SMEA Professor Ryan Kelly, along with co-authors Phillip Levin and Kai Lee’s law review paper titled “Science, Policy, and Data-Driven Decisions in a Data Vacuum” was recently published in Ecology Law Quarterly. The paper looks at the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) decisions surrounding three species of rockfish in Puget Sound, deciding whether or not they should be listed as endangered/threatened.  

Assistant Professor Ryan Kelly was interviewed by Generation Anthropocene about his work with environmental DNA and how it continues to help us understand the makeup of our oceans. Listen to the podcast at the link below.
https://www.genanthro.com/2017/05/04/interview-ryan-kelly/
  

Congratulations to Professor Nives Dolsak on her latest article that was published in Nonprofit Policy Forum “Bowling Together: Mobilization of Collective Action by Environmental NGOs.” The article examines community action in post-communist, Central European countries where modern NGOs are perceived to be ineffective and asks the question “Does social capital generated by frequent, face-to-face interactions provide the foundation for collective action?” Dolsak suggests the possibility of organizing large-scale social action is increased when modern NGOs with their relative advantage in marketing and publicity are able to join hands with traditional groups who have established institutionalized mechanisms for social mobilization. 

SMEA Professor and Associate Director Nives Dolsak, and UW Professor and Director of the Center for Environmental Politics Aseem Prakash recently wrote an article for Solutions examining the environmental movement and whether the celebrities that serve as spokespeople do more harm than good. The article states “Social movements are credible when they are perceived to be working for the public purpose. 

Why did you decide to pursue a Master of Marine Affairs?
After finishing my active duty career in the Navy, I knew I wanted to go into a field that would allow me to combine my knowledge of science with the ability to solve problems politically – and thus act as a liaison between communities that don’t often speak the same vernacular. 

Five SMEA students were awarded Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships from the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies; Valerie Cleland, Thao Huynh, Brandon Ray, Karen Villeda and Lily Zhao.
Valerie Cleland, first year Masters student, was awarded a FLAS award for the academic year through the Canadian Studies Department. She will be studying Inuktitut- the Inuit language of the Canadian Arctic. 

Congratulations to SMEA Professors Eddie Allison and Terrie Klinger who had papers that were recently published in Ecology and Society, and Elementa respectively.
Professor Allison and his co-author’s paper “A comparative appraisal of the resilience of marine social-ecological systems to mass mortalities of bivalves“, published in Ecology and Society, analyzes six commercial bivalve industries affected by mass mortalities using I-ADApT, a decision support framework to assess the impacts and consequences of these perturbations on the natural, social, and governing systems, and the consequent responses of stakeholders to these events. 

SMEA Professor and Associate Director Nives Dolsak, and UW Professor and Director of the Center for Environmental Politics Aseem Prakash recently wrote an article for the Washington Post Monkey Cage examining why Scott Pruitt refused to ban a chemical that the EPA itself said is dangerous. Pruitt recently denied a petition asking for a ban on the use of an insecticide called Chlorpyrifos. 

UW Professors Nives Dolsak and Aseem Prakash were recently interviewed by KUOW’s Emily Fox about the EnergyStar program. Many of us recognize this program as the labels that mark the most energy-efficient appliances when you shop for a TV, refrigerator or computer. The Trump administration wants to end it, but according to Dolsak and Prakash ending the program doesn’t make sense, for a number of reasons. 

By Amy Brodbeck
‘Awesome’…’Jargon’…’Awesome’!
A couple of weekends ago, I held signs with these words to provide feedback for my peers as they practiced their one-minute ‘elevator’ speeches about their research. As one of forty graduate students who participated in the two-day science communication conference called ComSciCon PNW, I left feeling truly empowered to increase the role of science in public discourse.