About the Faculty Award Winners
University Distinguished Professor Award
Alexander Karasev
Professor, Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
View ProfileAlexander Karasev
Professor, Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
About
Dr. Alexander V. Karasev, is a Professor of Plant Virology at the University of Idaho since 2006. He has been studying plant viruses and plant virus diseases for over 30 years, pioneering research in molecular biology of closteroviruses, and in particular citrus tristeza virus at UC Riverside and University of Florida before joining the faculty of University of Idaho. At the University of Idaho, Dr. Karasev’s research over the past 16 years focused on understanding interactions between plant viruses and their hosts, and how resistance genes drive virus evolution. A major emphasis of this current research is on genetic determinants of pathogenicity of plant viruses affecting potato, common beans, grapevines, and sugar beet. Dr. Karasev is an internationally recognized expert in plant virology, with a focus on viruses affecting potato, legumes, grapevine, and other crops. Currently, Dr. Karasev leads a multi-state effort on improvements in seed potato certification and development of management strategies for potato tuber necrotic viruses. He has published 145 peer-reviewed papers and mentored 19 graduate students. In 2019, Dr. Karasev was elected a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (APS), where he served on several committees, chairing one of them, and also on the editorial boards of two society journals, Phytopathology and Plant Disease. For three years, 2019-2021, he served as an Editor-in-Chief of Plant Disease, and a member of the society Publication Board.
Donald Crawford Graduate Faculty Mentoring Award
Patrick Hrdlicka
Professor, Department of Chemistry College of Science
About
Dr. Hrdlicka obtained his chemistry degrees from the University of Southern Denmark (B.Sc 2000, M.Sc. 2004, Ph.D. 2006).
He was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 2006 and promoted to Associate Professor in 2011 and Professor in 2017. Dr. Hrdlicka served as a member, vice-chair, and chair (2016-2018) of U of I's Faculty Senate and as a Special Assistant to the Provost's Office (2018-2019) aiding in the development and implementation of market-based compensation models used at U of I.
He has published 70 peer-reviewed research articles on applications of designer DNA as therapeutics, diagnostics, and smart materials. Four recent works have been featured as cover articles in the international journal Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry. Research in the Hrdlicka laboratory has enjoyed external support from the NIH-EUREKA, DoD/ONR, and Idaho SBOE.
Graduate students are the cornerstone of Dr. Hrdlicka's research program and he has been blessed to have had a truly outstanding group of graduate students during my tenure at U of I. In fact, graduate students feature as co-authors on 54 of the 57 articles that his independent laboratory has published since its establishment in 2006. He takes pride in the success of his graduate students who have been in high demand for coveted postdoctoral positions at prestigious institutions (e.g., Scripps, Stanford, and Oxford) and for leadership positions with leading nucleic acid-focussed pharmaceutical companies (e.g., Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and Alios Biopharma).
Dr. Hrdlicka has received awards from the University of Idaho on prior occasions: the 2010 College of Science, Early Career Faculty Award, the 2012 President’s Mid-career Faculty Award, the 2013 Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award, the 2018 Student Organization Advisor Award, and the 2022 College of Science, Advisory Board Faculty Fellowship.
Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award
Milo Muise
Teaching Assistant, Department of English College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences
About
Milo R. Muise holds a BA from Hampshire College and is currently pursuing an MFA in Nonfiction from the University of Idaho. At U of I, Milo has taught first-year composition and introduction to creative writing courses as a graduate teaching assistant, served as the Nonfiction Editor of Fugue Journal, and is now at work as the Main Street Video Fellow. The recipient of a 2018 Oregon Literary Fellowship in poetry and the winner of the 2021 Newfound Prose Prize, Milo’s debut chapbook TL;DR is forthcoming from Newfound Press in Spring 2022.
