Azusa Pacific University Master of Fine Arts student Pamela Alderman, a social practice artist from Grand Rapids, Michigan, will showcase her exhibition, the Connections Project at Duke Gallery, located on APU’s West Campus at 701 E. Foothill Blvd., in Azusa, California. The free event runs July 25 through 28, 2022 with an opening reception on Monday, July 25, from 6-8 p.m.
The Connections Project invites individuals to connect with those who are different from them as a creative alternative to “unfriending, blocking, and canceling” those who don’t look, think, or act like us. Various stances on social issues, race, gender, and the economy spark heated debates in the public sector, on social media, and around family dinner tables. This project challenges individuals to take a fresh look at how they see their neighbors.
“My interactive healing art creates opportunities to connect with others,” says Alderman. “It’s an art form that reaches beyond the canvas. If we take the first step and just start talking to the person next to us, listening to their story, we can begin to overcome our prejudices.”
Alderman will complete her MFA in visual art at APU this year. She teaches in the business entrepreneurial program at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids and Detroit, Michigan. She also founded Healing in Arts, a nonprofit which offers creative care programs to students, incarcerated teens, and community groups. Her current project includes co-developing a veteran-specific ArtPrize venue and coaching 22 veteran artists at various levels to help them achieve success. Combining her abundant passion with innovative concepts, Alderman’s interactive art has left an indelible healing imprint locally and nationally.
For more information, visit pamelaalderman.com or contact Pamela Alderman at pamela@pamelaalderman.com.
Christianity Today recently highlighted the “consortium” for Hispanic theology education created by a partnership between Azusa Pacific University, Life Pacific University (LPU), and the Latin American Bible Institute (LABI). This partnership to build a broad path to theological education for Hispanic students was made possible by a $4,999,904 grant from the Lilly Endowment.
“To receive this grant from the Lilly Endowment gives us a five-year runway to help create these systems,” said Bobby Duke, APU’s interim associate provost. “Five years from now, my thought is that we will have created a kind of a theological consortium here in Southern California around Hispanic theology and Spanish-speaking pastoral training in ways that, without the seed money, we may not have just had the ability to do.”
APU, LPU, and LABI are currently all Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI). They provide expanded resources for Hispanic students, who make up at least a quarter of the full-time equivalent enrollment.
The three colleges have previously shared lecturers and event resources, but the grant represents an opportunity to dream bigger, Duke said. “A lot of this is using these next five years to kind of reimagine what theological education can look like when people work together,” he said.
Approximately 953 students will graduate from Azusa Pacific University on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at the university’s fall commencement ceremonies. These graduates will earn a total of 953 degrees, including 396 bachelor’s, 462 master’s, and 98 doctoral degrees. Ceremonies include:
Saturday, December 17
Traditional undergraduate ceremony at 9:30 a.m.
Graduate ceremony at 1:30 p.m.
Ceremonies take place in APU’s Felix Event Center, located on West Campus, at 701 E. Foothill Blvd., in Azusa. Each commencement ceremony will be livestreamed through apu.edu/live with closed captioning available via APU Facebook Live.
The commencement speaker for the ceremonies is Greg Waybright, PhD. Waybright has pastored churches in Wisconsin, Illinois, and California, most recently at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena. Prior to Lake Avenue, Waybright was president of Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois where he served for more than 12 years. He has been involved with the Evangelical Free Church of America, having served as chair of its mission, EFCA Reach Global, and as a member of its board of directors. He also currently serves on Wheaton College’s board of trustees and is vice chair of the Billy Graham Center. Most recently, Waybright completed a two-year tenure as Wheaton College’s chaplain.
“There are at least a billion ash trees in Minnesota. We have to use everything we can to stop this insect.”
With those words, Robert Blanchette lays bare the magnitude of the task before our state if we are to control the emerald ash borer.
A professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and researcher in the Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center, Blanchette, along with his research team, is perfecting biological means to defeat this half-inch-long pest.
Life cycle of the emerald ash borer
Female ash borers lay 40+ eggs in the bark of an ash tree.
Eggs hatch in two weeks. Larvae emerge, then feed below the bark for 1–2 years, creating S-shaped “galleries”—this is the most destructive stage.
