Thanks to the generosity of friends and supporters of the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, several SEFS professors and students have been awarded endowments this spring. These endowments provide funds for faculty members and students to support their research, education, and engagement activities.
L. Monika Moskal was awarded the McLachlan/MCMC endowed professorship. The McLachlan/MCMC endowment is awarded to professors who pursue educational and professional programs in sustainable forest management and forest engineering in a multi-disciplinary context.
Rick Gustafson was renewed as the Denman Chair in Bioresource Science and Engineering. Anthony Dichiara was renewed for the Weyerhaeuser Endowed Professorship in Paper Science and Engineering in the College of Forest Resources.
The following students were awarded endowments based on their excellent academic performances and important contributions to the labs in which they worked.
Natalee Bozzi was awarded the Richard D. Taber Outstanding Wildlife Conservation Student Award for her passion for birds and publication quality work on her senior thesis involving the ecology of brown bears in Alaska.
Olivia Cavaluzzi and Jane Christopherson were each awarded the Richard D. Taber Excellence in Wildlife Conservation awards for their outstanding academic achievements and diverse talents.
The John A. Wott Botanic Gardens Endowed Student Award was awarded this fall to Maya Kahn-Abrams. Maya is an MS student in SEFS and is based at the Center for Urban Horticulture. She is conducting exceptional and critical research on the soil requirements of a rare endemic plant, Eriogonum sodium, that occurs in a narrow range in south-central Washington. She has worked as a technician for Rare Care and led field monitoring for the SR520 mitigation in Union Bay Natural Area in 2022. She has also served as a teaching assistant for Introduction to Restoration Ecology and for the Restoration Ecology Capstone course sequence. She plans to graduate in Autumn 2023.
Congratulations to the awardees!
Jane Christopherson being awarded Richard D. Taber Excellence in Wildlife Conservation.Natalee Bozzi awarded the Richard D. Taber Outstanding Wildlife Conservation Student AwardOlivia Cavaluzzi being awarded the Richard D. Taber Excellence in Wildlife Conservation award.
SEFS Professor Aaron Wirsing is a co-author on a new study published this week in Science, indicating that overfishing is driving reef sharks toward extinction in coral reefs globally.
Photo by Andy Mann
The researchers pinpointed overfishing as the main driver of the species’ decline based on 22,000 hours of footage from baited underwater video stations across 391 reefs in 67 nations and territories.
The study revealed declines of 60 to 73% of once-abundant coral reef shark species at reefs around the world. As a result, four of the five main shark species that live on coral reefs — grey reef, blacktip reef, whitetip reef, nurse, and Caribbean reef sharks — have been moved to more threatened categories on the International Union for the Conservation of Natures (IUCN) Red List.
Wirsing was part of a global team of researchers representing over 120 institutions across the world. He contributed data on reef shark populations in Tetiaroa, French Polynesia, from his ongoing work studying the behaviors of adults and juvenile sharks in the atoll’s lagoon. Wirsing deployed baited remote underwater video systems within and outside the lagoon in 2015 to record patterns of shark behavior. Data from these deployments contributed to the global assessment of reef shark populations known as the FinPrint Project, which led to the recent publication in Science.
SEFS Faculty during the 2023 graduation celebration.
On Friday, June 9th, SEFS celebrated the graduation of the Class of 2023 at Kane Hall. 129 undergraduate students, 16 master’s students, and 11 Ph.D. students walked the stage, celebrating years of hard work and dedication.
Several phenomenal speakers imparted words of wisdom to this year’s graduating class, including SEFS Director Dan Brown, Maya Tolstoy, Dean of The College of the Environment, and alumnus Steve Rigdon, Yakama Tribal Member and General Manager Yakama Forest Products. They commended the resilience of the 2023 graduates in navigating a tumultuous period of online and in-person learning throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and conveyed lessons for the future.
The Class of 2023 stands to celebrate their accomplishments.
Taylor Renee Ganz, this year’s graduate student speaker, regaled the crowd with a tale of perseverance, teamwork, and, well, geese, while sharing her experience studying wildlife science with SEFS Associate Professor Laura Prugh. The 2023 undergraduate student speaker, Maxwell Perkins, inspired attendees to find their sense of climate hope, in a world where it can be easy to lose sight of it.
Classmates and guests cheered on the Class of 2023 as they walked the stage, celebrating the incredible work they’ve done and will go on to do. Families, friends, faculty, and staff gathered after the ceremony for a reception in the Anderson Hall Courtyard.
SEFS Associate Professor Brian Harvey poses with recent graduates and current students.
