departmental Link

Social Media

Instagram: @danafritzphoto Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danafritzphotography #fieldguidetoahybridlandscape #nebraskanationalforest #handplantedforest @unlart @unlarts @unlphoto @univnebpress @greatplains.unl

Speaker's Bio

Deke Arndt is the Chief of the Climatic Science & Services Division at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) in Asheville, NC. The Division takes in historical weather, climate and paleoclimate observations from NOAA and around the world, and transforms them into data, products, analyses, and services used by partners, scientists and decision-makers across public and private sectors. Mr. Arndt previously headed NCEI's Climate Monitoring team, which tracks the climate system through regular expert analyses of parts of the U.S. and global climate system, informed by indicators developed at NCEI or partners. Mr. Arndt was recently the co-chair of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Indicators Interagency Working Group, and currently serves on the Council of the American Meteorological Society. Prior to NOAA, he held several positions at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s School of Meteorology.

Speaker's Bio

I am a faculty member in the School of Natural Resources. I am an aquatic ecologist interested in how elements move through streams, how they affect each other and how they are taken up and used by aquatic organisms. I explore the interaction between trace and common elements and the implications for ecosystem functioning. This research has taken me to many beautiful places, including northern California, Trinidad, Norway, the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the Ecuadorian Andes, and Yellowstone National Park.

At UNL, I have been working with Dr. Jess Corman and Dr. Steve Thomas on the StreamNet project, which is based in the Scottsbluff area and explores the effects of land use (e.g. CAFOs, row cropping, urban influence) on water quality. Another key water issue in Nebraska is the use of antibiotics in animal production and the application of antibiotic-containing animal waste to row crops. Dr. Thomas and I are collaborating on a project gathering baseline data on how these practices affect the concentration of antibiotics in Nebraska’s freshwaters. I am also interested in exploring how fertilization practices affect the retention and transport of toxic elements like arsenic.

Speaker's Bio

Bridget Deemer is a research ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center where she leads a long-term water quality monitoring program on Lake Powell. Her research informs the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program. Bridget is also passionate about understanding the role of artificial reservoirs in the global carbon balance. A major theme of her work examines how dam and reservoir management affects water quality, ecosystem productivity and greenhouse gas emissions. She is interested in identifying reservoir management win-wins as well as trade-offs, which is critical as the quantity and quality of water becomes increasingly variable under a changing climate.

Social Media

Twitter: @BridgetDeemer | Twitter- @USGSAZ

Speaker's Bio

Dr. Lavretsky's research program is interdisciplinary and transcends landscape, evolutionary, and conservation genomics to study speciation, evolution, adaptation, and the role of gene flow. Overall objectives of his research are to determine the distribution of genetic diversity across species’ ranges to understand (1) the extent to which adaptive and non-adaptive genetic diversity shapes population structure, including (2) what genes are responsible for geographic adaption versus alternative selective pressures (e.g., sexual selection), (3) how contemporary pressures influence a species’ adaptive landscape, and (4) how best to use this information to establish better management and conservation practices. To answer these questions, Dr. Lavretsky employs next-generation techniques to generate genome-wide markers for various taxa and to link genetic variation to species or population traits of interest.