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&AQUATIC FISHERYS C I E N C E SS C I E N C E SS C I E N C E SS C I E N C E SS C I E N C E S

Undergraduate Research

http://fish.washington.edu

In 1997, President Richard McCormick chal-lenged UW educators to focus on the scope andquality of undergraduate education, with par-ticular emphasis on expanding the opportuni-ties for research experience. The UW facultyhas a leadership role at the forefront of innova-tive research. Our undergraduates are interested,capable, and willing to participate in research asimportant dimensions of their education. Ourfaculty and students combined make our uni-versity a premiere institution for undergraduateexperiential education.

Since 1997, we have seen a tremendousincrease in research opportunities for under-graduate research across campus departments,and the School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences(SAFS) is among the leaders in this effort. SAFShas helped our undergraduates gain access toprovocative faculty research programs in a vari-ety of settings.

Many courses now routinely provide re-search orientation within the hypothesis-basedstructure of scientific method: questions areposed, data obtained and analyzed, and find-ings reported. Students have participated in re-search at unique field sites, such as the Alaskafield camps, Friday Harbor Lab, and Big BeefCreek; as team members of research programsstudying biodiversity in the Russian Far East;

as interns in the National Marine Fisheries Ser-vice stock assessment cruises in the Bering Sea;and through employment opportunities withinSAFS and in the broader commercial industriesthat hire our graduates.

The SAFS undergraduate curriculum requiresmajors to complete a senior thesis which givesstudents a way to “put it all together”—usingtheir experiences in our program to design andcomplete an independent research project, ap-ply academic and critical thinking skills, anddevelop proficiency in communication, plan-ning, project management, and networking.

In this issue, we feature undergraduates whohave participated in different research projectswithin the School, and we highlight some ofthe settings in which undergrads gain practicalskills and experience that they can apply intheir future studies, jobs, and lives.

Students noted their genuine appreciationto those faculty who played key roles in facili-tating their research experiences. Several alsoemphasized the importance of being proactiveas a student—the sense of advantage in activelylooking for opportunities, even when they maynot be obvious, and introducing yourself topeople involved in your area of interest.

—David Armstrong, DirectorMarcus Duke, Editor

N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E S C H O O L O F A Q U A T I C & F I S H E R Y S C I E N C E S U N I V E R S I T Y O F WA S H I N G T O N A U T U M N 2001

InsideUndergradResearch

UndergradStudents

UndergradResearchCourses

Gifts

New Faculty

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ative Washingtonian Kimberly Genther has always beenan animal lover. She credits her special interest in marinemammals partly to the many summers she spent yachtingwith her grandparents throughout the San Juan and GulfIslands. Her interests made it fairly easy for SAFS AcademicAdvisor Lin Murdock to persuade her to major in Aquatic& Fishery Sciences.

As Kimberly’s sophomore year was ending, Lin put herin touch with the new NOAA Alaska Fisheries ScienceCenter/UW summer internship program, which providedopportunities for hands-on experience with marine mam-mals. Kimberly said, “This is very important because thefield is so competitive. And it’s important to meet peopleinvolved in this area.” The internship included a scholarshipto cover tuition for the summer.

Initially, Kimberly worked on a National Marine Mam-mal Laboratory (NMML) database of opportunistic marinemammal sightings at sea. Under Sally Mizroch’s supervision,she documented sighting location errors by comparing data-base entries with the original observer forms: “If I found anerror, I would record it in the database, and correct it to thebest of my ability.”

For the internship’s required field component, Kimberlyspent 12 days working with Ken Balcomb and his staff atthe Center for Whale Research (CWR) on San Juan Island.The CWR is largely funded by Earthwatch, which assemblesinternational teams of volunteers to participate in Balcomb’sprogram. Because of Kimberly’s major and her familiaritywith the San Juans and Washington, she wound up workingas part of the staff: “I shared my expertise on the area, thewhales, the issues, and so forth with the volunteers.”

