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INSTAAR is pleased to announce that incoming PhD student Katie Gannon is this year’s recipient of the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship.

Gannon will enter ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Boulder as a PhD student at INSTAAR and in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, working with advisor Bella Oleksy.

Gannon’s research explores murky questions around greenhouse gas emissions from seasonally ice-covered lakes. As the climate warms, ice cover is disappearing earlier in the year from lakes in cold regions. This shortened duration of ice has consequences for ecosystems that aren’t well understood, in particular the amounts of methane and carbon dioxide produced in lakes.

Gannon has devised a research program to test hypotheses about productivity, carbon cycling, and greenhouse gas emissions in seasonally ice-covered lakes. Using funds from the Crump Fellowship, she will visit and select sites, pilot sample collection and analytical methods, and build and deploy sensors in lakes in the Green Valley Lakes area of the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research area.

As well as a creative and dedicated researcher, Gannon is an activist for wider, more equitable access to mountain science and mountain experiences. She has guided backcountry trips for girls and gender minorities; been a wilderness instructor for K-12 students; and has helped students with various physical cognitive and physical abilities to learn to ski. This integrated focus on research and community was also a hallmark of Sarah Crump’s life and work.

See also:

• See more about Katie in a followup article: Q&A with Katie Gannon, Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship winner.
• Learn more about the Sarah Crump Graduate Fellowship, including Sarah's extraordinary legacy.