Jun 9, 2015

College of the Environment honors graduates by helping fund on-campus water savings

Big congratulations are in order for all of this year’s College of the Environment graduates – you’ve reached the goal you set for yourself years ago when you became part of the UW community! We appreciate all of your contributions to the College and extend our well wishes and hopes for your continued success after graduation. In honor of our 2015 graduates, the College will jointly fund a student project that will build a rainwater collection and purification system in More Hall’s Construction Materials Laboratory with the University’s Campus Sustainability Fund.

Warmer, lower-oxygen oceans will shift marine habitats

Great white sharks require plenty of oxygen as metabolic fuel, and even more in warmer waters. They are among marine animals whose distributions will likely shift to meet their oxygen needs under climate change.

A research team that includes scientists from the College of the Environment’s School of Oceanography found that warmer ocean temperatures and decreasing levels of dissolved oxygen as a result of climate change will increase metabolic stress on marine animals. These new findings suggest that warmer water will speed up animals’ metabolic need for oxygen, but will simultaneously hold less of the oxygen needed to fuel their bodies.

Ocean Modeling Forum to bring human element to herring fishery, others

The Ocean Modeling Forum, a collaboration between the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and NOAA Fisheries, is attempting to bring together multiple science models and people who care about a particular ocean resource or fishery to decide what’s most important for its vitality and the communities it serves. The Forum will address ocean management issues, facilitating conversations among a multitude of stakeholders, and will focus their primary efforts on the Pacific herring fishery in the coming months.

College of the Environment announces 2015-2016 scholarship recipients

At the College of the Environment, we’re striving to build a truly sustainable world—one where a robust economy, social equity and a healthy environment go hand in hand. Our students are tackling this head-on, driving discovery, and generating new knowledge that’s accessible beyond academia. The College’s Office of the Dean is pleased to help support their work, and congratulates all of the 2015-2016 scholarship awardees below—it’s an honor to support their contributions to our campus, our communities and the planet.

UW oceanographers shed light on the hidden world of marine microbes

Photo: California Academy of Sciences / Flickr

Tiny marine microbes produce half of Earth’s oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide from the air, and even regulate the productivity of fisheries. Scientists are only beginning to understand the ecology of these microscopic creatures, but discoveries made by researchers at the College of the Environment’s School of Oceanography are informing our understanding of their hidden world. Oceanographer Ginger Armbrust and her team, using genetic and molecular toolsets, recently found that single-celled algae called diatoms grow faster when a hormone released by bacteria is present.