Kimberly described the field work: “CWR has ID’ed allthe southern resident killer whales by photographing theright and left saddle patch of each whale since 1979.” Eachsummer, CWR confirms presence of individual whales anddocuments changes like dorsal fin growth. Also, observersdocument behavior and boat activity to help determine whylocal populations are declining. She said, “The three majortheories for the decline are toxins, lack of food, and thewhale-watching industry.” She thinks toxins are the main

cause: “Last winter, Peter Ross (Canada Departmentof Fish & Oceans, Nanaimo) spoke at a school seminar.He’s studied the effectsof PCBs on marine mam-mals. He said beluga whalesin the St. Lawrence Seawaywere thought to have thehighest levels of PCBs intheir blubber, which wasassociated with reproduc-tive and immune systemfailure. He also studiedblubber from local killerwhales, and found PCBlevels almost three timeshigher than in the belugas!”

Kimberly’s field and labwork were interrelated.She said, “Data collectedfrom the field can beadded to the sightings data-base.” And the lab work wasthe impetus for several pa-pers. With Sally’s encour-agement, she is writingabout beaked whales, whichare very scarce and poorly understood: “There are onlyabout 60 entries out of 17,000 sightings in the NMMLdatabase.”

Through the internship program, Kimberly was ableto pursue a lifelong interest: “Connecting with Balcomband the CWR opens many future possibilities.” She mayuse her experience to write her senior project, and isconsidering getting involved in Earthwatch’s beaked whaleprogram.

Kimberly would really like to see SAFS develop a formalmarine mammal program: “Given our area—with its abun-dance of marine mammals like whales, porpoises, otters, andseals—and SAFS’ expertise and resources, the School couldattract and train the top students.”

Whale of a Tale

Focus: marine mammals, especially killer whalesGoal: to become a marine mammalogist specializing in animal rescue and rehabilitation

Junior, SAFS Major

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anny, who hails from Bainbridge Island, Washington, wasexposed to field research on the high seas early in his college

studies. He came about hisadventure serendipitously:As a freshman, he was en-rolled in Bob Francis’ Fish101. Danny told Bob hewas interested in sharks—hehas been fascinated by themever since he watched theDiscovery Channel’s annual“Shark Week” in sixthgrade—and Bob introducedhim to Vince Gallucci, whospecializes in shark research.Vince persuaded Danny totake his shark ecology classlast spring and eventuallyhired him as a class assistant.

One day last summer,Vince asked Danny to fill avacancy in the science stafffor NOAA’s triennialgroundfish survey. Dannysaid, “Sure, why not’?”With help from Vince and

Academic Advisor Lin Murdock, he got a scholarship tocover loss of income from his summer job while at sea.

Danny described the cruise: “It was amazing! It was veryhard and I’ve never done anything like it.” Typically, his daystarted shortly after the crew of the bottom trawler set thenet. He and other scientists sampled fish from the catch. Hesaid, “We sorted, weighed, measured, and sexed; we tookblood and tissue samples, and examined stomach contents.The objective was to collect data for every species broughtup, but I focused on dogfish for Vince’s shark project.”

Why dogfish? He replied, “Since 1985, some sourcesreport it as the second most lucrative commercial fishery inPuget Sound.” He added that declining dogfish stocks inour area underscore the need for better data.

A highlight of Danny’s trip was the discovery of an iden-tification error. He said, “We thought we were getting twoof the three known species of cat sharks, but we did furtherresearch and found we were in fact getting the third speciesinstead of the first. This was a real boost for me.”

When asked why sharks have become so popular in re-cent years, Danny cited one reason as “the public’s increas-ing awareness that eliminating any species—especially anapex predator—is not good.”

The summer cruise helped Danny determine his futuredirection: “I want to study live animals, one because I dis-like killing animals, and two because I’m interested in ani-mal behavior.” He is considering a double major in fisheriesand wildlife that will focus on apex predators in the sea andon land.

Danny emphasized his appreciation of the NOAA scien-tists, especially field party chief, Mark Wilkins. He noted,“They tolerated my incessant questions and showed memany ways to identify a species, and they elaborated onvarious aspects of a species if I asked them.” He also ac-knowledged Gallucci’s attention and devotion: “He con-stantly ensures that I am learning as much as possible fromevery single experience. Between the efforts of Lin Murdock,Bob Francis, and Vince Gallucci, my freshman year broughtme more exciting experiences than I thought possible whenentering a ‘large’ university.”

n Search of Sharks on the High Seas

Focus: sharks, apex predatorsGoal: to work with conservation efforts to protect the oceans, particularly sharks

Sophomore, SAFS Major

Photos (clockwise from top left)Kimber Genther (A. Bracken)

