Biological organisms and ecosystems are incredibly complex. Oftentimes, it takes multiple researchers with diverse ranges of focus to understand biological puzzles.
That’s why researchers Edwin Lewis and Shirley Luckhart work together — even though Lewis studies microorganisms and Luckhart studies larger systems.
They shared this belief to an audience of over forty people Tuesday afternoon at the Malcolm Renfrew Interdisciplinary Colloquium Tuesday. As Co-Directors of the Center for Health in the Human Ecosystem, Lewis and Luckhart introduced their audience to how their research factors into their work with CHHE.
“We’re asking fundamentally similar questions and using different approaches that we think when we talk together, which we’ve done for a long time, we can develop new work and new innovative ideas to think about our systems and how they might be integrated,” Luckhart said.
Kenton Bird — co-coordinator of MRIC and associate professor of journalism — introduced the speakers. Bird and Daniel Bukvich work together to issue calls for proposals and organize a balanced schedule for the colloquium. Bird noted that they try to balance gender of speakers in addition to variety of expertise and topics.
“We’ve tried this semester to get more graduate students involved,” Bird said. “Last week’s presentation was by a graduate student talking about her master’s research. There will be two more later in the semester by graduate students and one by a law student who is presenting with her faculty advisor.”
Lewis and Luckhart explained examples of their work and how they tie in to studying diseases in the human ecosystem. Lewis focuses on microbiology while Luckhart examines macrobiology. Both emphasized the importance of how their research works together to create a more comprehensive understanding of the human ecosystem.
Former Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney, a consistent MRIC attendee, said she encouraged Bird to invite Lewis and Luckhart to speak. She heard about CHHE in a UI announcement and thought their work and knowledge fit well with the theme of MRIC.
“My Masters degree from the University of Idaho is in environmental science, but I practiced many years as a nurse and I’m married to a veterinarian with whom I operate a business, so it’s very natural for me to tie together those various disciplines in a meaningful way,” Chaney said. “I was so excited to hear about professors Luckhart and Lewis coming to the University of Idaho to establish this center.”
Lewis feels that the work he and Luckhart do with CHHE is important both to the international community as well as the local community. CHHE offers a six-day long course titled the Biology of Vector-borne Diseases. 122 applicants from 29 different countries have applied to attend this year.
“In a community like this where it’s so close to agriculture, (CHHE’s work) has a huge impact,” Lewis said. “In communities like this where the natural environment, the stuff that Shirley was talking about with the tick-borne diseases is hugely important in the Northwest. The direct and indirect impacts on people in this area are profound.”