Oct 24, 2017

Dan Brown named director of UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences

Man with blonde hair and dark-rimmed glasses, wearing a blue sport coat, khaki pants and a tie sits on a bench. He is smiling at the camera, and has one arm propped up on the back of the bench. Stairs are in the background.

UW Environment is pleased to announce that Dan Brown will be joining the University of Washington as the new director of the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, effective January 1, 2018. As director, Dan will play a vital role in guiding the School’s academic growth and developing new initiatives, providing leadership and management of its programs, centers, and research grants, allocating its revenues in a manner that supports its mission, and enhancing its sizable and growing endowment.

50 simulations show how a 9.0 Cascadia earthquake could play out

We know the "really big one" is coming. But what exactly is going to happen in cities along the coast?

Mountain glaciers shrinking across the West

Student sitting alongside large rocks with scientific equipment set up around him, large glacier and mountains in the background.

Until recently, glaciers in the United States have been measured in two ways: placing stakes in the snow, as federal scientists have done each year since 1957 at South Cascade Glacier in Washington state; or tracking glacier area using photographs from airplanes and satellites. We now have a third, much more powerful tool. While he was a doctoral student in University of Washington’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences, David Shean devised new ways to use high-resolution satellite images to track elevation changes for massive ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland.

New faculty and recent faculty promotions at UW Environment (2017-2018)

New faculty at UW Environment Sixteen outstanding new faculty members with a wide range of experiences and expertise have recently started or will soon start at UW’s College of the Environment. The College community — its undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff — will benefit immensely from their contributions during the 2017-2018 academic year and beyond. The College’s impressive group of scientists and researchers now includes: Andrew Berdahl, assistant professor, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences Edward Blanchard, research assistant professor, Atmospheric Sciences Greg Bratman, assistant professor, Environmental and Forest Sciences Randelle (Randie) Bundy, assistant professor, Oceanography Shuyi Chen, professor, Atmospheric Sciences Sarah Converse, associate professor, Environmental and Forest Sciences and Aquatic and Fishery Sciences T.J.

Study points to win-win for spotted owls and forest management

Two spotted owls sitting on a tree branch.

Remote sensing technology has detected what could be a win for both spotted owls and forestry management, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station and the University of Washington. For 25 years, many forests in the western United States have been managed to protect habitat for endangered and threatened spotted owls.