SAFS’ global network is one of its greatest strengths, providing nearly limitless opportunities for scientific and personal discovery. Explore some of our research highlights, spread across tropical and northern latitudes, through an interactive map. Deep dive into our new and exciting projects that provide students interdisciplinary study abroad experiences.

Each year, our students, faculty, and staff win regional, national, and international awards. Please join us in congratulating this year’s group of award winners!

In fall 2019, José Guzmán was appointed as a lecturer at SAFS, where he had been an instructor from 2015 to 2019. José has been recognized for his teaching excellence, receiving both the UW Distinguished Teaching Award and the College of the Environment Outstanding Teaching Award in 2019. A native of Spain, José earned his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Marine Sciences at the University of Cádiz. Before coming to SAFS, José was a postdoctoral fellow at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries.

Camrin Braun (Cam), an oceanographer and fish ecologist focused on top predators, joined the SAFS faculty in fall 2019. Prior to coming to SAFS, Cam was a NASA-funded postdoctoral research scientist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory and before that, a PhD student in Simon Thorrold’s lab at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cam’s research leverages computational and field-based approaches to unite biophysical interactions with the challenges of managing fisheries in a dynamic ocean.

Welcome to 2020 and the 2nd century of the School’s history. As we embark on the first of our next 100 years, there are several changes at SAFS to report to you.

First, there are the changes to the newsletter itself: SAFS News has a new writer and editor in Dan DiNicola, our communications specialist since July 2018. Apart from his writing and editing skills, Dan is contributing to the newsletter as an accomplished photographer; look for his photos throughout this issue. The second change is easy to see: the hard copy version is now in color, which means that those of you who receive the newsletter by snail mail can see the photos as they are meant to be seen— in full color.

Pacific salmon hatcheries aim to supplement declining wild populations and support commercial and recreational fisheries. However, there are also risks associated with hatcheries because the captive and wild environments are inherently different. It is important to understand these risks in order to maximize the success of hatcheries. Inbreeding, which occurs when related individuals interbreed, is one risk that may inadvertently be higher in hatcheries due to space limitations and other factors. 

A new study led by the University of Washington finds dramatic increases in the abundance of a worm that can be transmitted to humans who eat raw or undercooked seafood. Its 283-fold increase in abundance since the 1970s could have implications for the health of humans and marine mammals, which both can inadvertently eat the worm.

Researchers from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences have discovered that ocean acidification impacts the ability of some oysters to pass down “memories” of environmental trauma to their offspring.

Last quarter we caught up with Delaney Lawson who was down on South Caicos as part of a study abroad experience with the School for Field Studies (SFS)

Polar bears are spending more time on land than they did in the 1990s due to reduced sea ice, new research led by UW associate professor Kristin Laidre shows. Bears in Baffin Bay are getting thinner and adult females are having fewer cubs than when sea ice was more available.