16 news posts from April 2014

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Professor partners with Microsoft Research to visualize ocean investigations

Parker MacCready, professor at the School of Oceanography, finished up a stint as a Visiting Researcher at Microsoft Research last fall, utilizing the newest technology to advance the study of ocean acidification and other ocean sciences. Microsoft Research has the express goal of collaborating “with the world’s top researchers to develop technologies that help solve global challenges.” Ocean acidification is a phenomenon that will adversely affect the Puget Sound region, thus Parker spent four months partnering with the Earth, Energy, and Environment section of Microsoft Research Connections. 

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Dean's Letter: Knitting together a complete picture of our planet

Luca Galuzzi

Earth Day, April 22, marks a time for the world to celebrate and demonstrate support for a healthy environment. In appreciation for nature and its importance for our own health and well-being, people all over the world come together to plant trees, coordinate recycling drives, and share the most equitable and sustainable ways to steward our environment. From my point of view, at the College of the Environment, every day is Earth Day! 

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Oceanography director helps bring major private funding to UW

The Washington Research Foundation (WRF), a private nonprofit group that funds research and initiatives to commercialize innovations in the state, is making a $30 million grant to University of Washington efforts in data science, clean energy, protein design, and neuroengineering. The grant will help to attract and retain top tier faculty and post-doctoral researchers who work across multiple disciplines, with an emphasis on entrepreneurial researchers adept at advancing scientific discoveries from laboratory to society. 

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Spotlight: Aaron Wirsing, Environmental and Forest Sciences

Front and center in Aaron Wirsing’s office is a framed and colorful drawing of killer whales chasing down dinner—seals, fish, dolphins, other frightened sea creatures.  The artist?  A 10-year-old Aaron, inspired by the nature television shows of his youth.  “Predators always fascinated me.  Nothing’s changed!,” said Wirsing. Now an assistant professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, he still pursues his passion for predators.  

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Puget Sound’s rich waters supplied by deep, turbulent canyon

Juan De Fuca Canyon

The headwaters for Puget Sound’s famously rich waters lie far below the surface, in a submarine canyon that draws nutrient-rich water up from the deep ocean. New measurements may explain how the Pacific Northwest’s inland waters are able to support so many shellfish, salmon runs and even the occasional pod of whales.University of Washington oceanographers made the first detailed measurements at the headwater’s source, a submarine canyon offshore from the strait that separates the U.S. 

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