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Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

@isabellaoleksy.bsky.social

1.4K followers 580 following 43 posts

Ecosystem scientist | Biogeochemist | Lake Dr. | Assistant Professor at University of Colorado Boulder | 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇱 https://www.mountainlimnologylab.com/

www.mountainlimnologylab.com

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Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D. @isabellaoleksy.bsky.social · Nov 23

Published today: our paper on the ~100 year ice record on Mohonk Lake, a mtn top lake in upstate NY. Ice is forming later, and variability in duration and ice clearance has increased substantially. Notably, recent years have seen intermittent ice cover. bit.ly/mohonkWinter

Ice phenology in Mohonk Lake from 1932 to 2023. Dates of ice‐on and ice‐off are plotted as points. A line segment connects the ice‐on and ice‐off in the same water year and the length and color gradient and point fill correspond to ice‐cover duration. The black line indicates significant Theil‐Sen's slope ( p < 0.05). Triangles indicate years where only ice‐on or ice‐off was recorded.

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Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D. @isabellaoleksy.bsky.social · Aug 8

striking! is this atypical for this lake or a usual occurrence in the summer?

Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

INSTAAR 🏳️‍🌈 @instaar.bsky.social · Aug 4

Isabella Oleksy's Mountain Limnology Lab has taken over a 42-year-old monitoring project in Rocky Mountain National Park. Their investigations reveal how remote alpine watersheds are changing in the Anthropocene www.colorado.edu/instaar/2025...

@isabellaoleksy.bsky.social & @jbaron4.bsky.social

Air pollution and warming are changing Colorado’s remote alpine lakes

The Oleksy lab has taken over a 42-year-old monitoring project in Rocky Mountain National Park. Their investigations reveal how remote alpine watersheds are

www.colorado.edu

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Jul 22

NSF staff release their appeal—slightly different format than the declarations of dissent from EPA/NIH/NASA; a more formal petition to Congress to redress attacks on the agency and its employees. 149 signatories (48 named)
democrats-science.house.gov/imo/media/do...

Petition for Action
As provided under the Lloyd-La Follette Act (5 U.S.C. 7211), the signatories respectfully petition the
Committee to:
1. Ensure that NSF employees are shielded from politically motivated firings and protected
under merit-based personnel systems.
2. End illegal impoundments of monies appropriated to NSF.
3. Defend the agency from further interference in its peer review process.
4. Demand transparency from OMB, DOGE, and NSF leadership regarding internal employment
policies and future agency relocations.
5. Reaffirm NSF’s scientific independence and support for world-class research that advances
national prosperity and security.
NSF employees are committed to serving the American people through research, education, and
innovation. But they cannot do so under fear, censorship, and institutional sabotage. Without immediate
oversight and corrective action from Congress, one of our nation’s greatest engines for scientific and
technological advancement faces irreversible long-term damage. Put simply, America will forfeit its
scientific leadership position to China and other rival nations.

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

INSTAAR 🏳️‍🌈 @instaar.bsky.social · Jul 8

Why was a remote alpine lake in Colorado's Weminuche Wilderness turning green? And how do pack mules help?

@isabellaoleksy.bsky.social's Mountain Limnology Lab features in this unique & collaborative story:
Read it at doi.org/10.1002/lob....
Video clips www.youtube.com/watch?v=31lb...

L&O: The Power of Pack Mules - Fig. 1

YouTube video by Andrew Burgess

www.youtube.com

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Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D. @isabellaoleksy.bsky.social · Jul 4

Ros has such a wealth of knowledge on forest ecology. It's been a joy getting to know her and learn from her!

Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D. @isabellaoleksy.bsky.social · Jul 2

I am proud of this piece that my lab wrote about the collaboration we began last summer with the US Forest Service in CO-- an effort to understand why remote, high elevation lakes in the Wilderness are greening. We need publicly funded science now more than ever: doi.org/10.1002/lob....
@aslo.org

The Power of Pack Mules: Harnessing Partnerships With Land Stewards for Remote Ecosystem Research

Click on the article title to read more.

doi.org

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

David Roberts @volts.wtf · May 19

Global average temperatures are spiking, rising faster than climate models seem able to explain, and in a sane world, every country would be united in a full-scale effort to figure this out & respond. Instead the US is dismantling its scientific infrastructure.

The World’s Most Urgent Scientific Question

https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-confirms-2024-warmest-year-record-about-155degc-above-pre-industrial-level There is no question more urgent than the one indicated by that red arrow in the graph...

app.wedonthavetime.org

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · May 4

🧪 Though a doubling of NSF's budget might seem far-fetched, that's exactly what Congress said what's needed to maintain national competitiveness in science & tech.