Outstanding Graduate Student Research and Creative Activity Award
Matt Dunkle
Research Assistant, Department of Fish and Wildlife. College of Natural Resources
About
Matthew Dunkle is a freshwater ecologist and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences and Water Resources Program. His dissertation evaluates how energy flows through food webs to support juvenile salmon in Southeast Alaskan streams draining glacial, snowmelt, and rainfed watersheds. Matt’s work partners with the USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station and the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center. During his time at U of I, Matt has been an NSF-IGERT fellow, lead-authored two peer-reviewed manuscripts and co-authored several others, including an article in the Idaho Law Review. Prior to pursuing his Ph.D., Matt received an MS in Fisheries Science from the University of Idaho in 2017 for work collaborating with the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission and member tribes to study the role of Pacific lamprey marine-derived nutrients on juvenile salmon and inland northwest streams. He has a BS in aquatic restoration ecology and a BA in environmental studies from the University of Montana and he grew up near the Missouri River in Eastern Nebraska, which sparked his curiosity and passion for flowing waters. After defending his dissertation in mid-2022, Matt will be accepting a post-doctoral research position at the University of Wyoming.
Postdoctoral Mentoring Award
Christine Parent
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences College of Science
About
Christine Parent is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Idaho. Christine supports a large group of collaborators in research and education in the Parent Lab at the University of Idaho. Members of her team include high school students and teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and faculty colleagues in the College of Science and College of Education. When not around campus leading research projects and teaching classes, Christine, also known as the snail hunter, can be found in the field capturing elusive and undiscovered snails of all sorts. Christine bowls with both hands.
Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar/Fellow Award
John G. Phillips
Post-doc, Department of Biological Sciences College of Science
About
I am originally from Michigan. BS from Central Michigan, Ph.D. at the University of Tulsa. I study biogeographic patterns in animals, especially in island and cave systems. I will be starting a faculty position at Valdosta State University, where my research program will focus on population and conservation genetics.
Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award
Luke Harmon
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences College of Science
About
Luke Harmon is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Idaho. His research involves reconstructing and interpreting the tree of life, the branching relationships that trace all living things back to a common ancestor. He has published a lot of papers full of mathematical equations and statistics and various other shenanigans, but basically is trying to figure out where all this living stuff came from and where it’s going.
Excellence in Teaching Award
Tom Drake
Instructor, Department of English College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences
About
Tom Drake is a senior instructor of English. His courses focus on how ancient, medieval, and renaissance ideas shaped contemporary conceptions of truth, identity, and justice. He is especially interested in how the Greek tragic concept of hamartia influenced modern psychological theories of identity formation and agency, and how these classical ideas entered European consciousness through Islamic Iberia. He has taught classes focusing on love and happiness, monstrosity, and how Locke’s tabula rasa both shaped and then undermined the Western world’s foundational modern assumptions.
Hoffman Award in Teaching Excellence
JJ Petersen
Senior Instructor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering College of Engineering
About
JJ Petersen was born and raised in Moscow and has been working or taking classes though the University of Idaho since 2002. He completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Idaho. As a grad student JJ was given the opportunity to help teach several courses which lead to him quickly growing to cherish the opportunity to interact with and guide students. After he finished his master’s degree JJ taught briefly at both WSU and U of I as a temporary hire before the U of I’s College of Engineering hired him full time as an instructor faculty member in 2017. Since returning to U of I, JJ has taught over 1500 students in freshman and sophomore level engineering courses, has lead multiple study abroad trips, and has served as the faculty advisor to the Society of Women Engineers. In his free time JJ enjoys spending time with his wife Emily, their newborn son DJ, and their golden retriever Archie
Faculty Advising Excellence Award
Lori Baker-Eveleth
Professor, Department of Accounting and Management Info Systems College of Business and Economics
About
Lori Baker-Eveleth holds a Ph.D. in virtual communities from Washington State University. She joined the University of Idaho in 2002 and is a Professor of Management Information Systems. She teaches the principles of information systems, app development, and data visualization with an interest in the user experience. Her research interests include mobile app usage differences between the U.S. and Irish college student populations and wearable technology use and the effect of social influence on behavior; her research topics are related to the courses she teaches. Lori has published widely in technology-oriented, peer-reviewed journals and collaborates with several business faculty on research. Lori also encourages students to study abroad and has taught in Torino, Italy and Bilbao, Spain as well as taking business students on three faculty led trips to Italy.
