In 1972, the Board of Regents of the University of Washington authorized the formation of the Institute for Marine Studies. In the last 50 years SMEA has graduated nearly 800 alumni who are putting their skills to work around the world — a formidable force for improving human and environmental well-being. Here we report on a representative few alumni to inspire current students and to link alumni to friends. Please stay in touch!

Abigail Ames, Kathryn Loy, Jenna Rolf, Harshitha Sai Viswanathan and Olivia Zimmerman (2022) were all awarded Washington Sea Grant Hershman Fellowships, which places individuals with marine and coastal host offices throughout Washington, providing fellows with a unique perspective on building marine policy and allowing them to share their academic expertise with the host offices. This year’s host offices are Coast Salmon Partnership, Makah Tribe Office of Marine Affairs, Northwest Seaport Alliance, Puget Sound Partnership, The Nature Conservancy and Washington Department of Ecology.

Caroline Potter, Kelsey Rudes and Jacquelyn Shaff (2022) were selected by a nationally competitive search to be Knauss Fellows for 2023. Their success continues the excellent record of SMEA alumni chosen for this prestigious program. Note well that applications are now open.

Abby Keller (2021) has now started a PhD program in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at Berkeley. Abby’s recent publication on how to track invasive Green Crab with molecular methods has attracted a lot of attention here in Washington. (See Publications by SMEA authors).

Lange Solberg (2018) Lange Solberg leads US business development for Real Time Data www.deckhandlogbook.com, a fisher-founded company that builds the electronic logbook platform Deckhand Pro to help harvesters increase efficiency and comply with reporting mandates in fisheries worldwide. RTD is headquartered in Australia with a growing US team on both coasts.

Michelle Dvorak (2017) was the lead author on a paper she and her colleagues published this summer in Nature Climate Change (Vol. 12, June 2022, 547-552) that sparked a lot of discussion about exceeding the 1.5 C degree global warming target. Michelle continues her studies for a PhD in Oceanography at the UW. In the meantime, she took time out as part of a “2-girl team” to climb Denali, the highest peak in North America 20,310 feet, by one of its more challenging routes.

Natalie Lowell (2015) continues her work with the Makah Tribe’s Office of Marine Affairs, having started there last year as a Hershman Fellow.

Jeffrey Thomas (2015) Director, Timber, Fish & Wildlife Program, Puyallup Tribe of Indians is developing a Native Forest Plan Ecocultural Education Project.  This project aims to further Native people’s use of the forests in King and Pierce Counties by integrating traditional, scientific, and social-ecological systems knowledge with the support of Native community leadership, university academic advocates, and local forest landowners. As one part of this project he helped organize and spoke at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture’s 2022 Urban Forest Symposium which was focused on Coast Salish tribal communities.

Kristin Hoelting (2011) defended her PhD dissertation, “Toward value pluralism and knowledge pluralism –Improving integration of cultural benefits of ecosystem services in environmental decision-making” from the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University. Dr. Hoelting is now employed as a consultant by FAO Fisheries to address how Area-Based Management Tools (ABMT) in fisheries can serve as Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECM) to meet the Sustainable Development goals of the Convention on Biodiversity. In this capacity she is also assisting the SMEA OECM Capstone.

George Galasso (1993) Congratulations to George Galasso who retired as Deputy Sanctuary Superintendent of Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary at the end of October, 2022

Guillermo Gomez (1982) continues to engage with the global tuna industry through his fisheries consulting firm, Gomez-Hall Associates, based in Seattle.  Recently, his focus is on governance approaches for Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). He and fellow SMEA/IMS alumni published recently on this topic in the Coastal Management Journal, and he continues to do follow-up work on FADs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Other recent projects include mapping world supply chains for tuna and assisting tuna fisheries to achieve and maintain Marine Stewardship Council certification.

Stacy Hall de Gomez (1980) is a partner in the consulting firm Gomez-Hall Associates, continuing to participate in fisheries (especially tuna) and environmental impact assessment projects. Recent environmental planning projects include roadway, transit, port, and flood control projects around Washington state.

Eric Laschever (1980) spent the fall of 2023 embedded with the Williams College Mystic Seaport Program in Maritime Studies 45 years after attending the program’s inaugural semester. As senior fellow, Eric helped the students with their marine policy papers, facilitated a student led symposium in the Inflation Reduction Act and building coastal resiliency in overburdened communities, and traveled to Louisiana where he is helping the program support a tribal community at the epicenter of hurricanes and coastal erosion. Eric continues to enjoy his connection with SMEA as a member of the affiliate faculty.

Eulalie Sullivan (1980) renewed her 100 ton captains license. Recent sailing adventures included exploring Scotland’s Hebrides and Orkney Islands, and helping move a beautiful 48 foot boat from Gibraltar to Valencia Spain. She enjoys teaching cruising skills to students on Puget Sound.