2012 Speaker Series

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Diverse Migration Patterns Of Puget Sound Coho Salmon

Pacific salmon perform spectacular feats of migration, traveling thousands of miles from their natal river to distant stretches of the Pacific Ocean. Using their sense of the magnetic field and smell, they then return to nearly the exact location they were born. Most coho salmon from Puget Sound follow this migration pathway. However, some individuals do not migrate to the open ocean, instead remaining in the semi-enclosed, urbanized waters of Puget Sound. This “resident” behavior is risky. Individuals that stay in Puget Sound are smaller, and may have increased exposure to toxic contaminants. We don’t know why coho salmon remain in Puget Sound or exactly where they go. What are the benefits of staying? Are hatchery produced fish more likely stay than wild fish? My research seeks to understand the diversity of Puget Sound coho movement patterns. I track their movements using acoustic telemetry, and use data from commercial fisheries to determine if hatchery production is related to resident behavior.

See the video

Should I stay or should I go from Shawn Walker on Vimeo.

Jessica Rohde

Jessica Rohde is a M.S. student at the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences where she studies fisheries ecology and animal movement and behavior. Jessica is the President of the University of Washington Student Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, where she is active in science education and outreach, and provides career resources for students in fisheries science. Jessica earned her B.A. in biology from Colorado College, and has conducted a variety of research in the U.S and abroad, including tracking small carnivores in Mongolia, assessing coral community structure in the Turks & Caicos Islands, and quantifying the effects of fire on benthic macroinvertebrates in the South Platte River, Colorado.

Not Your Parents’ Protest: New Forms Of Political Participation In Social Media

Can a tweet, Facebook post, or uploading a video to YouTube be considered a form of political participation? Social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are not just where we connect with friends; they are places where we conduct business, discuss important political issues and show our support for social causes. In doing so, new forms of participation such as status updates, comments, videos, and profile pictures have begun to emerge, but are not yet recognized as valid forms of political participation by governments and politicians. This shift is challenging our expectations of democracy and requires us to reexamine our methods of engagement and what we consider to be valid forms of political participation. As a result, we now expect to use the same social media tools to connect with political leaders and public institutions that we already use on a daily basis to connect with friends and family. In this talk I’ll discuss some examples of new forms of political participation, including the Occupy Wall Street movement, and their implications for how we interact with government.

See the video

Not Your Parents’ Protest: New Forms of Political Political Participation and Social Media from Shawn Walker on Vimeo.

Shawn Walker

Shawn T. Walker is a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington’s Information School, where he studies digital government, social media, and public engagement. He is particularly interested in new forms of political participation emerging out of social media and how technology can be used to increase citizen understanding and participation in government. He has also earned degrees in International Studies (BA), and Liberal Studies (MA), with a focus on public policy and technology, from Northern Kentucky University and Information Science (MS) from the University of Washington. He is also interested in how the public and government we can make sense of and interact with the large about of social media data that we produce each day. This includes social media data collection, processing, and visualization. Shawn is a member of two interdisciplinary research groups at the University of Washington: the retroV (retrov.org) research team, which focuses on the virality of information, and SoMe Lab at UW (somelab.net), which focuses on online and information flows in social movements.

When Good Cells Go Bad: Your Brain Helping Brain Tumors Survive

Brain tumors are made of up to 30% of the body’s own immune cells. The tumors accomplish this by releasing chemicals that attract and reprogram immune cells that then promote the tumor’s growth and survival. Immune cells are normally capable of numerous helpful actions, including multiplying to increase their numbers, releasing poisons to destroy harmful agents, removing debris, and moving towards areas of injury. We hope to develop new techniques for fighting brain tumors by targeting treatments at the immune cells that can become corrupted by tumors. To accomplish this, we are investigating the chemicals that regulate cell movement, which include compounds that come from plants and the body, as well as man-made analogues.

