Dear College of the Environment Community,
Recently, I heard science described as the team-iest of team sports. As a scientist and a dean, that resonated with me: When we tackle big, important questions, we do so as a community ranging in size from research groups of several people to large, International networks of scholars from allied disciplines. Science is a social enterprise, and integrity is the foundation of great science.
Usha Varanasi, ’68, and Richard Feely have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
As part of the Section on Chemistry, Usha was recognized for her distinguished contributions in environmental chemistry and toxicology, particularly in establishing and communicating the impact of environmental contaminants on marine organisms and ecosystems.
In the Section on Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences, Richard was recognized for leading the scientific examination of ocean acidification and shifting public policy to address the issue.
It’s no secret that human activities affect fish, particularly those that must migrate to reproduce. Years of building dams and polluting rivers in some regions have left fish such as salmon struggling to return to their home streams and give birth to the next generation.
A new University of Washington study points to yet another human factor that hampers the ability of fish to reproduce: the timing of our fishing seasons.
The Doris Duke Conservation Scholars program at the UW was started in 2014 when it became clear that the environmental movement had made no strides in decades to address its lack of racial and gender diversity, a problem commonly known as the Green Ceiling. Simply put, no more than 12 percent of all employees in non-governmental organizations and foundations that work with natural resources could be described as ethnic minority or multiracial.
In the quest to produce affordable biofuels, poplar trees are one of the Pacific Northwest’s best bets — the trees are abundant, fast-growing, adaptable to many terrains and their wood can be transformed into substances used in biofuel and high-value chemicals that we rely on in our daily lives. But even as researchers test poplars’ potential to morph into everything from ethanol to chemicals in cosmetics and detergents, a commercial-scale processing plant for poplars has yet to be achieved.
Aquaculture has been a mainstay of Washington’s economy since the state’s founding, and there is still potential for more growth. Three federal grants announced this week will provide total funding of $1.1 million to Washington Sea Grant, based at the University of Washington’s College of the Environment, for research that will sustainably further shellfish and finfish aquaculture in the state.
The grants were awarded through two competitions designed to identify projects that will lead to the responsible development of the domestic shellfish, finfish and seaweed aquaculture industries.
When wrapped around a pipe, this new smart paper—developed at the University of Washington—can detect water leaks and wirelessly alert a technician who could quickly locate and repair a leak.
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.
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.
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.
Deep below the ocean’s surface, shielded from satellite signals, the gradual movement of the seafloor — including along faults that can unleash deadly earthquakes and tsunamis — goes largely undetected. As a result, we know distressingly little about motion along the fault that lies just off the Pacific Northwest coast.
University of Washington oceanographers are working with a local company to develop a simple new technique that could track seafloor movement in earthquake-prone coastal areas.
Packard will determine the early success and impact of EarthLab, work strategically within and beyond the University to promote new learning and action to address environmental challenges.
Like old-growth trees in a forest, old fish in the ocean play important roles in the diversity and stability of marine ecosystems. Critically, the longer a fish is allowed to live, the more likely it is to successfully reproduce over the course of its lifetime, which is particularly important in variable environmental conditions.
A new study by University of Washington scientists has found that, for dozens of fish populations around the globe, old fish are greatly depleted — mainly because of fishing pressure.