From the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022:

CHIPS and Science authorization for FY26 = $17.8B

White House skinny budget = $3.9B

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

INSTAAR 🏳️‍🌈 @instaar.bsky.social · Apr 30

👏🏽 Congrats to the faculty supporting @colorado.edu undergrads on UROP research projects, incl INSTAARs
👤 @isabellaoleksy.bsky.social: Mountain lakes & carbon cycling
👤 Katharine Suding: Grassland ecosystems, alpine fungi & plants
👤 @drscottataylor.bsky.social: Songbird breeding, adaptation, & memory

UROP, University of Colorado Boulder @cuboulderurop.bsky.social · Apr 30

We're pleased to announce the recipients of this cycle's UROP Student and Faculty Grants, Mentor Awards and Savit Scholars. We invite you to celebrate these innovators with us!
www.colorado.edu/urop/2025-su...

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · Apr 25

France opens its doors to science researchers and scholars, including those fleeing the United States.

anr.fr/en/latest-ne...

Choose France for Science: launch of the dedicated platform for applications to host international researchers

As the international context creates the conditions for an unprecedented wave of mobility among researchers around the world, France aims to position itself as a host country for those wishing to cont...

anr.fr

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Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D. @isabellaoleksy.bsky.social · Apr 23

NSF grant termination tracker: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni... The sick irony? One of the 10 grants cancelled at CU Boulder is a CAREER award about combatting censorship on the internet.

Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Omar Wasow @owasow.bsky.social · Feb 6

I’ve been studying civil rights protests for 20 years. With new mobilization against Trump’s agenda, I’m sharing a thread summarizing my research on how nonviolent & violent actions by 1960s activists and police influenced media, elites, public opinion & voters. 1/ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Article title: Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting

Article Abstract

How do stigmatized minorities advance agendas when confronted with hostile majorities? Elite theories of influence posit marginal groups exert little power. I propose the concept of agenda seeding to describe how activists use methods like disruption to capture the attention of media and overcome political asymmetries. Further, I hypothesize protest tactics influence how news organizations frame demands. Evaluating black-led protests between 1960 and 1972, I find nonviolent activism, particularly when met with state or vigilante repression, drove media coverage, framing, congressional speech, and public opinion on civil rights. Counties proximate to nonviolent protests saw presidential Democratic vote share increase 1.6–2.5%. Protester-initiated violence, by contrast, helped move news agendas, frames, elite discourse, and public concern toward “social control.” In 1968, using rainfall as an instrument, I find violent protests likely caused a 1.5–7.9% shift among whites toward Republicans and tipped the election. Elites may dominate political communication but hold no monopoly.

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Vera Mikkilä @veramikkila.bsky.social · Apr 16

Are you a professor or assistant professor level researcher in the US or elsewhere outside of Finland? Looking for new opportunities in an inspiring and well-connected research environment? Finland might be just the place for you.

Reach out to Finnish universities to explore what’s possible.

Finland invests in research excellence – new funding call by Research Council of Finland to support recruitment of international talents

The Research Council of Finland (RCF) has launched a funding call to improve universities’ ability to recruit international experts to Finland. In line with the RCF’s strategy, the call wi...

www.aka.fi

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

thetranscendedman @atranscendedman.bsky.social · Apr 8

Boston researchers analyzed data from over 375,000 US adults and found that nearly 1 in 7 reported long COVID by late 2023.

Those affected faced higher risks of unemployment, hardship, anxiety, and $218B in lost wages.

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

A nationwide study of risk factors for long COVID and its economic and mental health consequences in the United States - Communications Medicine

Kim identifies risk factors for long COVID and links long COVID to higher instances of job loss, financial hardship, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Lost earnings due to long COVID among working-...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

INSTAAR 🏳️‍🌈 @instaar.bsky.social · Apr 7

🚨 HYDROLOGIC SCIENCES STUDENT SYMPOSIUM
• Thu-Fri, April 10-11
• @colorado.edu SEEC S372 & online
• Register by April 9
• For grads & undergrads, researchers, & faculty. Non-CU folks too!
www.colorado.edu/program/hydr...
Speakers incl INSTAARs D. McKnight, L. Sunberg, & @isabellaoleksy.bsky.social

Poster for the 19th Annual Hydrologic Sciences Student Symposium, April 10-11 2025 at CU Boulder. Keynote speakers: Suzanne Pierce and Diane McKnight. Invited speakers: Laura Sunberg, Katie Spahr, Isabella Oleksy, and Eliana Rodriguez.

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Dr. Amy Burgin @burginam.bsky.social · Apr 4

The NIH-funded Haskell-KU Bridges Program was terminated. It was one of the longest running programs of its kind, placing >130 Native American students into STEM labs over the last ~25 years. So many alums spoke of this program as being the entry point to their interest, and later, careers in STEM.

Office for Advancing Success in Science / University of Kansas @oasis-ku.bsky.social · Apr 3

We have some very sad news. Today we received notification that our Bridges, MARC, PREP and IRACDA programs have been terminated. We are heartbroken.

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Niko Bowie @nikobowie.bsky.social · Mar 30

From 91 professors at Harvard Law School: a letter to our students.

tinyurl.com/letter-to-ou...

