Our Students are central to growing INSTAAR's research and culture; they are an integral part of the institute. Students find unique opportunities to expand their education and engage in research that moves us toward a more sustainable world, including integrative training, research experience in the field and lab, and using a wide variety of analytical and computational facilities beyond those of their home academic departments. Current students with questions or concerns should contact Jonathan Raberg (Student Representative). Prospective grad students should visit our How to Apply page.

People A to Z
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Ethan Burns (he/him)

Ethan Burns (he/him)

  • MA Student
  • Teaching Assistant Geography Dept.

Departments/Academic Programs

Research Programs, Labs, and Groups

Specialty

Forest Hydrology, Catchment Hydrology, Hydrologic partitioning and dynamic storage in montane watersheds.

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Will Cox

Will Cox

  • PhD Student

Departments/Academic Programs

Specialty

Peatland plant communities, lichen & bryophyte ecology, cryptogamic botany, population & community ecology, permafrost thaw, carbon cycling, climate change.

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Chiara Forrester

Chiara Forrester

  • PhD student

Departments/Academic Programs

Research Programs, Labs, and Groups

Specialty

Plant, alpine and forest ecology; Effects of climate change on plant communities and plant-fungal symbioses; Plant-fungal symbioses; Soil ecology and nutrient cycling; Citizen science and science communication.  My previous research has explored the effects of a foliar endophytic fungus on host microsite distribution and soil extracellular enzyme activity along elevational gradients.

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Kate Hale (she/hers)

Kate Hale (she/hers)

  • PhD Candidate | Research Assistant

Departments/Academic Programs

Research Programs, Labs, and Groups

Specialty

I specialize in modeling and empirically analyzing annual surface water input changes to decreased snowfall fractions and earlier snowmelt in mountainous regions (see more in bio).

Molly Huber (she/her)

Molly Huber (she/her)

  • MS student
  • Teaching Assistant in Environmental Studies

Departments/Academic Programs

Specialty

Terrestrial biogeochemistry, soil science, wetland biogeochemistry, alpine wetlands, soil redox,

Aaron Hurst

Aaron Hurst

  • PhD Student

Departments/Academic Programs

Specialty

Bedrock river evolution and the interplay between sediment supply, hydrologic conditions, and erosion.

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Kelly Kochanski

Kelly Kochanski

  • PhD candidate
  • DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellow

Departments/Academic Programs

Specialty

Computational models to study the processes that shape the Earth and its climate.

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Brigitta Rongstad

Brigitta Rongstad

  • PhD student

Departments/Academic Programs

Research Programs, Labs, and Groups

Specialty

Using individual foraminifera analysis to understand the effects of dissolution on the Mg/Ca temperature proxy and to reconstruct ENSO variance in the eastern tropical Pacific.

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Brian Straight

Brian Straight

  • PhD Student
  • PhD Candidate, Civil Engineering
  • Teaching Assistant, Dept of Atmospheric and Oceanographic Sciences

Departments/Academic Programs

Research Programs, Labs, and Groups

Specialty

UAVs in environmental applications; acid rock drainage; acid mine drainage; limnology; hydrology; water resources; harmful algal blooms; design; system dynamics and controls

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Lei Zheng

Lei Zheng

  • Graduate student

Specialty

Permafrost modeling, remote sensing of the cryosphere

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