The 2014 ESPM Graduate Student Research Symposium, or GradFest, featured research presentations from graduating PhD students and a keynote speaker presentation by Poet Robert Hass. Hass, Professor of English at UC Berkeley, is a former poet laureate of the United States and a recipient of both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In addition to his work on contemporary American poetry and translation, Hass often writes on environmental history and literature. He also co-teaches the popular undergraduate course, “Intro to Environmental Studies,” with ESPM Professor Garrison Sposito.
Gradfest also included remarks from the Graduate Diversity Council, the ESPM graduate student awards ceremony, and an evening reception with a live performance by MtHammer and Afro Brazilian music from DJ Chris Carioca.
2014 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
9:00 Breakfast and Registration
9:20 Welcoming Talks:
Keith Gilless (Dean, College of Natural Resources)
Ron Amundson (Chair, ESPM)
9:30 Guest lecture: Jessica Weir, Institute for Culture and Society,
University of Western Sydney
“Blackwater and Murray Crayfish: Responding to River Health”
10:10 Finishing Talk: Scott Fortmann-Roe
“Measuring and Reporting Model Fits for Theory and Practice: The A3 Method”
10:25 Finishing Talk: Misha Leong
“Bees in a Changing World: How land surface phenology, bee community
distributions, and pollinator-plant interactions are impacted by urbanization and
agriculture”
10:40 Finishing Talk: Ellen Kersten
“From Assessment to Action: The Use and Abuse of Data to Promote Health Equity”
10:55 break
11:10 Finishing Talk: Kirsten Hill
“Spiders in California’s Grassland Mosaic”
11:25 Finishing Talk: Ali Tonak
“Mapping of Microbial life in Flowing Media – of People, Air, Pollen, and Honey”
11:40 Finishing Talk: Francisco Pontual
“The Pilot Fish Syndrome: Indigenous Sovereignty and Servitude in the Middle and Lower Rio Negro Basin, Brazilian Amazonia”
12:00 Keynote Lecture: Bob Hass, Former Poet Laureate of the United States
and Professor of English, UC Berkeley
“Wildlands, Gardens, and the Metaphysics of the Glimpse:
Thinking About Nature in the Anthropocene”
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Finishing Talk: Natalie van Doorn
“Patterns and Process of Forest Growth: the Role of Neighborhood Dynamics and Tree Demography in a Northern Hardwood Forest”
2:15 Finishing Talk: Melina Kozanitas
“Ecology and Epidemiology of the Sudden Oak Death Epidemic: Interspecific
Competition, Disease Incidence and the Population Genetics of Phytophthora
ramorum within a CA Watershed”
2:30 Finishing Talk: Liz Olhsson
“Capturing Event-driven Riverine Nutrient Delivery to Coastal Ocean Biology through Mesoscale Modeling”
2:45 Finishing Talk: Laura Dane
“Soil Microorganisms as Precursors and Mediators of
Soil Carbon Stabilization”
3:00 Finishing Talk: Gabriel Isaacman
“Using Detailed Chemical Characterization of Particulate Matter to Understand Aerosol Formation and Oxidation”
3:15 Finishing Talk: Maya Hayden
“Abandoned Channels as Refugia for Sustaining Pioneer Riparian Forests”
3:30 break
3:45 Finishing Talk: Shufei Lei
“Mapping Webs of Information, Conversation, and Social Connections: Evaluating the Mechanics of Collaborative Adaptive Management in the Sierra Nevada Forests”
4:00 Finishing Talk: Miriam Tsalyuk
“The Effect of Landscape Parameters on African
Elephants (Loxodonta africana) Movement Decisions”
4:15 Finishing Talk: Melissa Eitzel
“Synthesizing Multiple Data Sources to Understand
the Population and Community Ecology of California Trees”
4:30 Finishing Talk: Eric Waller
“Satellite Data Reveal Unique Climate for Giant Sequoia”
4:45 Finishing Talk: Sharon Fuller
“Shifting Tides, Shifting Power: Gullah Geechee Managing South Carolina Fisheries”
5:00 Finishing Talk: Siew Chin Chua
“Fate, luck or destiny? Succession in tropical rainforests in Singapore”
5:15 Graduate Diversity Council remarks
5:30 Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres
5:45 Awards Ceremony
Student Service Award: Guillermo Douglass-Jaimes
Faculty Mentoring Award: Carolyn Finney
ESPM Awards
6:45 Music & Dancing
Featuring MtHammer and Afro Brazilian DJ Chris Carioca.
10:30 Festivities come to a close
Thank you to our sponsors: The UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, the UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly, the College of Natural Resources, the ESPM Graduate Diversity Council, the ESPM Society & Environment Division, the ESPM Ecosystem Sciences Division, and the Geospatial Innovation Facility.