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Growing the UW Farm

This morning, the UW Farm launched a USEED crowdfunding campaign with the goal of raising $9,000 to build a new cob oven and structure, reusable and portable hoop houses, and a new wash station. Based at the Center for Urban Horticulture, the UW Farm is a student-driven urban farm that inspires students to think critically about our food system, while also providing them a physical space to experiment and learn about urban agriculture. Our first USEED project was a great success for the Predator Ecology Lab, so learn more about this exciting campaign and help spread the word!

BLOG BITS

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Staff Appreciation Pancake Breakfast

Xi Sigma Pi is very pleased to show its syrupy gratitude for all SEFS administrative and custodial staff at the annual pancake breakfast, coming up next Tuesday, February 17, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the Forest Club Room!

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Two SEFS Researchers Awarded Wilburforce Fellowships

This January, Wilburforce Foundation and COMPASS announced the first group of 20 scientists awarded the newly established Wilburforce Fellowship in Conservation Science, and two SEFS researchers—Professor Jon Bakker and postdoc Lauren Urgensonwere among the honorees!

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Graduate Student Symposium: March 6

The 12th annual symposium—coming up on Friday, March 6, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Forest Club Room—highlights the research of our graduate and undergraduate students through presentations and a poster session. This year’s theme is “Clear as Mud: Interpreting a Changing World,” so check out the schedule—and if you plan to present, don't forget that abstracts are due by February 20!

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Pack Forest Spring Planting: March 23-27

For more than 75 years, SEFS students have been spending a week down at Pack Forest as part of the annual spring planting. It's a hallowed tradition that helps shape the forest for generations to come, so sign up to leave your own mark this Spring Break!

UPCOMING EVENTS


Feb. 9, 2015:

Wildlife Seminar, 3:30-4:50 p.m., Smith 120

Feb. 10, 2015:

Water Seminar, 8:30-9:20 a.m., AND 223

Feb. 11, 2015:

SEFS Seminar Series, 3:30-4:20 p.m., AND 223

April 2, 2015:

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

 

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ANNOUNCEMENTS & KUDOS

For those who haven’t heard the great news, former postdoc Shannon Ewanick was hired this quarter to serve as an instructor for several courses, including BSE 201 and 202 (introduction to pulp, paper and bioproducts) this winter, and then BSE 426 (bioresources lab) in the spring. Her new office is BLD 334. Congratulations, Shannon!

In other excellent news, thanks to some clever sleuthing and fancy footwork, Michelle Trudeau was able to move this spring’s graduation ceremony to Kane 130! It’s a MUCH bigger space—with a stage—which means no more overflow guests in a separate room. We’ll also be bumping the ceremony up earlier in the day to 10 a.m. on Friday, June 12, with a lunch reception to follow. Nicely done!

John Hayes shared two updates from the Mount Rainier Institute (MRI), starting with an announcement that registration is now open for the fall 2015 school overnight programs. Also, MRI is hosting an open house on Saturday, February 28, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will be great opportunity for folks to learn about MRI programs and see their fantastic facilities at Pack Forest. If you’re able to come, please RSVP for the event and pass the word along to anyone else who might be interested.

On the seminar front, we have a fantastic series of talks, panels and workshops to announce, starting tomorrow, February 10, when the College of the Environment is co-sponsoring a guest talk featuring Jorge Armando López Pocol, a Guatemalan community activist and founder of the Chico Mendes Reforestation Project. The talk begins at 4:30 p.m. in Thomson Hall, Room 101.

Then, this Wednesday, February 11, at 5:30 p.m. in the Forest Club Room, the UW Biodiesel Cooperative is hosting a biofuel panel and discussion featuring Michael Lakeman from Boeing, Kevin Kuper from Sequential Pacific, and our own Professor Renata Bura. All are invited and welcome to attend, and light refreshments will be provided.

