A message from Dan Brown, SEFS Director: Spring 2023

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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!

The cause for celebration doesn’t stop there; the accomplishments of SEFS students, faculty, and staff are recognized well beyond our community. Among the stories in the spring newsletter and on our website, you can read about SEFS graduate students who were awards from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), the SEFS students featured on the 2023 Husky 100 list, the Spark Award received by a team of BSE students in the Alaska Airlines Environmental Innovation Challenge, and pilot grants awarded to SEFS faculty from the UW Population Health Initiative to study climate impacts.

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 highlights outstanding achievements at the 2023 Year-End Celebration

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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.

a group of people in a grassy courtyard year brick buildings
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: