六合彩投注网

Past Summit Speakers

2024

Decorative background Terry Tempest Williams Antelope canyon

Keynote

Terry
Tempest Williams

Terry is a long-time writer and conservationist who has rooted her work in the environmental issues and ecology of the Southwest. From a lifetime as an environmental activist, Terry will share wisdom and lessons to help us better understand contemporary environmental challenges.

Learn more about Terry

Speakers

5th National Climate Assessment

Emile Elias, Ph.D.
Director | USDA Southwest Climate Hub

Emile Elias is the Director of the USDA Southwest Climate Hub, an organization covering New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii, and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands. Emile is a research hydrologist with three decades of experience at the interface of water scarcity, water quality, agricultural production, and natural resources. She leads the 20-member Southwest Hub team engaged in research and science synthesis, climate decision-support, and convening scientists and stakeholders to solve critical climate-related questions. Emile served as an author on the Fourth National Climate Assessment and the federal coordinating lead author on the Southwest Chapter of the Fifth National Climate Assessment.

Summit presentation topic
What is the 5th National Climate Assessment and Why Does it Matter?

Jennifer Vanos, Ph.D.
Associate Professor | Arizona State University

Jennifer Vanos鈥檚 research addresses adaptation to extreme heat in a changing climate and the impacts of extreme heat and air pollution on human health. Dr. Vanos is PI of the Human Biometeorology Lab at ASU, Chair of the American Meteorological Society鈥檚 Board on Environment & Health, and a co-author for new Heat & Health guidance for the World Health Organization.

Summit presentation topic
Climate Change Compromises Human Health and Reshapes Demographics

Steven M. Ostoja, Ph.D.
USDA California Climate Hub

Steven earned his Ph.D. in ecology and conservation biology from Utah State University. His research focused on the effects of invasive species on wildlife communities and resource-consumer interactions in an applied rangeland restoration context. Before joining the USDA California Climate Hub in September 2016, Steven worked for the U.S. Forest Service, where he was head of the ecosystem management department in the Sierra National Forest and the U.S. Geological Survey in the Yosemite office.

Summit presentation topic

Changes in Wildfire Patterns Pose Challenges for Southwest Residents and Ecosystems

Mark Brunson, Ph.D.
Professor | Utah State University

Mark is a hybrid social and ecological scientist with many research interests. After earning his Ph.D. in Forestry at Oregon State University, he came to Utah State and quickly became fascinated by rangeland ecosystems and how they are managed. He has studied public perceptions of land management practices and conditions, the adoption of innovations to improve environmental stewardship, and the effects of human activities on ecological processes.

Summit presentation topic

Increasing Challenges Confront Food and Fiber Production in the Southwest

Caiti Steele, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Science | USDA Southwest Climate Hub

Caiti holds a PhD in Geography from King's 六合彩投注网, University of London. Initially specializing in spatial analysis, she has since diversified her expertise over the last twenty years to include climate impacts on water resources, cropland agriculture, and rangelands. She is particularly interested in the intersection between science and practical solutions for climate adaptation in the Southwest region.

Summit presentation topic

Drought and Increasing Aridity Threaten Water Resources
Allyza Lustig
Senior Staff Member | U.S. Global Change Research Program

Allyza Lustig is a senior manager on the National Climate Assessment team at the U.S. Global Change Research Program, where she helps manage the assessment process and leads the development of Art x Climate. She has an interdisciplinary social science background, focusing on the boundary space between climate science and decision-making. Lustig is a painter passionate about art's power to document climate change and inspire action.

Summit presentation topic
5th National Climate Assessment Art x Climate Gallery

Regional Experts

Karen Bailey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies | University of Colorado, Boulder
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission Member

Dr. Karen Bailey is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is a systems researcher interested in understanding how human-environment interactions impact human health, well-being, and natural resources.

She is interested in sustainable livelihoods, wildlife conservation, global change, and coupled human-natural systems. She is also strongly committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in environmental work and STEM more broadly.

