ANNOUNCEMENTS & KUDOS

First up is a final reminder to RSVP for our annual retreat—which is open to all faculty, staff and students—coming up this Wednesday, September 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Mountaineers (7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115). This year’s theme, “Collaboration, Cooperation and Community,” will draw on all perspectives in our school community, and the day will include a continental breakfast to start the day, lunch and then a casual reception (with beer and wine) at the end of the afternoon. Breakfast is from 8:30 to 9 a.m., and we are likely to adjourn the hard work around 3 p.m. for the reception. Short and sweet!

In case you missed the Great Anderson Office Shuffle of 2016, our Financial Services team has relocated downstairs to Anderson 107, and a couple other folks have moved as well. Take note below of where you’ll be able to find everyone!

1. Jack Lockhart is now in Anderson 107F.
2. Shawn Williams is now working in the cubicle across from Jack’s office.
3. Laurine Knott is working in the cubicle next to K.C. at the front desk.
4. Margie Cooper and Lynne Hendrix are now sharing Anderson 107C, along with Lynn Catlett on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
5. Leta Kao, who has transitioned into a role as our HR manager, has moved into Wendy Star’s office in Anderson 107D; Leta will also be helping with state, local and gift budgets.
6. Sally Morgan and Laura Davis have moved into Anderson 107E.
7. We will have more information to share soon about plans for the Anderson 216 suite now that it’s been vacated.

From there we’ll jump to some kudos to Laurine Knott, who donated a Kurig machine to the Anderson Hall kitchen to spice up our coffee options!

Kudos, as well, to Caileigh Shoot—former SEFS undergrad and now incoming SEFS graduate student!—who was in Kraków, Poland, for the 3rd Workshop of the Special Interest Group on Forestry, organized by the European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories (EARSeL) and University of Agriculture in Kraków. Caileigh, who will be working with Professor Monika Moskal, was there as a student volunteer, presenter and session chair. Great stuff!

On September 7 and 8, Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest hosted its fifth and final annual meeting in Walla Walla, Wash. The two-day meeting included representatives from AHB’s advisory board, the USDA and other project partners.

Oh, and if you have any time before the end of the month, we strongly recommend strolling up to the UW Tower to see local artist Cheryl A. Richey’s show, Arbor Intelligence, which explores the subtle power and mystery of trees—and includes a number of “tree truths” that our own graduate students provided. All you need is a Husky Card, and you can tour the selection of paintings for free in the UW Tower’s Mezzanine Gallery daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Don’t miss it!

COMMITTEE NOTES

Nothing new to report.

SEMINAR SCHEDULES

Wildlife Seminar: Schedule TBD.

SEFS Senior Seminar: Schedule TBD.

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

PUBLICATIONS

SEFS doctoral candidate Melissa Pingree is the lead author on a new publication in Geoderma, “Adsorption capacity of wildfire-produced charcoal from Pacific Northwest forests.” Co-authors include SEFS Director Tom DeLuca (and his son Emile!).

Tom was a coauthor on two other papers, as well, including one with doctoral student Si Gao as the lead author (and master’s student Amanda Bidwell as a coauthor), “Locally produced wood biochar increases nutrient retention and availability in agricultural soils of the San Juan Islands," published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and the Environment; and then in Microbial Ecology, “Long-term recovery of microbial communities in the boreal bryosphere following fire disturbance.”

SEFS IN THE PRESS

Earlier today, Michelle Ma at UW News posted a great story, “Microbes help plants survive in severe drought,” that highlights research from a new paper in Current Plant Ecology, “Growth enhancement and drought tolerance of hybrid poplar upon inoculation with endophyte consortia.” The paper has a number of SEFS contributors, including lead author Zareen Khan along with Tony Rho, Soo-Hyung Kim and Sharon Doty.

A couple issues ago, you may remember we wrote about a new publication about morels that involved several SEFS-connected authors. On September 2, Scientific American wrote an excellent piece about that research, “In the Year Following Fire, a Mushroom Bonanza.”

Also, other stories covering Carol Bogezi’s Bullitt Foundation prize include features on EarthFix (“How A Ugandan Farmer Came To Washington To Study Wolves”), seattlepi (“UW grad student from Uganda gets $100,000 Bullitt Environmental Prize”) and the Capitol Hill blog (“10th Bullitt Environmental Prize Recognizes Wildlife Conservation Leader”).

ALUMNI UPDATES

On September 7, the Seattle Times ran a fun career spotlight of SEFS alumna Alicia Robbins (’04, M.S.; ’11, Ph.D.), “Forest resource economist Alicia Robbins’ cool job.”

SEFS alumnus Tom Hanson (’71, B.S.) has been recognized by the Society of American Foresters as a 2016 fellow, and he was also honored with a Presidential Field Forester Award for Voting District 1 (Pacific Northwest). Tom will receive the awards at the 2016 SAF National Convention coming up this November in Madison, Wis.