A hearty thank you to Liz Collier, SEFS Graduate Program Advisor and Manager of Student and Academic Services, along with the many student and staff helpers who contributed to a smooth ceremony and reception. Additionally, we thank Professors Laura Prugh, Sergey Rabotyagov, and Brian Harvey for reading names.
College of the Environment Graduation Gift
In appreciation of the 2023 College of the Environment graduating class, the College is partnering with the Campus Sustainability Fund to help fund the Resiliency Tunnel Project for the UW Farm, a student-powered urban farm that provides locally grown produce to UW and the greater community through local partners and the UW Food Pantry. This gift will help fund the construction of a high tunnel, a USDA-approved method for season extension, to protect crops and extend the production season by multiple months. This project will incorporate small scale solar and rainwater catchment systems and provide an educational space for the community. We are excited to support this project and the increased sustainability of our Husky community.
An undergraduate student in the Bioresource Science and Engineering program celebrates with her advisors.
Graduates: Contact sefscomm@uw.edu to request any pictures we might have taken of you during the ceremony or reception. Please subscribe to the SEFS Newsletter to keep up with our activities and alum adventures!
Danielle Pascoli holding nanocellulose film made from agricultural wastes.
Where some see waste, SEFS alumna Danielle Pascoli sees possibility. That perspective has led her from looking for higher-value uses for plant waste during her PhD to becoming the sole founder of an innovative nanofiber company in the last year.
As an undergraduate student in her home country of Brazil, Danielle was a biochemical engineering major when she joined a research project using waste material from sugarcane industry to make biofuels.
“That was the first time I did anything hands-on, and I remember my mind was blown. You’re taking trash and waste and you’re making a valuable product out of it. I was so in love with that idea that I knew I wanted to keep doing this for my career,” said Danielle.
Years later, Danielle joined the Bioresource Science and Engineering program at the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences (SEFS) to work with Professors Renata Bura and Rick Gustafson on biofuel research for her master’s degree. With a growing interest in working with longer-lasting materials, Danielle turned her focus to biomaterials, such as nanocellulose, for her PhD studies. Nanocellulose is a natural biopolymer made from plant materials that has unique properties, such as reinforcing and lightweighing, and can be used to create enhanced and more sustainable materials in many industries.
From cosmetics, electronics, and sensors, to packaging, plastic, and cement, nanocellulose has an array of applications. But the nanofibers currently on the market are made with expensive wood pulp materials through processes with a high environmental and economic cost, which limits their production on a large scale. Danielle and her advisors set out to find a better alternative.
“We wanted to solve that problem. That’s how it all started,” said Danielle. Using different types of waste from agricultural residues, invasive plant species, and industrial hemp, they started developing a low-cost process to produce nanocellulose. The project began with Washington State funding Prof. Gustafson and Bura’s effort to develop sustainable biobased industries for Lewis County – a region of the state that is aggressively developing its industrial base. One of the industries was the production of nanocellulose, and in the course of the research, it was discovered that reed canary grass, a widespread invasive species in the state that overtakes native plants and harms biodiversity, is an excellent feedstock for nanocellulose production. The use of an invasive species to produce a very high-value product is so compelling that Gustafson and Bura have since been awarded an additional $1 million from Washington State to continue this research.
Not only did their process work, the nanocellulose they created vastly improved the materials it was added to. When incorporated into biodegradable plastic, the material becomes stronger, tougher, and more flexible. What’s more, the process was by far more cost-effective than any existing system and could be adapted to a range of waste materials.
Danielle and Prof. Renata Bura in 2022.
In the last year of her PhD program, Danielle was mainly focused on testing the materials in front of her, and her impending graduation timeline. That changed when she attended a presentation on the Activate Fellowship program during a conference. Activate focuses on helping scientists turn their technologies into products, and bring real solutions to life through commercial enterprises. Both of Danielle’s advisors immediately encouraged her to apply, despite her initial hesitations.
“I was focused on graduating. That was my last year, I had my thesis defense coming up. I was like, ‘I’m worried about defending, I’m not worried about creating a company right now,’” said Danielle. But over the course of a few weeks, her advisors helped her see her own potential as an entrepreneur and leader, so she decided to submit an application based on the technology she developed at the UW.
The fellowship kicked off a whirlwind journey that led Danielle to defend her thesis, complete her PhD, move to a different state, and start a company on her own in the span of the summer of 2022. She faced a massive transition from the academic world and soon found the NSF’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program to help build her entrepreneurial skills and confidence. The I-Corps program is an immersive, entrepreneurial training program that facilitates scientists along the transformation toward commercialization.