Larvae then pupate, after which they turn into adults.
Adults emerge through D-shaped holes in the bark.
The adults mate, find another tree, and start the process over.
The host tree will likely be dead in three to five years.
The emerald ash borer, or EAB, can be stopped by removing ash trees from a vicinity in advance and planting other species. This method is costly in time, money and, often, emotions. Enlisting armies of biological agents to attack the insect will avoid these drawbacks.
But even if infestation and tree loss or removal looks inevitable, “We want to develop another tool for land managers to slow EAB down so they can have a smoother transition,” Blanchette says.
In Blanchette’s lab, graduate student Colin Peters researches fungi that infect insects. His work is geared to protecting black ash, a tree that forms an immense forest in northern Minnesota. The black ash is central to several Indigenous cultures, to whom it is important for making baskets or as a spiritual resource and source of medicine.
Outside Peter Sorensen’s office stands a life-size cutout of a large man holding a large fish by the gills.
The fish, a bighead carp, is close to five feet long and upwards of 80 pounds. A voracious eater, this carp can wipe out the base of an aquatic food chain.
Not the kinds of fish you’d want in your waters. Unfortunately, both are beginning to invade Minnesota, says Sorensen, a professor emeritus in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology. They now infest the Mississippi River watershed in states from Mississippi to Iowa.
“With our great waters, we in Minnesota and adjacent Wisconsin are like a shining ornament sitting above a huge area of infestation,” Sorensen muses. “But Minnesota could soon become their next home base.
“Experience shows it’s critical to stop them now. If we can, we’ll be the first state to do so.”
Minnesota’s best chance: a single, strategically placed wall of vibrating bubbles known as a bioacoustic fish fence, or BAFF, which can be placed in navigation locks. Sorensen and his team have identified this “bubbling sound deterrent” as the best carp defense—and it will soon become reality.
Silver carp, bighead carp, and two other carp species were introduced in Arkansas in the 1970s to clean pond water. But they escaped and have now damaged numerous fisheries and ecosystems severely, if not irrevocably.
“Silver and bighead carp are efficient ‘filter feeders’—they vacuum out the ecosystem,” Sorensen says. “Native fish larvae, including walleye and other gamefish, are starved and/or eaten by these carp.”
The carp could wreck Minnesota’s fisheries, while silver carp alone could end boating and waterskiing—a blow to areas that depend on water sports. They would also wipe out the economic benefits these activities generate.
It would be game over.
Turning carp’s biology against them
From St. Louis to Minneapolis, a series of locks and dams in the Mississippi River reduce the movement of all fish, including carp.
“We identified Lock and Dam 5, north of Winona, Minnesota, as having exceptional potential to stop carp from moving northward,” Sorensen says.
Sorensen’s team worked with a British company to perfect a BAFF system designed for lock openings. His team crafted a three-part deterrence strategy over a decade of research involving lab experiments, mathematical modeling of flowing water, fish tracking in the Mississippi River, and ongoing field tests of a BAFF in Kentucky.
This work gave them a unique understanding of fish movement through locks and dams and how to stop carp.
The key part of the strategy is to use a BAFF to stop carp from moving upstream along with boats passing through the lock and dam’s navigation lock. The system features a tubular, bottom-lying “air diffuser” laid across the lock entrance. Air forced through it creates a curtain of bubbles from tiny holes along its length, and sound projected into it turns the curtain into an acoustic wall.
Sorensen and his team discovered that this system causes bubbles to vibrate with a unique intensity and directionality that invasive carp detect and avoid.
“It’s because they have an exceptional sense of hearing—as evidenced by how silver carp respond to outboard motors,” Sorensen explains.
The system will also include flashing lights to further discourage fish from entering the lock.
Common tansy, whose scientific name is Tanacetum vulgare, is an invasive plant found in Northeastern Minnesota spreading rapidly throughout the state. It can quickly establish dense monocultures that squeeze out native plants and is difficult and costly to remove.
Invasive species cause billions of dollars of economic and ecological damage annually. One of the keys to stopping invasion is understanding how a species moves and adapts as it spreads. Using this information, experts can develop effective plans for targeted management and eradication.
