Funded Proposals

Below is a select list of funded proposals, demonstrating how MILES research is building capacity to study complex social-ecological processes.


Year 5

Reverberating Responses to Trophic Cascades across Ecosystems: from Land to Streams and Back Again (Collaborative Research). NSF-DEB Population and Community Ecology program. PI: D. Warren (OSU), Co-PIs: Colden Baxter (ISU), Ripple (OSU) $1,000,000.

Gateway Scholarships for Biological Sciences. National Science Foundation. Establish and manage a faculty-mentored cohort program that provides scholarships and a coherent ecosystem of support for low-income, academically talented DBS students. Implement an enhanced risk-based advising system to enable academic advising staff and faculty mentors to proactively advise scholarship recipients and keep them on a successful track to graduation. Co-PI: Jennifer Forbey. $1,000,000.

Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation. DOE Bioenergy Research Center. Tara Hudiburg. $760,000.

Ecosystem Functional Diversity of the Circumpolar Arctic. NASA ROSES 2016 A.50 GEO Work Programme solicitation. Epstein, H. PI; Antonio Castro collaborator. $606,666. (2018-2020)

Scaling Up Local Fruit and Vegetable Production in the Inland Northwest: Identifying and Overcoming Constraints for Sustainable Agricultural Development. USDA-AFRI. PI: Felix Liao; Co-PIs: Darin Saul, Colette DePhelps, et al. $490,000.

Statewide Risk Assessment and Adaptive Management of European Frogbit. 2017 Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program (MISGP). Jodi Brandt. $350,000.

Forest mapping using RapidEye imagery in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan. 2017 Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Jodi Brandt. $280,000.

Collaborative Research: Causes and consequences of fire-regime variability in Rocky Mountain forests. NSF. Tara Hudiburg. $241,818.

Measuring Feedbacks Between Farmer Adaptation to Irrigation Water Restrictions, Land Use Change, and Water Availability in Southeast Idaho. United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, Resilient Agroecosystems in a Changing Climate Challenge Area Strengthening Seed grant. Morey Burnham (PI), Katrina Running, Jodi Brandt, Margaret V. du Bray, Alejandro Flores, Vicken Hillis, Zhao Ma, and David Yu. $149,993.

Overcoming perceptual barriers to climate change adaptation among ranchers in the western US. USDA. Morey Burnham (co-pi). $149,631.

Effects of long-term alternative cropping systems on soil health and nutrient transport. USDA-ARS. Erin Brooks. $90,000.

Conservation strategies for golden eagles in western North America. Department of the Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Julie Heath. $51,000.

Investigating relationships between animal diversity and river-riparian habitat heterogeneity in a wilderness watershed. DeVlieg Foundation. PI: Colden Baxter. $50,000.


Year 4

Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS): Social-ecological-technological solutions to waste reuse in food, energy, and water systems (ReFEWS), National Science Foundation. Haifeng Liao (PI: Lilian Alessa) $2,598,207. (2016-2019)

Variation in phenological shifts: How do annual cycles and genetic diversity constrain or enable responses to climate change?, Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. Julie Heath. $1,745,000. (May 2017)

Spatially predicting impacts of anthropogenic nightlight and noise on wildlife habitat integrity across the contiguous United States, NASA Ecological Forecasting. Neil Carter (PI). Co-PIs: Clinton Francis (CalPoly), Jesse Barber (BSU), Andrew Molthan (NASA), and David Stoner (USU). $585,000. (Jan 2017)

NSF-CAREER Award: Active Learning Across Interfaces: Controls on Flow Intermittency and Water Age in Temporary Streams. Sarah Godsey. $583,729. (Jan 2017)

Phosphorus management in forested ecosystems, NIFA AFRI foundational program. Erin Brooks. $500,000. (July 2016)

Adventure Outdoor Recreation History and Management in Grand Teton National Park, U.S. DoI, National Park Service, Cooperative Ecosystem Research Unit Study (CESU). Yolonda Youngs (PI). $118, 402. (July 2016)

EAGER Germination: Aligning Stakeholders and Structures to Enable Risk Taking (ASSERT). Donna Llewellyn. $99,991. (May 2016)

Hazardous Materials Commodity Flow Study for the Nez Perce Reservation (sub-award from Nez Perce Tribe). Original funding from Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Haifeng Liao, Ahmed Abdel-Rahim. $55,124. (2016-2017)

“The Green link,” LIFE Programme (Europe’s financial instrument supporting environment and climate action) (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/funding/life2015/). Antonio Castro. $40,000. (2016-2019)

Rangeland Post-Fire Erosion, USDA-ARS Cooperative Agreement. Erin Brooks. $32,000. (Sept 2016)

Plants, prey, and parasites: A study of the factors affecting golden eagle breeding success in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, Department of the Interior NLCS Bureau of Land Management. Julie Heath. $28,000. (June 2016)

Adaptive management of wildfires: How effective are post-fire treatments at restoring wildlife communities in shrub-steppe ecosystems?, Department of the Interior, Idaho Bureau of Land Management Challenge Cost Share Grant. Julie Heath. $28,000. (April 2016)


Year 3

Advancing Resilience to Compounding Disasters: An Integrated Natural-Human Systems Assessment of Wildfire Vulnerability, Hazards NSF-SEES: National Science Foundation. Kolden, C., Abatzoglou, J., Adam, J., Alessa, L., Anderson, J.W., J., Hicke, J., Kliskey, A., Paveglio, T., Yoder, J. $2,965,170. (2015-2019)

