On Thursday, Oct. 17, the second annual Power of Possibility (POP) Talks event was held at the Bruce M. Pitman Center, where faculty representatives from each college went head-to-head competing for a research grant of $2,500. Two students from the audience were picked to earn $1,000 scholarships in a raffle.
Each faculty member was tasked with giving the most inspirational presentation on their research topic. The series of speeches from each college gave insight into the varied types of research happening at the University of Idaho.
The event was inspired by President Green’s 2020 announcement for University of Idaho to reach R1 research status by 2025. Chris Nomura, Vice President for Research and Economic Development, said that in 2024, UI research support funding had reached higher than any other institution in the state of Idaho combined.
Eight faculty members from each college presented their research: Paul Rowley from Biological Sciences, Erin James from English, Randall Teal from Architecture, Erin Brooks from Soil and Water Systems, Mya Pronschinske Groza from Marketing, Sharon Kay Stoll from the Center for ETHICS, Amin Mirkouei from Renewable and Sustainable Manufacturing and Bethany Fehrenkamp from Immunology.
After each faculty member presented the topic of their research, the audience-voted winner was Fehrenkamp.
Fehrenkamp, Clinical Assistant Professor of Immunology, spoke on the potential impacts of sleep deprivation on new mothers and their breast milk.
Her research surrounds the ways breast milk might provide immune system boosts for newborns. Fehrenkamp works with a research team on stress and lack of sleep in order to improve the declining life expectancy of the new generation.
All eight presentations will be available to watch on YouTube. Keep an eye out to see other fascinating research from our faculty, from James’ talk about narrative immersion and what your brain does as you read to Brooks’ research on regenerative soil procedures to fight climate change and improve agriculture, and many topics in between.
Victoria Kingsmore can be reached at [email protected].