In a new study published in Molecular Ecology, researchers used genomic sequencing of common tansy taken from 176 sampling locations across the state to investigate how the species spreads so rapidly. The research was funded by the University’s Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center, supported by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.
The research team found:
Land use was critical in the spread of common tansy, which likely occurred in disturbed areas such as mines, along roadways and through pastures.
Common tansy does not spread well through established prairie grasslands or row cropland, which appears to have slowed the invasion in south and west Minnesota.
Recent populations in northwest Minnesota have genetically diverged — possibly indicating adaptation during invasion that may accelerate future spread.
The species colonizes and establishes on a local level by spreading between sites that have moderately to well-drained soils.
“Understanding what environmental factors drive invasive spread allows researchers and land managers to better plan for and deal with the threat of common tansy and other invasive species,” said lead author Ryan Briscoe Runquist, a senior research associate in the College of Biological Sciences.
“Although the invasion has slowed in the west and south of the state due to heavy row crop cultivation, common tansy may continue to invade along disturbed roadcuts. Land managers should pay attention to these habitats in regions along the invading front to stop continued invasive spread,” added Runquist.
The next step for the research team is to see if common tansy has adapted to different climates and environments across the invaded range in Minnesota. They will focus on how populations from different regions perform when transplanted across the state and what plant traits may allow for greater survival and reproductive success.
The team hopes to do additional genomic studies to investigate areas of the genome and plant traits that have been the subject of adaptation in the future.
One of the defining societal issues today — and going forward — is how to slow down or stop climate change, and a new institute at the University of Minnesota is exploring ways to do this using artificial intelligence (AI).
The University of Minnesota was awarded a $20 million federal grant over five years to lead the AI Institute for Climate-Land Interactions, Mitigation, Adaptation, Tradeoffs and Economy (AI-CLIMATE). Led by researchers at the College of Science and Engineering who are working with partners across campus and the country, the institute aims to leverage AI to create more climate-smart practices that will absorb and store carbon while also boosting the economy in the agriculture and forestry industries.
In the push to combat climate change, some sectors of the economy can go beyond carbon neutral and have “net-negative emissions,” which is a state of removals exceeding emissions. One sector where this is possible is the agriculture and forestry industries.
“One of the driving factors of climate effects is carbon emissions,” says Shashi Shekhar, director of the institute and a professor in the College of Science and Engineering. “By 2050, the United States aims to have net zero carbon emissions, and one of the most promising ways to do this is using natural systems like forestry and agriculture as ‘carbon sinks.’”
To lead the institute, the University received a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The institute is one of 25 NSF and NIFA-funded AI institutes. It is part of a larger federal initiative — totaling nearly half a billion dollars — to bolster collaborative artificial intelligence research nationwide.
AI-CLIMATE is a joint effort between the U of M College of Science and Engineering, Minnesota Robotics Institute, Data Science Institute, College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences, and the Office of the Vice President for Research. It brings together scientists and engineers from across the country, including national experts on artificial intelligence and climate-smart ag and forestry from Cornell University, Colorado State University, Delaware State University, Purdue University, and North Carolina State University. The researchers will also collaborate with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) and the tribal nations it represents.
“We have more visitors to accredited zoos in the U.S. than go to see sports teams,” says Jo-Elle Mogerman (MS ’94), who thinks a lot about how to keep zoos relevant and build beneficial relationships between people and wildlife. Over 183 million individual tickets are scanned annually at zoo entrances—more than the total MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL attendance combined—according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Mogerman holds a master’s in conservation biology from the U of M, which she earned between her bachelor’s degree in biology from Macalester College in St. Paul and her PhD in biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Today she’s president and CEO of the Philadelphia Zoo.
Throughout her career, Mogerman has focused on connecting people with nature. “That makes us better people,” she says. Mogerman remembers childhood zoo visits in her native Chicago and watching Wild Kingdom on television, both of which fueled her nascent awareness of the animal world.
Early in her career, Mogerman was thrilled to accept a position at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, where she was on staff for 14 years before becoming vice president of learning and community across town at Shedd Aquarium.
