Tim Pippert, associate professor of sociology, was among the first sociologists to visit the Bakken oilfield region in western North Dakota and to research the social effects of the area’s rapid growth. Pippert contributed his expertise to a series of stories by the Forum News Service about sex trafficking in the Bakken, and the articles have been republished by media ranging from the Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minn., to the Daily Republic in Mitchell, S.D.