Jessica Gephart
- Assistant Professor, SAFS
Research areas
Globalization reshapes human-environmental systems by connecting producers and consumers to distant environments, creating potential trade-offs in environmental and human wellbeing outcomes. Our research group focuses on the sustainability and food security implications of global aquatic food trade through three primary tracks of work: 1) trade as a driver of distant environmental impacts and identifying tools to improve sustainable trade; 2) trade risks and resilience to environmental shocks, and 3) social-ecological feedbacks between aquatic food production and global trade. Collectively, our work aims to identify opportunities to improve food system sustainability and security for regions nutritionally dependent on aquatic foods. Visit the lab website for more information about ongoing projects.
A major effort of this lab is improving the resolution global aquatic food trade data to enable the above research and improve traceability efforts. See the Aquatic Resource Trade in Species (ARTIS) Database website for more information on this work.
Joining the lab
Our group is committed to provide a diverse and welcoming environment. We condemn any sort of discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, cultural identity, physical appearance, or religion. Science can only be advanced when different perspectives are considered and included.
Expectations for prospective students: Our lab primarily uses modeling and data synthesis approaches to understand the role of aquatic foods in sustainable and resilient systems. Therefore, a strong background in mathematics, statistics, and programming, and/or a desire to build those skills, is important. Our lab values open science and all students are expected to develop skills creating reproducible science. We also regularly work with researchers from across the natural and social sciences, so students are expected to be open minded about other approaches to scientific understanding. Please review our lab code of conduct for more lab expectations.
Funding: All graduate students at SAFS (and QERM) are fully funded, usually on fellowships, teaching assistantships, or most commonly research assistantships (RAs). RAs pay a monthly stipend, provide a tuition waiver, and include health insurance, and are paid from a grant. Obtaining funding for your graduate studies is therefore very important, but research grants are highly competitive. Students who secure a fellowship will have much more freedom to focus on their own projects without grant funding requirements. SAFS does offer a few fellowships each year, which do not need to be applied for; in addition, incoming students should consider the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, NOAA Nancy Foster Fellowships, the NMFS Sea Grant Joint Fellowship Program, and the Ford Foundation. The QERM program, which involves a rigorous math/stats/applied math set of courses in the first three quarters, also funds students for those three quarters.
Moving forward: If you are interested in joining the lab, please email me with: (1) your CV, (2) unofficial transcripts, (3) a couple of paragraphs about your research interests, skills, abilities, and career goals, (4) a short statement about your math, statistics, and programming background, and (5) a recent written example of your work. It is helpful for you to tell me a bit about your background, why you are interested in working with us, and what kinds of research interest you.
To apply: Send your application in to SAFS (and/or QERM) by the deadline, mentioning my name as an advisor you are interested in working with. Prospective students will normally be invited to the prospective student day in late February to meet with advisors in person and explore SAFS, the University of Washington, and the Seattle surroundings.
This section draws heavily from text compiled by the Branch Lab Group – thanks to them for sharing it with us!
Areas of Expertise
- Aquatic food trade
- Aquatic food traceability
- Sustainable diets
- Aquatic food systems
- Food system resilience
Community Engagement and Awards
- U.S. Science Envoy, U.S. Department of State
- Countdown to 2030 Report on Transforming Food Systems, Independent Expert Group
- Blue Foods Assessment, Scientific Leadership Team
- Oceana Science Advisor
Selected publications
Hicks, CC, JA Gephart, Z Koehn, S Nakayama, H Payne, EH Allison, D Belhabib, L Cao, PJ Cohen, J Fanzo, E Fluet-Chouinard, S Gelcich, CD Golden, KD Gorospe, M Issacs, CD Kuempel, KN Lee, A MacNeil, E Maire, J Njuki, N Rao, UR Sumaila, ER Selig, SH Thilsted, CCC Wabnitz and RL Naylor (2022) Rights and Accountability Support Justice in Aquatic Food Systems. Nature Food. Oct 18:1-11.
Asche, F, B Yang, JA Gephart, MD Smith, JL Anderson, EV Camp, TM Garlock, DC Love, A Oglend, and HM Straume. (2022) China’s seafood imports—Not for domestic consumption?. Science, 375(6579), pp.386-388.
Gephart, JA, PJG Henriksson, RWR Parker, A Shepon*, KD Gorospe, K Bergman, G Eshel, CD Golden, BS Halpern, S Hornborg, M Jonell, M Metian, K Mifflin, R Newton, P Tyedmers, W Zhang, F Ziegler and M Troell (2021) Environmental performance of blue foods. Nature, 597(7876), pp.360-365.
Golden, CD, JA Gephart, JG Eurich, DJ McCauley, MK Sharp, NL Andrew, and KL Seto, (2021) Social-ecological traps link food systems to nutritional outcomes. Global Food Security, 30, p.100561.
Davis, KF, S Downs and JA Gephart (2020) Environmental variability and food supply chains: Building resilience into global and local food systems Nature Food, pp. 1-12.
Gephart, JA, CD Golden, F Asche, B Belton, C Brugere, HE Froehlich, JP Fry, BS Halpern, CC Hicks, RC Jones, DH Klinger, DC Little, DJ McCauley, SH Thilsted, M Troell and EH Allison (2020) Scenarios for global aquaculture and its role in human nutrition. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture, pp.1-17.
Hicks, CC, JA Gephart, Z Koehn, S Nakayama, H Payne, EH Allison, D Belhabib, L Cao, PJ Cohen, J Fanzo, E Fluet-Chouinard, S Gelcich, CD Golden, KD Gorospe, M Issacs, CD Kuempel, KN Lee, A MacNeil, E Maire, J Njuki, N Rao, UR Sumaila, ER Selig, SH Thilsted, CCC Wabnitz and RL Naylor (2022) Rights and Accountability Support Justice in Aquatic Food Systems. Nature Food. Oct 18:1-11.
Asche, F, B Yang, JA Gephart, MD Smith, JL Anderson, EV Camp, TM Garlock, DC Love, A Oglend, and HM Straume. (2022) China’s seafood imports—Not for domestic consumption?. Science, 375(6579), pp.386-388.
Gephart, JA, PJG Henriksson, RWR Parker, A Shepon*, KD Gorospe, K Bergman, G Eshel, CD Golden, BS Halpern, S Hornborg, M Jonell, M Metian, K Mifflin, R Newton, P Tyedmers, W Zhang, F Ziegler and M Troell (2021) Environmental performance of blue foods. Nature, 597(7876), pp.360-365.
Golden, CD, JA Gephart, JG Eurich, DJ McCauley, MK Sharp, NL Andrew, and KL Seto, (2021) Social-ecological traps link food systems to nutritional outcomes. Global Food Security, 30, p.100561.
Davis, KF, S Downs and JA Gephart (2020) Environmental variability and food supply chains: Building resilience into global and local food systems Nature Food, pp. 1-12.
Gephart, JA, CD Golden, F Asche, B Belton, C Brugere, HE Froehlich, JP Fry, BS Halpern, CC Hicks, RC Jones, DH Klinger, DC Little, DJ McCauley, SH Thilsted, M Troell and EH Allison (2020) Scenarios for global aquaculture and its role in human nutrition. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture, pp.1-17.