In the year since Danielle launched VERDE Nanomaterials, she has tackled a dramatic learning curve. From finding funders and market testing products to navigating all the bureaucratic red tape that accompanies running a business, she was grateful for the continued support of her former advisors and fellows cohort.
“It wasn’t something that I was born with, thinking ‘I’m going to create a company. I’m an entrepreneur.’ It really grew on me over time,” said Danielle.
Danielle Pascoli at a startup showcase at Climate Tech Cocktails at UC Berkeley (2023).
Her first year as a company founder was far from easy. She had to learn how not to think like a scientist 100% of the time, and start seeing the world from a business perspective. She learned that just having really cool technology is not enough. Figuring out what value your technology brings to the world is key to success.
Now, Danielle is building a vision for her budding company. Currently, she’s testing materials to find out what type of product will be most cost-effective, in demand, and effective to produce as her first prototype. In the coming year, Danielle plans to hire her first employee.
Having mentors that helped her take the leap out of the lab and into creating real-world solutions has allowed her to go farther than she ever anticipated.
“I am 100% sure that if I weren’t at SEFS, working with the people I worked with, I would never be doing what I’m doing right now. It felt like I wasn’t trying anything by myself. I really had a network of support that was there, saying ‘you can do it,’” said Danielle.
Director Dan Brown congratulates awardees during the SEFS 2023 Year-End Celebration.
The uncharacteristic warmth of late spring this year has brought us back to gathering outdoors and enjoying the extra daylight. As the academic year draws to a close, we took a moment to applaud the dedication, outstanding achievements, hard work, and compassion demonstrated by the SEFS community at our annual Year-End Celebration. Thanks to all of you who were able to come out and help us congratulate the many awardees!
This quarter brought us further good news, with the exciting announcement that the Anderson Hall renovation project will receive funding from the Washington legislature. This project will provide an excellent opportunity to improve accessibility, safety, technology, and collaborative learning in the building. The design process is underway, and the project management team, led by the UW Facilities group and an external design/build team is looking to gather input to the project from those of us who are most affected. The first, but not only, opportunity to provide input is to respond to this online survey.
Among the many opportunities for our community to gather this spring, I was heartened to see so many familiar faces of SEFS past and present at this year’s Sustaining Our World Lecture. We were fortunate to feature SEFS Emeritus Professor Dr. Jerry Franklin, forest ecologist and leading authority on sustainable forest management, as this year’s speaker. If you missed the event, you can watch Jerry’s lecture on the SEFS YouTube channel.
As we move into summer, plans for the future are on the minds of our graduates, faculty, and staff. In addition to looking forward to welcoming Francisca ‘Kika’ Santana and Claire Willing to the faculty in autumn, we are launching two faculty searches for next year, in the areas of Sustainable Bioresource Engineering and in Ecological Restoration and Management, and developing priorities for future searches. This work on hiring priorities complements our work on developing strategic goals for the school, as well as for Pack Forest and the UWBG.
Reflecting on the many transitions occurring in the SEFS community this time of year, we invite you to join us in wishing a fond farewell to John Marzluff, who is retiring this year. John has been a dedicated avian ecologist, educator and mentor, and leader on the SEFS faculty during his time at UW, and will be missed.
I extend my congratulations to all the SEFS graduates and look forward to news of the amazing accomplishments sure to come.
Dan Brown Corkery Family Director’s Chair Professor and Director
SEFS Environmental Science and Resource Management student Jessie Cox was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to travel to South Korea. Jessie plans to become proficient in the Korean language, experience cultures outside of her own and gain skills in international relations. She plans to pursue higher education in either environmental or atmospheric sciences with the goal of working at international programs like the Korea-United States Air Quality Study through the US EPA.
To celebrate the end of the spring semester, the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences hosts an annual award ceremony to recognize community members who demonstrate outstanding leadership, enthusiasm, and innovation at SEFS.
Thanks to all who attended the 2023 Year-End celebration!
We are grateful to Ellen Adams, Mary Keyes, and the rest of the SEFS staff for putting this event together. Thank everyone who submitted nominations to highlight outstanding members of our community and the dedication you have all shown to SEFS this year!
Undergraduate Student of the Year
Ingrid Jeacopello, the 2023 Undergraduate Student of the Year, is a determined, intelligent, and highly productive researcher. She has successfully worked across diverse projects including a clinical research study to determine the effect of wildfire smoke exposure on gene expression and the development of a microfluidic lollipop for diagnostics. She is a leader in her lab and has mentored 6 other undergraduate researchers. Ingrid has done amazing things at SEFS and beyond, and is expected to be a co-author on at least 5 peer-reviewed publications from her undergraduate research, including one as co-first author.
