Arizona Desert Wildfire After Sunset

What happened to Arizona’s ‘fireproof’ desert—and what can be done

Victoria Wiley holding binoculars in front of Old Main on the NAU campus

Research & Academics

This Ph.D. student’s research could help save a rare desert bird

Victoria Wiley, a second-year doctoral student in population biology, received a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to investigate whether the desert purple martin, a rare Southwestern bird, is its own species. Her work could help secure federal protected status for the cactus-loving birds.

Brandon Piestewa with his mother when he was young.

What Memorial Day means to me

For Brandon Piestewa, whose mother was taken prisoner and later killed during the Iraq War, Memorial Day has a different importance. It's a time to remember and pass on the legacies of soldiers and their sacrifices.

Winners of the hydropower competition posing with their awards.

Research & Academics

NAU engineering students take first place in national hydropower competition

An interdisciplinary team of senior engineering students entered the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydropower Collegiate Competition to fulfill their capstone requirements—and won. The team, made up of three electrical engineering students and three mechanical engineering students, took first place in all three of the competition’s challenges—siting, design and community connections—earning first overall for the competition.

Research & Academics

Tim Becker and his students work in their stroke lab.

Is 100% survival after stroke achievable?

One bioengineer says yes. Tim Becker and a team of NAU students are designing groundbreaking medical devices with the goal of increasing survival rates—currently at 30-60%—for stroke patients. With a focus on reducing racial and gender disparities in health outcomes for stroke patients and creating adaptable, functional medical devices that can go from the lab to the surgical suite, the students are getting hands-on experience that is turning into inventions and job offers.

Arizona Desert Wildfire After Sunset

What happened to Arizona’s ‘fireproof’ desert—and what can be done

The Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona and northern Mexico has long been largely immune to fires, despite its intense heat. There simply wasn't enough fuel to feed severe fires. In the last two decades, wetter winters and the increase of invasive species have caused a rapid shift to the desert environment. In 2024, that could spell disaster—recent research from the Southwest Fire Science Consortium shows conditions are perfect for an active fire season in the desert.

Winners of the hydropower competition posing with their awards.

NAU engineering students take first place in national hydropower competition

An interdisciplinary team of senior engineering students entered the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydropower Collegiate Competition to fulfill their capstone requirements—and won. The team, made up of three electrical engineering students and three mechanical engineering students, took first place in all three of the competition’s challenges—siting, design and community connections—earning first overall for the competition.

Campus & Community

Claudia Iglesias-Buck and two other nurses in scrubs standing outside a hospital.

Graduate Claudia Iglesias-Buck: How a world of adventures led nursing student to NAU

Claudia Iglesias-Buck hasn’t taken the traditional route of becoming a nurse. But the experiences she’s had, including becoming a doula and yoga instructor and volunteering for the Peace Corps in Senegal, have prepared her for nursing in unexpected ways.

Samuel Conley posing on a balcony overlooking colorful buildings in Queretaro, Mexico

Graduate Samuel Conley: ‘I want to be defined by my actions’

Prescott’s Samuel Conley went from directionless to determined and earned a spot in NAU’s Honors College. After four years of transformative research, study and extracurricular experiences, Conley isn’t sure about his next steps—but he knows he wants to keep learning and helping others.

Jessica Marshall in a lab wearing a white lab coat.

Graduate Jessica Marshall: Turning challenges into opportunities

Selected as the distinguished senior for the College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences, Jessica Marshall doesn’t shy away from challenges. Instead, she uses them to find opportunities—like working for NAU’s Pathogen and Microbiome Institute—and to build stronger community connections.

Lumberjack Features

Brandon Piestewa with his mother when he was young.

What Memorial Day means to me

For Brandon Piestewa, whose mother was taken prisoner and later killed during the Iraq War, Memorial Day has a different importance. It's a time to remember and pass on the legacies of soldiers and their sacrifices.

Marcy Hurtado with the Arizona Cardinal mascot.

Humans of NAU: Marcy Hurtado

Marcy Hurtado found her professional home at NAU Yuma, where she is the director of enrollment management. She talks about the joy of seeing students in the YES program move from high school to college, her goal of graduating with her doctorate and how each day is different.

Students pose outside a brightly colored building with a large butterfly painted around the door.

Making connections on a field trip to the U.S./Mexico border

Students from Leah Mundell’s anthropology course, Global Migration and Human Rights, had their perspectives changed on a field trip to the U.S./Mexico border. Eileen Magaña reflects on the experiences she and three of her classmates—Erik Martinez, Owen Stark and Calvin Humphrey—had during their visits to Border Patrol, a community center in Nogales that aids border crossers, a humanitarian aid organization in Ajo that makes water drops and their conversation with a human rights activist and pastor from the Tohono O’odham Nation.