View the Spring 2025 'City Buzz' online via MailChimp.
City Buzz is the semi-annual newsletter of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area Urban Long-Term Ecological Research Program (MSP LTER), produced to inform interested partners and community members of our work. Sign up to receive the City Buzz newsletter here!
In this Issue: From the Director | Events | Stories
Partner Spotlight | News & Updates| MSP LTER in the News
From the Director
Happy 2025!
While our research sites were largely frozen over, and our researchers & partners spent more time poring over their data, writing up results, and making plans for the year ahead, I have been reflecting on our shared accomplishments in 2024. This past summer, we named Emilie Snell-Rood Co-Director of the MSP LTER. Emilie has been serving as a Co-Lead to the Urban Contaminants Team since our site launched in 2021. Our research teams and students published a long list of journal articles, theses, and datasets, many of which are publicly available on our website’s publication & data catalog (see the “Data/Publications/Media” tab on the website). The Community Engagement Assessment Team launched a series of events—dubbed “Rambles”—to highlight and further foster our collaborative research with community and agency partners throughout the Twin Cities.
This issue of City Buzz brings together these distinct developments from last year. First, our new “Partner Spotlight” series features the work of our partner Urban Roots through the reflections of a past intern, Adora Thao. Urban Roots has partnered with the Urban Contaminants Team since 2022 when they approached Co-Director Snell-Rood and postdoctoral researcher Lindsey Kemmerling about sampling their sites for contaminants like heavy metals and microplastics. Second, Lindsey reflects on their collaboration in her blog post “Diving Deep into Collaborative Research: Our Partnership with Urban Roots.” These partnerships are at the heart of the Rambles, Annual Summer Symposium, and first-ever Community Science-Art Fair the MSP LTER has offered throughout the past year. You can find MSP LTER updates below.
In 2025, we look forward to hosting another Summer Symposium for our personnel and partners in the spring and Rambles throughout the year—our next event is Thursday, March 27! Thank you for being a part of our community.
- Sarah Hobbie, MSP LTER Director and Lead Principal Investigator
Featured Event
Ramble on Salt | Thursday, March 27 | 4:30-6:30pm | MWMO
Our next Ramble (art-science-community gathering) is borne out of a collaboration with MSP researchers investigating the long-term effects of freshwater salinization in the Twin Cities Metro Area (a year-round issue!). The event aligns with/follows MWMO's Winter Salt Week and St. Anthony Falls Laboratory's ongoing Stormwater Series (check out MSP LTER researchers Ben Janke and Jacques Finlay's February presentation on this topic here).
If your research, work, or neighborhood is engaged with this issue, stop by! We will offer interactive maps and visuals, small group discussion opportunities, hands-on activities, and snacks & refreshments.
Check out the Eventbrite page with more information and to RSVP (though no tickets are required).
Featured Story
Diving Deep into Collaborative Research: Our Partnership with Urban Roots
By Lindsey Kemmerling, Postdoctoral Researcher with the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences & the MSP LTER
Postdoctoral Researcher Lindsey Kemmerling reflets on MSP LTER's partnership with Urban Roots, a nonprofit organization on the East Side of St. Paul focused on urban farming, conservation, and youth education. In 2022, Lindsey launched Science Deep Dive—a youth internship program that pairs MSP LTER researchers with Urban Roots youth interns, introducing them to hands-on research experiences that “dive deep” into the ecology of the Twin Cities and helping them identify pathways to pursue careers in science. Read more.
Partner Spotlight
Urban Roots & the Science Deep Dive Internship Program
By Adora Thao, who served as a youth Intern and crew member at Urban Roots in 2024
Partner Spotlight is a new series within our twice-annual City Buzz Newsletter that offers MSP LTER community and government partners an opportunity to introduce themselves and discuss their collaborative work with us. For our first issue, we invited Adora Thao to share her experience working at Urban Roots as a youth intern and crew member, and reflect on her partnership with the MSP LTER’s Science Deep Dive internship program. Read more.
MSP LTER News & Updates
Dr. Emilie Snell-Rood Named MSP LTER Co-Director
Over the summer, MSP LTER Lead PI & Director, Sarah Hobbie, named Contaminants Research Team Co-Lead Emilie Snell-Rood Co-Director. Snell-Rood is a Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of MN where she studies why organisms vary in their response to human environments, for instance due to flexibility in behavior or a coevolutionary history with plant toxins. Through her lab, Snell-Rood has mentored scientists at all stages of their burgeoning careers, from high school to postdoctoral work. Within the MSP LTER Emilie is excited to continue to lead research on urban contaminants. She also looks forward to fostering novel links in thinking about urban design and built environments.
Summer Symposium & Community Science-Art Fair
On May 20, 2024, community & agency partners joined our researchers and students at the Annual Summer Symposium and first-ever Community Science-Art Fair. Morning programming took place at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) in Minneapolis, where our research teams provided updates on their research before sharing lunch with partners in attendance. You can view the 2024 and 2023 research team presentations here (thank you to SAFL staff for editing the videos). The afternoon Community Science-Art Fair was organized by the Community Engagement Assessment Team. Open to the public, the event included booths & activities from each of our research teams. We are considering offering a similar event in late 2025 or 2026.
Collage by Kim Boustead & Jessie Merriam. Photos by Keegan Xavi & Meredith Keller.
Publications & Products
The MSP LTER maintains a catalog of its peer-reviewed journal articles, student theses, datasets, and maps on our website. You can find the library of our published written publications here, and our datasets here. While all published datasets are publicly available, some publications are behind a paywall for several months before becoming available to all. If you have trouble accessing a product, email Meredith Keller ([email protected]).