Faculty Advising Excellence Award
Sanjay Sisodiya
Associate Professor, Department of Business College of Business and Economics
About
Sanjay R. Sisodiya is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Idaho. He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Idaho, a Master of Business Administration concentration in Supply Chain Management and a Masters in Manufacturing Management (MMM) from The Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration with concentration in Marketing from Washington State University. His main research area is in the fields of marketing strategy and innovation, focusing on interfirm relationships and new product development.
His primary teaching areas are Marketing, Product Development, and Pricing. In addition to his key teaching areas at the U of I, he has taught marketing and international marketing in study abroad programs (China, Greece, and Italy). He is an active supporter of experiential learning and study abroad opportunities. Sanjay’s advising roles range from mentoring undergraduates as they pursue majors or minors in marketing, assisting students as they prepare for professional business careers, and working with students as they explore graduate school opportunities.
Dr. Arthur Maxwell Taylor Excellence in Diversity Award
Vanessa Anthony-Stevens
Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction College of Education
About
Vanessa Anthony-Stevens holds a Ph.D. in Language, Reading and Culture from the University of Arizona. She joined the University of Idaho in 2015 and is currently an Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Vanessa the Principal Investigator of Indigenous Knowledge for Effective Education Program (IKEEP) and served as the founding director from 2016-2021. Her research examines issues of identity, power, and coloniality in K-12 and higher education; she specializes in Indigenous education in the Americas. Vanessa’s work has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the Spencer Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and is the PI or co-PI of 3Million in external funding to further equity and justice-oriented work in K-12 and higher education. Vanessa is married to Dr. Philip J. Stevens and is the mother to two daughters, Carmen and Hazel Stevens.
Dr. Arthur Maxwell Taylor Excellence in Diversity Award
Leanna Dann
TRiO Inspire
About
Leanna Dann — a member of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone from Nevada — works for first-generation, low-income, and diverse students in the TRiO-INSPIRE McNair Program at the U of I College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. Prior to her position with McNair, she began her academic journey through the Helping Orient Indian Students and Teachers into STEM (HOIST) program, directed by the U of I’s Native American Student Center. This program led her to choose the University of Idaho to pursue her bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and International Studies.
Later while working for U of I’s Office of Equity & Diversity and Office of Tribal Relations, she earned her master’s degree in Adult Organizational Learning and Leadership, with an emphasis on student tribal leadership. Leanna is currently exploring multiple Ed.D. programs in the region to continue her educational goals with a focus on multicultural and indigenous student development and learning.
Alexander Karasev
Professor, Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
View ProfileOutreach and Engagement Excellence Award
Jerry Neufeld
Extension Professor, Canyon County Extension College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
About
Jerry Neufeld is an Extension Professor and Crops Extension Educator in Canyon County, Idaho. Jerry began employment with the University of Idaho in the fall of 1999. He has also served as the Canyon County Extension Chair for 22 years. Prior to employment with the University of Idaho, Jerry was an Extension Educator with the University of Nevada, Reno for nine years and the Natural Resources Director for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation for two and a half years.
Jerry grew up in rural Kansas and Iowa. He attended Kansas State University where he received his Bachelors and Masters degrees. At the University of Idaho, his work has been in the areas of nitrogen and water use efficiency in drip irrigated onions, integrated pest management as part of the PNW Pest Alert website, using drones to assist growers in field scouting for insects and diseases, and conducting grower commodity schools.
Jerry’s wife Kathy is a second grade teacher in Caldwell and a native of Aberdeen, Idaho. They have two daughters who have both completed their Master’s degrees and live and work in Boise. In his spare time Jerry likes to raft Idaho’s rivers and ride his Harley Davidson motorcycles.
Excellence in Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Efforts Award
Amin Mirkouei
Assistant Professor, Idaho Falls Extension College of Engineering
About
Dr. Amin Mirkouei is in his fifth year as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Department of Nuclear Engineering and Industrial Management (NEIM), and an affiliated faculty of Mechanical Engineering (ME), Biological Engineering (BE), and Environmental Science (ENVS) Departments at University of Idaho (U of I) in Idaho Falls campus. His research group, Renewable and Sustainable Manufacturing Laboratory (RSML), has conducted several interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects, such as chemical and biochemical compound production from biomass feedstocks or urban wastes; water treatment in the aquaculture industry in southern Idaho; rare earth elements exploration and recovery from electronic wastes and ore in Idaho; and precision agriculture, soil-plant health improvement, and food processing.
