[job]: Eelgrass Monitoring Technician, WA Dept. of Natural Resources (Olympia, WA)

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WA DNR Official LogoEelgrass Monitoring Technician
Agricultural Research Technologist 2
Recruitment # 2018-03-7059, 7060

SALARY RANGE:

$2,848 – $3,795 per month

TYPE OF POSITION:        

Permanent, Career Seasonal. This recruitment will be used to fill twopermanent, career-seasonal positions, full-time to be hired immediately and expected to  last until December 31, 2018. This position is represented by the WPEA.
Important Note:   Once appointed to this position the incumbent will be required to pay union dues or other representation fees within the first 30 days of employment.

LOCATION:                         

Olympia, Washington

CLOSES:

13 March 2018
Note: Recruitment may be extended after 13 March depending on the quantity and quality of the application pool.

POSITION PROFILE:

The primary task of this position is to classify underwater videographic data collected by boat for the Submerged Vegetation Monitoring Program (SVMP).  These data are used to quantify Puget Sound eelgrass abundance as an indicator of habitat health in Puget Sound. The incumbent will analyze video data following well-defined methods and techniques and maintain a high level of accuracy and attention to detail when classifying data. The position will operate video recording and playback equipment and use computers to compile, manage and process video data. Other duties include occasional field data collection, updating and managing databases, performing summary statistics, performing quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures on large datasets, writing procedures and internal reports on work performed and assisting in the production of external publications.

This position works among a team of scientists to assess the status and trends of marine and estuarine resources in Washington State. The Nearshore Habitat Program inventories and monitors intertidal and shallow subtidal areas for a wide range of management and scientific purposes. Information about the Nearshore Habitat Program can be found at:
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/ResearchScience/Topics/AquaticHabitats/Pages/aqr_nearshore_habitat_program.aspx

The program fulfills, in part, DNR’s mandate to manage state-owned aquatic resources in a manner that protects their long term sustainability and functions (RCW 79.10). The DNR uses nearshore habitat information to manage state-owned aquatic lands. Local, state, federal and tribal groups use the information for salmon restoration, environmental protection and planning, marine reserve selection, and resource management. It also fulfills DNR’s monitoring commitments that are defined in the Puget Sound Action Agenda to monitor eelgrass – a Vital Sign that is used to judge the success of protection and restoration efforts.  The Nearshore Habitat Program is part of the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program, a multi-agency research program that assesses the health of Puget Sound.

Full position description and application

[course]: BIOL 240: new option for intensive, first-year general biology in summer term

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Starting in summer 2018, students will have the option to take a full year of introductory biology through the new summer intensive BIOL 240: Introductory Biology course (15 credits). This series can be used as an alternative for all pre-reqs and major requirements for the BIOL 180, 200, and 220 series.

BIOL 240 Introductory Biology

BIOL 240 is a 15 credit Summer course that can be taken as an alternative to the three-quarter BIOL 180-200-220 Introductory Biology Series. It will be an exciting and high intensity, full-time academic commitment. Intended for, but not limited to, students interested in health professions. BIOL 240 is focused on human biology and is designed to teach the topics of cell and molecular biology, animal and plant physiology, and ecology and evolution as they relate to human health. Rather than addressing each topic separately, the course fully integrates these topics through the use of case-studies on subjects such as antibiotic resistance, opioid addiction, and cancer. The course is taught using the latest evidence-based teaching methods, and instructors for the course have published in the field of biology education research. For more information, including draft lecture and lab schedule, click HERE.

[course]: OCEAN 497C: Oceanography in the Service of Society

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Hello students and faculty,

This spring, Tansy Burns and I will be offering a special topics course called Oceanography in the Service of Society.

This course will train students in application of key ideas and principles from Oceanography to address immediate societal needs in education, human health and aquaculture. Course content is designed to provide core knowledge, practical skills and real-world experience in Earth Sciences pedagogy and environmental monitoring.

This content is relevant to students aspiring to be skilled educators at the K-12 through University levels; to gain qualifications for a wide variety of jobs in environmental consulting, marine industries, or technology; or to be basic researchers in Oceanography with improved insight into applications of their work.

Students will work in small groups to undertake projects focused on C-STEM education or aquaculture-related environmental monitoring. Students will be mentored by the instructors and by practicing professionals in assessing needs, designing and implementing effective low-cost solutions, and reflecting on how Oceanography can and should contribute to societal well-being.

Projects may involve off-campus work trips to schools, aquaculture facilities or other relevant field sites.

