Three nationally and internationally respected experts will provide a unique, fresh, and comprehensive insight into the natural world and what it can teach humankind during City Club Missoula’s January 11 forum.
Jakki Mohr, awarding-winning Regents Professor of Marketing/Poe Distinguished Faculty Fellow, and Fellow, Institute on Ecosystems, at the University of Montana will present several examples of how business is learning from nature in product design, and discuss the success of harnessing biomimicry in business. Dr. Mohr received her Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to joining the UM faculty, Mohr was an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Early in her career, she worked in Silicon Valley at Hewlett-Packard, now known as hp. Jakki studies challenges companies around the world face in developing and commercializing breakthrough innovations, including a broad range of technologies ranging from scientific innovations to innovations in restoration and ecology.
Examining the “radical center,” University of Montana Wildlife Biology Professor David Naugle will discuss how ranchers, farmers, conservationists, scientists, and agencies can work together to solve local, regional, and national problems. He will highlight the critical role of private, “working lands” in conservation and sustainability. Dave is a professor in the Wildlife Biology Program at the University of Montana. He is a longtime Science Advisor to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), providing science support for Farm Bill conservation programs. As Science Advisor, his work has resulted in voluntary conservation being implemented on millions of acres across the west, unprecedented conservation partnerships, and the withdrawal of the greater sage-grouse as a candidate species on the endangered species list.
Acclaimed writer, photographer and wildlife biologist Doug Chadwick will provide a fresh look at nature, including its fragility and the alarming consequences if human beings fail to recognize “the nature in us.” His presentation will draw on material from his forthcoming book, Four Fifths a Grizzly: A New Perspective on Nature that Just Might Save Us All. Chadwick is a wildlife biologist who studied mountain goat ecology and social behavior atop the Crown of the Continent for seven years. He has since worked as a natural history journalist, producing 14 popular books – including the widely acclaimed The Wolverine Way – and hundreds of magazine articles, many of them for the National Geographic Society, on subjects from snow leopards to great whales to grizzly bears in the Gobi desert.
The forum will be moderated by Nick Mott, an award-winning multimedia journalist who focuses on the environment, wildlife and public lands. He is a reporter for Montana Public Radio and producer of the podcast and radio show, Threshold, where his work has received a national Edward R. Murrow Award and a nomination for a Peabody Award. Nick also produces the MTPR podcast Richest Hill, about the largest Superfund complex in the country. His work has been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition, The Washington Post, Outside, High Country News, and Public Radio International’s The World, among other outlets. He holds an MA in journalism with a focus in environmental reporting from the University of Colorado, Boulder.