University of Washington is a core member of newly announced New York Climate Exchange
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the Trust for Governors Island on April 24 announced that a consortium led by Stony Brook University will found and develop a world-leading climate solutions center on Governors Island in the city’s harbor. The New York Climate Exchange will be a first-of-its kind international center for developing and deploying dynamic solutions to our global climate crisis.
The University of Washington is among the core partners of the consortium, along with Georgia Institute of Technology, Pace University, the Pratt Institute, the Good Old Lower East Side community group, Boston Consulting Group and IBM. Other academic partners include Duke University, Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford.
“We are very proud to bring our University’s deep and diverse strengths in climate and clean energy research and innovation to the New York Climate Exchange,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce. “As the only core partner on the West Coast, we are excited to leverage our regional and global relationships to accelerate efforts to address and adapt to the impacts of climate change. This work is vital and urgent for the health and survival of our people and our world.”
In addition to convening the world’s leaders and climate experts, the exchange will host green job training and skills-building programs and partner with local institutions on addressing the social and practical challenges created by climate change.
“The UW serves as a global hub for innovative research into climate change action and adaptation, and the resources and relationships provided by the Climate Exchange will help us grow our impact even further,” said Maya Tolstoy, Maggie Walker Dean of the UW College of the Environment. “This is a truly exciting partnership, and it presents a fantastic opportunity for us to collaborate with a diverse group of peers across academia, business and community organizations.”
Four students from UW Environment honored in 2023 Husky 100
Congratulations to four College of the Environment students recognized in the 2023 Husky 100!
The Husky 100 actively connect what happens inside and outside of the classroom and apply what they learn to make a difference on campus, in their communities and for the future. Through their passion, leadership and commitment, these students inspire all of us to shape our own Husky Experience.
Through UW, I have been granted valuable experiences where I worked towards achieving equity in my community and strived for growth as an advocate. As a Southeast Asian woman in STEM, I ultimately hope to encourage others from marginalized backgrounds to reach for their dreams despite the trials and tribulations they may encounter along the way. Although my Husky experience was initially filled with many obstacles and redirected paths, I can say with certainty that I am finally where I belong and I will continue to fight for the equity and environmental justice that my south Seattle community deserves.
GULSIMA YOUNG
Pullman, WA
B.A. Environmental Studies; B.S. Informatics
During my time at UW, I discovered my interest in the intersection of environmental justice, public policy and sociology. In the future, I hope to engage in research and policy work to explore how we can cultivate resilient communities, break down accessibility barriers and collectively address policy-reinforced patterns of discrimination. I am immensely grateful for all that I have learned at UW and for the kindness of those around me.
JONATHAN KWONG
Dededo, Guam
B.S. Environmental Science and Resource Management
American Indian Studies, Oceanic and Pacific Islander Studies
As a product of my communities, I am a trans-disciplinary thinker who is guided to decompose systems of oppression by centering queer people of color through storytelling and communal caring. In the conservation field, I am constantly reimagining with others how environmental scientists will work collaboratively with communities of color. Being a steward of safe spaces, I connect with people through my artistic and interstitial practice that involves poetry, creative writing, painting, weaving and carving.
MAXWELL PERKINS
Redmond, WA
B.S. Environmental Science and Terrestrial Resource Management; B.S. Biology
Ongoing climate injustices motivate me to innovate nature-based solutions from multiple angles. Whether I am exploring interdisciplinary curricula, publishing coastal resiliency research or directing reforestation fundraisers, everything I do is rooted in biophilia and empathy. I will continue to embody these values as a climate adaptation graduate student and community leader.
School of Marine and Environmental Affairs celebrates 50th
The School of Marine and Environmental Affairs (SMEA) turned 50 this academic year, so we asked Nives Dolšak, professor and director of SMEA, and Dave Fluharty, professor and longest serving SMEA faculty member, for their perspectives on this milestone. With 11 core faculty and strong support from professors of practice, adjunct, affiliate and emeritus faculty, SMEA offers a two-year, interdisciplinary, in-residence program with graduates receiving a Master of Marine Affairs degree. More than 80 graduate students are currently enrolled in the program.
