Interview with Monica O’Reilly

In this installment of Field Notes, we talk to Monica O’Reilly. Monica is a Masters student in the Public Policy and Administration program at CSU, concentrating in International Policy and Management. After receiving her Bachelors in zoology, Monica quickly realized that public policy and administration is at the forefront of social and environmental change, leading her here to CSU. We chat about her internship with the Global Livingston Institute (GLI), her interest in decolonizing development, and her hopes to travel to Uganda this January for an immersion trip with GLI focused on best practices in community development.

Interview with Nelson Mwangi

In this installment of Field Notes, we chat with Nelson Mwangi, a PhD candidate in the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology. Originally from Kenya, Nelson is using his PhD to continue his work as a Tracking Manager at Save the Elephants to understand elephant space use. During our conversation, we discuss the challenges of being an international student during a global pandemic as well as the complicated nature of achieving human-elephant coexistence.

 

Interview with Joy Enyinnaya

In this segment of Field Notes, we chat with PhD candidate Joy Enyinnaya. Originally from Abia State, Nigeria, Joy’s research focuses on the ways women entrepreneurs create business identities in online spaces as well as how they use the different affordances of technological platforms to negotiate and subvert patriarchal structures. We discuss what experiences led her to this research path, challenges she faced, and her future career goals.

Interview with Brett Bruyere

In the latest installment of Field Notes, we talk to Brett Bruyere, an associate professor in the Warner College of Natural Resources. Brett’s teaching and research addresses environmental communication and community-based conservation, often in a context of developing world settings. We chat about his work with pastoral women in Samburu, Kenya, the ethical considerations of conducting cross-cultural research, and more.

Interview with Martha Bierut

In this installment of Field Notes, we chat with PhD student Martha Bierut. Martha completed her MSc in Conservation Leadership at Colorado State University in 2019, and she is currently a PhD student and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in Dr. Jon Salerno and Dr. Jen Solomon’s labs in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources department. As a conservation social scientist, Martha’s research explores elephant management and polycentric governance. In our interview, we talk about how she found her way to social science, the importance of collaborative research, and more.

Interview with Monica Lasky

In the latest installment of Field Notes, we chat with Masters student Monica Lasky. After conducting multiple field research projects throughout the U.S. and beyond, Monica decided to pursue a Masters degree through the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, under the advisement of Dr. Sara Bombaci with a focus on large African mammals. We speak about her recent trip to South Africa for ecological field research, some of the challenges of conducting cross-cultural research, and her achievement in receiving an NSF GRFP award.

Interview with Dr. Matt Luizza

Our latest instalment of Field Notes is an interview with Dr. Matt Luizza, a program officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Africa Branch. Matt completed his PhD at CSU, and now serves as the lead to the Africa Branch on issues of pastoralism, transhumance, community-based conservation, and conflict-conservation dynamics in Africa’s Sudano-Sahel. In our conversation with Matt, we talk about his work supporting African elephant conservation, his reflections on the complexity and importance of ethical conservation, and the latest trends in conservation that have caught his attention.

dmmriep

A Conversation with Dr. David Reip -Art and History in Southern Africa

In this episode of Field Notes, we interview with Dr. David Reip, an associate professor of Art History at CSU. David's area of research centers on South Sotho art and history in southern Africa. He spent more than five years living in South Africa between 2000 and 2011, working with several NGOs and completing his field research with support from a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Stanley Award for International Research. Most recently, David has been involved in an ongoing multi-disciplinary project entitled Africa Meets Africa, which explores southern African cultural heritage and uses cultural context as a link to understanding the arts, mathematics, language, and history. In our conversation we talk about Dr. Reip’s work, his journey in academia and what it means to do, good, socially responsible research.

Reflections on a career as a geographer: A conversation with Dr. Melinda Laituri

In this instalment of Field Notes is an interview with Dr. Melinda Laituri, a soon-to-be retired professor in the department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability. Dr. Laituri is a geographer, a geospatial analysis specialist and the Director of the Geospatial Centroid at Colorado State University. In our conversation, we’ll talk about Melinda’s current project mapping and investigating second-order impacts of COVID-19 around the globe. We also discuss her reflections on her career as a geographer,  the role of western researchers working  in communities around the world, and the shifts she thinks academia needs to make in terms of how we evaluate success and the role of higher education in society. 

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter

Reflections on a career as a geographer: A conversation with Dr. Melinda Laituri

In this instalment of Field Notes is an interview with Dr. Melinda Laituri, a soon-to-be retired professor in the department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability. Dr. Laituri is a geographer, a geospatial analysis specialist and the Director of the Geospatial Centroid at Colorado State University. In our conversation, we’ll talk about Melinda’s current project mapping and investigating second-order impacts of COVID-19 around the globe. We also discuss her reflections on her career as a geographer,  the role of western researchers working  in communities around the world, and the shifts she thinks academia needs to make in terms of how we evaluate success and the role of higher education in society.

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter

Humans, Livestock, and the Land

A discussion with Dr. Kevin Jablonski and Jasmine Bruno

Please take a listen to a discussion with two social-ecological rangeland researchers, Kevin Jablonski and Jasmine Bruno, hosted by the Africa Center’s Tomas Pickering. In part 1 of our interview, we talk about some of the misconceptions and opportunities for livestock-wildlife landscapes, the positive role of pastoralism, new strategies for pastoralists and conservation, and more. 

In part 2, both Kevin and Jasmine provide some quick advice for graduate students interested in rangeland-pastoral systems.

Part 1: Humans, livestock and land

Part 2: Advice for graduate students interested in rangeland-pastoral systems