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Recognize This?

We have finally set the date for this year’s SEFS Recognition Event: Monday, May 19, from 4-6 p.m. in the Forest Club Room. (Our apologies to everyone attending the Wildlife Seminar; we hope you’ll join us immediately afterward.) For those who haven’t been to this event before, it’s a wonderful occasion to recognize fellow students and colleagues who have made exemplary contributions to our school and the academic community. There will be catered snacks, a silent auction to raise money for the SEFS student scholarship fund, an expansive wine tasting, beer and other beverages, and a host of honors and awards presented—in short, a truly excellent time. We are making a few changes to the awards program this year, so keep an eye out for a formal announcement with the call for nominations in the next day or two!

BLOG BITS

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Video: Pack Forest Spring Planting

For spring break this year, Katherine Turner of UW Marketing & Communications spent a day down at the Pack Forest Spring Planting to film some of the students taking part in this 75-plus-year-old tradition. Check out the great little video she put together!

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SEFS Seminar Series: Spring 2014

This quarter might feature the most diverse slate of speakers and topics yet, with talks from authors and artists mixed in with professors and agency professionals. So mark your calendars for Tuesdays from 3:30-4:20 p.m., and join us in Anderson 223 for as many talks as you can.

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Join the Pack Forest Summer Crew!

Every summer, a hardy crew of SEFS students heads down to Pack Forest for two months of hands-on field training in forest management. It’s one of our oldest field traditions, and also one of the most memorable, so take a look at the opportunities coming up this summer!

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This Thursday: Sustaining Our World Lecture!

Held in Kane Hall 210 from 6-7 p.m., this year’s lecture features Michael Green of Michael Green Architecture for his talk, “PLANT CUT BUILD REPEAT: Natural solutions to complex problems.” The lecture is free and open to the public, but please RSVP in advance to make sure we don’t run out of seating.

UPCOMING EVENTS


April 7, 2014:

Wildlife Science Seminar, 3:30-4:30 p.m., ARC 137

April 8, 2014:

SEFS Seminar Series, 3:30-4:30 p.m., AND 223

April 10, 2014:

Sustaining Our World Lecture, 6-7 p.m., Kane 210

April 27, 2014:

SEFS Spring Gathering, 4-7 p.m., CUH

 

GET INVOLVED

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ANNOUNCEMENTS & KUDOS

This past Friday, SEFS doctoral student Meghan Halabisky gave a talk as part of the terrific Evening Talks at ONRC speaker series: “Taking the Pulse of Washington's Wetlands: How Will They Respond to a Changing Climate?”

In other outreach news, Professor Sergey Rabotyagov and three other researchers were invited to write a guest post for the London School of Economics and Political Science policy blog, “Economists must work together with scientists to address the problem of ‘dead zones’ such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico.” Professor Rabotyagov was lead author on the study. Nice work!

On the office front, in case you missed the news last week, we had to say farewell to Shannon Armitage, who has been a pillar of support and helpfulness all over the school, and especially in Anderson 107. We are thrilled for her next move, though, as a park ranger in Bellevue—good luck, Shannon, and stay in touch!

Into this void has stepped the exceedingly able Abraham Ngu, who hasn’t missed a beat! Ngu is in his first year as a master’s student here, and we are very pleased to welcome him into the office fold.

In other happy welcomes—or rather, happy returns—you may have seen a wonderfully familiar face in these halls once again, as Michelle Trudeau has returned from maternity leave. Great to have you back, Michelle, and big kudos to everyone who chipped in while you were out, from Amanda Davis and Lisa Nordlund to Matt Norton and Gina Gould!

PUBLICATIONS

Professor Jon Bakker is a coauthor on a paper in the April issue of BioScience, “Natural History’s Place in Science and Society.” Sandra Hines of UW News recently featured the study in a story highlighted on the University of Washington homepage, “Decline of natural history troubling for science, society.” Nice work, Jon!

Also, Affiliate Professor Dave Peterson has a new book out, Climate Change and United States Forests, published as part of the Advances in Global Change Research series (Vol. 57). Great stuff!

SEFS IN THE PRESS

This spring, using a model Professor Soo-Hyung Kim helped build, the Washington Post produced a short article with an infographic on peak cherry blossom predictions in Washington, D.C. There, the peak is yet to come, predicted for April 10. Locally, Kim’s model predicted March 24 for the UW quad Yoshino cherries—the same variety as the dominant tidal basin cherries in D.C.—which was much earlier than usual. Very cool!

ALUMNI UPDATES

The Soil Science Society of America recently elected Dr. Brian Strahm (Ph.D., 2006) as Chair-Elect of the Forest, Range, and Wildland Soils Division. He will serve as Division Chair-Elect in 2015, as Division Chair in 2016, and as Past Chair in 2017. Past alumni who have served as chairs or board reps of this division include Professor Darlene Zabowski, Helga Van Miegroet and Dale Johnson, as well as John McColl, Stan Gessel, Neil Foster, Gray Henderson and Dale Cole. Congratulations, Brian!

The annual SEFS Alumni Spring Gathering is coming up on Sunday, April 27, at the Center for Urban Horticulture. This year’s event will be a potluck-style barbecue from 4-7 p.m., and in addition to other activities we’ll be honoring the career of Jim Brown, class of ’62, for his decades of work in forestry. Check out the event details, and RSVP as soon as possible to help organizers plan for the right number of mouths to feed!

Also, don’t forget the Alumni Career Mentoring Event coming up on Wednesday, April 16, from 4-6 p.m. in the Forest Club Room. Co-hosted by Xi Sigma Pi and the SEFS Alumni Group, the event will allow students to network with alumni working in the public and private sectors, including representatives from Weyerhaeuser, King County and the Stockholm Environmental Institute.