Graduate Student of the Year
For Graduate Student of the Year, we are pleased to announce that two graduate students were chosen. First, we have Don Radcliffe. Don has played a key role in building community and making SEFS—and the environmental science field, more broadly—a more inclusive, welcoming, and supportive space. Don was at the heart of the efforts for reviving the Graduate Student Retreat, held at Pack Forest this last fall, which provided a valuable opportunity to meet the incoming grad student cohort and build community. He is also an excellent mentor and instructor, giving outstanding guest lectures for SEFS classes, leading successful field campaigns, and mentoring three capstone students since the start of his degree in SEFS. Don continues to push the boundaries of his research and is leading his first bird-focused field season this year, funded by a prestigious Joint Fire Science Program grant.
Attendees at the 2023 Year End Event
Our second recipient of Graduate Student of the Year is Samantha Kreling. Within her first year at UW, Sam carried out a successful field season, led a successful grant proposal, and developed an excellent dissertation proposal with five data chapters that supported her successful Masters bypass petition. Sam was awarded a Hall Conservation Genetics grant and published a single-author paper in Bioscience last month on the impacts of urbanization on animal coloration patterns. Her impressive publication record, and success in leading two small grant proposals while also helping to secure a major NSF award, makes for a truly exceptional academic track record. In addition to her research, Sam taught a 5-credit service course, Wildlife in the Modern World, as a pre-doctoral instructor for three semesters and received remarkable student evaluations for a first-time instructor.
Faculty Member of the Year
We are excited to announce that this year’s Faculty Member of the Year is Alex McInturff. Alex has been a very strong force and proponent of societal and cultural change at SEFS. On top of being extremely kind and empathetic as a mentor and human, Alex has brought new research perspectives to the SEFS community, highlighting the importance of social sciences working with environmental sciences. Since joining SEFS, he has devoted time to a leadership role in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee, which expanded survey efforts and created timely events, co-authored an article in Nature Climate Change, taught a new course in Social-Ecological Systems, and consistently mentors graduate and undergraduate students.
Staff Member of the Year
It is with great honor that we announce Ellen Adams is this year’s Staff Member of the Year! Ellen has demonstrated skill and finesse since coming to SEFS, helping this department return to normal operations, rebuild community, and being a welcoming presence in the Anderson building. Day to day, they provide quick solutions and help to students and staff across SEFS and visitors to our community. Ellen has provided unique insight and clever innovations to bring people together across our clusters of students and staff, and has streamlined administrative processes with their efficient, informative approach.
Outstanding Commitment to Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity
Finally, we congratulate our selection for outstanding commitment to Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity at SEFS this year, Lauren Satterfield. Lauren has been a driving force within the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and has brought about improvements in reporting of harassment and abuse. Despite working to complete her PhD, she continues to show up to bring about positive change at SEFS with an infectious and inspiring energy.
UW Awards
In addition to our 2023 SEFS Award Winners, we’d like to congratulate several other SEFS community members for their accomplishments at UW as a whole:
SEFS students Max Perkins and Jonathan Kwong were recognized in the 2023 Husky 100 list
SEFS Director Dan Brown hands out awards during the 2023 Year-End Event.
Led by SEFS Associate Professor Laura Prugh, new research published the journal Science shows that in Washington state, the presence of apex predators like wolves and cougars can push coyotes and bobcats into areas with higher levels of human activity. The team, made up of researchers at the University of Washington, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Spokane Tribe of Indians, found that these smaller predators were more than three times as likely to die from human activity, like hunting or trapping, than by the apex predators they were moving away from.
The study sheds light on the impact of human-wildlife interactions and how interactions among species are changing. Former UW postdoctoral researcher Calum Cunningham, SEFS Research Analyst Lead Taylor Ganz, and SEFS Professor Aaron Wirsing are co-authors on the publication.
The Population Health Initiative announced today the award of a dozen planning grants to University of Washington researchers to support the launch of new climate-focused collaborations
Congratulations to SEFS researchers Sameer Shah, Jonathan Bakker, Heidi Gough, Joshua Lawler, who were among the 12 teams awarded $10,000 grants to support the launch of new projects ranging from net zero emissions to native plant production to wastewater reuse.
Get to know SEFS staff! This series provides an opportunity to find out more about SEFS staff members — what they do in their daily job and how they spend their time outside the office.
