Marine Geoscience Education, Oceanographic Discovery, Undergraduate Collaboration (GEODUC) is a new and unique offering from the UW College of the Environment. GEODUC is a two-week immersive experience for incoming transfer students on board our research vessel and at our marine field facilities. Students will receive hands-on training and create an independent research project to answer their own questions. All expenses are covered. In addition, students will receive a stipend of $1,400.

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Irissa came to the University of Washington’s Marine Biology Program by way of the United States Coast Guard Academy. Irissa also made waves when she competed internationally at the Olympic Hopes Regatta for sprint kayaking on Team USA in Hungary and the Czech Republic. We recently caught up with Irissa to learn more about her unique career path, being a new student during a pandemic, and her research interests.

Chris Mantegna is a first-generation, non-traditional student, who is currently finishing her Marine Biology undergraduate degree at the University of Washington. She also serves on the board of directors of Black Women in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Science (BWEEMS) as co-chair of the Outreach, Mentorship, Social Committee. We recently caught up with Chris to learn more about her and how she became involved with this fast-growing international organization.

Scientists at the University of Washington, in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, are raising sunflower sea stars in captivity, with the goal of learning more about this species and exploring eventual reintroduction to the wild, if determined to be advisable.

Thanks to 20 years of observations from thousands of citizen scientists, University of Washington researchers have discovered distinct patterns in the mass strandings of by-the-wind sailor jellies. Specifically, large strandings happened simultaneously from the northwest tip of Washington south to the Mendocino coast in California, and in years when winters were warmer than usual.

When it comes to things that give us the heebie-jeebies, parasites reign supreme. However, they are a necessary part of our ecosystems. SAFS assistant professor Chelsea Wood joins Bill Nye on his “Science Rules!” podcast to explain what makes parasites so creepy, how to prevent them from killing us, and why she keeps digging around in decades-old cans of salmon.

Situated in the heart of the San Juan Islands, roughly 100 miles from Seattle, FHL is a unique satellite campus that offers students an unparalleled opportunity to immerse themselves in the Pacific Northwest’s marine environment. Much like the NBA’s “bubble,” where teams were isolated to ensure player health during the pandemic, the 2020 class of MARBIO 488 became its own bubble.

Coral bleaching is a significant problem for the world’s ocean ecosystems: When coral becomes bleached, it loses the algae that live inside it, turning it white. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but while they are bleached they are at higher risk for disease and death. Now an international consortium of scientists, including Marine Biology instructor Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño, has created the first-ever common framework for increasing comparability of research findings on coral bleaching.

A new University of Washington and NOAA Fisheries study found that sea lions have the largest negative effect on early-arriving endangered Chinook salmon in the lower Columbia River. The results of this study will publish Oct. 18 in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

The small subpopulation of polar bears in Kane Basin were doing better, on average, in recent years than in the 1990s. The bears are experiencing short-term benefits from thinning and shrinking multiyear sea ice that allows more sunlight to reach the ocean surface, which makes the system more ecologically productive.