The course is 3 credits. Students may sign up for OCE 497C (SLN 21431) or OCE 506 (SLN 21432). Students enrolled in the 500-level course will undertake additional activities in designing evidence-based learning frameworks for Earth Sciences teaching or analysis and synthesis of marine environmental monitoring data.

Meeting time is Wednesday, 4:30-7:20, in a single block to facilitate participation by working professionals. During project implementation, some class meetings may be replaced by working group meetings with instructors and practitioners.

Please contact Tansy Clay (tansy@uw.edu) or me (random@uw.edu) for further information.

Thanks!

Danny Grünbaum

Sea Dawgs club guest lecture: Southern Resident Killer Whales & Marine Mammals of the Salish Sea

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Hello!
 
SeaDawgs is putting on a guest lecture on Monday, February 26th at 4pm led by Dr. Deborah “Giles” Giles, a resident scientist at the UWFriday Harbor Labs. The talk will be taking place in the Fisheries Science Building in Room 107. Dr. Giles will be speaking about the Southern Resident Killer Whales, which are iconic to our region but threatened. Also, in Spring ’18 she will be teaching FHL 375: Marine Mammals of the Salish Sea, which is part of the Marine Biology Quarter on the San Juan Island. This class promises to be an immersive experience, for students will gain field research skills collecting data on marine mammals while learning directly from the environment of the Salish Sea. 
 
Who’s Invited: Anyone with an interest in our Southern Resident Killer Whales
What: Guest Lecture by Dr. Deborah Giles
When: February 26th at 4pm
Where: Fishery Sciences Building, Room 107
Link to Facebook Event: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/154002181985315/?notif_t=plan_user_invited&notif_id=1518677613127585
 
 
We hope to see you there!
 
Best,
 
SeaDawg Executive Board 2017-2018

US Fish & Wildlife Employment workshop (UW Career & Internship Center, 2/22/2018)

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Thursday, Feb 22, 10:30am-11:20am in MGH 134

How to apply: Federal internships with U.S. Fish and Wildlife (Employer-Led Workshop)

Are you interested in working for the federal government, but are confused about the application process? Come hear firsthand from the regional recruiter for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, about how to navigate the federal jobs board and stand out as a candidate. They have 50+ internships available for summer!

Link: https://careers.uw.edu/events/2018/02/22/how-to-apply-federal-internships-with-u-s-fish-and-wildlife-employer-led-workshop/

[study abroad]: Coastal Ecosystems of Micronesia in a Changing Climate

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This exploration seminar (OCEAN 496) is pre-approved to fulfill requirements for the marine biology major and minor.

Synopsis

August 31 – September 23, 2018

Students in this field-based Exploration Seminar in Kosrae will study & conduct ecological assessments of coral, mangrove & seagrass habitats to understand how development and climate change are impacting the largely pristine coastal ecosystems of this remote island.

Kosrae is the eastern-most island in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the expansive Caroline Island chain of the western tropical North Pacific Ocean. Magnificent mangrove swamps and coral reefs surround much of the coastline. With just over 7,000 people, and minimal tourism or industry, Kosrae’s 42 square miles of lush mountainous terrain remain largely undisturbed and stunningly beautiful. Closely connected to land and sea, Kosraeans are deeply rooted in their cultural heritage and traditions, while being gracious and hospitable to visitors.

In this 23-day, 5-credit course, students will apply basic principles of biology, ecology, oceanography, & geology to develop an understanding of Kosrae’s coastal ecosystems, learn about the ways climate change is impacting those ecosystems, and experience the rich Kosraean culture. The course will include units on mangroves, coral reefs, estuaries and seagrasses. Most days will feature a field-based activity, during which students will conduct a rapid ecological assessment of a mangrove swamp, coral reef, or seagrass meadow.
Ecological assessments from pristine settings will be compared to those from locations impacted by human activities, such as development or logging. The final project will be to conduct a workshop for Kosraean K-8 teachers on mangroves, oceans & climate.

Logistics

Students & staff will live at the lovely Pacific Treelodge Resort. Lodging on Kosrae is included in the program fee of $5,550. A discounted rate of $23 has been negotiated for 3 meals/day at the Resort. Kosrae is accessed 4x/wk by United Airlines flights from Guam and Honolulu. For more information please contact Julian Sachs at jsachs@uw.edu.

[study abroad]: Island Ecology: Natural History of the Azores (June 2-30, 2018)

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Please share the attached flyer with students and colleagues you think might be interested. I think this is a great opportunity for a student looking for an interesting, cost effective summer field science course in a location that is exotic, foreign, and safe. There is the opportunity to study Portuguese language and culture alongside the science, and I even have a small amount of scholarship funding to help defray costs.​ It would be great to get another student from College of the Environment!