After that, coming up next week on Tuesday, February 17, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Anderson 22, you are invited to join a guest lecture with Professor Michael Nelson of Oregon State University: “The Science and Philosophy of Isle Royale Wolves and Moose: Toward the Inevitable Fusion.” Isle Royale is a remote wilderness island in Lake Superior, North America, and home to the longest continuous study of a predator-prey system in the world.

Two days later, on Thursday, February 19, Professor Dorothy Paun will be presenting a seminar, “Mindfulness, Sustainability, and the Environment,” for the UW Mindfulness Project. Space is limited, so don't hesitate if you’re interested!

Finally, on Tuesday, March 10, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Kane 130, Xi Sigma Pi is hosting a guest lecture with Niall McCann, “Life on the Conservation Front Line.” McCann is a conservationist and adventurer who hosts a show on the Discovery channel, Biggest and Baddest. In his talk, he’ll be describing his endangered species research in remote and challenging environments across the world, and how he has been able to bridge the gap between science and policy and have a direct impact on international conservation.

On the kudos front, as you might have heard—especially if you attended the terrific Pecha Kucha night last Wednesday—the new SEFS chapter, or “local committee,” of the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA) received official recognition from IFSA International! We know it was a long, rigorous process, so congratulations are very much in order. Also, if you’d like to learn more about what they do and get involved, you can join an IFSA General Membership meeting this Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the Forest Club room.

We also have some kudos for SEFS postdoc Lisa Hannon, who spent last Friday down in Olympia as part of the “Huskies on the Hill” event hosted by the Graduate and Professional Student Senate. Hannon was there to talk about research in Professor Sharon Doty’s Plant Microbiology Lab, and also to lobby for greater funding for graduate student research in general. Good stuff!

We have some slightly belated kudos, as well, for Professor Christian Torgersen, who traveled to Chichester, England, last quarter to attend the editorial board meeting for the journal WIREs Water. At this meeting, he helped them define the scientific scope of the journal, and how to conduct and referee peer review. On the same trip, Professor Torgersen also traveled to Paris, France, to meet with the French IRSTEA Fluvial Hydro-Ecology Team, and he gave two lectures on advances in riverine science and mapping. Great work, Christian!

On the IT front, Shane Krause recently alerted us to a couple new posts on the SEFS Helpdesk blog, so make sure to check out the latest updates: the first is about our ongoing migration out of the old CFR Windows domain into UW’s NetID domain; and the second is about the new Canon copier in Anderson Hall.

COMMITTEE NOTES

This afternoon, the search committee for the new BSE faculty position will meet and then deliver its recommendations at the faculty meeting tomorrow.

Four finalists have been selected for the new wildlife faculty position, and each will be on campus to give a talk in the next month—all as part of the normally scheduled SEFS Seminar Series from 3:30 to 4:20 p.m. in AND 223. The first of the four talks will be held this Wednesday, February 11 (more details to come). 

PUBLICATIONS

SEFS postdoc Nabin Baral has a new publication in The Journal of Sustainable Tourism, “Assessing the temporal stability of the ecotourism evaluation scale: testing the role and value of replication studies as a reliable management tool.”

SEFS IN THE PRESS

SEFS alumna Andrea Watts wrote a new article in TimberWest that profiles the Vashon Forest Stewards and the forest management work that David Warren and Derek Churchill are doing on the island: “Vashon Forest Stewards: Selling a new vision of forestry to the public.” Great stuff, Andrea!

Also, SEFS Professor Sergey Rabotyagov’s PNAS article from a couple months ago continues to generate great media coverage, including a new story out in Grist, “We can fix the Gulf dead zone—for $2.7 billion a year.”

ALUMNI UPDATES

Kevin Zobrist, who earned his B.S in 2000 and then his master’s in 2001, just had a book published, Native Trees of Western Washington, and he’ll be doing a book signing at the UW Bookstore next Tuesday, February 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. Zobrist is an associate professor at Washington State University, and he oversees the Extension Forestry program in Everett, Wash. Congratulations, Kevin!