“I [have been] super fortunate to have dream jobs,” she says. “At Brookfield [and Shedd], I got to give back to kids that look like me, where I grew up, and get them excited about science. I saw how programs that were nuanced to communities of color could accelerate the programs—not just in education, but in ways that could be of service to the community. Black and brown people in STEM are my legacy.”
When the Saint Louis Zoo in Missouri initiated plans for a major addition—its 425-acre, $230 million WildCare Park—Mogerman was chosen as director of the project in 2019. Scheduled to open in 2027, the park welcomed its first animals as Mogerman prepared for her own relocation from the Midwest to new adventures in Philadelphia.
Leaving behind a major project that she put into motion, Mogerman is now undertaking a new set of challenges leading the nation’s oldest zoo. The 42-acre Philadelphia Zoo, chartered in 1854, opened in 1874. Located in an urban setting, the zoo has long embraced innovation: It established a first-of-its-kind animal health laboratory in 1901; developed “zoocake” (a scientifically controlled diet) in 1935; opened the nation’s first children’s zoo in 1938; and saw the first U.S. captive births of an orangutan, chimpanzee, cheetah, and echidna or spiny anteater. “The Philly Zoo [also] pioneered [exploration trails for] primates,” Mogerman says.
In 2011 the zoo opened a campus-wide network of mesh trails spanning 2,565 feet. The first of its kind worldwide, now widely copied, the trail system allows animals passage around, and even above, the grounds and visitors. Monkeys and lemurs can travel 1,735 feet and up to 37 feet high over the treetops; kids can join them on an adjacent (but safely separated) climbing tower.
Besides creating exhibits that combine both animal well-being and better viewing experiences, Mogerman firmly believes 21st-century zoos need to be in the business of sharing information—with their local communities, other institutions, and wild-population field experts and conservationists. “We directly lend our expertise in veterinary care [and] animal behavior to [those working in] the wild,” she says, noting that better understanding improves life for wild and captive animals.
“We might bring a wild population that is dwindling into human care,” for example, she says. “[And] international relationships [between researchers and conservationists] can be crucial for species survival. There is also a growing understanding that zoos have a role to play, for instance, in maintaining genetic diversity,” Mogerman says.
Mogerman’s cross-disciplinary course work at the U of M continues to inform her work and leadership today. “I can directly attribute value added to anything I do to my Minnesota conservation biology background,” she says. “In anthropology courses we learned to look at root causes. I would not have gotten this insight in a strict zoology or biology [degree program].”
University of Minnesota researchers developed a groundbreaking method for the rapid and accurate detection of oak wilt, a devastating disease threatening oak trees across North America. The disease is widespread in east-central and southeast Minnesota, though its range continues to expand northward, according to the DNR. Early detection methods are necessary in efforts to control the progression of this disease.
Recently published in Plant Methods, the research was funded by the University’s Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center, supported by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
The researchers created a diagnostic tool by incorporating gold nanoparticles into the Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay. The LAMP assay is a desirable tool for field diagnostics because it is quick, reliable, low cost and requires minimal preparation.
“This study introduces a novel approach that simplifies and speeds up the diagnosis of oak wilt, potentially transforming disease management practices for this serious threat to oak tree health in both natural and urban ecosystems in Minnesota,” said co-author Akli Zarouri, a researcher in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.
They found:
Gold nanoparticles react with the DNA molecules to create a distinct red pellet in the presence of the pathogen.
By using a naked eye detection, the tool provides results in 30 minutes.
The assay was rigorously tested on infected and healthy red oak samples, demonstrating exceptional sensitivity and specificity. It also proved effective with crude DNA extracts from diseased wood, streamlining the diagnostic process.
“This LAMP assay, with its rapid processing and easy visualization, offers a powerful tool for field diagnosis of oak wilt, and holds potential for broader applications in plant pathology,” said lead author Vinni Thekkudan Novi, now a researcher at the USDA who completed this work as a graduate fellow in the U of M’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.
The researchers are in the process of field testing this technology so that it will be available for land managers in the near future.
Future research may focus on validating the LAMP assay under field conditions with a larger sample size to better represent oak wilt epidemiology and ensure consistent diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Additionally, optimizing the assay for different environmental conditions for the visualization step could make it applicable and easier to use in various settings.
