The Winter Quarter SMEA Speakers Series will feature three speakers from Washington state, and will be made available virtually again due to the on-going pandemic. All presentations as part of the series will be offered on Thursdays 12:00-1:00pm PST via Zoom.

Dr. Marco Hatch (he/him) is an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Western Washington University and is a member of the Samish Indian Nation. As a marine ecologist, he helps Native American students gain greater access to STEM opportunities while respecting coast Salish tribal people, landscapes, and seascapes. Dr. Hatch’s work includes helping Native American students make the transition to graduate school in the geosciences. His talk Weaving Indigenous Knowledges and geoscience through boundary spanners is scheduled for Thursday, January 27th.

On February 10th, Dr. Katie Arkema (she/her) will offer Addressing the climate crisis locally: renewable energy and nature-based solutions in coastal communities. Arkema is a senior earth scientist in the Coastal Science Division of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Her research focuses on the effects of global change on coupled human-natural systems and the development of innovative solutions to support the energy and resilience needs of coastal communities. Prior to joining PNNL, Katie was lead scientist at the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University. She received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara and her bachelors from Princeton University.

Lastly, SMEA 2015 alumnus Jeffrey Thomas, an enrolled member of the Muckleshoot Tribe, who serves as the Director of Timber, Fisheries, and Wildlife for the Puyallup Tribe will be the final speaker on February 24th. Thomas will be offering Puyallup fisheries and food sovereignty highlighting his professional experience navigating the policies, needs, and sustainability of fishery operations for the community.

Those interested in attending any or all of these talks can join in via Zoom. For more information or any questions please reach out to Leah Quinn (leahq@uw.edu).