The School of Marine and Environmental Affairs is now 50 years old! What does this milestone mean to you?
Dolšak: Our school was established in 1972 as the Institute for Marine Studies. Since then, our faculty and about 800 alumni have been shaping local, state, national and international norms, values, approaches, firms’ decisions, policies and laws. They are at the forefront of the provision of vital social and natural scientific information, forming collaborative networks of researchers and analysts, and co-producing knowledge with members of the communities they serve.
This anniversary provides us with a festive opportunity to reconnect, review our work and celebrate our accomplishments while identifying the best ways to address new and emerging challenges. I hope that our anniversary brings many of our alumni, partners and friends together in an energetic and collaborative environment, which will help us chart the course for the next decade or so.
Fluharty: I joined the Institute for Marine Studies as a post-doc in 1976. I felt extremely lucky to be able to come in on the ground floor of a new interdisciplinary program that allowed me to continue my career and research focus on marine regions management. Ed Miles’ North Pacific Project was the perfect place for me as I had “grown up” in the UW environment and wanted to continue working at the UW. To still be connected to this School and its alumi 47 years later is extremely rewarding to me personally.
Why was the school launched in 1972, and how has its mission/vision/approach evolved over the years?
Dolšak: The 1970s was probably the most influential decade in environmental protection in the U.S. and the world. In response to rapid growth of environmental protection policies, the University of Washington established the Institute for Marine Studies to provide teaching, research and public service on contemporary problems in ocean and coastal management. The director and faculty were appointed starting in 1974 and classes were offered shortly thereafter. The MMA degree was authorized in 1978, and the first degrees were awarded in 1980. In 1990, the school’s name changed to the School of Marine Affairs, and in 2011 the name was again changed to the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs to better reflect the broader environmental approach to addressing marine problems.
In these 50 years, our approach to educating future leaders in marine and environmental affairs has evolved in response to emerging challenges and new opportunities.
For example, in academic year 2022/23, our students conducted research and policy analysis in Puget Sound, Northern Mariana Islands, Alaska, Maine, California and Indonesia. They examined managed retreat as a climate change response strategy, community-based tourism, small-scale fishery resilience, renewable offshore energy, mitigation and adaptation to river flooding, conservation of migratory birds, preferences of underserved communities with respect to recreation, subsistence and recreation, relationships between climate solutions and human health, approaches to combating extreme labor abuses on the high seas and Salish Sea restoration efforts.
Fluharty: Our School has evolved in response to emerging opportunities at local, state, national and international levels. However, the hallmark remains a focus on interdisciplinary education that fosters a holistic perspective to problem solving and policy development. Recently the focus is increasingly on understanding and transforming policy and management to be more mindful of diversity, inclusion and environmental justice and taking into account the impacts of policy and management on underrepresented minorities, especially tribal entities in the Pacific Northwest.
What is unique about SMEA compared to other programs, and what are some of the biggest accomplishments of the School from your perspective?
Dolšak: There are a number of excellent schools in the U.S. and abroad that offer graduate education in marine and environmental affairs. We are in direct competition for the most dedicated and brightest students.
Yet we believe our school is unique in many ways. Our relatively small cohort provides students with an opportunity to work closely with our faculty and postdoctoral researchers. As they arrive at our school, each student is assigned a faculty advisor who mentors their academic pursuits and their career planning. Our graduate program provides broad, multidisciplinary training in marine sciences, environmental and natural resource economics, policy process, coastal law, marine policy analysis, and a variety of research methods with a focus on human dimensions of environmental change and environmental justice. The program provides students with the flexibility to focus their studies and obtain additional in-depth training from other schools within the College of the Environment and more broadly at UW. Our students pursue double Masters’ degrees and graduate certificates. They have an opportunity to work on applied marine and environmental projects with a number of partners outside academia. Joining SMEA also means students join an interconnected group with an extensive support network of outstanding professionals who graduated from our program.