A LETTER TO HARVARD LAW SCHOOL STUDENTS
March 29, 2025
To our students:
We are privileged to teach and learn the law with you. We write to you today—in our individual capacities-because we believe that American legal precepts and the institutions designed to uphold them are being severely tested, and many of you have expressed to us your concerns and fears about the present moment.
Each of us brings different, sometimes irreconcilable, perspectives to what the law is and should be. Diverse viewpoints are a credit to our school. But we share, and take seriously, a commitment to the rule of law: for people to be equal before it, and for its administration to be impartial. That commitment is foundational to the whole legal profession, and to the special role that lawyers play in our society. As the Model Rules of Professional Conduct provide: "A lawyer is ... an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice."
The rule of law is imperiled when government leaders:
• single out lawyers and law firms for retribution based on their lawful and ethical representation of clients disfavored by the government, undermining the Sixth Amendment;
• threaten law firms and legal clinics for their lawyers' pro bono work or prior government service;
• relent on those arbitrary threats based on public acts of submission and outlays of funds for favored causes; and
• punish people for lawfully speaking out on matters of public concern.
While reasonable people can disagree about the characterization of particular incidents, we are all acutely concerned that severe challenges to the rule of law are taking place, and we strongly condemn any effort to undermine the basic norms we have described.
On our own campus and at many other universities, international students have reported fear of imprisonment or deportation for lawful speech and political activism. Whatever we might each think about particular conduct under particular facts,…

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Aerin Jacob, PhD @aerinj.bsky.social · Mar 14

Looking for a postdoc in 🇨🇦?

Liber Ero Fellowship
liberero.ca

* Applied conservation science
* Leadership training
* Open to int’l applicants
* Due Nov 1

🌎🧪🦤

Liber Ero Fellowship Program

liberero.ca

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Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D. @isabellaoleksy.bsky.social · Mar 13

Good to be back in the great state of Michigan! 🌊

Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Laura Dee @lauradee.bsky.social · Jan 16

Wildlife contributes to human well-being and values in visible and invisible ways that are under-recognized or dominated by conflict narratives. We review these critical contributions and what research and policy is needed to protect them: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Diagram depicting wildlife’s contributions to people (WCP) and their connection to nature’s contributions to people (NCP). Wildlife plays critical roles through actions like predation, herbivory, scavenging, and ecosystem engineering, directly and indirectly by supporting services such as habitat creation, climate regulation, pollination, food production, and cultural identity, while maintaining ecosystem balance. Designed by Sylvia Heredia.

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

INSTAAR 🏳️‍🌈 @instaar.bsky.social · Feb 17

UNDERGRAD SUMMER FIELD COURSES at CU Boulder's Mountain Research Station
🌱 Vegetation
🦅 Birds
🧬 Bioinformatics
🦠 Microbes
🚣‍♀️ Lakes+streams
🌲 Forests+fire
Each 2-3 wks, 3 transferable credits, 15 students/class, lodging&food included w tuition

ENROLLMENT STARTS 10 MAR
www.colorado.edu/mrs/student-...

Nine people, many holding butterfly nets, stand shoulder to shoulder in a grassy summer meadow surrounded by conifer trees. Accompanying text says CU Boulder Mountain Research Station summer field courses

Poster for the Summer 2025 field courses at the CU Mountain Research Station. Images of mountains, alpine flowers, birds, tundra, forests, and streams. Interested in taking a field course? Join us in the mountains next summer (near Nederland CO about 1 hour from Boulder). Housing and food are included in tuition. Classes are Field methods in vegetation ecology, Field ornithology, Bioinformatics in the mountains, Microbial ecology, Forest and fire ecology, and Lake and stream ecology

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

INSTAAR 🏳️‍🌈 @instaar.bsky.social · Mar 5

🏆 Congrats to SCOTT TAYLOR for receiving a 2025 CU Boulder Faculty Excellence Award!

He is recognized for Excellence in Leadership & Service by the Boulder Faculty Assembly & will receive a monetary prize + more. Thx for your hard work @drscottataylor.bsky.social 🙏🏽

www.colorado.edu/bfa/excellen...

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Mar 3

Today, a broad coalition of scientific professional societies who represent over 92,000 scientists are speaking out against the politicization and demonization of Federally funded science and government scientist jobs.

It was an honor to help the Union of Concerned Scientists with this! 🧪🌎

48 Scientific Societies Representing Almost 100,000 Scientists Ask Congress to Protect the Future of Science

48 scientific societies representing almost 100,000 scientists signed on to a letter asking Congress to protect the future of science

www.ucsusa.org

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Reposted by Isabella A. Oleksy, Ph.D.

Science Friday @scifri.bsky.social · Mar 4

Are you a scientist or student heading to a @standupforscience.bsky.social ‬rally this Friday?

We want to hear from you. Tell us about yourself and why you’re going, how far you’re traveling, why you’re fired up, and whether there will be car snacks. Call or text us at (646) 767-6532.

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