Danny Badger tries on the latest fashion—a small skate—in

headgear (L. Britt)

Mark Wilkins describes characteristics of a rockfish to help

Danny improve his ID skills (L. Britt)

Killer whales off the San Juan Islands (K. Genther)

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R esearch in the Russian Far Eastht

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t o t h e e n d s o f t h e e a r t hThe International Kuril Island Project/International Sakhalin Island Project (IKIP/ISIP) is directed by

SAFS faculty Ted Pietsch and supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Through these

projects, teams of scientists from the USA, Russia, and Japan have been collecting information on

the little known flora and fauna in and around the Sea of Okhotsk. Their goal is to learn about the

biological patterns and processes and develop conservation strategies for this remote, sensitive area.

The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, also supported by NSF, provides

students opportunities to gain practical research experience. Ted obtained REU funding for two un-

dergraduates to go to the Kuril Islands last summer; 25 students submitted applications and were

interviewed. The end result was that Margarita Reimer (SAFS) and Trevor Anderson (Zoology) got

the opportunity to do something that few American students ever have done—conduct research in

the Russian Far East!

Photos(clockwise from top

left)Trevor Anderson

collects insects near

the Takoe River,

Sakhalin Island

(S. Deschamps)

Margarita

Reimer and

colleagues collect

samples at Lake

Malyi

Pribrezhnaye

(D. Stevenson)

Sunk half-way

into the mud,

Margarita

experiences the joys

and perils of field

work

(P. Woods)

Trevor sorts insects

at night by the

Leonidovka River,

Sakhalin Island

(D. Bennett)

map illustration

Josh London

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Trevor, who comes from Ravensdale, Washington,had studied marine invertebrates prior to joining theproject. With IKIP/ISIP, he was assigned to collectinsects, which he described as “an incredibly diversegroup—this gave me an opportunity to sample andexperience biological diversity in a very tangible way.”

Trevor, who also went to the Kurils in summer2000, described his field work: “In 2000, we werebased on a boat and landed by zodiac on the islandsdaily. This year we spent seven weeks on Sakhalin andMoneron islands—a very different experience both forcollecting and cultural interaction.” He and his col-leagues traveled in an old Russian troop transport; thebone-rattling and poorly ventilated vehicle was affec-tionately called “Shake ’n Bake.”

The days were long, often exceeding 12 hours. Atone point, the crew camped continuously for 10 days:“We would get up, make short trips to collecting sites,and then scatter, eating lunch on the run, collecting allday. After dinner, we’d collect some more, and afterthat, possibly set up a light trap and collect at night.”His group tried to sample as many habitats and get thehighest diversity as possible. The high cost of fieldtime and volume of specimens limited processing andidentification; once back in the states, the sampleswere sent to experts for further identification.

Trevor described working with the scientists: “Thecultural aspects were astounding. Technically, Japanand Russia are still at war—they never signed a peacetreaty. To talk with them about this and other facetsfrom their world view of daily life was fascinating.” Herated his field experience as “one of the greatest of mylife. It was hard work and conditions were difficult.Still, I would highly recommend this to undergradu-ates interested in experiencing science.”

He credits his IKIP/ISIP work as having helpedgive him direction for the future. He also acknowl-edged Ted’s inspirational role: “I’ve never met anyonewho thinks so big and accomplishes what he sets outto do. And, he has been very helpful with trying tofind new opportunities for me.”

Focus: invertebratesGoal: to work in diversity

and conservation research

Post-baccalaureate, Zoology

Margarita comes from New Orleans, where she startedcollege at Tulane University. Her mother’s background inmarine sciences influenced her choice to pursue ichthyol-ogy, systematics, and biogeography. Tulane University hadno marine program; when she looked into SAFS and theFish Collection, she knew it was where she wanted to be.

Before becoming an SAFS major, Margarita talked withTed about the IKIP project: “It sounded like a great oppor-tunity: the region in question is largely uninhabited andfairly pristine, providing a unique chance to look at speciesdiversity. So, I applied for the Sakhalin Island Project andwas fortunate enough to be selected.”

Margarita worked with the fish group for two weeks onland, but then they transferred to the ship-based expedi-tion. Her group focused exclusively on Sakhalin Island,primarily collecting freshwater fishes: “We wanted a goodrepresentative sample, in terms of species diversity and rela-tive abundance.” The team sampled as many different habi-tats as possible at each site.

