Outstanding Researchers Colloquium set April 17

Idaho State University will present the ISU 2007 Outstanding Researchers Colloquium at 4 p.m. April 17 in Goranson Hall, located on the lower level of the ISU Fine Arts Building.

The 2007 Outstanding Researchers are David G. Adler, PhD, political science; Nancy Huntly, PhD, ecology and biology; Paul K. Link, PhD, geosciences; and Susan Swetnam, PhD, English. From this group a Distinguished Researcher Award will be given at ISU Spring Commencement on May 12. Each will give a presentation about their research at this colloquium.

Adler is a professor in the department of political science. His doctorate in political science is from the University of Utah. His research focuses on 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.

Huntly is professor of ecology and biology. Her 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.

Link is 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 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.

Visit www.isu.edu/research for more complete biographical information on each researcher.