Fluharty: By far and away, our School can be proud of its more than 800 graduates with a Masters of Marine Affairs degree. Our program is known for producing capable graduates that can contribute in just about any marine or environmental agency. I believe that our program has continuously had the largest number of Knauss Marine Policy Fellowships and Hershman Fellowships, a key starter for federal and state employment. Not only can one find our program graduates at the top of multiple federal and state agencies they are also working within non-governmental organizations, tribal governments and consulting firms. Moreover our international graduates are taking leading roles in fisheries management in Japan, Thailand and Korea as well as coastal management in Korea and China.
Dolšak: Since its establishment, faculty had immense impact in the areas of ecosystem management, ocean and climate governance, the Law of the Sea Convention, marine resource protection, ocean acidification, fisheries management and the use of novel research methods in marine and coastal research and analysis. Professor Ed Miles, for example, was the chief negotiator for the Micronesian Maritime Authority, Federated States of Micronesia, advised on the Law of the Sea, co-authored IPCC’s Second Assessment Report, studied effectiveness of international environmental regimes and founded the UW Climate Impacts Group, which then became the model for nine Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment (RISA) programs at NOAA.
Our faculty founded and currently lead three externally funded research centers: Washington Ocean Acidification Center, Ocean Nexus Center and the eDNA Collaborative. In academic year 2021/22, our faculty published two books and 49 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals and secured external grants to defray the cost of their research in the amount of $7.8 million.
I am also immensely proud of our alumni, nearly 800 strong now. Let me illustrate with a few examples just from 2022 and 2023:
Sapporo, Japan, March 22-24, 2023: three SMEA alumni meet at the 7th Meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries commission. Shingo Ota (‘91), who retired from the Japanese Fisheries Agency but still serves as a Special Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for International Affairs, and was appointed the Chairman of the NPFC at the last meeting. Dan Hull (‘92), Chairman of the NPFC’s Finance and Administration Committee; and Megan Willman, LCDR USCG (’22), on the U.S. delegation.
Washington, D.C., May 11, 2022: U.S. Senate confirms Admiral Linda Fagan (‘00) to take over as the next Commandant of the Coast Guard, the first uniformed woman to lead a military branch.
Silver Springs, Maryland, April 12, 2023: NOAA Fisheries announces Jennifer Quan (‘00) as the new Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region. She assumes her new post on April 23, 2023. For the last two years, she worked as an advisor to the Chair, Senator Maria Cantwell, on the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where she was instrumental in passing 13 bills into law, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and reauthorization of the Coral Reef Conservation Act.
Greenville, North Carolina, December 2022: Samantha Farquhar (’19), a doctoral student in the Integrated Coastal Sciences program at East Carolina University (ECU) receives the U.S. Department of State Fullbright-Hays award to study the impact of Indigenous-led commercial fisheries development in the Arctic. While at SMEA, she also received the Fulbright Fellowship to work with Blue Ventures on a social-ecological assessment of protected areas in in the Barren Isles.
Olympia, WA and Seattle, WA, March 2022: Three SMEA alumni, Bobbak Talebi (’15), Tressa Arbow (’19), and Henry Bell (’20) from the Washington State Department of Ecology, and Jackson Blalock with Washington Sea Grant publish a report on Washington Coast Resilience, resulting from a two year collaborative work on the Washington Coast Resilience Action Demonstration Project, a partnership between the Washington State Department of Ecology and Washington Sea Grant that provided multi-organizational hazards assistance to communities on the Pacific Coast of Washington and laid the groundwork for future coastal resilience efforts.
In sum, our alumni tirelessly work across levels, sectors and issues at various organizations. From the Coast Guard, the U.S. Congress, NOAA, EPA, DOE, PNNL, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, Washington Department of Ecology, Washington and Alaska commercial and Indigenous fisheries, voter and community engagement organizations, and consulting organizations, they all work to ensure our society uses marine, coastal and environmental resources in a responsible and sustainable manner, and that the policies we devise empower the most vulnerable and historically marginalized communities.
