About Featured Alumni: Each issue we feature an Alum to show in depth how SMEA has been part of their career trajectory in order to celebrate their accomplishments and to inform and inspire current students and our alumni about their education. In this issue, we feature an alumna whose career so far has been with the US Coast Guard (USCG).  SMEA has benefitted enormously from the mid-career officers and officers mustering out of the USCG.  Amanda Fisher SMEA in mid-career and graduated in 2010.  She is now retiring after 21 years of service and is contemplating how to share her expertise with SMEA and launch the next stage of her career.

By Taylor Hughes, Class of 2025
A few days in the Pacific Northwest is enough to see that salmon and orcas are the region’s lifeblood. These species elicit deep emotional responses that tie people to this place and make marine resource management a dinner-table topic. Historically, seaweed has not topped the list of priorities for marine conservation, despite playing a significant ecological role in supporting economically and culturally important species. 

By Ben Johns
On behalf of the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs (SMEA), thank you for your part in making SMEA’s graduate degree program truly special. We are grateful for the many contributions of alumni and supporters to such an incredible legacy. 
Today, we humbly ask you to make a gift in support of SMEA students. Gifts of any amount make a difference in the lives of students and their bright futures.  

By Dave Fluharty
Brian Offord (1983)
By Brian Offord
I worked for the office of the Governor in the States of Hawaii and Washington, and US Territories, Northern Mariana Islands, as manager of coastal zone and marine programs in the Pacific Region, and major riverine and estuarine stems the Columbia River and Puget Sound. It has been and remains a very gratifying experience that has given me opportunities for broad involvement in a variety of disciplines. 

By Vlad Kaczynski
Editor’s Note: Professor Vlad Kaczynski is an Emeritus faculty member at the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs. In 1976 he joined SMEA (then the Institute for Marine Studies) as a Senior Fulbright Scholar coming to the University of Washington from Poland. He earned degrees from the Merchant Marine Academy, Gdynia, and later to Higher School of Economics in Sopot and finally to University of Gdansk where he obtained his PhD degree in Marine Economics. 

Strategic Planning
By Dave Fluharty
It has been more than 10 years since SMEA developed a Strategic Plan. Many changes have occurred since the last effort and SMEA is facing many challenges. Therefore, SMEA Director Nives Dolšak led faculty and staff into a planning process during Autumn 2023 and Winter 2024 with facilitation by consultants Brian Murphy and Maddie Immel from BERK Consulting, Inc., Seattle. 

By Bryce Lewis-Smith and Kurt Ellison 
As global temperatures continue to rise due to increased concentrations of greenhouse gasses, we need to rethink business-as-usual. Therefore, various sectors and industries are pulling together to determine pathways to reduce their carbon footprints. Maritime shipping, ports, and the connected supply chain play a pivotal role in tackling a globally integrated challenge. 

Commercial ships are a critical link in the global supply chain, transporting raw materials, goods, and products across oceans and driving economic growth. 

By Dave Fluharty and Leah Gerber
Purpose of this Feature: SMEA likes to recognize the contributions our graduates are making.  We’d like to feature everyone but with nearly 900 alumni that is not realistic.  Let us know when you are ready to contribute your accomplishments and failures so we can learn.
Leah Gerber graduated from SMEA in 1993.  Her Master’s Thesis was titled, Endangered Species Act Decision Making in the Face of Scientific Uncertainty: A Case Study of the Steller Sea Lion with Professor Warren Wooster as her committee supervisor.  

Because all living things leave genetic traces in their environments, samples of water, soil, or air are vast storehouses of biological information in the form of environmental DNA (eDNA). SMEA professor Ryan Kelly has worked for more than a decade to make this potential goldmine of information useful for environmental management, making it possible to measure and monitor biodiversity at unprecedented resolution and scale. 

Seattle Times: Native nations on front lines of climate change share knowledge and find support at intensive camps
Tribes suffer some of the most severe impacts of climate change in the U.S. but often have the fewest resources to respond. This inspiring story shows how tribes are working together to make a difference.  SMEA student Michael Buck is prominent in pictures and video.