Media Tip Sheet: Colorado State University experts available to discuss variety of summer topics
Note to Reporters: Experts at Colorado State University can talk about a wide variety of summer subjects, from weather and wildfire to plant care and water science. The resources listed below are for reporter use only and not intended for publication. The tip sheet can be found at CSU’s news channel, SOURCE, http://source.colostate.edu/media-tip-sheet-summer-topics/.
Lawns, flowers, plants, organic agriculture
Tony Koski, professor of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and Extension Turfgrass Specialist
Irrigation management for lawns, amending soils to promote water conservation, lawn fertilizers, weed control methods and turfgrass management techniques
Media contact: Jennifer Dimas jennifer.dimas@colostate.edu, 970-491-1543
Blake Osborn, Extension Water Resources Specialist
The Lawn Irrigation Self Audit (LISA) program, home irrigation systems, water management of the Arkansas and Rio Grande Basins, groundwater hydrology, water education and outreach
Media contact: Joanne Littlefield joanne.littlefield@colostate.edu, 970-491-4640
Jim Klett, professor of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and Extension Landscape Horticulturist
Landscape plant material identification, culture and care, annuals, perennials and woody plants of the Rocky Mountain and High Plains areas
Klett is coordinator of CSU’s Flower Trial Gardens, the largest flower test garden in the state and one of the five largest in the United States. He also coordinates several state and regional programs including Plant Select and PlantTalk Colorado.
Media contact: Jennifer Dimas jennifer.dimas@colostate.edu, 970-491-1543
PlantTalk Colorado
PlantTalk Colorado is an online resource offering step-by-step gardening advice. Tips from the PlantTalk team are constantly being reviewed and updated; new information is added monthly. The experts on the team include horticulturalists from Colorado State University Extension, the Denver Botanic Gardens and GreenCo. The reliable and timely information (more than 600 topics) includes everything from lawn landscape care to insect and plant disease problems.
Media contact: Joanne Littlefield joanne.littlefield@colostate.edu, 970-491-4640
Master Gardener program
Many CSU Extension offices have volunteer Colorado Master Gardeners available throughout the summer to answer local gardening questions. Projects include public educational classes, telephone, email and walk-in assistance, field visits, youth and community garden education, blog-writing, television, radio and pod casts, farmer’s markets and educational booths. Visit extension.colostate.edu to find local Extension offices.
Media contact: Joanne Littlefield joanne.littlefield@colostate.edu, 970-491-4640
Mark Uchanski, assistant professor of Horticulture, Specialty Crops in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Sustainable and organic agriculture, small farms and local vegetable production, high tunnel production
Media contact: Jennifer Dimas jennifer.dimas@colostate.edu, 970-491-1543
West Nile, Zika, mosquito-borne viruses and insects
Barry Beaty, University Distinguished Professor of Virology, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Understanding and controlling dengue virus, which is closely related to Zika virus, as well as the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits both viruses to humans
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
William Black, professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Research focus on the mosquito Aedes aegypti, the primary vector to humans of the virus that causes dengue fever and the Zika virus, and insecticide resistance
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Greg Ebel, associate professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology and director, Arthropod-borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory
How virus population biology for West Nile, Zika and other viruses influence the abilities of that virus to be transmitted by arthropod vectors, to cause disease and to emerge as significant health threats
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Brian Foy, associate professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Vectors and vector-borne pathogens, current research focus in defining concepts that govern blood meal acquisition and digestion by vectors, and parasite and arbovirus transmission from vertebrates to vectors (and vice versa)
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Rebekah Kading, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Research on bats in Uganda (origin of Zika virus) with eye towards what might be the next Zika virus (and capacity building), expert knowledge in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus behavior, including feeding patterns, prevalence in various parts of the world and where these mosquitos live and breed
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Whitney Cranshaw, professor of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management and Extension Entomology Specialist
Miller moths, bees, yellowjackets, aphids, mites and variety of other insects.
Media contact: Jennifer Dimas jennifer.dimas@colostate.edu, 970-491-1543
Boris Kondratieff, professor of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management and director of the C. P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity
Insect identification, aquatic insects, forensic entomology, and variety of other insects
Media contact: Jennifer Dimas jennifer.dimas@colostate.edu, 970-491-1543
Assefa Gebre-Amlak, CSU Extension Entomology Specialist
Potential outbreaks of grasshoppers in Northeastern Colorado
Media contact: Joanne Littlefield joanne.littlefield@colostate.edu, 970-491-4640
Flood
Nolan Doesken, Colorado State Climatologist at the Colorado Climate Center, Colorado State University
Precipitation, historic flooding events, severe weather, the science of storm formation, extremes and trends in climate across Colorado, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRAHS), established after a Fort Collins flash flood in 1997.