I recently left Woods Hole to move to the Netherlands after working for 23 years at SEA Education Association as a Professor of Oceanography, so I know a number of people at UW. My wife and I (also a biologist and oceanographer) designed a summer field course taught at Univ. of the Azores last summer that went really well so they’ve asked us to teach it again this June.​ Last year we had 8 students from France, Canada, and several US schools including Georgetown, Miami of Ohio, SUNY campuses, and Univ. of Washington (a rising sophomore in the Aquatic and Fisheries Science​ program, and one of the strongest students in my group!). Majors ranged from International business to biology and env.sci., and the Study in Portugal Network is growing and now has formal affiliations with 15 US universities.​

Thank you and kind regards,

Erik Zettler, Ph.D.

Guest Researcher

Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry
NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research & Utrecht University
P.O. Box 59 |1790 AB Den Burg | The Netherlands​

www.nioz.nl/en

flyer inserted below as an image. To learn more about SiPN and apply, see: http://www.studyinportugalnetwork.com/academics/ -select “Build Your Program”, then
“Build Your Summer”, and scroll down to “SiPN June Summer Programs in the Azores, Sao Miguel Island”. For any questions about
this course please contact lead instructor Dr. Erik Zettler (erik.zettler@nioz.nl) directly.

[SAFS Bevan Series Guest Lecture]: Minding the Gap: Spanning the Boundary Between Science and Policy, Angela Bednarek of the Pew Charitable Trusts (2/8)

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his year promises to be hot as we explore the effect of a changing climate on fishery sustainability. What effect does a 3+ year marine heatwave have on North Pacific fisheries? How does acidification affect shellfish and finish sustainability? Who wins, and who loses, in the political wars to determine who can fish what where? Can our own U.S. congress reauthorize our Fishery Management Act without major (untoward) alterations? And how can we, as scientists and citizens, communicate our expertise and opinions on all of these issues?
Please join us every week on Thursday at 4:30pm in the Fishery Auditorium (reception following). You can find the speaker list attached at the Bevan Series website.
This week’s speaker is Angela Bednarek of the Pew Charitable Trusts, who will discuss turning science into policy as part of a boundary organization. Her talk details can be found below, or at this link. If you’d like to schedule a meeting with our speaker, please email yaaminiv@uw.edu with your availability. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!
—
If you missed Dr. Terrie Klinger’s talk, you can find it here.
—
Angela Bednarek
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Minding the Gap: Spanning the Boundary Between Science and Policy
Abstract:
The question of how best to ensure that science is considered within policy-making is a pressing one. One solution is to “span the boundaries” between science and policy and create a more comprehensive and inclusive knowledge exchange process. This approach aims to improve the chances that research results and decision-making needs are more closely aligned, and includes accounting for the many types of perspectives, values, and types of knowledge involved. A challenge, however, is that sufficiently accounting for all of these moving parts can be quite an undertaking. Boundary organizations and individuals take on this work as a specific practice. The Lenfest Ocean Program, a grant-making program at The Pew Charitable Trusts, has been operating as a boundary organization for the last 13 years, with the aim of both producing and integrating policy-relevant science into decision-making about the marine environment. In this talk, I will describe the Program’s approach and outcomes, and explore some of the broader opportunities and challenges in engaging in boundary-spanning.
Speaker Biography:
Angela Bednarek is a project director at The Pew Charitable Trusts in the environmental science division. She develops strategies for enhancing and assessing the policy relevance of the division’s research investments. This includes developing scholarship and convening scholars and practitioners on improving the connections between science and policy. Before joining Pew, Bednarek was a foreign affairs officer and AAAS Diplomacy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State in the Office of Environmental Policy. While at the State Department, she was responsible for negotiating U.S. positions on the Global Environmental Facility, OECD, the environmental impacts of World Bank projects and international chemicals agreements. In addition, she served as the U.S. Representative to the United Nations Dams and Development Project. She has also held several fellowships in environmental policy, including one at the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York and a Morris K. Udall Fellowship in Environmental Public Policy and Conflict Resolution. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and studio art from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in biology from the University of Louisville, and a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Friday Harbor Labs’ Megan Dethier receives Seattle Aquarium Conservation Research Award

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this article is from the College of the Environment News page (January 30, 2018)

College of the Environment
Megan Dethier (right), George Willoughby (second from right) and Sylvia Earle (center) are recognized for their contributions by the Seattle Aquarium.

