Five Anthropology PhD students and an alumni traveled to Portland, Oregon to network and present their research at the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) Annual Meeting. The SfAA conference brings together researchers from many disciplines, providing an opportunity for members to discuss their work, trade ideas and solutions, and connect with other professionals. PhD student Raul Basilio presented Beyond Death: The Potentials of Contaminated Waters and Lives in an Urban Landscape. This study is the result of dissertation fieldwork in an urban area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and examines how water pollution in an urban area shapes human-animal relationships, neighborhood identity, and socioeconomic possibilities. Hannah Boone, PhD student, presented Community Viewpoints on the Klamath Basin: Photo Elicitation and Perspectives on the Importance of Water in a Time of Transition. Using photo elicitation, this research captures community perspectives on water's importance and environmental changes in the Klamath Basin following the removal of four dams. Monika Giri, PhD student, presented her poster Voluntary Buyouts for Levee Setback in collaboration with Katie Foster. Together, they also presented Equity Considerations in the Deployment of Coastal “Nature-Based Solutions.” PhD student Alejandro Najera presented Local Ecological Knowledge to Evaluate Fishing and Conservation of the Pacific Seahorse (Hippocampus Ingens) in Sinaloa, Mexico. His research evaluates the sustainability of Pacific seahorse fishing in Sinaloa, Mexico, using local ecological knowledge from 112 fishers to inform conservation efforts. Dr. Katie Foster, Postdoctoral Researcher and alumni, was a panelist and speaker for Ethnographic Insights for Just and Equitable Climate Action, sharing insights into the intricate pathways through which diverse forms of knowledge travel and are articulated into climate policy across scales. In collaboration with Dr. Don Nelson and PhD student Monika Giri, they also presented Equity Considerations in the Deployment of Coastal “Nature-Based Solutions” which explores the social equity implications of deploying Nature-based Solutions to mitigate coastal flooding in Miami, Florida. L to R: Raul Basilio, Hannah Boone, Monika Giri, Dominique Valentine, Alejandro Najera, Katie Foster
