ISU faculty earn 2007 research awards

Nancy Huntly, PhD, Idaho State University professor of ecology and biology, has been named ISU's Distinguished Researcher for 2007. She will receive the award at Commencement May 12. Three additional Idaho State University faculty have received 2007 Outstanding Researcher Awards.

The 2007 Outstanding Researchers are David G. Adler, PhD, political science; Paul K. Link, PhD, geosciences; and Susan Swetnam, PhD, English.

“Idaho State University is extremely fortunate to have faculty on staff with such dedication to educating our students and conducting world-class research,” said ISU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert A. Wharton, PhD.

Huntly's doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology is from the University of Arizona. Her research encompasses the areas of ecological dynamics and biodiversity. One external researcher says she is “universally viewed as a prime leader in this field.”Her most recent research includes a collaborative effort with ISU anthropologists Herbert Maschner, PhD, and Katherine Reedy-Maschner, PhD, to study the ecology of the Aleutian region of Alaska over the past several millennia. Her research has been amply funded – as principal or co-investigator, she has attracted more than $4 million in grants to ISU.

Adler is a professor in the department of political science. His doctorate in political science is from the University of Utah. Adler’s research studies presidential constitutional power and its role in formulating foreign policy. He believes that recent presidents of both parties have usurped congressional power in this area. A prodigious writer, Adler has authored four books and some 100 articles and book chapters, plus he has other works in the pipeline. His article, “Presidential Warmaking,” has received numerous citations in leading law journals. His research has intense current relevance and is cited by decision-makers, other academics and U.S. and foreign news media.

Link is a professor of geosciences. His doctorate is from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research involves several areas of geology, including sedimentary geology, geochronology, and geologic mapping. His recent innovative work involves state of the art techniques such as detrital zircon geochronology in the study of drainage in the Snake River and its tributaries over the last 5 million years.Link has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed articles, 10 books and 17 geologic maps. A fellow geologist writes, “If someone asks ‘Who knows Idaho geology?’ my opinion is that Paul Link’s name is likely to be number one on everyone’s list.”

Swetnam is a professor of English. Her doctorate in English is from the University of Michigan. Her research and publications focus on Western American culture and literature. She has established herself as one of the most important writers in this field, dispelling myths (like the assumption that all Western literature is about cowboys and Indians) and bringing a wide range of writers, especially women writers, to public awareness. In a soon-to-be-published book, she explores historical support for books and reading in the region, correlating grassroots interest in Carnegie libraries with local social and political values. She is also a creative writer. Her first book-length essay collection won an Idaho Library Association prize; her second has just been published by Loyola, Chicago.