Science Deep Dive
About Science Deep Dive at Urban Roots
The Science Deep D
Community Engagement Assessment
Partner Spotlight: Conversational Reflections on Rambles and Art-Science Engagements
July 25, 2026
A conversation with former MSP LTER artists-in-residence Jessie Merriam, now the MSP LTER Community-Engaged Research Coordinator, and Kimberly Boustead, local artist in the Twin Cities
The MSP LTER's Community Engagement Assessment team studies how inclusive research shapes both scientists and the communities where they do their work. From 2023 to 2025, artists-in-residence Kim Boustead and Jessie Merriam helped bring that work to life, fostering reciprocal relationships between researchers and the Twin Cities community through art and facilitated conversations. In this interview, Kim and Jessie reflect on their work with the MSP LTER over the past two years, the pitfalls and triumphs of community-engaged research, and look to what’s ahead.
Urban Eco-Narratives
July 24, 2023
By Nancy Cook, Writer, Teaching Artist, and Director of the Witness Project
What can scientists and storytellers learn from each other? In this piece, local writer and artist Nancy Cook reflects on a collaboration between the MSP LTER, YO MAMA!, and The Witness Project, that brings researchers and writers together to reimagine how we talk about urban nature. Through shared field work, readings, and conversation, participants are discovering new ways of seeing—and telling stories about—the world around them.
Communicating Ecological Resilience Efforts Through Art & Science – At Crosby Farm Regional Park
July 24, 2023
Interviews with Leslie Brandt, Supervisory Climate Adaptation Specialist at the USDA Forest Service, and Willard Malebear, Jr., local Indigenous artist
Learn how a Twin Cities forest became the meeting point for climate science and Indigenous art in this pair of interviews. Leslie Brandt, a climate adaptation specialist with the USDA Forest Service and MSP LTER Urban Forests Team, takes us inside the Adaptative Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) study at Crosby Farm Regional Park. Then, Indigenous artist Willard Malebear, Jr. shares how he brought the project's silviculture treatments to life through original artwork—now on display as informational signage at the research site.
Joining Efforts to Restore a Sacred Gathering Place
March 22, 2022
By Emilie Snell-Rood, Professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, and Co-Lead of the MSP LTER Urban Contaminants Team
At the sacred site of Wakáŋ Tipi in St. Paul, MSP LTER researchers are partnering with the Lower Phalen Creek Project (now Wakáŋ Tipi Awaŋyaŋkapi) to study how urban contaminants like lead and arsenic move through soil, plants, and water. What began as a map of childhood lead levels has grown into a collaborative effort blending science with community and Indigenous knowledge—working toward restoration that heals both land and people.
Partner Spotlight: The Value of Mapping Stewardship Work Across the World
December 14, 2025
An interview with Michelle L. Johnson, spatial ecologist at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, by Natalia C. Piland, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Environment, Community & Equity at American University
For the Fall 2025 "Partner Spotlight" feature, MSP LTER partner Dr. Natalia C. Piland interviewed spatial ecologist Dr. Michelle L. Johnson about the STEW-MAP (Stewardship Mapping and Assessment) Project. Born from the simple question Who takes care of this place, STEW-MAP tracks stewardship groups and their social relationships to reveal their impact on local environments. This conversation offers insights into the ins and outs of interdisciplinary community-engaged research, from the local to the global.
A Recipe for Restoration: How Biochar Plaster Could Help Transform a Former Superfund Site into a Neighborhood Pollinator Prairie
December 15, 2025
By Leta Landucci, PhD Student in the University of Minnesota Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, and the MSP LTER Urban Contaminants Team
PhD student Leta Landucci shares how community members and researchers came together at St. Paul's Jameson-Front Lot, a former Superfund site, to test biochar plaster as a tool for weed suppression and soil restoration, with the goal of establishing a new pollinator garden. This project can serve as a model for reciprocal, community-engaged ecological research in the Twin Cities.
Surveys and Soirees: Documenting Tree Stewardship Across the Twin Cities
December 15, 2026
By Sally Donovan, PhD Candidate in the University of Minnesota Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, and the MSP LTER Urban Forests Team
For decades, scientists have studied how biodiversity influences resilience—the ability of an ecosystem to resist and recover from disturbances, such as drought and pest outbreaks. Yet forest resilience also relies on social variables, like the capacity of communities and governments to care for, or steward, them. This is particularly visible in urban forests where trees and vegetation are tightly packed against human-built infrastructure. In this piece, PhD candidate Sally Donovan shares her research mapping local stewardship networks to track their capacities to support resilient ecosystems.
Partner Spotlight: Urban Roots & Science Deep Dive Internship Program
March 25, 2025
By Adora Thao, who served as a youth Intern and crew member at Urban Roots in 2024
For the first-ever "Partner Spotlight" feature, the MSP LTER 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. Since 2022, the MSP LTER Urban Contaminants Team has collaborated with Urban Roots to test its sites for contaminants such as heavy metals and microplastics—and explore potential remediation strategies.