ANNOUNCEMENTS & KUDOS

We have some great kudos for Kathleen DeMaria and David Zuckerman, who submitted a successful proposal to the University of Washington’s Green Seed Fund to improve sustainability at the university. The grant will allow the UW Botanic Gardens to purchase two service vehicles for the Arboretum—one electric and one converted to run on biodiesel. Staff and students will then be evaluating their fuel consumption, as well as staff satisfaction with the new vehicles, during the next year. Nice work!

Shannon Armitage sends some kudos, as well, for several students who helped her remove the massive Christmas tree from the Forest Club Room. Special thanks to Matthew Aghai, Lord K. Ameyaw and Kiwoong Lee for kindly shouldering that load!

We also have some last-minute kudos this morning for Anita Smith, who (heroically) brought in her own coffeemaker to help fill the void while our old machine is on the fritz. You can measure the appreciation in all the happy chirping coming from the kitchen, where gloom and silent mourning had reigned for the past week. Thank you for this generous burst of life, Anita!

Coming up on Friday, February 7, at 6:30 p.m. out at the Olympic Natural Resources Center (ONRC), you’re invited to attend another terrific installment of the Evening Talks at ONRC speaker series: “Living in Twilight: How Plants Survive in the Darkest Forest.” This talk will feature Shawn Behling, a doctoral student in the Canopy Dynamics Lab at SEFS, who will be describing her current research into the role of light and plant development. All are welcome, so come out if you can! Contact Ellen Matheny if you have any questions.

In other news, Professor Sarah Reichard will be speaking at a special symposium at a joint meeting of the Weed Science Society of America and the Canadian Weed Science Society in Vancouver, B.C, on February 5. She will then be the keynote speaker on Thursday, February 13, at the North Rockies Invasive Plant Council Conference in Spokane. After that, of course, she heads off to lead a 10-day study tour of Cuba on February 18!

PUBLICATIONS

Professor Kristiina Vogt reports that one of her graduating Ph.D. students, Jason Scullion, as well as former Ph.D. student Lloyd Nackley (who is currently a post-doc in South Africa), have new publications in press. Scullion is a co-author with Vogt and three others on a new piece in Biological Conservation, “Assessing the influence of land cover change and conflicting land-use authorizations on ecosystem conversion on the forest frontier of Madre de Dios, Peru,” while Nackley is a co-author with Vogt and Soo-Hyung Kim on a study coming out in Agricultural Water Management, “Arundo donax water use and photosynthetic responses to drought and elevated CO2.”

Also, Alina Cansler and co-author Don McKenzie have a publication in press with Ecological Applications, “Climate, fire size, and biophysical setting control fire severity and spatial pattern in the northern Cascade Range, USA.” The pre-prints are available online.

SEFS IN THE PRESS

In a recent NPR story, “Whole Foods Bans Produce Grown With Sludge. But Who Wins?” Professor Sally Brown addresses public misconceptions about biosolids, and how the Whole Foods decision is based on business, not on environmental science.

And in case you missed the fantastic slideshow of Jack DeLap’s sketches, Sandra Hines put together a great set for UW News!

ALUMNI UPDATES

Speaking of Jason Scullion, he recently accepted a tenure-track position at McDaniel College, a liberal arts school of about 1,800 students in Westminster, Md. Scullion will be an assistant professor of environmental studies, and he’ll be teaching conservation and environmental policy courses in the Department of Environmental Studies. Congratulations, Jason!