Dr. Mirkouei has been collaborating with over 10 different federal/state organizations and regional companies, such as USDA-ARS, INL, MagLab, Riverence LLC, IDR Inc., UI-ARI, IWRRI, IGS, CEI, and CAES. He has received several support (over $206,000) and grants (over $1,589,580) internally and externally from state/federal agencies, such as USGS, IGEM Department of Commerce, MagLab, INL, CEI, and U of I ORED. His university and international engagements are exemplary. Currently, he is a Sustainability Contributor at Forbes Magazine and U of I President’s Sustainability Working Group member. He also has served as a state and federal agency panelist, such as USDA and NSF; IMDP Sustainability Journal editorial board member; ASME conference/symposium organizer; and journal/conference reviewer. He has published/co-authored 40+ articles in scientific journals and peer-reviewed conference proceedings.
Dr. Mikouei’s dedication led him to more responsibility, serving as instructor, advisor, and mentor, which involved the supervision of 20+ undergraduates and 17 graduates in TM, ME, BE, and ENVS, and one post-doctoral scholar. Since joining U of I, he has taught several courses in different departments and graduated seven MSc students in TM, ME, BE, and ENVS. He is currently advising four Ph.D. students and six MS students in different departments. These experiences required him to learn new knowledge, skills, and technologies and to transfer that knowledge to students in a one-on-one or one-to-group manner, such as design and manufacturing software and machines.
Alexander Karasev
Professor, Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
About
Dr. Alexander V. Karasev, is a Professor of Plant Virology at the University of Idaho since 2006. He has been studying plant viruses and plant virus diseases for over 30 years, pioneering research in molecular biology of closteroviruses, and in particular citrus tristeza virus at UC Riverside and University of Florida before joining the faculty of University of Idaho. At the University of Idaho, Dr. Karasev’s research over the past 16 years focused on understanding interactions between plant viruses and their hosts, and how resistance genes drive virus evolution. A major emphasis of this current research is on genetic determinants of pathogenicity of plant viruses affecting potato, common beans, grapevines, and sugar beet. Dr. Karasev is an internationally recognized expert in plant virology, with a focus on viruses affecting potato, legumes, grapevine, and other crops. Currently, Dr. Karasev leads a multi-state effort on improvements in seed potato certification and development of management strategies for potato tuber necrotic viruses. He has published 145 peer-reviewed papers and mentored 19 graduate students. In 2019, Dr. Karasev was elected a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (APS), where he served on several committees, chairing one of them, and also on the editorial boards of two society journals, Phytopathology and Plant Disease. For three years, 2019-2021, he served as an Editor-in-Chief of Plant Disease, and a member of the society Publication Board.
2022-2024 University Mid-Career
Johanna Gosse
Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Design College of Art and Architecture
View ProfilePaul Hohenlohe
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences College of Science
View ProfileLeda Kobziar
Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources and Society College of Natural Resources
View ProfileJohanna Gosse
Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Design College of Art and Architecture
About
Prior to the University of Idaho, I held visiting and postdoctoral positions at the University of Colorado, Boulder and Columbia University, and earned my PhD from the Department of History of Art at Bryn Mawr College.
At the moment, I am working on a monograph on the American artist Ray Johnson, which was awarded an Arts Writers Grant from Creative Capital and the Andy Warhol Foundation. With Timothy Stott (Trinity College Dublin), I am the editor of Nervous Systems: Art, Systems, and Politics since the 1960s (Duke University Press, 2021). My writing has been published or is forthcoming in journals including Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Camera Obscura, Millennium Film Journal, Art Journal, MIRAJ: Moving Image Review and Art Journal, Oxford Art Journal, Radical History Review, and Journal of Art & the Public Sphere.