This research was also supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Schwan Food Company Graduate Fellowship.
About the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences The University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences strives to inspire minds, nourish people, and sustainably enhance the natural environment. CFANS has a legacy of innovation, bringing discoveries to life through science and educating the next generation of leaders. Every day, students, faculty, and researchers use science to address the grand challenges of the world today and in the future. CFANS offers an unparalleled expanse of experiential learning opportunities for students and the community, with 12 academic departments, 10 research and outreach centers across the state, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the Bell Museum, and dozens of interdisciplinary centers. Learn more at cfans.umn.edu. About the Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center The Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center was founded by the Minnesota Legislature to research the prevention, detection and control of terrestrial invasive species. MITPPC researchers use transformative science to prevent and minimize the threats posed by land-based invasive plants, pathogens, and pests. Founded in 2015, MITPPC is the only research center of its kind in the country, and the center’s work to protect the state’s native prairies, forests, wetlands, and agricultural resources benefits all of Minnesota and beyond. Learn more at mitppc.umn.edu.
Greenhouse gases resulting from human activity have been the largest driver of climate change since the mid-20th century — especially from agriculture. The U.S. beef industry alone is responsible for 3.3% of the nation’s total emissions, and even with greater reduction commitments among beef industry partners and meaningful gains over the past 50 years, the highly complex supply chain remains a barrier.
New research published in Nature Food from the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment (IonE) and The Nature Conservancy outlines actionable steps the U.S. beef industry can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30%. Rylie Pelton, lead author and research scientist with IonE, and fellow researchers developed and applied the first county-level, location-specific assessment of the beef industry’s environmental impact, which identified geographic emission hotspots along the supply chain.
The research found:
The U.S. beef industry currently emits nearly 258 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year.
Emissions from feed production associated with beef sourcing and confinement, such as feedlots, are concentrated in the Great Plains and Midwest, while emissions from grazing tend to be more evenly distributed across the West.
Nearly a third of greenhouse gas emissions could be mitigated through the implementation of alternative practices in grazing, feed production, confinement and processing. 42 alternative practices were investigated across the supply chain, including strategies such as cover cropping, feed additives and energy management.
“The beef supply chain is one of the country’s most intricate food production systems, making it difficult for beef processors to identify opportunities for reducing their emissions,” said Pelton. “Our highly-tailored assessment offers distinct recommendations for different parts of the country, including concrete steps the beef industry can take to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and increase the carbon sequestration in soils and working lands.”
Through the assessment, researchers outlined immediate action the beef industry can take to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions based on regional geographic characteristics and accessible mitigation strategies. For example, Pelton and her team identified a significant opportunity to add trees to pasturelands in the Southeast to store more carbon in grazing areas. In the Northern Great Plains, the team found potential benefits in repairing degraded wetland areas to achieve the same result.
“Sustainability needs to be business-as-usual in the U.S. beef industry to ensure stable, long-term food production and economic security for ranchers and their communities as well as a healthy environment for us all,” said Kris Johnson, co-author and director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Agriculture program. “This research helps the industry and other decision-makers identify actionable steps to achieve climate targets while delivering a product that meets consumer expectations.”
The research also represents an expansion of IonE’s FoodS3 model, pronounced “foods cubed,” which analyzes the sustainability of food industry supply chains to provide actionable recommendations for reducing environmental impact.
“These are our first published results that feature location-specific data on emissions in the animal stage of the supply chain,” said Jennifer Schmitt, FoodS3 research lead and co-author of the paper. “We are excited to share how our model can bring increased transparency to U.S. agricultural supply chains and identify steps companies and industry can take to reduce their carbon footprint.”
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About the Institute on the Environment
The University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment supports research across the disciplines, develops the next generation of global leaders, and builds transformative partnerships – in service of solving our world’s greatest challenges. IonE’s mission is to lead the way to a future in which people and planet prosper together. Learn more at environment.umn.edu.
About The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more sustainable. Working in 72 countries, we use a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. To learn more, visit www.nature.org or follow @nature_press on Twitter.
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