The NAU Review — Research using NASA’s ECOSTRESS, tracking indigenous plants and Arizona’s new flat tax explained

March 7, 2023

The NAU Review. The official news source for Northern Arizona University.

NASA's ECOSTRESS on the International Space Station Arial View with Earth/clouds in the backgound

Investigating drought resilience using NASA’s ECOSTRESS

NAU has received a $600,000 grant from NASA for a three-year project led by Teki Sankey to study the impact of forest restoration treatments on drought resilience in Arizona’s forests using NASA’s ECOSTRESS satellite. The team of researchers will focus on Arizona’s forests including Ponderosa pines and will validate their findings with field measurements of canopy and soil moisture. The project aims to determine if forest treatments result in water benefits for the entire ecosystem and will advance the development of satellite-based remote sensing methods for rapid detection of drought stress in vegetation.

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Kids in a classroom shrugging their shoulders

Expanding child care reimbursements

NAU is helping student-parents succeed with over $11 million in child care reimbursements through The Higher Education Child Care Project (HECCP). Started in 2022, this pilot project aims to alleviate the financial burden of child care costs while students earn their degrees.

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Person with black nailpolish holding pen working on a bunch of paperwork

Arizona’s new flat tax and what it mean for you

Arizona’s tax system just underwent a major change and switched to a flat 2.5 precent rate. What does that mean for you and your taxes next year? We’ve got the scoop from accounting professor Landi Morris, and she has answers to all your questions.

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Tracking and identifying indigenous plants: There’s an app for that

Walk through Arizona and become a community scientist! The Tribal Nations Botanical Research Collaborative, hosted on the iNaturalist platform, has highlighted 34 culturally important plants to Arizona’s tribes. Users can snap a picture of a plant, upload it, get an ID and provide important information to researchers like Sara Souther.

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