The boat-based leg of the trip differed from land workmarkedly: “Ship-based landings were time consuming dueto travel time, and often hampered by weather and terrain,”she said, “and we basically had to plan one day at a time.”

Margarita also collected invertebrate specimens: “AllisonColwell (USGS Western Fisheries Research Center) recruitedme to collect oligochaete worms, primarily Tubificids.”

Margarita echoes Trevor’s impressions: “It was wonder-ful working with Russian and Japanese scientists. I hadprior field experience; however, not in a foreign country.”She noted that daily frustrations and many natural obstaclesforced American scientists like herself to adapt to a widerange of conditions: “On Sakhalin, we were limited by somany variables…we routinely changed our sampling de-sign, and because supplies couldn’t be replaced once in thefield, we learned to jury-rig a lot of equipment.”

Margarita’s undergraduate research experience directlyties in with her past and with her future aspirations, whichshe hopes will be further ichthyological studies in graduateschool. She characterized her experience: “The opportunityto conduct novel field work and evaluate it with the aid ofexperienced advisors was invaluable.”

Senior, SAFS Major

Focus: fishes and invertebratesGoal: graduate studies in

ichthyology and systematics

T R E V O R A N D E R S O N M A R G A R I T A R E I M E R

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B y seventh grade, Jennifer knew she wanted to become amarine biologist. After attending Shoreline CommunityCollege, she transferred to the UW as an Oceanography ma-jor, studying biological oceanography, which focused onplankton. “Then,” she said, “SAFS Advisor Lin Murdockencouraged me to minor in aquatic and fishery sciences.Because I wanted to work with larger organisms, I ended upswitching my major to Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.”

Jennifer is interested in toxicology and genetics, whichshe would like to study within the context of conservation,specifically for marine mammals. She credits Chris Grue’sWildlife Toxicology class for inspiring her direction.

Jennifer is gaining practical experience working as stafffor two graduate students—Todd Seamons and JenniferMcLean—in the Marine Molecular Biotechnology Lab (runby SAFS and Oceanography). The job was designed to pro-vide a subject and experience for her undergraduate seniorthesis. She said, “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to learnpractical skills, have a thesis topic, and get paid to do it!”

Jennifer’s work entails performing polymerase chain re-actions (PCRs) on fin clips that Todd collected from salmonin Snow Creek (Olympic Peninsula, Washington), as well aspreparing gels and doing electrophoresis. She described theobjective: “We’re looking for a hybrid population betweensteelhead and cutthroat trout. I’m studying the frequency ofhybrids and where they occur.”

Jennifer explained the importance of PCR in research:“You can do PCRs with almost no DNA to greatly increasethe sample quantity.” This experience has encouraged her totake some genetics classes in her senior year.

Senior, SAFS Major

raining for the World of Molecular Genetics

Focus: toxicology and conservationGoal: a job that applies molecular biology

Her work goes beyond performing PCRs: “I do literaturesearches, and assemble materials and supplies for fieldwork.” Jennifer anticipates gaining more new skills as well:“I will be learning a differenttype of extraction method,using ethanol precipitation,and I may get to go samplingto get some field experience.Todd and Jennifer are will-ing to teach me pretty muchanything I want to learn.”

Once she earns her BS,Jennifer hopes to get a job ina molecular biology lab. Shesaid, “I really love what I’mdoing at MMBL. And Ithink the experience I’mgaining here will make iteasier to find work in thatarea.” And, she considers itimportant to have somepractical experience to bringto graduate school.

Jennifer has advice forstudents planning to transferto the UW from a two-yearschool: “It’s very importantto take courses such as biology, physics, and chemistry incommunity college. Besides time conflicts, having to catchup on all the prerequisites makes it harder to focus on yourmajor. If you get all the prereqs out of the way before trans-ferring, I think you will enjoy your experience here muchmore.”

She urges undergrads to seek similar research opportuni-ties: “It’s been really amazing for me; I think everyone needsthis experience.” She thinks the UW, and especially SAFS,excel at this: “I know someone from another university whodidn’t have the research opportunities we have. Now she’sdoing an internship just to get the experience she needs toget a job. SAFS gives you a jump on getting the skills andexperience you need to compete in the job market.”

