CASR Ph.D. Members
Meet the CASR Ph.D. Students and Candidates
Ph.D. students or candidates are currently enrolled at UAF in either the Natural Resources and Sustainability (NRS) program or the Interdisciplinary Studies (INDS) program.

John Huffman
Ph.D Candidate
Natural Resources and Sustainability, (Fall, 2024)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: Alaska’s LEPCs in Context: Evaluating Community Preparedness and Engagement
Committee: Dr. Cameron Carlson , Dr. John Pennington, Dr. Michael Lindell, Dr. Daryl Shaffer,
Crystal Hill- Pennington J.D

Jennifer Hoppough
Ph.D Student
Natural Resources and Sustainability, (Fall, 2023)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: Food Security and Sustainability in Alaska’s Culinary Ecosystem
Committee: Dr. Troy Bouffard, IANRE Director Jodie Anderson, Dr. John Pennington, Dr. Pete Fix, Chef Sean Walklin

Hope Carr
Ph.D Student
Interdisciplinary Studies, (Fall, 2025)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: The Study of Strategic Information Chaos: Understanding the Democratic to Authoritarian
Governance Information Warfare Continuum in the Arctic
Committee: Dr. Troy Bouffard, Dr. Jen Peterson, Dr. James Morton

Elise Stokset Berger
Ph.D Student
Natural Resources and Sustainability (Fall, 2024)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: Climate Change and Extremism in the Horn of Africa: Exploring Geopolitical Competition
through the Frameworks of Resource Curse, Resource Scarcity, and Political Ecology
Committee: Dr. Alec Bennett, Dr. Troy Bouffard, Dr. John Pennington, and Dr. Cameron Carlson.

Morrow Duszynski
Ph.D Student
Natural Resources & Sustainability (started Fall 2025)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: Textile Waste Management in Interior Alaska
Committee: Dr. John Pennington, Dr. Cameron Carlson, Dr. Lily Dong

Stephen Gagnon
Ph.D Student
Interdisciplinary Studies, (Spring, 2026)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: By, With, and Through the North: Advancing Arctic Defense through Indigenous and Local
Partnerships
Committee: Dr. James Morton, Dr. Troy Bouffard

Erlingur (Eli) Gudleifsson
Ph.D Student
Interdisciplinary Studies (Fall, 2024)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: How has the Icelandic geothermal ecosystem evolved from domestic development into
a platform for global knowledge diffusion.
Committee: Dr. Daisy Huang (Chair), Dr. Troy Bouffard, Dr. Gwen Holdmann, Hjalti Pall Ingolfsson

Sean Holland
Ph.D Student
Interdisciplinary Studies (Fall, 2025)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: Beyond Completion Rates: Advancing Methodologies for Assessing MOOC Impacts in Rural
Settings
Committee: Dr. Troy Bouffard, Dr. Elle Fournier, Dr. Franz Meyer

Zach Little
Ph.D Student
Interdisciplinary Studies (Fall 2024)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: Integrating Multi-Sensor UAS Proximal Sensing Architectures for Arctic and Multi-Environment
Intelligence, Infrastructure Monitoring, and Environmental Assessment within Applied
Geospatial Science
Committee: Dr. Troy Bouffard, Dr. Cameron Carlson, Dr. Alec Bennett, Dr. Peter Webley, and Dr. Bruce
Molina

Adam Militello
Ph.D Student
Natural Resources & Sustainability (Started Fall 2024)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø topic: Cruise Tourism in Alaska’s Far North Region and the Potential Impact on Subsistence
Hunting in Indigenous Whaling Communities
Committee: Dr. John Pennington, Dr. Peter Fix, Dr. John Duffy, Dr. Alan Fyall, Dr. Donna Hauser

Anthony A. Picasso
Ph.D Student
Natural Resources and Sustainability (Fall, 2025)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: Cultural Integration in Climate-Adaptive Emergency Sheltering for Rural Alaska Native
Communities
Committee: Dr. John Pennington

Leasi Vanessa Lee Raymond
Ph.D Student
Interdisciplinary Studies, (Spring, 2026)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: Contested Futures: Critical Minerals and Geopolitics in the Arctic and Pacific
Committee: Dr. Troy Bouffard, Dr. Greg Poezler, Dr. Shivani Bhagat

Janice Westlind
Ph.D Student
Interdisciplinary Studies (Fall, 2025)
Âé¶¹¹ÙÍø Topic: The Arctic in Transition: The Shift from Cooperation to Competition.
Committee: Dr. Troy Bouffard, Dr. Tyler Kirk
Meet the CASR Ph.D. Alumni
Ph.D. alumni have completed their studies and dissertations at UAF in either the Natural Resources and Sustainability (NRS) program or the Interdisciplinary Studies (INDS) program.
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First LastPh.D GraduateNatural Resources & Sustainability / Interdisciplinary Studies (Completed xxxx)
Thesis title: Name of thesis
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