By Kaitlin Lebon
Graduate school is challenging. While some students enter SMEA fully prepared with a preconceived thesis project, others can be stumped. Funding, or lack thereof, is a reality for some incoming SMEA students and can influence a student’s approach to thesis or capstone work. For those students, it can be difficult to know where to start looking for ideas or connections. 

Alumna Breena Apgar-Kurtz graduated from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs in 2012 and is now a Fishery Management Biologist for the Lummi Nation. We had a chance to catch up with Breena and hear about her job, her time at SMEA, and advice she has for current SMEA students.
Can you give us a brief description of what you do? 

Congratulations to former SMEA Assistant Professor Kiki Jenkins, former SMEA Postdoc Stacia Dreyer and several SMEA alums on the recent publication of their work Human dimensions of tidal energy: A review of theories and frameworks. This paper was published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, and provides a comprehensive review of theories and frameworks for understanding and managing human dimensions of tidal energy, including several theories about the human aspect of the innovation of emerging renewable energy technologies. 

Alumnus Wataru Tanoue graduated from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs in 2015 and is now the Assistant Director of the International Affairs Division for the Fisheries Agency, Government of Japan. We had a chance to catch up with Wataru and hear about his job, his time at SMEA, and advice he has for current SMEA students.
Can you give us a brief description of what you do? 

SMEA Professors Patrick Christie and David Fluharty, SMEA alumna Haley Kennard and co-authors recently published a paper in Ocean & Coastal Management titled “Policy pivot in Puget Sound: Lessons learned from marine protected areas and tribally-led estuarine restoration.” The paper’s authors examine two approaches to restore the Puget Sound basin in light of multiple drivers of change that place an accelerating squeeze on marine and coastal habitats and limit their ability to provide ecosystem services; Marine Protected Area (MPA) designation and estuary restoration (ER). 

Alumna Melissa Luna graduated from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs in 2014 and is now a Social and Environmental Impact Officer at Playa Viva Sustainable Boutique Hotel in Mexico. We had a chance to catch up with Melissa and hear about her job, her time at SMEA, and advice she has for current SMEA students.
Can you give us a brief description of what you do for Playa Viva Sustainable Boutique Hotel? 

Congratulations to SMEA alumna, Natalie Lowell, for being selected as one of the 2018 Husky 100! Each year, the Husky 100 recognizes 100 UW undergraduate and graduate students from Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma in all areas of study who are making the most of their time at the UW.
See Natalie and fellow students honored with the Husky 100 award 

Alumna Natalie Lowell graduated from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs in 2015 and is now a PhD student in the School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. We had a chance to catch up with Natalie recently and hear about what she’s studying, her time at SMEA, and advice she has for current SMEA students. 

Congratulations to SMEA alum Chris Hart, whose SMEA Master’s thesis “Will the California Current lose its nesting Tufted Puffins?” was recently published in PeerJ. Hart worked in collaboration with Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife to ask about the population trends of an iconic species that’s under consideration for the Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing, the Tufted Puffin. Hart’s work could influence the U.S. 

2017 SMEA graduate, Tim Lee, whose SMEA thesis entitled, “Quantifying the effectiveness of shoreline armoring removal on coastal biota of Puget Sound“, was recently published in PeerJ. Lee did a meta-analysis of data from School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS) research scientists Jason Toft and Jeff Cordell to show that removing shoreline armoring in Puget Sound is an effective restoration technique.