Rambles
Since December 2023, the MSP LTER Community-Engaged Research Team has hosted near-monthly gatherings, or “Rambles,” to promote connection among our personnel and community partners. These have alternated between internal events for our researchers to update each other on their work, and larger events that feature the work of our community partners. You can learn more about Rambles here. Reach out to Artists-in-Residence Kimberly Boustead ([email protected]) and Jessie Merriam ([email protected]) if you are interested in collaborating for a future event.
MSP LTER is Now on Bluesky and Instagram
We are diversifying our social media presence! You can now find us on Bluesky (@msp-lter.bsky.social), Instagram (@MSP_LTER), YouTube (our playlist via UMN CBS' account), and GitHub (@MSP-LTER). Please follow and engage with us!
Bell Museum & Solution Studio
This past summer, the Bell Museum showcased the MSP LTER through its Solution Studio for the second time. The innovative exhibit-meets-makerspace allowed museum-goers to learn how to engage in urban ecology research. We're thrilled that the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) awarded Bell’s Solution Studio the 2025 Impact Goals Award. Catch a preview of the 2025 Solution Studio in this video!
Photo of 2024 Solution Studio Exhibit but Sarah Karnas.
Summer 2024 REU StoryMaps
This past summer, MSP LTER research teams welcomed two undergraduates within the SLAWR / MSP LTER REU "Urban Nature" 2024 cohort -- Karina (Rin) Gonzalez and Tristina Ting. The Pollinator and Governance Teams mentored Rin on a project around Bee Lawns, and Tristina worked with both the Contaminants and Surface Waters Teams on urban stormwater pond research. You can learn more about their projects from their newly published posters and StoryMaps on the SLAWR website.
MSP LTER in the News
Some Notable Achievements Among Our Researchers in 2024 & Early 2025
The Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) awarded The Bell Museum its 2025 Impact Goals Award for the Solution Studio exhibit—the Bell's recurring makerspace featuring MSP LTER research.
Melissa Kenney, MSP LTER REU Program Coordinator and IonE Director of Research & Knowledge Initiatives, was named an author on the Sixth National Climate Assessment,
Postdoc Lindsey Kemmerling won the Early Career Entomologist Award from the Royal Entomological Society for her publication in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity (from work with the KBS LTER). News article here.
Co-Director and Contaminants Team Co-Lead, Emilie Snell-Rood, was the honored with the 2024 Animal Behavior Society’s Penny Bernstein Distinguished Teaching Award.
At the 2024 Minnesota Water Resources Conference, Xue Feng (MSP LTER Co-PI and Watersheds Team Co-Lead) was honored with the Deb Swackhamer Early Career Award.
LTER Network Engagement in 2024 & Early 2025
Community Engagement Assessment Team Co-Leads Mae Davenport and Shanai Matteson, along with artist-in-residence Kimberly Boustead, informed the development of the APEAL Project's SCRREE Framework for Public Engagement with Science new series of briefs with actionable insights to promote public engagement with science.
PhD Student Christof Zweifel’s photo of MSP LTER researchers conducting data collection against the Minneapolis skyline made it through several rounds of voting to win the LTER Network Photo Contest ("Landscape" category).
MSP LTER Research & Researchers in the News, 2024 & Early 2025
Eos featured a 2025 paper by alumna Jeannie Wilkening and Hydrology Team Co-Lead Xue Feng in its Research Spotlight Series.
Postdoc Paige Boyle, wrote a blog post that serves as an update on the Pollinators Team 2024 summer field research.
In its January newsletter, Roseville Area Schools featured Information Manager Mary Marek-Spartz's classroom visits where she discussed MSP LTER research on squirrels and contaminants.
Community Engagement Assessment Team Co-Lead Shanai Matteson was interviewed for the Hybrid Arts Blog, where she discussed using art & cultural activities to promote conversations about place and community.
Director Sarah Hobbie's and MSP LTER's stormwater research is featured in an article from the Center for Transportation Studies.
The University of MN College of Biological Sciences published an article on the Urban Contaminants Team's research on roadside pollution and insects.
The Wealth & Nature Team was featured in a LTER Network News blog post in July 2024.
Emilie Snell-Rood shared her expertise on monarch butterflies and other pollinators across multiple platforms, namely an MPR News article and an episode of the Fill to Capacity podcast.
Read the article "Who is Science For?" covering MSP LTER and SLAWR REU Interns engagement in tribally-focused research.
University of Minnesota and MSP LTER PhD Student Xiating Chen was featured in a video inspiring youth to pursue careers in STEM.
PhD Candidate Sally Donovan Featured in February 2024 issue of Minneapolis Hill & Lake Press.
About Us
The Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area (MSP) Long-Term Ecological Research Program (LTER) brings together over 100 researchers, students, artists, and community organizers from the University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas, USDA Forest Service, and other local institutions to study how urban stressors affect the ecological structure and functioning of urban nature, including pollinators, urban forests, urban watersheds, and lakes and streams. Guided by the practice of community-engaged research, the MSP LTER partners with dozens of community and agency/government partners throughout the Twin Cities Metro Area to conduct its work.
Who: 100+ researchers, educators, and community organizers from the University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas, USDA Forest Service, and other local institutions.
What: Long-term research on ecological relationships between humans and nature in cities.
How: A six-year, $7.1 million, renewable grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a new site as part of the US LTER Network. The grant began in March 2021 and primarily supports postdocs, students, and staff in research, education, and engagement efforts.
Where: Seven-County Twin Cities Metropolitan Area in the State of Minnesota, or Mni Sota Makoce in Dakota. What we now call the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area are the traditional, historical, and contemporary lands of the Dakota People.
To learn more, visit our website at mspurbanlter.umn.edu, or contact Sarah Hobbie (Director) [email protected] or Meredith Keller (Program Manager) at [email protected].