Summit presentation topic
Regional expert

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk
Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk

Cross-Cultural Programs Director

Montezuma County Land Conservancy

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk was born and raised in southwestern Colorado and resides on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation. She is a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of Towaoc. At an early age, Lopez-Whiteskunk began to advocate for land, air, water, and animals and strongly believes that the inner core of healing comes from the knowledge of our land and elders. She is a former co-chair for the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition Co-Chair and education director for the Ute Indian Museum. In October 2013, she was elected to serve as a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council.

Summit presentation topic

Regional expert
Travis Custer
Travis Custer

Executive Director | Montezuma County Land Conservancy

Travis Custer has a deep passion for the power of connecting people to the land and exploring the diverse stories of how land weaves itself through the human experience. He has been involved with non-profit and community-based work for over 15 years, with a diverse background in nonprofit management, leadership, agriculture, ecology, education, and social and environmental justice. As the Executive Director of Montezuma Land Conservancy, Travis has played an instrumental role in advancing the organization's community-centered conservation initiatives through MLC's education center, Fozzie鈥檚 Farm, and partnership with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Travis also serves on the board of directors for Keep It Colorado, a statewide coalition for land trusts, where he advocates for a community and justice-centered approach to conservation across the land trust community in Colorado and around the country. Recently, he founded CORE Conservation Consulting, LLC, to support land trusts and conservation organizations committed to a new conservation paradigm and organizational development. Above all, Travis is a proud father to his son, Eddy, and enjoys learning and teaching alongside him as they work together to become better versions of themselves.

Summit presentation topic

Brandon Francis
Brandon Francis
Educational Resources Coordinator
Agricultural Science Center, New Mexico State University (NMSU)
Fort Lewis '15

Brandon Francis is a plant researcher whose family has stewarded corn in the Black Mesa, NM, area for several generations. He began his work with sustainable food systems at the Old Fort Lewis in Hesperus, CO, where he completed an internship and apprenticeship in sustainable agriculture methods. He has worked as a research laboratory technician, education resource coordinator, and graduate research assistant for NMSU at the Agricultural Science Center in Farmington, NM. As part of his research, he has been conducting high-elevation Four Sisters experiments with seed varieties endemic to the Southwest while deepening his connection to his Din茅 heritage through agriculture.

Summit presentation topic

Regional expert
  

Center for Southwest Studies Exhibit

Dr. Holly Barnard
Holly Barnard, Ph.D.

Professor of Geography | Associate Dean of Research
CU Boulder

The ultimate goal of Dr. Barnard's research is to improve our knowledge of how changes in climate and land use will affect forest ecosystems and water resources. She investigates how forest processes affect water flow dynamics and pathways in soil and streams and, conversely, how water flow paths affect ecological function in mountainous areas.

Over her career, she has collaborated with dozens of excellent scientists from various disciplines to conduct research projects that have achieved "far more than any of us could have on our own." These collaborations include engagement with scientists in my department and research institute and with federal scientists and colleagues at other academic institutions.

Summit presentation topic

Coloradans and our Shared Environment in Times of Challenge and Change

Jocelyn Catterson
Jocelyn Catterson
Colorado Art and Science Environment Fellow

Jocelyn Catterson is an artist and educator. Growing up in Colorado, Jocelyn fell madly in love with the mountains. This passion has grown more intense with time and has come to include the desert, the plains, and the rivers, a passion for morning light and deep canyons, the smell of pine trees, and the beauty of the tiniest insect or flower. Although art has always been a huge part of her life, she didn鈥檛 start drawing seriously until she used nature journaling with her students. Working on copying the patterns in the wings of moths on my porch solidified her style as an artist. Jocelyn quickly realized she could copy the patterns she saw in everything around her. Because of her background in environmental education, her art is grounded in the place where she lives.

Summit presentation topic
Coloradans and our Shared Environment in Times of Challenge and Change