Stories
April 17, 2025
Sonja Wilhelm Stanis honored with CAFNR’s 2025 Outstanding Senior Teacher Award
Sonja Wilhelm Stanis, professor and director of undergraduate studies in the School of Natural Resources (SNR), has been chosen for CAFNR’s 2025 Outstanding Senior Teacher Award. Wilhelm Stanis also serves as associate director of SNR. She received this honor at CAFNR's annual awards ceremony, Celebration of Excellence, on Thursday, April 17.
April 17, 2025
Shuangyu Xu receives 2025 Outstanding Mid-Career Teacher Award
Shuangyu Xu, associate professor and natural resources-human dimensions graduate coordinator, School of Natural Resources, has been selected for CAFNR’s 2025 Outstanding Mid-Career Teacher Award. She was honored at CAFNR's annual awards ceremony, Celebration of Excellence, on Thursday, April 17.
April 17, 2025
Jenna Fusinatto receives Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor Award as part of 2025 Celebration of Excellence
Fusinatto is an academic advisor in the School of Natural Resources.
April 17, 2025
Samantha Carter receives the 2025 CAFNR William R. Lamberson Distinguished Dissertation Award as part of Celebration of Excellence
Samantha Carter received the 2025 CAFNR William R. Lamberson Distinguished Dissertation Award for her dissertation, “Natural Resource Justice as an Anticolonial Practice: Policies of Sovereignty.” Carter earned her Ph.D. in Natural Resources in summer 2024 and now serves as a postdoctoral scholar at Northwestern University. Samantha Carter Her research explores Indigenous rights and natural resource law through an anticolonial lens, blending legal and social science methods. Her dissertation includes three manuscripts: one analyzing mining jurisdiction post-McGirt v. Oklahoma (Montana Law Review), another examining cannabis regulation in Indian Country (Mercer Law Review) and a third comparing Indigenous resource governance in New…
April 17, 2025
Morgan Davis receives Outstanding Early Investigator Research Award as part of Celebration of Excellence
At Mizzou since 2020, Davis is a standout early-career researcher with a rapidly growing national reputation. His interdisciplinary work focuses on soil greenhouse gas emissions, soil health, cover crops and sustainable agriculture practices.
April 10, 2025
A walk in the park? Research takes a deeper look at urban green spaces
Nilon’s work focuses on understanding how plants and animals use urban spaces and how people connect with those ecosystems.
March 13, 2025
Mako shark trekking patterns reveal a hidden impact of changing ocean temperatures
Shortfin mako sharks, an endangered species, are among the fastest and most elusive predators in the ocean, and new research led by Michael Byrne, associate professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Missouri’s School of Natural Resources (SNR) sheds light on the limitations of their habitat availability caused by oceanography. The research tracked mako sharks over vast distances using satellite telemetry. Byrne’s findings reveal a pattern in movements and distribution of the apex predators spanning thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean, highlighting the sharks’ dependence on one very specific factor — oxygen levels in the water. “I love…
March 4, 2025
MU Center for Agroforestry patents first black walnut cultivar, marking a milestone for Missouri’s tree nut industry
After a quarter of a century of development, the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry made a significant step toward a long-term goal of furthering the black walnut industry in Missouri with a recent patent for its first black walnut cultivar — The UMCA® “Hickman” Walnut.
Feb. 26, 2025
Missouri’s snowy winter: How La Niña and cold temperatures teamed up to bring more snow
According to Zack Leasor, Missouri State Climatologist and associate professor in the University of Missouri’s School of Natural Resources, a weather phenomenon known as La Niña — cooler than average water surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean — is partly to blame.
Feb. 24, 2025
Environmental sciences major explores new ecosystem through Gilman Scholarship
Lindsey Cunningham, junior environmental sciences major from Springfield, Missouri, studied abroad in Costa Rica over winter break.