Straight-Grain-Banner

SG_Spotlight_111416.jpg

Undergrad Spotlight: Linnea Kessler

Last winter and spring, ESRM major Linnea Kessler spent two quarters in Tanzania with the School for Field Studies, a study-abroad program that offers students immersive experiences through field-based learning and research. In addition to taking a range of courses, from Swahili to environmental policy and wildlife management, Linnea got to carry out a research study on the chestnut-banded plover, a near-threatened species that’s endemic to the area. Read more about her experience, including the findings of her research project!

BLOG BITS

SG_BlogBits1_111416.jpg

SEFS Christmas Tree Sale: Place Your Orders!

Thanks to an outpouring of volunteers to assist Caileigh Shoot, we are very pleased to announce that our annual tree sale is ready to roll. The plan is to have all orders in hand by Friday, December 2, to cut the trees the next day, and have them ready for pick-up on Sunday, December 4, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Place your orders today!

SG_BlogBits2_111416.jpg

Brian Thompson Named to National Awards Committee

Brian, who manages the Elisabeth C. Miller Library, was recently appointed to the American Horticultural Society’s Book Award committee for a three-year term. He will join six other horticultural professionals across the county in reviewing and presenting awards to the authors and publishers of the best North American books on gardening from the last year.

SG_BlogBits3_111416.jpg

Fall Seminar: Landscapes on the Edge

This Tuesday and Wednesday, November 15 and 16, the UW Botanic Gardens is hosting a two-day seminar about landscape and restoration projects. This program is designed to educate attendees about the vulnerable nature of marine shorelines and provide guidance and instruction on how to better initiate, design and implement successful landscape and restoration projects. Learn more!

SG_BlogBits4_111416.jpg

Today (11/14): Introducing Google Earth Engine

As part of Geohackweek, which runs today through Friday, you are invited to a free public lecture by Google developers introducing the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The event will run this afternoon from 3:30 to 4:25 p.m. Anderson 223. RSVP if you’re able to make it!

UPCOMING EVENTS


Nov. 30, 2016:

SEFS Women in Science, 4:30-6 p.m., AND 207

Dec. 2, 2016:

Dead Elk Holiday Party, 5 p.m. - ??

Dec. 7, 2016:

SEFS Holiday Party, 4:30-6:30 p.m., AND 207

Dec. 13, 2016:

Farewell Party for Tom, 4-7 p.m., Big Time Brewery

 

GET SOCIAL WITH SEFS

Like your news and updates on a daily basis? “Like” SEFS on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, and help promote our school!

ANNOUNCEMENTS & KUDOS

First, on the events front, the Xi Sigma Pi forestry honor society will be hosting another installment of its great “Tour de Labs” program this Tuesday, November 15, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Tour de Labs is a terrific opportunity for you to see labs and research in action, and to find out where your colleagues work. Meet in the Forest Club Room promptly at 2:30 p.m., and the tour will commence from there. You'll be touring the the Fire and Mountain Ecology Lab, Landscape Ecology and Conservation Lab, Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis Lab (RSGAL), Chemical Analysis Lab, Sustainable Forestry Lab, and the Paper and Bioresource Science Center. Refreshments will be provided, and you can contact Xi Sigma Pi for more info. Also, right around 5 p.m., you are invited to adjourn to Shultzy’s for a Dead Elk Society happy hour!

On Wednesday, November 30, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Forest Club Room, all faculty, staff, postdocs and students in SEFS are welcome to join the first meeting of the new “Women in Science” group! At this initial meeting, we’ll discuss ideas of what the group will do and get feedback on what will serve our community the most. Some ideas are focused discussions (e.g., impostor syndrome, job options), skills sessions (e.g., negotiating, conflict resolution), and panels and sessions with invited speakers to hear about their personal career paths. We're also open to other ideas like a yoga class or lunchtime walks, or whatever works for people. The group is meant to support each other and there are a number of ways to do that, so they welcome suggestions, comments or thoughts. And if you can't make it to the first meeting, but you are interested and would like to receive further emails, contact Professor Beth Gardner or Kelsey Taylor!

Other gatherings on the horizon include Dead Elk’s Annual Holiday Party on Friday, December 2, from 5 p.m. until your witching hour in the Forest Club Room; our annual SEFS Holiday Party on Wednesday, December 7, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Forest Club Room, which will feature catered snacks, a potluck dessert competition and our usual enormous selection of wine (and beer); and then a farewell party for Tom DeLuca on Tuesday, December 13, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Big Time Brewery.