Susan Fung

Susan Fung is a Ph.D. candidate in University of Washington’s Neurobiology and Behavior program. There she studies how different compounds affect proteins on immune cells of the brain which have not been fully described before. She is interested in identifying one particular new protein, what types of responses it is responsible for in brain immune cells and its role in brain tumors. Susan is involved in the Neurobiology and Behavior’s Outreach Program, a student-run organization interested in sharing neuroscience knowledge to children of all ages and adults. The group organizes and participates in numerous events throughout King County including the Pacific Science Center’s Life Sciences Weekend, Brain Awareness Week, and classroom visits. Before coming to Seattle, she received her B.A. in Cognitive Science at University of California, Berkeley and worked at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in San Francisco in a brain imaging lab researching neurodegenerative diseases.

Soils In The Air: The Savings Account Of The Forest

The canopy of a forest ecosystem is an interesting environment that has seen very little exploration and study. Ongoing research aims to understand how plants, animals, and other organisms are interacting in the branches and crotches of trees, particularly in the coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest. Epiphytes, plants that growth on the top of other plants (e.g., trees), form massive aboveground carpets. After many lifecycles, these epiphytes will form an arboreal soil, like a compost pile in the top of a tree. Together, epiphytes and this “canopy soil” interact with the whole forest by providing habitat for different organisms, a source of food for birds, and water and nutrients for plants. My particular focus is on how the epiphytes and the corresponding canopy soil move in a forest, from a branch to the ground, as well as what happens after they reach the ground.

Camila Tejo Haristoy

Camila Tejo Haristoy is a PhD student in the School of Forest Resources at the University of Washington. Her work focuses on nutrient cycling in forest canopies. As part of her research, Camila often explores the treetops, which have been described as one the last ecological frontiers. Before starting her graduate career, Camila studied biology in Chile, her country of origin. She worked as a researcher in temperate forests in southern Chile, which inspired he to pursue graduate studies. In 2008 Camila was awarded the Fulbright scholarship to pursue her Doctoral degree at the University of Washington. After completing her degree, one of her life goals is to develop a center for forest canopy research in Chile.

The Life And Times Of A Cancer-Causing Bacterium That Can Thrive In The Human Stomach

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that infects the stomach of about 50% of all humans. Infection with H. pylori can persist throughout the lifetime of the host and can cause symptoms ranging from mild to severe inflammation in the stomach to ulcers to stomach cancers. In my talk, I will discuss the life and times of this cancer-causing bacterium and describe current understanding about how H. pylori escapes the acidic and harsh environment of the stomach’s lumen to live and persist in close proximity to cells lining the stomach. I will also discuss current developments in research and understanding of H. pylori’s pathogenesis.

Laura E. Martinez

Laura Martinez originates from Boyle Heights in Los Angeles, California. She completed her undergraduate degree in biological sciences from the University of California Los Angeles. Upon graduating she moved to San Diego and joined an infectious disease research laboratory studying HIV-1 as a Research Technician at the University of California San Diego. She then pursued master’s level work and conducted cell and developmental biology research at the California State University of Los Angeles. Laura is now a third-year Ph.D. student in the Pathobiology Graduate Program at the University of Washington. In the spring of 2010 she joined Nina Salama’s Lab, located at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The Salama Lab is interested in the mechanisms by which the bacterium Helicobacter pylori can establish and maintain a chronic infection in the unusual environment of the human stomach. Laura is interested in studying how bacterial cell wall modifications and cell shape influence H. pylori’s pathogenicity. Laura is also very interested in community outreach and mentorship and is currently a member of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/as and Native Americans in Science Chapter at the University of Washington.

English Holly – Welcomed Guest Or Escape Artist?

English holly is being found in rural areas without being deliberately planted, worrying people who want to maintain the integrity of Pacific Northwest forests. Natural resources managers consider English holly an invasive species that negatively affects native vegetation and is expensive to remove. Yet labeling the plant with this designation is a contentious issue as there is no published research to support the invasive species classification. For my talk, I will present a preliminary analysis of what forest conditions English holly is likely to be found in order to identify future germination sites and prevent costly removal.

