College of Science Kudos May 2023

Grants Funding

Alistair Smith (professor and chair, Earth and Spatial Sciences) was recently awarded a USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant totaling $792,650 titled “PARTNERSHIP: Impacts of fertilization treatments on the mortality and post-fire productivity of northwestern and southeastern Pinus species.”

Alex Woo (associate professor, Mathematics and Statistical Science) was awarded a National Science Foundation award of $45,380. The funds will support travel for undergraduate students, graduate students and early career faculty to attend the International Conference on Permutation Patterns that will be hosted in Dijon, France in 2023 and Moscow, Idaho in 2024. 

Selected Publications

Adam Jones (professor, Biological Sciences) and Ph.D. candidate Bernadette Johnson recently published a book chapter in Emerging Model Organisms titled “Studying mating behaviors in Nothobranchius furzeri.”  

Paul Hohenlohe (associate professor, Biological Sciences and director, Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology), Sarah Hendricks (Ph.D. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, ‘19), and colleagues recently published a paper in Genes titled “Genomic Assessment of Cancer Susceptibility in the Threatened Catalina Island Fox .” Learn more about their research project here.

Meng Zhao (assistant professor, Earth and Spatial Sciences) co-authored an article in Nature Climate Change with colleagues at Stanford University titled “Evapotranspiration frequently increases during droughts.” The article was featured in the News & Views section of the journal.

Andreas Vasdekis (associate professor, Physics) and colleagues published a paper in PNAS titled “Video-rate Raman-based metabolic imaging by Airy light-sheet illumination and photon-sparse detection.”

Patrick Hrdlicka (professor, Chemistry), Caroline P. Shepard (M.S. Chemistry, ‘20), Raymond G. Emehiser (Ph.D. Chemistry, ‘20), and Saswata Karmakar (Ph.D. Chemistry, ‘13) published a paper in Molecules titled “Factors Impacting Invader-Mediated Recognition of Double-Stranded DNA .”

Grant Harley (associate professor, Earth and Spatial Sciences), Karen Heeter (Ph.D. Geography, ’22) and their collaborators published an article in Nature Climate and Atmospheric Science titled “Unprecedented 21st century heat across the Pacific Northwest of North America.” Dr. Heeter is currently a postdoctoral associate at Columbia University, which issued a press release on the research. 

Paul Rowley (associate professor, Biological Sciences), Jim Bull (professor, Biological Sciences) and Jeremy Ellis (B.S. Microbiology, ‘20) published an article in MDPI Microorganisms titled “Fungal glycoside hydrolases display unique specificities for polysaccharides and Staphylococcus aureus biofilms.” Jeremy is currently in an M.D. training program at Johns Hopkins Medical School.

Onesmo Balemba (professor, Biological Sciences), Sarah Hendricks (Ph.D. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, ‘19), and a team of U of I colleagues published an article in MDPI titled “High-Resolution Taxonomic Characterization Reveals Novel Human Microbial Strains with Potential as Risk Factors and Probiotics for Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes.” Learn more about his research here. 

Alumni News

Rebecca Bishop (B.S. Physics and Mathematics, ‘96) is Aerospace’s lead on the CubeSat mission that launched in November 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket. Aerospace developed the sensor that will study how ionosphere scintillation disrupts communications and GPS navigation.

Congratulations to Leah Frye (B.S. Chemistry, ’79) and Charlotte Hill (B.S. Chemistry and Microbiology, ’77), who will be inducted into the University of Idaho Alumni Hall of Fame this month.

Congratulations to Blas Uberuaga (B.A. Physics, ‘94), George Sprenger (Ph.D. Chemistry, ‘73), and Rebecca Bishop (B.S. Physics and Mathematics, ‘96), who recently received the University of Idaho Alumni Association Silver and Gold Award.

