FieldSound - The official UW College of the Environment podcast

The UW College of the Environment connected with the global Earth and space science community and showcased the incredible work of our researchers, students and staff at the American Geophysical Union’s Annual Meeting 2024 (AGU24) in Washington, D.C., December 9-13, 2024. The annual gathering of more than 25,000 scientists from over 100 countries is the largest in the world, and gives researchers the opportunity to share their work and connect with friends and colleagues. Department of...

The UW College of the Environment connected with the global Earth and space science community and showcased the incredible work of our researchers, students and staff at the American Geophysical Union’s Annual Meeting 2024 (AGU24) in Washington, D.C., December 9-13, 2024. The annual gathering of more than 25,000 scientists from over 100 countries is the largest in the world, and gives researchers the opportunity to share their work and connect with friends and colleagues. Senior Market...

Aisha Rashid is a recent University of Washington graduate with dual degrees in marine biology and oceanography. During her time at UW, Rashid received a Husky 100 nod in 2024, served as captain of the equestrian team, and helped lead the College of the Environment’s student advisory council as co-chair. In this episode of FieldSound, Rashid shares audio from her experience aboard the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson as part of her senior thesis project in American Samoa, highlighting the...

In this episode of FieldSound, we meet two researchers who work in vastly different systems, but whose paths cross in the interdisciplinary field of astrobiology. Jodi Young is an assistant professor and biological oceanographer at the University of Washington who studies tiny, yet mighty, marine microalgae that play a crucial role in our planet's ecosystems. She’s fascinated by how these algae manage to survive and even flourish in the harsh, icy and briny waters of the polar regions — still...

In this episode of FieldSound, we hear from Michael Buck, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and a graduate of the UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs. Buck’s path in science has been guided by the traditions, stories, practices and knowledge of his community. His research is not just academic; it’s a living practice, deeply rooted in the concept of relationality and “research as ceremony,” where self-reflection, ceremony and reciproci...

In this episode of FieldSound, we hear from Ryan Kelly, professor in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs. Trained as both an ecologist and a lawyer, Kelly brings a unique perspective to his research at the boundaries of marine science and real-world environmental law and policy. He works closely with federal agencies and currently serves on a national task force that aims to move science into practice at a federal level. A major focus of Kelly's research involves environmental DNA,...

David Montgomery is a geomorphologist who looks at the processes shaping Earth’s surface and how they affect ecological systems — and human societies. He has studied everything from the ways that landslides and glaciers influence the height of mountain ranges to the way that soils have shaped human civilizations, both now and in the past. He has worked in mountain ranges throughout the world, from the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest to the Andes in South America and Tibet, and the Himalaya ...

GEODUC — which stands for Geoscience Education, Ocean­o­graphic Discovery and Undergraduate Collabor­a­tion — is a place-based, National Science Foundation-funded program spearheaded by faculty and staff in the College of the Environment. Created to broaden the depth and breadth of perspectives that inform scientific inquiry in marine science fields, GEODUC actively recruits UW transfer students from all disciplines. GEODUC begins with a 10-day residency at Friday Harbor Labs each September, ...

In this episode, Associate Professor of Earth and Space Sciences Alison Duvall shares about tectonic geomorphology, her work with the Cascadia CoPes Hub to increase knowledge about natural hazards and empower communities to build resilience in the face of environmental change, and her path to becoming a scientist. Duvall is a geologist who studies how mountains are built and how the landscape responds to these processes. More specifically, she looks at how plate tectonics, erosion, an...

Earthquakes can strike at any moment. On the final Season 1 episode of FieldSound, UW seismologists Harold Tobin and Audrey Dunham discuss the impending threat of “The Big One” - a large-scale earthquake that will strike along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Tobin and Dunham also share recent advances in earthquake and tsunami preparedness for communities inland and along the coast in the Pacific Northwest. Harold Tobin is a professor in the UW Department of Earth and Space Sciences and holds t...

Randie Bundy is a researcher with the University of Washington School of Oceanography. Her complex work looks into the cycling of trace metals in marine environments, how bioactive metals such as iron, copper, and cobalt are acquired by marine phytoplankton and bacteria, and how the organic forms of these metals affect their uptake and cycling in the ocean. Bundy recently co-led a team aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson for the recent Gradient 5 Survey with all female principal investig...

Aaron Wirsing is an ecologist with the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences studying predator-prey interactions. On this episode of FieldSound, Wirsing discusses his research in both terrestrial and aquatic systems, the ways that top predators, such as grey wolves and tiger sharks, shape their ecosystems and how humans affect predator-prey interactions through processes such as urbanization and climate change. The Predator Ecology Lab seeks to help better understand how predators in...

Chelsea Wood is an Associate Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. She is a leader in the ecology of parasites and pathogens in freshwater and marine ecosystems, the ecological drivers of parasite transmission, and human impacts on parasites in a changing world. Wood discusses the fascinating world of parasites, their “Rube Goldberg-esque” life-cycles, and her recent study - the world’s largest and longest dataset of wildlife parasite abundance - that suggests parasites may...