Andrea Watts

Andrea Watts is a Master’s Candidate with the School of Forest Resources and is focusing on studying silviculture and invasive plant species. In addition to being a full-time graduate student, she also works for the University of Washington for the Records Management Services Office as a records analyst.

Mission Impossible: A Sperm’s Perilous Journey To The Center Of The Egg

The sperm and the egg are the basic foundations for fertilization and reproduction to occur. This process cumulates when the sperm penetrates the egg. Across the kingdom of life, natural variation has evolved in the egg and sperm (shape, size, and other characteristics) in different species. Despite these differences, all mammals and non-mammals have similar sperm and egg structures that enable the sperm to find an egg. This talk will give a general overview of sperm- egg interactions and evolution in human and non-human primates. In particular, I will focus on the journey of the sperm and the ways in which it avoids or bypasses the barriers put up by the egg.

Katrina Claw

Katrina Claw is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington (UW), where she investigates the evolution of primate reproductive proteins using genomics and proteomics. She is also the former President and current National Liaison officer for the nationally recognized and award-winning UW Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Chapter. Katrina is committed to supporting diversity in the sciences and encouraging the continuation and retention of Native American students and underrepresented minorities in higher education.

Helping Computers Find Meaning They Lost In Translation

Thousands of different languages are spoken around the world, limiting our ability to communicate globally. Translation can help to overcome this barrier, but is often prohibitively expensive and time consuming. Automatic translation can allow people to communicate ideas and experiences across languages and cultures, but current technologies still struggle with expressive language. Nuance, idiomatic expressions, and cultural references pose fundamental challenges to how machines translate from one language to another. However, people reading a translation can easily locate problematic wording, suggest possible corrections, and help to improve translation quality. In this talk, we explore how people and computers can work together to overcome language barriers.

Katie Kuksenok

Katie Kuksenok is a Ph.D. student in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington working with Professor James Fogarty (UW) and Dr. Srinivas Bangalore (AT&T). Her research lies at the intersection of Natural Language Processing and Human-Computer Interaction. She builds applications that explore novel ways of interacting with text. Kuksenok has received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, AT&T Labs Fellowship, Microsoft Research Graduate Women’s Scholarship, and the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. Outside of research, she participates in computer science high school outreach. Prior to beginning the graduate program at the UW in 2010, Kuksenok graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.

How To Build A Mountain Range

Have you ever watched the sun set behind the Olympic Mountains and asked yourself, “How did those mountains get in the way of my sunset?” Well… it’s complicated. Come take a look at the life of a mountain range and learn about the processes building them up and wearing them down. We’ll ask such questions as: How long do mountains last? Why are some ranges steep and jagged, while others are rolling and gentle? Are there limits to high tall a mountain can get? All while exploring current research in mountain geodynamics from geologists working across the globe.

Karl Lang

Karl Lang is a PhD student in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. His research interprets the million-year record of mountain erosion in the Eastern Himalaya and Southern Alps of New Zealand. He is part of the Erosion and Tectonics research group in the department of Earth and Space Sciences, which applies novel geochemical tools to understand the complex relationship between surface erosion and the development of topography across the globe. He is also a participant in the Program on Climate Change and the Quaternary Research Center, both at the University. Before coming to Seattle, Karl studied Geology and Economics at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He has conducted field work across the US, in India and New Zealand on a wide variety of topics ranging from river morphology to the geology of viticulture.

Your Favorite Riverside Landscape – Why It Matters To Scientists

Riverside properties are popular for those who enjoy watching the river flow, the wildlife, and recreational activities such as fishing, swimming, and floating. However, when it floods, riverside residents suffer from property damage, partly due to a preference in having lawns and gardens that are vulnerable to flood erosions. To solve the problem, King County plans to buyout private properties and build a setback levee, which is expensive and not welcoming to the residents. This presentation will tell the story of my interactions with a riverside neighborhood; the Maplewood Neighborhood. Through casual conversations, conducting interviews, and distributing surveys, we are beginning to understand the residents’ perspectives on riverside landscapes, attitudes toward environmental hazards and watershed management issues, and behaviors that have impacts on the environment. By detailing the residents’ opinions, we hope to bridge the gap between the residents’ and the river managers’ perspectives on watershed management, particularly on the riverside landscapes. Furthermore, voicing the opinions of residents is the first step of local engagement in river restoration, namely, the stewardship program offered by Forterra and Friends of the Cedar River Watershed. Voluntary local steward restoration not only benefits the river ecosystem, but also helps prevent flood erosion; it is a socially acceptable and economically feasible alternative to moving people away from the river to which they are attached.