I have also contributed essays to museum exhibition catalogues, including Ray Johnson c/o (Art Institute of Chicago) and Bruce Conner: It’s All True (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art/Museum of Modern Art), and to edited collections such as Abstract Video: The Moving Image in Contemporary Art, Experimental and Expanded Animation, Artists’ Moving Image in Britain since 1989, and a forthcoming German-language anthology of essays on Black Mountain College.
Paul Hohenlohe
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences College of Science
About
Paul A. Hohenlohe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, specializing in evolutionary and conservation genomics in species ranging from sagebrush to beetles to Tasmanian devils. He is a co-author on nearly a hundred peer-reviewed scientific papers and recently co-edited a book on population genomics for wildlife. He has mentored 11 graduate students, as well as many undergraduates and postdoctoral scholars, and teaches courses in evolution, molecular evolution, and conservation genomics. Additionally, Dr. Hohenlohe is the current Director of the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology graduate program at U of I.
Leda Kobziar
Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources and Society College of Natural Resources
About
Leda N. Kobziar is the Associate Professor of Wildland Fire Science and Director of the Master of Natural Resources program at the University of Idaho. After completing her Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California at Berkeley in 2006, she joined the faculty at the University of Florida where she served as Associate Professor of fire science for 10 years. Since joining the University of Idaho faculty in 2016, she has established pyroaerobiology as a new field exploring the consequences of wildland fire smoke transport of bacteria and fungi around the globe, including human and plant pathogens. Her work addressing wildland fire management, prescribed fire ecology, and pyroaerobiology has been featured in media outlets around the world. Under Dr. Kobziar’s leadership, the Master of Natural Resources program grew from 18 to 250 students in five years. In her service to the profession, Dr. Kobziar was elected as the first female president of the international Association for Fire Ecology. She continues to engage in on-the-ground fire management as a certified Prescribed Burn Manager and member of the Advisory Board for the Idaho Prescribed Fire Council.
Scott Lawrence
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture College of Art and Architecture
View ProfileTara MacDonald
Associate Professor, English Department College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences
View ProfileAndrew Nelson
Assistant Professor, Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences College of Natural Resources
View ProfileScott Lawrence
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture College of Art and Architecture
About
Scott Lawrence is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Idaho. He leads the program’s, Idaho Design Build studio, which has won numerous professional and educational awards for its work improving communities through design, applied research, and construction education.
Professor Lawrence holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado Denver, and Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Colorado Boulder. He previously taught at the University of Colorado, was a founding partner of the architectural practice Nguyen Lawrence, and co-founded the educational organization, Immersion Workshop.
His academic research is focused on critical questions surrounding the context(s) of architecture, design-build education, and hospitality design
Tara MacDonald
Associate Professor, English Department College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences
About
Tara MacDonald is an Associate Professor and Chair of the English Department at the University of Idaho. She came to U of I in 2015, after working at the University of Amsterdam for five years. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature from McGill University. Prof MacDonald is the author of The New Man, Masculinity, and Marriage in the Victorian Novel (2015), co-editor of Rediscovering Victorian Women Sensation Writers (2014), and has published 15 articles and book chapters on 19th-century literature and culture. She is finishing a book entitled Body Reading: Narrative, Affect, and Victorian Sensation. She enjoys teaching a range of classes for the English Department and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Minor, and is currently teaching a class on utopian and dystopian fiction.
Andrew Nelson
Assistant Professor, Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences College of Natural Resources
About
Andrew Nelson is the Tom A. Alberg and Judith Beck Endowed Chair of Native Plant Regeneration in the College of Natural Resources. In addition to being an Associate Professor, he is also the Director of the Center for Forest Nursery and Seedling Research and Franklin H. Pitkin Forest Nursery. His area of expertise is native plant regeneration with a main focus on tree seedlings for reforestation and forest restoration. His research focuses on seedling quality in the nursery, environmental factors influencing performance of tree seedlings in the field, and silvicultural techniques to improve seedling survival and successful planting programs. He integrates his research into his forest regeneration and silviculture undergraduate courses in the Forestry Degree Program, where he uses hands-on approaches to teach students about various forest management strategies. Andrew is the Lead Coordinator for the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Temperate Forest Regeneration Working Group, serves as an Associate Editor for the scientific journal New Forests, and chairs the Inland Empire Reforestation Council and Intermountain Container Seedling Growers’ Association.