Each year, the Seattle Aquarium recognizes individuals who are leaders in marine research, especially in the Pacific Northwest. This year that honor goes to Megan Dethier, a longtime researcher at the College of the Environment’s Friday Harbor Laboratories. She was recognized alongside George Willoughby from Friday Habor Labs’ Advancement Board, who received the Scott S. Patrick Award for his volunteer service. Also honored for her commitment to ocean science and conservation was National Geographic explorer-in-residence Sylvia Earle.

As associate director for academics and the environment at Friday Harbor Labs and a University of Washington professor of biology, Megan has spent her career studying the ecology of shorelines in the Pacific Northwest and around the globe. Her work focuses largely on the Salish Sea. She designed a classification system to help inventory and keep track of how marine habitats in Washington state may change, and has worked with the National Park Service and state agencies to design shoreline mapping and programs that help monitor the state’s shoreline health.

The Friday Harbor Laboratories is a world-class destination for research, teaching and learning. Megan’s Marine Zoology and Botany course is one of its longest-running, often co-taught with a visiting instructor. The class—affectionately known as ZooBots—allows students to work alongside Megan and other scientists exploring the unique biology and ecology of nearby marine environments. Her hands-on approach, accessibility to students and enthusiasm for the ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest make it one of the most popular classes offered at the labs.

Seattle Aquarium has a long history with the UW. College of the Environment dean Lisa Graumlich currently serves on the aquarium board of directors, and numerous other UW researchers have been previous award winners in conservation research. These include Jeff Cordell, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences; Terrie Klinger, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs; Richard Feely, NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab and School of Oceanography; Usha Varanasi, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences; Jan Newton, Washington Ocean Acidification Center and Applied Physics Lab; Julia Parrish, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences; and Phil Levin, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.

SAFS Bevan Speaker Series (1/25): Dr. Éva Plagányi: “Caught in the Middle: Sustaining Fisheries in a Changing Climate”

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This year promises to be hot as we explore the effect of a changing climate on fishery sustainability. What effect does a 3+ year marine heatwave have on North Pacific fisheries? How does acidification affect shellfish and finish sustainability? Who wins, and who loses, in the political wars to determine who can fish what where? Can our own U.S. congress reauthorize our Fishery Management Act without major (untoward) alterations? And how can we, as scientists and citizens, communicate our expertise and opinions on all of these issues?
 
Please join us every week on Thursday at 4:30pm in the Fishery Auditorium (reception following). You can find the speaker list attached at the Bevan Series website.
 
This week’s speaker is Dr. Éva Plagányi, Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO. Her talk details can be found below, or at this link. If you’d like to schedule a meeting with our speaker, please email yaaminiv@uw.edu with your availability. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!
—
If you missed Lynda V. Mapes’ talk, you can find it here.
—
Éva Plagányi
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Oceans and Atmosphere
Caught in the Middle: Sustaining Fisheries in a Changing Climate
Abstract:
In a world of changing climate and increasing human population size, fisheries are caught between the pressures of changing climatic influences on productivity and distribution and increasing market demand. Sustaining marine fisheries in the face of these two global drivers of change increasingly calls for Global Approaches to Fisheries. Whilst a stretch from current approaches, there are several  modelling and related tools that can be developed and used to address the increasing complexity and global connectedness of fisheries systems as well as account for changing targets and baselines. For example, global approaches include self-analysis of us humans and our role in the ecosystem, analysing fishery supply chains, and considering non-stationary conservation goals and food needs. Being prepared for climate change and responding appropriately to changes in the state and organization of ecosystems, and their dependent societies, requires pre-tested strategies and adaptation options. I make the case also that the success of future sustainability initiatives depends largely on effective communication, and may require a re-think of conventional objectives and targets for fisheries management. Moreover, we should not lose sight of the value of data as our science becomes increasingly immersed in a cyber-world of simulation testing and our fisheries face increasing changes with no historical analogues.
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Éva Plagányi is a Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Australia. Her research is strongly interdisciplinary and focuses on the biological modelling of marine resources and ecosystems. Current projects include Torres Strait tropical rock lobster, bêche de mer and finfish, and she leads the development of MICE (Models of Intermediate Complexity for Ecosystem assessments) including applications involving outbreaking crown-of-thorns starfish impacting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. She earned a PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town in 2004, and moved to CSIRO in 2009. As a member of the Lenfest forage fish task force, she contributed to research on global management recommendations for forage fish. Her research has contributed to the management of marine resources, from krill to whales, and has been applied inter-alia in Australia, South Africa and Antarctica.