Kelly Huang

Kelly Yu-Chi Huang moved to the Seattle area from Taiwan in 2010. She is a Masters student in the UW School of Forest Resources, where she studies residents’ perspectives on riverside landscapes as a grass-roots approach to watershed management. Kelly is an intern with Forterra (formerly Cascade Land Conservancy), and her work is part of the ongoing Cedar River Restoration Project. She hopes to engage residents in restoring their local watershed, and to invite a broad audience of people into the world of natural resource management.

The Conscientious Forester: Forests And Carbon Credits In Western Washington

Forests are iconic of the Pacific Northwest. We all value these forests for many reasons – the beauty of towering Douglas-fir trees, the shelter of a wood-framed house, the clean air and water that has been filtered through a forest, and more. Of these products and services, wood and paper are the primary resources that carry a dollar value. However, many people concerned about global warming have begun to pay foresters to grow a forest that stores more carbon. This is because trees have the ability to take carbon dioxide, the leading cause of global warming, from the air and lock up that carbon long-term in wood. These payments-for-carbon place a dollar value on a product that doesn’t require cutting trees from the forest. Today, the payments for carbon are worth less than the money a forester receives from traditional forest management, but the less-intensive forestry associated with managing for carbon storage are thought to provide more of the environmental and social benefits we derive from standing forests. Thus, foresters interested in managing forests for carbon face a tradeoff between timber revenue and the benefits of less-intensive forestry. New research on how a forester can optimize timber revenue and forest carbon storage revives the discussion over how we most wisely use our forests to provide the diverse products and services we value and depend on.

Paul Fischer

Paul believes that environmental integrity and human quality of life depend on critical improvements to our stewardship of natural resources. To this end, he is working concurrently on a Master of Science in sustainable forestry and a Master of public Administration in environmental policy at the University of Washington. For his thesis he researches forest carbon sequestration under improved management practices in the Pacific Northwest, and he works at the UW’s Center for Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest. Previously, Paul worked as an environmental scientist at a consulting firm, as a forest ecology field technician, and as an environmental educator.

Fish Out Of Water? Salmon And Rapid Environmental Change

People are captivated by Pacific salmon from California to Alaska. We appreciate their taste, their beauty, the immensity of their migrations, and their role in our economy and culture. Confronted with continuing global climate change, many people — including fishermen, managers, and scientists — are asking how salmon and their habitats will respond to complex environment change and variability. One focus of climate change research is to understand the impacts of increasing temperatures on different species. Why does temperature matter to Pacific salmon? Under what circumstances will changes in temperature be a critical issue for salmon? Will we see differences in response to temperature change as we look across the wide range of salmon habitats? We’ll investigate these questions using the rich heritage of freshwater salmon research in Alaska and here in the Northwest.

Jennifer Griffiths

Jennifer Griffiths is a PhD candidate in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS) at the University of Washington. She spends her summers on the Alaska Peninsula contributing to the long-term datasets on salmon ecosystems maintained by the UW’s Alaska Salmon Program. Her research focuses on how climate change interacts with other regional environmental changes to affect sockeye salmon habitat and growth. She is interested in understanding how diverse habitats contribute to resilience in salmon populations in the face of rapid environmental change. Jennifer is a Seattle native and her interest in ecology was sparked by exploring the Washington intertidal through Garfield High School’s marine science program. Her research has been funded by the Victor and Tamara Loosanoff Fellowship and the Roy Jensen Research Fellowship from SAFS and by a US Army Corps of Engineers grant to the Alaska Salmon Program.