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Three College of the Environment faculty members named AAAS fellows

Eric Steig and Julia Parish

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has named three faculty members from the University of Washington College of the Environment as AAAS Fellows, according to a Nov. 26 announcement. They are part of a cohort of 443 new fellows for 2019, all chosen by their peers for “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.” The three College of the Environment faculty members who have been named as fellows are: Julia Parrish, professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and the Department of Biology, is elected for her work in marine ecology. 

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How do we know so much about ancient climates?

Isolab grad student Lindsey Davidge

Scientists know a lot about the Earth’s climate. Over the past sixty years, they have collected temperature and precipitation information, measured the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, and charted the changing weather. But what if we want to compare today’s climate to past climates—say, a million years ago or more? Traces of those past climates—referred to as paleoclimates—remain in rocks and ice as particles that once made up the ancient atmosphere, rain and soil. 

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Small but mighty: five small things that have big impacts

beaver

To better understand big picture issues, it can sometimes be useful to bust out the magnifying glass and zoom in on the smaller details. Over the years, University of Washington College of the Environment researchers have discovered a multitude of ways in which seemingly small things can have giant impacts on much larger systems. We’ve compiled a list of five of the best examples of things UW researchers discovered that are small, but mighty. 

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World Tsunami Awareness Day: what are the risks and how can we prepare?

The coast of the Pacific Northwest from space.

In the depths of the Pacific Ocean, just off the upper West Coast of the United States, a collision between an unstoppable force and an immovable object has been gathering energy for hundreds of years. The Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ), where the Juan de Fuca and North American tectonic plates meet, must release this pent up energy eventually in an event many refer to as “the really big one”. 

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