Javier Rodriguez
Associate Professor, Lionel Hampton School of Music College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences
View ProfileMichael Strickland
Research Associate Professor, Department of Soil and Water Systems College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
View ProfileJavier Rodriguez
Associate Professor, Lionel Hampton School of Music College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences
About
Javier Rodriguez, D.M., is the Associate Professor of Bassoon and Director of Graduate Studies at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho where he performs with Hammers & Reeds Faculty Trio, the Northwest Wind Quintet, co-directs the LHSOM Double Reed Ensemble, and teaches undergraduate and graduate studio bassoon and courses in aural skills and music appreciation. His research focuses on commissioning and performing chamber music from underrepresented composers. For these efforts, in October 2020 he was awarded a University of Idaho College of Letters Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) Humanities Fellowship endowed program to foster teaching in the Humanities.
Rodriguez has held numerous orchestral positions throughout the United States including engagements with the Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Valdosta, and Walla Walla Symphonies, the Louisiana Sinfonietta, the Natchez Opera Festival Orchestra, and the Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed with the Austin, Jacksonville, Kentucky, San Antonio, Tallahassee and Monterrey (Mexico) symphonies.
In the summer, Rodriguez teaches at the University of Idaho Summer Music Camp, and has previously taught at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, the Vianden International Music Festival and School in Luxembourg, the LSU Honors Chamber Winds Camp, the FSU Summer Music Camps Double Reed Workshop, and has served as a Teaching Assistant at the Brevard Music Festival.
Rodriguez is a founding member of the Post-Haste Reed Duo (PHRD). Along with performances and master classes at numerous colleges and universities though out the United States, PHRD has also appeared at College Music Society (CMS) and International Double Reed Society (IDRS) national conferences, the Society for Electro Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), the North Atlantic Saxophone Alliance (NASA), the Association for Technology for Music Instruction (ATMI), the White Lake Chamber Music Festival (MI), Chamber Music Montana Summer Festival, the Center for New Music in San Francisco, Spectrum Contemporary Music Venue in Brooklyn, and Future Music Oregon (FMO). PHRD has also served as Ensemble-In-Residence at the Jubilus Festival in Gainesville, FL, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and as the pilot ensemble for Classical Revolution Portland’s (CRPDX) Outreach Series. PHRD’s two albums, Beneath a Canopy of Angels…A River of Stars (2016) and Donut Robot! (2019) are released on the Aerocade Music Label and have been received with critical acclaim.
As a soloist and chamber musician, Rodriguez has commissioned works by composers including Daniel Asia, Alexis Bacon, Drew Baker, Jenni Brandon, Nansi Carroll, Stephen Coxe, Edward J. Hines, Simon Hutchinson, Michael Johanson, Joshua Keeling, Lanier Sammons, John Steinmetz, U of I alumnus Paul Taylor, Greg Wanamaker, Ethan Wickman, and Bang on a Can co-creator Michael Gordon. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University, Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Louisiana State University, and has also studied at the University of Cincinnati College‐Conservatory of Music. His teachers include Jeffrey Keesecker, William Ludwig and William Winstead.
Michael Strickland
Research Associate Professor, Department of Soil and Water Systems College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
About
Michael Strickland is an Associate Professor in the Department of Soil and Water Systems at the University of Idaho. He completed his Ph.D. in ecology at the University of Georgia and a postdoctoral appointment in Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. His research spans both managed and unmanaged systems and explores the role microbial communities play in determining biogeochemical processes. He is an NSF Early Career award recipient, an EPSCoR research fellow, and is the current director of the $19 million (NSF funded) Deep Soil Ecotron project. Strickland has received over $22 million in federal competitive funding from NSF and the USDA. He currently mentors 4 Ph.D. students, 1 M.S. student, and 2 postdoctoral researchers. Finally, he conducts an array of outreach activities with local groups that highlights the world beneath our feet.