What is your role at SEFS?
My role at SEFS is managing three field sites on campus, at the UW Farm. These three growing sites, the planned Urban Farm at Mercer Court, the rooftop Culinary Garden at MacMahon Hall and the main production site just west of the Center for Urban Horticulture.
As the UW Farm Manager, I not only support academic activity, but also grow food for the community, much like a working farm. The learning tools, or vegetables, fruit, flowers that students learn to grow, are all distributed across campus to UW Dining cafeterias and retail outlets, to households via a CSA and donated to UW food Pantry and other food banks.
I collaborate with multiple departments and professors in over 24 units supporting learning by hosting and instructing during labs, field trips, research, and capstone projects. The UW Farm office is within the UW Botanic Gardens, the administrative home for the farm.
Tell us about your road to SEFS
I made the leap from my previous occupation as a commercial farmer to farming management and education in 2012, when I moved from Maine to the Pacific Northwest. I started a graduate degree in education at UW around the same time. I moved around a bit, working on campus farms to the non-profit farm and garden sector and then applied for the UW Farm Manager’s position in January of 2018.
It was after I was hired that I learned that the UW Farm is actually administered by a unit within SEFS, the UW Botanic Gardens. Over the last five years, the SEFS Director has a large impact on the UW Farm as a program and has been a positive force in developing resources and support for the campus farm development and it’s academic future. Because I work on the edges of campus, I rarely make my way to Anderson or Winkenwerder, but I do love those Salmon Bakes!
Tell us about your college experience
I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont ‘87 and an MS in Natural Resource Management and Administration from Antioch New England back in ‘92. Years later, I decided to go back to school at the age of 45 as my interests in connecting with the next generation and urban populations increased dramatically. I asked myself, how can I have the most impact as a farmer? Growing crops for market in my New England network or taking a leap and working with those who are the most disconnected from their food supply and access to healthy food. I was learning increasing obesity and diabetes issues in our nation’s population, and I wanted to try to work on changing that with hands-on experiences for our youth. UW is a very large university, but I feel like I hit the jackpot as far as that impact goal. I work with amazing faculty and directors who are focused on this educational aspect as well, so I feel like I have community here. The students are incredible – they are so excited to explore the farm as a green space in our city. Their energy is contagious.
Where did you grow up?
Originally from Long Island, New York, I have a special place in my heart for the Northeast. From 1995-2012, I owned and operated a commercial grass-based sheep dairy, made farmstead yogurt and feta cheese, raised layer hens and grew vegetables in Union, Maine. In addition to running my own farm, I worked for five seasons at a greenhouse and nursery operation in Harpswell, Maine and a summer in the fisheries industry in Alaska.
What are your favorite ways to spend time outside of work?
When I am not working, I am still thinking of farming so “outside of work” is hard to imagine. All the farmers I know pretty much think about farming 24/7, even in their dreams. The energy comes from a deep desire to be outside, enjoy the daily challenge of working with plants and animals and marvel at the everyday gifts and miracles of our natural world.
In the off-season (mid-November – mid-January), I like to cook, bake, dive into a book (I am currently reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer) or go for a long walk. When the weather warms up, and I have a day off, I like to bike to the farmers market, a thrift store, or just go for a ride. Hiking is also one of my favorite past times. I feel so lucky to be in such a beautiful part of the world. There are very few places in our nation with such stunning snow-capped mountains rising up from an ocean.
What inspires you?
Primarily two things inspire me – Students, faculty and community volunteers bring so much energy, commitment, and ideas every day. To find the farm you have to really seek it out. Those that do are deeply interested in all the topics related to farming, food systems, the environment, public health, soil health – you name it – it all intersects on the campus farm no matter your major or background. The farm is a safe space to have open discussions on any number of topics. Every day the farm is like a flipped classroom. The students and volunteers inspire me with their questions, which forces me to dig deeper, learn more, and improve.
I am also inspired by other farmers and farm workers who work so hard on a daily basis. As I toil, pull weeds, pick fruit and harvest with the farm team in the heat or cold weather, I know I have it easy compared to many others. When I was a small-scale commercial farmer, I had challenges, especially extreme weather events due to climate change that pushed me to my limit. Today, I think about farmers across the globe and so many are doing incredible work such as preserving seed diversity, working for food justice and environmental justice, and sharing their practices, which informs what I do. I have also been inspired by recent events that the pandemic brought to light – acknowledgement and accountability for my role in supporting BIPOC farmers and food workers.
