We’re excited to announce a new undergraduate degree in the School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences (SAFS): Bachelor of Science in Aquatic Conservation and Ecology (ACE). Coming to UW in Autumn 2025.

The Aquatic Conservation and Ecology (ACE) degree is about the ecology of aquatic organisms, the rivers, lakes, and oceans in which they live, and how we conserve them for the benefit of people and the planet. This degree integrates the disciplines of ecology, evolution, and quantitative sciences and applies these principles to contemporary conservation and natural resource management issues.

The UW Aquatic Sciences Open House is back on Saturday 17 May, offering a free and family-friendly day of hands-on learning to celebrate science and research that relates to water. Visitors can step on board a research boat used for local science, and experience real working science labs here at the university. We also have hands-on activities led by current UW students, staff, postdocs, and faculty across the College of the Environment and by organizations from the greater Seattle area.

New research led by UW Medicine, and involving Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño from SAFS, has revealed that certain protein particles distinguish resilient corals from those that succumb to bleaching, offering new molecular tools for reef conservation and climate resilience.

Climate change threatens the health of polar bears across the Arctic. A study published in Conservation Physiology on March 5, introduces a new approach to measuring the health of polar bear populations, drawing inspiration from a well-known concept in human medicine: allostatic load. The lead author of the study is SAFS PhD student, Sarah Teman, working with UW Professor, Kristin Laidre, and scientists from USGS and Fish and Wildlife Health Consulting.

Microplastics are everywhere. From the clothes you wear to the food you eat, to even your toothbrush, microplastics are difficult to avoid. And these tiny pieces of plastic have big consequences for both humans and the wider environment. UW Daily speaks to Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño about her research into microplastics and marine organisms such as corals and anemones.

Scanning through the rows and rows of preserved fish housed in the UW Fish Collection, it’s easy to get lost trying to figure out what each fish is, especially to the untrained eye. Fish identification is a necessary step when preserving specimens from the wild, which deliver key insights for researchers delving into the untold secrets of fish. For SAFS undergraduate Liam Aston, his capstone research involves looking at Cottus specimens in the Fish Collection, a group of freshwater sculpin found throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

Only two blue whale births have ever been recorded in human history, an extraordinary mystery given they give birth every two to three years. Calves are also only rarely sighted—far less than would be expected from their pregnancy rates. Calves closely follow their moms and are sighted as mother-calf pairs, but why are so few detected? A new UW study by Trevor Branch proposes why. Its explanation hints at when and where the unseen births are happening and where blue whale calves spend their earliest months.

10 years ago, the UN declared 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. On this 10th anniversary at the University of Washington, we’re celebrating our women in aquatic and marine science: women who are leaders in their fields, women who are aspiring to be the next generation of fisheries scientists and marine biologists, women who are uplifting and supporting other women in science.

Interdisciplinary. Providing mentorship. Community-focused. These are just some of the terms that come to mind for Chris when she describes what it means to be a Black scientist. “When we think about being a non-majority community in STEM – and in this instance Black in STEM – we are tasked with a three-pronged responsibility because this is a lived experience for so many of us: being inherently interdisciplinary, mentor others, focus on your community”. Chris Mantegna is currently a graduate student at SAFS, after earning her bachelor’s degree in UW Marine Biology in 2021.

Walk along any beach, and you’re likely to find snail shells dotting the sand. In the Bering Sea, more than 200 species of sea snails exist. They’re an important source of prey for fish and walruses, playing a vital part in the Bering Sea food web. Working with a 50-year-old shell collection sourced from NOAA trawls from the mid-late 1970s, Jasper Nevis is looking at community structure in Bering Sea snails in collaboration with the Burke Museum Malacology Collection.