Building STEM Identity and Career Interests in Native American Students By Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Remote Sensing Technologies, National Science Foundation Award #1513349. Eitel, Karla (PI), Eitel, Jan (Co-PI), Cohn, Teresa (Co-PI), Vierling, Lee (Co-PI). $1,101,523. (Jan 2016)

Forest-atmosphere interactions in an era of fire and drought, NSF CAREER DEB Ecosystem Sciences. Award #1553049. Tara Hudiburg (PI). $664,235. (2016–2021)

Serving local and regional markets in the intermountain west: identifying and overcoming constrains in a vast geography, USDA. Haifeng (Felix) Liao, replacement Co-I. $500,000. (2014–2017)

How vegetation recovery and fuel conditions in past fires influences fuels and future fire management in five western U.S. ecosystems, JFSP. Collaborator Alistair Smith with PI Hudak. $450,000. (2015)

Modeling the long-term effects of fuel reduction and seeding treatments on fuel loads and fire regimes in the Great Basin, Joint Fire Sciences Program. Nancy Glenn. $268,810. (2015–2018)

Multi-hazard Risk Assessment and Ecosystem Restoration in Idaho: Nez Perce County and Tribe and Clearwater Watershed, USGS 3DEP. Nancy Glenn. $245,000. (Feb 2016)

FireEarth Modeling System for Wildfire Mitigation, USDA-SEES. $3M, $218K to Erin Brooks. (2015–2018)

Expanding Precision Agriculture Market Opportunities with UAS Sensors, FY15 IGEM Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission. Donna Delparte (PI) and S. Rasmussen (co-PI). $179,755. (2015–2016)

A Web Based Site Suitability and Visualization Tool to Support Idaho's Growing Wine Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Flores, L., Glenn, N. $139,487. (2015–2017)

Training in Scientific Discoveries with NEON's AOP, Workshops-NEON: NSF. Glenn, N., Flores, L. $100,000. (2015–2017)

River-floodplain food web and fish population responses to restoration in the Methow River, WA, U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Reclamation. PI Colden Baxter. $80,000. (Feb 2016)

Assessment of Sources of Suspended Sediment, Marsh Creek, ID, City of Pocatello. Benjamin Crosby (Graduate and undergraduate research supervision). $60,000. (2015–2017)

Enhancing Forest Watershed Modeling Performance, USFS-Research Joint Venture. $70K, $48K to Erin Brooks. (2015–2016)

Integrating TLS and ALS to Describe Riparian Vegetation Structure, Sound Science, Bureau of Reclamation, US Dept of Interior. Nancy Glenn and Lucas Spaete. $45,592. (2015–2016)

Linking Agronomic Soil-P with Water Quality in Palouse Cropping Systems, USGS 104. $92K, $45K to Erin Brooks/Dan Strawn. (2015–2016)

Exploratory analysis of drought impacts on forest ecosystem respiration, NASA ISGC Seed Grant. Tara Hudiburg (PI). $40,000. (2015–2016)

3D Documentation and Visualization Techniques for Cultural Resources and Museum Collections, NPS PTT grant Sponsored by National Park Service, National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, External to Idaho State University Co-PI D. Delparte with Yolonda Younds (PI). $39,999.00. (2015–2016)

Proposal submitted to the American Society for Plant Biologists to develop the field guide to Idaho's grasses and grass-like plants including a phone app and K-12 lesson plan. Eva Strand. $33,692. (Sept 2015)

Toward advancing drought monitoring and water management for western agriculture using Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP). Jae Ryu. $32,000. (June 2015)


Year 2

Monitoring Earth’s Hydrosphere: Integrating Remote Sensing, Modeling and Verification, NASA EPSCoR program. Joe Law (Idaho Space Grant Consortium, Administrative PI), Alejandro Flores (Science PI), Nancy Glenn (Co-I), Jim McNamara (Co-I), HP Marshall (Co-I). $750,000. (2014–2017)

Reducing logging fatality and non-fatal trauma incidence rates with new real-time operational GPS-VHF communications, recommended safety procedures, and education, CDC. Co-PI Alistair Smith with PI Keefe. $823,000. (2015–2019)

Prototyping a methodology to develop regional-scale forest aboveground biomass carbon maps predicted from Landsat time series, trained from field and lidar data collections, and independently validated with FIA data. NASA – carbon monitoring systems. Alistair Smith. $678,984.

Community-based Hazards’ Planning and Mitigation: Planning, Legal, and Policy Implications in the WUI, Primary Sponsor: Idaho Department of Lands. Originating sponsor: Forest Service/USDA. Funding Source: Federal Flow-Through. Department: Community and Regional Planning. OSP number: 6239. Wuerzer, T. (PI), Lindquist, E. (Co-I), Vos, J. (Co-I). $239,263.

Modeling the Long Term Effects of Fuel Reduction and Seeding Treatments on Fuel Loads & Fire Regimes in the Great Basin, Bureau of Land Management/US Department of the Interior. Nancy Glenn (BSU). $231,084. (2015–2018)

Assessing Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation in the Great Basin: a Policy Perspective on Resource Managers and the Use of Science in Decision Making, USGS Pacific Northwest Climate Science Center grant. PI Eric Lindquist. $110,510. (2014–2016)

An investigation to evaluate factors limiting Yellowstone cutthroat trout and inform monitoring and adaptive management of the Snake River floodplain, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. PI Colden Baxter. $100.000. (2014–2015)

The MOSS Climate Fellowship Program: A collaborative partnership between the NWCSC and MOSS to advance climate science, education, and communication, USGS Northwest Climate Center. PI L. Vierling with Co-PI K. Eitel. $50,000.