In Case You Missed It

Congratulations to recently promoted faculty in the College of Science:

• Gwen Barnes, research associate professor, Physics
• Somantika Datta, professor, Mathematics and Statistical Science
• Scott Grieshaber, professor, Biological Sciences
• Paul Hohenlohe, professor, Biological Sciences
• Diana Mitchell, associate professor, with tenure, Biological Sciences
• Ben Ridenhour, associate professor, with tenure, Mathematics and Statistical Science
• Kris Waynant, associate professor, with tenure, Chemistry

Congratulations to winners of the 2023 College of Science Faculty and Staff Awards and University Excellence Awards:

COS Faculty/Staff Awards:

• COS Staff Outstanding Service Award: Jessica DeWitt, Physics
• COS Distinguished Faculty Award: Chris Williams, Mathematics and Statistical Science
• COS Early Career Faculty Award: Erika Rader, Earth and Spatial Sciences
• COS Outstanding Teaching Award: Lisa Bird, Biological Sciences
• Dyess Faculty Fellowship: Liz Cassel, Earth and Spatial Sciences
• Heimsch Faculty Fellowship: Diana Mitchell, Biological Sciences
• Renfrew Faculty Fellowship: Andreas Vasdekis, Physics

University Excellence Awards:

• Mid-Career Faculty Award: Liz Cassel, Earth and Spatial Sciences
• Lawrence C. McBride Prize: Terry Evans, College of Science

Congratulations to winners of the 2023 College of Science Student Awards:

Dean’s Graduate Awards:

• Bernadette Johnson (Ph.D., Biology)
• Steven Kreyche (Ph.D., Physics)
• Joshua Parker (Ph.D., Mathematics)
• Zhe Wang (Ph.D., Geography)

Diane Haynes Memorial Award (outstanding graduating graduate student):

• Zhe Wang (Ph.D., Geography)

Dean’s Award (undergraduate):

• Cameron Bowen (Biology)
• Samantha Callos (Physics)
• Laurel Coleman (Chemistry)
• Madison Dobson (Medical Sciences, Biology)
• Megan Hatley (Statistics)
• Charis Peever (Geology)

John B. George Award (outstanding COS graduating senior)

• Madison Dobson (Medical Sciences, Biology)

Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award

• Victor Zhong (Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology)

Victor Zhong (B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, ‘22), a researcher in Paul Rowley’s lab, won first prize for his poster at the regional meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (Intermountain Branch) in Boise, Feb. 18, 2023.

Rodolfo Bizzaria Jr., a visiting scholar in Paul Rowley’s lab, won third prize for his oral presentation at the regional meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (Intermountain Branch) in Boise, Feb. 18, 2023.

Learn more about Shirley Luckhart (professor, Biological Sciences and Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology) and her efforts to create the Institute for Health in the Human Ecosystem, which encourages scientific collaboration in human health research across disciplinary fields. 

Jason Barnes (professor, Physics) talked to the Idaho Statesman about the Northern Lights in Idaho and was interviewed by universetoday.com about his favorite moon in the solar system, which is, of course, Saturn’s moon Titan. Dr. Barnes also gave a presentation in Sandpoint for a new nonprofit, Spacepoint.

Peter Griffiths (professor emeritus, Chemistry) was honored with the 2023 Ellis R. Lippincott Award for unique achievements and significant contributions to vibrational spectroscopy.

Zach Etienne (associate professor, Physics) is using the Falcon supercomputer to simulate colliding black holes.

Keegan Webb (senior, Biology), who traveled to Africa to study giraffes last summer, was interviewed by Boise State Public Radio. Keegan’s travel was supported through gifts to the College of Science Undergraduate Research Fund.

Learn about Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Ph.D. student Chava Castaneda-Barba’s work tracking spread of antibiotic resistance on farms. 

Nick Koenig, a first-year geography Ph.D. student with Grant Harley (associate professor, Earth and Spatial Sciences), received a prestigious fellowship from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Matt Hedman (associate professor, Physics) commented in Scientific American on the importance of NASA funding for a new scientific mission to Uranus.

Paul Hohenlohe (professor, Biological Sciences and director, Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology) is a founding member of the Moscow Mules, a local bluegrass band that won the 2023 Best of Local Bands title in the Best of Moscow voting.

Learn about BCB Ph.D. student Lukas Grossfurthner’s population genomics research with Paul Hohenlohe (professor, Biological Sciences and director, Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology) and Lisette Waits (College of Natural Resources) here. His work on native sagebrush will help Lukas predict how organisms adapt to changing environments.

Christine Parent (associate professor, Biological Sciences) and Eric Mittelstaedt (associate professor, Earth and Spatial Sciences) are leading the Island Systems Integration Consortium (ISIC), a cross-disciplinary team of U.S. scientists focused on studying climate change impacts in the Galápagos.