What’s next? Where do you see the School in 10 years?
Dolšak: Coastal areas are the center of economic activity and population growth. These and other factors, such as climate change and emerging energy and other technologies, create significant stress for marine and coastal ecosystems and communities. Addressing human dimensions of environmental change, the core focus and expertise of SMEA faculty and researchers, is essential for our society’s ability to support sustainable development and healthy communities while protecting threatened marine and coastal ecosystems and species.
In the next 10 years, I see SMEA faculty, researchers and students support governmental and private-sector efforts by systematically studying human dimensions of environmental change in marine, coastal and adjacent systems, identifying emerging problems and opportunities, devising solutions, helping adopt and implement them, as well as rigorously assessing their impact. I see us co-producing this knowledge with partners from our communities while strengthening their capacity. To do all that, I hope we can further increase the size of the faculty and train more students.
Fluharty: I would like to see SMEA continue to advance its traditional strengths and to lead the transformative changes necessary to anticipate and resolve emerging issues.
UW’s Phil Levin to direct first-ever US National Nature Assessment
The Biden-Harris Administration on April 3 announced the appointment of Phil Levin, professor of practice in environmental and forest sciences at the University of Washington and lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy in Washington state, as director for the first-ever U.S. National Nature Assessment.
The NNA will take an interdisciplinary approach to better understand the role of nature in the lives of people across the country, integrating science with traditional ways of knowing and the needs of communities. The assessment intends to take stock of what nature provides people through its inherent value, human well-being, economic value and more, and look ahead to understand how these benefits might change under future climate conditions. The assessment is expected to be released in 2026.
“Successful conservation, especially in the face of an uncertain climate, is built on the knowledge and collaboration of tribes, stakeholders, scientists, natural resource managers and local leaders. We all have a stake in — and can contribute to — a sustainable future,” Levin said. “This collaboration will be key to the success of the National Nature Assessment, enabling us to develop a holistic understanding of nature in the United States.”
College of the Environment launches FieldSound Podcast
We’re pleased to announce that FieldSound, the official UW College of the Environment podcast, will launch May 4, 2023!
Through immersive, narrative storytelling, FieldSound explores the world of environmental science together with researchers at the University of Washington College of the Environment.
Interviews and anecdotes connect listeners to the College’s global impact as guests share stories of their exciting, groundbreaking and influential discoveries. FieldSound entertains and educates listeners while kindling personal connection to the world around them.
Tune in to FieldSound on May 4, 2023 when our first episode drops, and be sure to like, share and subscribe to catch a new episode every week.
Warm liquid spewing from Oregon seafloor comes from Cascadia fault, could offer clues to earthquake hazards
The field of plate tectonics is not that old, and scientists continue to learn the details of earthquake-producing geologic faults. The Cascadia Subduction Zone — the eerily quiet offshore fault that threatens to unleash a magnitude-9 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest — still holds many mysteries.
A study led by the University of Washington discovered seeps of warm, chemically distinct liquid shooting up from the seafloor about 50 miles off Newport, Oregon. The paper, published Jan. 25 in Science Advances, describes the unique underwater spring the researchers named Pythia’s Oasis. Observations suggest the spring is sourced from water 2.5 miles beneath the seafloor at the plate boundary, regulating stress on the offshore fault.
The team made the discovery during a weather-related delay for a cruise aboard the RV Thomas G. Thompson. The ship’s sonar showed unexpected plumes of bubbles about three-quarters of a mile beneath the ocean’s surface. Further exploration using an underwater robot revealed the bubbles were just a minor component of warm, chemically distinct fluid gushing from the seafloor sediment.
“They explored in that direction and what they saw was not just methane bubbles, but water coming out of the seafloor like a firehose. That’s something that I’ve never seen, and to my knowledge has not been observed before,” said co-author Evan Solomon, a UW associate professor of oceanography who studies seafloor geology.