Melissa Sevigny
Science & Technology ReporterMelissa joined KNAU's team in 2015 to report on science, health, and the environment. Her work has appeared nationally on NPR and has been featured on Science Friday.
Before joining KNAU, Melissa worked as a science communicator in the fields of space exploration, western water policy, and sustainable agriculture. She was the education and public outreach specialist for the Phoenix Mars Mission, which landed on Mars in 2008. She has a bachelor's degree in environmental science from the University of Arizona and a master of fine arts in environmental writing from Iowa State University.
She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she fell in love with the ecology and geology of the Sonoran desert. She enjoys hiking, reading, and gardening.
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The Coconino County Flood Control District will present a pair of studies to its Board of Directors Tuesday that forecast the risks of post-wildfire floods in the Rio de Flag watershed in Flagstaff.
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The Arizona Department of Housing awarded $2 million to an Indigenous-led, Utah-based nonprofit to address housing needs on the Navajo Nation. It’s the first time money from the state’s housing trust fund has been allocated to a nonprofit group.
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A new book pairs historic photos of Grand Canyon National Park with recent ones to see what’s changed and what hasn’t. Flagstaff author Kevin Schindler says the project reveals not just the canyon’s spectacular scenery but also its human history.
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Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly heard testimony Thursday about water infrastructure projects in rural communities at the first Senate field hearing held in Flagstaff in more than 30 years.
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A new children’s book tells the story of a young farmhand–turned–astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh who spotted Pluto from Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory. Sedona author Diane Phelps Budden hopes it will inspire children to chase their dreams.
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A recent report highlights the difficulty of getting bank loans on the Navajo and Hopi nations. It found a lack of access to banking services has profound effects on housing, business, and public health.
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The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released a draft plan Wednesday responding to the invasion of nonnative, predatory fish in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam.
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The Forest Service recently released a proposal to revise its forest management plans to protect old-growth trees. KNAU spoke about this unprecedented effort with Andrew Sanchez Meador, executive director of NAU's Ecological Restoration Institute.
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A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Havasupai Tribe identifies Tribal concerns about exposure to uranium mining in the Grand Canyon watershed.
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The shrinking shoreline of Lake Powell has revealed a wonder: an extraordinary collection of fossil bones from the Early Jurassic period that offers a glimpse into the life of a now-extinct creature called a tritylodontid.