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Chris Thornton, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Overflow dikes, debris culverts, stream bank protection, wave overtopping of levees, soil cement performance, hydraulic modeling, reduction of soil erosion from fires
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Pierre Julien, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
River mechanics and engineering, erosion and sedimentation, stream restoration, hydraulics, hydrologic modeling
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Russ Schumacher, assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science
Extreme precipitation, storms that lead to potential flash flooding, Colorado weather, communication and interpretation of weather forecasts
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Drought
Reagan Waskom, director of the Colorado Water Institute and the CSU Water Center
Drought impacts, water conservation, Colorado water uses and needs, agricultural water use, water quality, Colorado water law, administration and policy, irrigation water optimization in water-limited environments, conjunctive management of surface and ground water, evaluation of municipal water conservation programs, development of best management practices for crop production and evaluation of groundwater vulnerability and sensitivity to contamination.
Media contact: Jim Beers jim.beers@colostate.edu, 970-689-2407
Neil Grigg, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Colorado’s water history, drought management, risk assessment of water systems, water quality, government water resources planning, Western water management, water system infrastructure engineering, flood control, urban water systems management.
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Jorge Ramirez, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Global hydrology and climate change, soil moisture and vegetation, runoff, river basin geomorphology, optimal irrigation scheduling, water resource systems optimization
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Sustainable water resources management
Sybil Sharvelle, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Urban water management, building-scale water recycling, graywater recycling, wastewater discharges and their impacts on reservoirs, estuaries and streams
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Mazdak Arabi, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Sustainable water resources management, impact of anthropogenic activities on land use, agriculture and watersheds, watershed management
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
John Labadie, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Using mathematical modeling and artificial intelligence to solve complex water resources management issues
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Wildfire, emergency preparedness experts
Tony Cheng, professor in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship and director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute
Strategies and challenges associated with managing forests and forest fires in Colorado and across the Western U.S., how organizations and individuals address forest and wildfire threats, from national-level policy to local community wildfire mitigation and forest restoration efforts
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Chad Hoffman, assistant professor in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
Fire behavior and modeling, fuels management and wildfire hazard and risk reduction, disturbance ecology, fire and bark beetle interactions, fire and forest pathogen interactions
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Steven Fassnacht, professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability
Snowmelt, run-off and stream flow, mountain snow characteristics across various portions of the Colorado River basin
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Linda Nagel, professor and head of the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
Ecological recovery of plant communities following a wildfire
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Jason Sibold, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology
Fuels and bark-beetle altered fuels versus climate and weather in times of large wildfires and extreme fire years, natural fire regimes, how recent fires compare to natural fires, influence of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins on climate and fire occurrence in the Rockies, what future climate likely means for wildfire risk in the Rockies
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Sheryl Magzamen, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences
Potential health effects of wood smoke
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Mark Paschke, professor and associate dean in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
Post-fire restoration ecology and re-growth
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Doug Rideout, professor in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship and director of the Western Forest Fire Research Center
Economics and management of wild and prescribed fires, the wildland-urban interface, strategic analysis and budgeting of fire programs, fuel management and initial attack systems
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Monique Rocca, associate professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability
Wildland fire management, invasive species, climate change, and land use change
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
John Volckens, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and CSU Energy Institute
Air pollution sources, emissions, and health effects from smoke, particulate matter and combustion byproducts; occupational and environmental exposure and risk assessment
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Emily Fischer, assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science
Impact of smoke on atmospheric ozone and particulate matter, measurements of ozone and its precursors
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099
Protecting pets, horses and livestock, including emergency preparedness
Ragan Adams, veterinarian in the Department of Clinical Sciences
Animal disaster response planning in the context of general emergency preparedness on personal and community levels
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Rebecca Ruch-Gallie, veterinarian and assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences
How temperatures in the summer can affect dogs, cats and other pets; the effects of wildfire smoke on pets
Media contact: Mary Guiden mary.guiden@colostate.edu, 970-491-6892
Disaster planning and risk assessment
John van de Lindt, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Community resilience, disaster planning, rapid recovery from hazards like flood or fire, reducing seismic risk in buildings, earthquake simulation and testing, tornado and hurricane damage
Media contact: Anne Manning anne.manning@colostate.edu, 970-491-7099