Last week, SEFS faculty, students and staff came together for our annual End of Year Awards Celebration. We wanted to take a moment to honor those that received special recognition for their achievements this year, those who won a SEFS-specific award and of course those who received a “Shout Out” from peers. 

We kicked off the evening with food and beverages and spent some time mingling in the Anderson Hall courtyard. As Anderson Hall is about to undergo major renovations this event marked one of the last times to see Anderson Hall and the courtyard before they are both completely revitalized. 

SEFS Director Dan Brown started us off with the announcement of awards and was accompanied on “the podium” by SEFS faculty members Joshua Lawler, Laura Prugh and Alex McInturff. Lecturer of American Indian Studies, Cynthia Updegrave also helped hand out awards alongside SEFS HR Manager, Wanjiku Gitahi.

This year our community received an extraordinary number of external awards. We’d like to take this opportunity to recognize those awarded. 

• SEFS Grad, Masha Vernik was awarded funding from the Program on Climate Change, Climate Solutions Project Fund
• SEFS Grad, Eve Hallock is an NSF GRFP Honorable Mention
• SEFS Faculty, Dr. Anthony Dichiara, recognized by Advances in Engineering for highlighting his collaborative study on a scalable approach to produce all-carbon nanocomposite fibers for flexible electronics. 
• SEFS Grad, Robert Swan, 2024 College of the Environment Exceptional Mentoring of Undergraduates Award
• BSE Undergrads and Grads, Jaja Reduque, Lexi Escure, Brandon Egenes, Hussain Aladwan, Anna Fall, Lexi Maerz and Michael Costalez won the grand prize at the 2024 Environmental Innovation Challenge! Their nantoechnology design, called AgroFilms, creates biodegradable plastics for sustainable agriculture.
• SEFS Grad, Hema Velappan, received a Husky Sustainability Award and was a 2024 Alaska Airlines Environmental Innovation Challenge Finalist (Part of TimberTwin team)
• SEFS Grad, Gus Wettstein was selected as one of this year’s Bonderman Fellows

We also recognized the winners of the Richard D. Taber Outstanding Wildlife Conservation Student Award and the John A. Wott Botanic Gardens Endowed Student Award. 

Congratulations to Lindsey Bartholomew for winning the Taber Award! Laura Prough shared, “Lindsey’s capstone is looking at whether redlining in Seattle affects coyote diet diversity and composition. I was amazed at the quality and depth of knowledge she displayed in her proposal that she wrote in a condensed time frame. She has proven to be an extremely valuable assistant in the genetics lab, with great attention to detail. She is conducting fairly sophisticated analyses using program R for her honors thesis, and her writing quality is top-notch.”

We’re also recognizing Miro Stuke who took home the Wott Award! Miro is a SEFS PhD student whose research focuses on understanding and predicting the cold hardiness in conifers, which is a critical bottleneck for assisted migration of tree species in restoration and forestry to adapt to climate change.  Miro has become an integral part of the UW Botanic Gardens and SEFS, not only as a passionate scientist and enthusiastic educator, but also as an empathetic leader in the graduate student community. Furthermore, with strong interest in climate adaptation and broad experience in horticulture, Miro will be working closely with UWBG on developing climate adaptation strategies for the Washington Park Arboretum which relates directly to the mission of the Wott Scholarship.

Congrats Lindsey and Miro! 

Each year the SEFS community recognizes fellow students and colleagues who have made exemplary contributions to the school and academic community. 

Undergraduate Student of the Year – Inthone Chao

Graduate Student of the Year – Ben Sullender

Faculty Member of the Year – Dr. Renata Bura 

Staff Member(s) of the Year – Laura Thomas; Nancy Kwasinski (Purchasing Coordinator)

Outstanding Commitment to Inclusion, Equity and Diversity – SEFS PhD student, Miro Stuke 

Each year we open up an opportunity to the SEFS community to send a “Shout Out” to our peers! This year, we received a lot of incredible shout outs and we’ve compiled them in a doc. Congrats to everyone for making SEFS an amazing place to learn and work. 2024 Shout Outs. 

We want to thank everyone who helped make this year’s event possible including Ellen Adams, Mary Keyes and all of the SEFS students who showed up to lend a hand.