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.  

Former SMEA students Caroline Potter, Luke Hiserman, Gregory Papp, Harshitha Viswanathan, and Leah Huff co-authored a recent publication in Frontiers in Education: “Student-led documentation of COVID-era education: A study of graduate programs on the human dimensions of oceans.
 
First and foremost, we would like to sincerely thank those students who participated in the study and we appreciate your insight about your graduate school experiences during COVID-19. 

SMEA graduate James Lee (’21) and accompanying authors recently published an article in the Marine Molecular Biology and Ecology section of Frontiers in Marine Science. The article is titled, “Characterizing host-pathogen interactions between Zostera marina and Labyrinthula zosterae.”
Meadows of eelgrass (Zostera marina) are crucial to coastal ecosystems but have been declining rapidly due to global warming and other anthropogenic stressors. 

 
On June 28, 2023, Dean Tolstoy and Director Dolšak hosted Admiral Linda Fagan, Commandant of the U. S. Coast Guard and SMEA alumna (MMA ’00). For reference, Admiral Fagan is the 27th Commandant of the United States Coast Guard (USCG), overseeing operations of more than 50,000 members and a fleet of 259 cutters, 200 aircraft, and 1,600 boats. Admiral Fagan was in Seattle to preside over the change of command ceremony for Healy, an active icebreaker homeported in Seattle. 

SMEA student Courtney Skalley has been selected as a member of the 2023 Bonderman Fellow cohort. The Bonderman Travel Fellowship was created by UW alumnus David Bonderman in 1995 to fund global journeys as a way of inspiring individual transformation. The 2023 Fellows cover a wide variety of interests including:

Afro-futurism and presentism
Black diasporic history and culture
Counterculture formation as a tool for human connection
Linguistics and dialects
Musical events and concert culture
The relationship between a place’s natural resources and its cuisine, clothing, and culture
The role of the bicycle in community-building

Courtney is a second-year SMEA student with an interest in sustainable fisheries management. 

Recent SMEA graduates, Amelia Wells and Kellie Cutsinger (’23), completed their capstone “Community-Based Mitigation and Adaptive Strategies for River Flooding and Erosion in Alaska Native Communities”  with advisor Dr. Cleo Woelfle-Hazard and in collaboration with Iowa State University. As part of their work, a video was created highlighting the communities they collaborated alongside. A message from their Capstone community partner is shared below as well as a link to the completed video project. 

On Thursday, June 8th, 2023 the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs held its graduation ceremony.
A welcome was given by SMEA Associate Director, Ryan Kelly, followed by opening remarks from the College of the Environment Dean, Maya Tolstoy, and special keynote speaker Stephen Metruck, Port of Seattle Executive Director. Graduating students Andrea Richter-Sanchez and Kurt Ellison were nominated as class speakers. 

Incoming SMEA student Maxwell Perkins has been named one of the University’s “Husky 100”. Max has a B.S. in Environmental Science and Terrestrial Resource Management as well as a B.S. in Biology and History.

The “Husky 100” recognizes 100 students across all three campuses “who are making the most of their time” at UW. Students are evaluated based on their ability to demonstrate the following attributes:

Connect the Dots
Discovery Mindset
Commitment to Inclusive Community
Capacity for Leadership
Ready for What Is Next

Please join us in congratulating Max as well as welcoming him to the SMEA class of 2025! 

You are invited to join the SMEA thesis and capstone presentations on Friday, February 24th in the Marine Studies Building, room 268. If you’d like to attend via Zoom, please contact Michaela Miller at mcski@uw.edu for details. The schedule of events is as follows:
Thesis & Capstone Presentations

Student

Faculty Advisor

Thesis/Capstone & Title

Client

Scheduled Time

Virtual/In-Person

Rory Spurr & Alana Santana
Anne Beaudreau
Capstone, “Visualizing ESA-listed fish research in the west coast region”
Diana Dishman, NOAA
9-9:30am
Hybrid -Alana & Rory in person/Anne & Diana virtual

1 HOUR BREAK

Izzi Lavallee
P. 

SMEA faculty continue to contribute to the scholarship of marine and environmental affairs. In 2022, we published two books and over 30 articles in prestigious environmental, marine, and interdisciplinary journals. Many of these were co-authored with our students and our postdoctoral scholars. Below is a collection of these works. Faculty names are in bold; names of students and postdoctoral scholars trained by our faculty are underlined.