This past summer, Professor Nives Dolšak collaborated with students from her Spring 2024 undergraduate course, ENVIR/SMEA 201: Climate Governance. These students volunteered to analyze climate action initiatives during the 2023-24 session of the Washington State Legislature. Their findings, presented in a comprehensive report and an interactive ArcGIS story map, are now available for viewing here.
 
  

YOU’RE INVITED!  
Alumni of UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs present: SMEA Friends Happy Hour

With special guests: Professor Emeritus Tom Leschine & Associate Professor Emeritus Dave Fluharty

Mark your calendar and join us for an informal happy hour gathering. This is a great chance to connect with SMEA alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends!
Saturday, September 21st, 4 – 6pm
Georgetown Brewery – Tasting Room
5200 Denver Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108 

Eight recent SMEA graduates, Elise Adams, Jessica Clemens, Nika Hoffman, Jess Lechtenberg, Allison Morgan, Rondi Nordal, Katalin Plummer, and Jack Winterhalter have been selected as Washington Sea Grant Hershman Fellows for 2024-2025. This fellowship places highly motivated, qualified 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. 

FieldSound is the official podcast of UW College of the Environment, offering immersive and narrative storytelling. Hosted by Sarah Smith, the podcast features interviews with researchers from the University of Washington who share their groundbreaking discoveries. FieldSound aims to entertain and educate, highlighting the excitement and significance of environmental research.

In the latest episode of FieldSound, our own faculty member, Ryan Kelly, was featured to discuss his interdisciplinary approach to environmental research.

Dear SMEA friends!
SMEA is humming with activities. On May 10th, we had eight outstanding thesis presentations, that featured research spanning across the entire globe, from Bangladesh, to Maine, New York, Alaska, Columbia River, and Salish Sea, examining ways to manage and respond to vastly different marine and environmental challenges, such as impacts of climate change on plankton, fisheries, large marine mammals and natural-resource dependent communities, potentials of community science to improve ocean data, and factors impacting permitting of tidal energy. 

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. 

The School of Marine and Environmental Affairs will hold its next faculty meeting on Thursday, May 2, at 12:00 pm. Please see below for location details:
Ocean Sciences Building (OCN) Room 203 or via Zoom using the information below:
https://washington.zoom.us/j/98174117556?pwd=V1JQeldTdTFRRFlKc0E4Q3FSMEo2dz09
Meeting ID: 981 7411 7556
Passcode: 563969 US (Seattle)
A copy of the meeting agenda is provided. Please contact Kiley Pazcoguin (kpaz@uw.edu) with any questions or for more information. 

SMEA Professors Ryan Kelly and Terrie Klinger have published their second book, Between the Tides in California: Exploring Beaches and Tidepools. This remarkable book is a follow-up to their first publication, Between the Tides in Washington and Oregon: Exploring Beaches and Tidepools, which was published in December 2022.
Book overview:
“The vast and diverse California coast is an awe-inspiring place of exploration and discovery, full of life forms that are shockingly unfamiliar. 

SMEA alum and affiliate faculty member, Eric Laschever, recently published an article in the Natural Resources & Environment, a quarterly print magazine of informative articles for environmental law practitioners within the American Bar Association. The article titled, “Coastal Resiliency and the Inflation Reduction and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Acts” discusses how artificial intelligence systems will drive the future of environmental health and safety.