From there, we’ll jump to some kudos to senior ESRM major Corrine Hoffman, who received $250 in funding to complete her capstone project. She is working with Professor David Butman in his Biogeochemistry Lab assessing the chemistry of a local Seattle waterway, Thornton Creek. They will be sampling this waterway during high-flow events using an Isco Sampler, which allows them to take multiple samples as the water levels change. They are aiming—weather permitting—to model how these fluxes are affected by length of time between precipitation events. They will focus on carbon sequestration/emission, and in particular on pollutants as they change during the course of these events. Good stuff!

Kudos to senior ERSM major Rachel Yonemura, who received $150 in funding for her capstone project. This funding will help supply Rachel with the materials to study a different angle of Thornton Creek with the Biogeochemistry Lab. Urban streams that were once productive salmon-spawning ecosystems are now highly altered ecosystems that reflect the impacts of human land-use change. With Thornton Creek, Rachel will be helping uncover the impact these changes have had on the carbon biogeochemistry of this urban water system. Preliminary data suggest that this creek is supersaturated in both dissolved carbon and dissolved methane. These findings suggest that local land use has an impact on the concentrations of dissolved gases in the surrounding water bodies, with implications for urban streams as localized sources of carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere. Data on nutrients and stream metabolism will supplement this data to provide an additional indicator of the health of Thornton Creek. Nice work!

Kudos, as well, to doctoral candidate Carol Bogezi, who recently presented as part of the inaugural One Health Day, an event dedicated to promoting awareness of an interdisciplinary approach to addressing health at the human/animal/environmental interface: “Investigating factors that influence human-wolf coexistence in Washington State.”

And kudos, finally, to doctoral student Laurel Peelle, who once again participated in the wonderful “Meet the Mammals” event at the Burke Museum on Saturday, November 5!

Teresa Bresee from the Pacific Northwest CESU passed along a great research fellowship opportunity at Acadia National Park in Maine. The Second Century Research Fellowship is open to early-career scientists, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, and it seeks to advance conservation and ecosystem science and support stewardship of park resources. The Research Fellowships will include professional learning opportunities, including mentorship, training in science communication, and interaction with educators and resource managers. Each fellowship will include a cash award of up to $20,000 for projects to be completed within one to two years. Three research fellowships will be awarded early in 2017, and applications are due November 21so learn more and act fast!

Reminder—Science Communication Fellowship for Students: Washington Sea Grant, a unit in the College of the Environment, is recruiting applicants for a paid, two-quarter communications fellowship that will enable students to build portfolios that help them gain recognition as writers and communicators by sharing marine knowledge with WSG's diverse audiences. Fellows may write features for Sea Star, manage a media list, blog about coastal research or develop their own multimedia projects to connect people with marine science that matters. Graduate and upper-level undergraduate students in any field from Washington universities and colleges may apply. Applicants must demonstrate strong writing skills, a good general grounding in the sciences, and a special interest in marine science, education or policy. Application deadline is November 18, so contact sgfellow@u.washington.edu for more information!

Also on the fellowship front, the Pinchot Institute for Conservation is accepting applications for a one-year, potentially renewable fellowship position—focused on carbon management, incentives and markets—in its Portland office, with potential for flexible work location. Pinchot Institute Fellows collaborate with other researchers and policy specialists within and outside the Pinchot Institute to identify, develop and test new policies and business models for solving the complex conservation challenges of the 21st century. This fellowship opportunity in the Western Regional Office will involve coordinating a regional partnership deploying technical and financial assistance to family forest owners in Western Oregon and Washington focused on facilitating access to ecosystem markets. Learn more about the position, compensation and application process.


hr

COMMITTEE NOTES

Nothing new to report, but we should have the final word on the interim director in the next few days.


hr

SEMINAR SCHEDULES

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

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


hr

PUBLICATIONS

SEFS Research Scientist Jessica E. Halofsky is lead author on a new paper in Forests, “Developing and Implementing Climate Change Adaptation Options in Forest Ecosystems: A Case Study in Southwestern Oregon, USA.” SEFS Affiliate Professor Dave Peterson is one of the coauthors.


hr

SEFS IN THE PRESS

On November 11, Professor Laura Prugh was one of several scientists who contributed to an article on KUOW, “Dark days ahead: American professors on Trump presidency.”

Also, we have the link from Professor Josh Lawler’s great KOMO radio interview on November 1, “Can video games educate people about the environment?


hr

ALUMNI UPDATES

This October, our alumna Vicki Christiansen (’83, B.S.) was named Associate Deputy Chief, State and Private Forestry, for the U.S. Forest Service!

Also, Brian Thompson wasn’t the only SEFS connection appointed to the American Horticultural Society’s Book Award committee, as alumnus Augustus “Jenks” Farmer (’93, M.S.) will also be among the seven committee members!