J E N N I F E R C A B A R R U S

Photos (left top to bottom)Jennifer Cabarrus (S. Robertson)

Jennifer resuspends DNA for a study on hybrid trout

(S. Robertson)

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http://depts.washington.edu/mmbl/

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on became interested in fish and wildlife early on. Whenhe was two, his dad took him to the Pribilof Islands, wherehe was doing fur seal research. By the second grade, Jon

could identify most PugetSound fish species.

His long-term interestsand his desire for the “Alas-kan experience” were theimpetus for applying to theSchool’s Alaska SummerCourse, which entailed sixweeks of study at the AlaskaSalmon Program’s (ASP)field station in the WoodRiver Lakes system north ofBristol Bay.

Jon described some ofthe things that studentslearned about in the sum-mer course: “We learned alot of about limnology, spe-cies composition, and in-sects. We also monitoredhow adult sockeye movedthrough Hansen Creek,and we monitored daily thepositions of tagged fish us-

ing GPS. And we recorded how many fish were killed bybears and other natural causes.”

The course included lectures on the importance of lim-nological studies, which Jon explained: “The amount of nu-trients in the system controls fish production and growthand affects how many salmon return to spawn and howmuch money fishers and processors will make.” He added,“We also looked at how fishing districts work, so we learnedabout management and politics.”

After morning lectures and field work, students returnedto camp by mid-afternoon to pursue individual projects. Jondescribed his individual study, which he hopes to use for hissenior thesis: “I wanted to compare the ‘catchability’ ofsalmon in different creeks with bear usage of the streams.”

Focus: salmon and bear predationGoal: to study fisheries and wildlife interactions

Senior, SAFS Major

http://fish.washington.edu/research/alaska/

dventures in the Alaskan Outback

Days ended typically with students writing papers based ontheir studies.

Jon’s study was mostly about learning the scientificmethod but included a practical aspect: “Bears can migrateover great distances. I wanted to see if bears chose wherethey went because fishing was easier or because of some ter-ritorial instinct—were they spread out evenly or did they tar-get certain streams?” He credits the study with teaching himhow to adapt his methods: “Things in the field didn’t hap-pen as I expected they would when I wrote my proposal .”

Jon gained further practical experience as an ASP em-ployee: “Before the course, I worked on the Port Moller testfishery, which helps fine-tune the Bristol Bay forecasts.”Working on a longliner, he learned not only how to catchthe fish, but what it was like sleeping at sea—“getting tossedaround, hearing the anchor slapping up against the hull inthe morning.”

He also worked at the Chignik Lake camp (Alaska Penin-sula), which he described as the “true” Alaskan experience:“We had to jury-rig boat motors; bears walked right throughcamp.” He particularly appreciated meeting the local Aleuts:“Their culture and way of living were very interesting.” Thework was similar to Wood River, with limnology and fishsampling, and included some bathymetric surveys usingGPS. Jon said this work helped him to become more self-reliant and adaptive.

Jon highly recommends the summer class for peoplenew to field research: “It’s a great way to learn aboutpractical aspects of field work such as piloting a boat andnetting fish.”

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Photos (right, top to bottom)Jon Scordino (G. Wade)

Jon imitates bears trying to catch salmon to see what happens

when the fish scatter to avoid them (J. Jorgenson)

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Friday Harbor Laboratories:

Apprenticeships in Marine Fish Ecology

Marine protected areas (MPAs) may help restore and con-serve living aquatic resources by protecting fishes andhabitat. In this course, taught by Don Gunderson, BruceMiller, and David Fluharty, students study MPAs estab-lished around the San Juan Islands. This quarter-long “im-mersion” course teaches students how to conduct inde-pendent research.

Small classes and long days include individualized at-tention and intensive learning. Students study local fishspecies and oceanography, and collect data on field trips,which they analyze and present in reports (see website).Students can make useful contributions. Don said, “WhileMPAs protect adults, we don’t know how well they’re do-ing for juveniles. The students’ work may help determinewhat needs to be done.”

Last year’s class submitted their reports to the SanJuan County Marine Resources Committee and workedwith the Committee to evaluate MPA policy.

http://fish.washington.edu/classes/fish499/

Human Exploration & Development

of Space University Partners (HEDS-UP)

In Frieda Taub’s course, “Student Design Team forClosed Ecological Systems,” students are encouraged touse their imagination and innovation to develop regen-erative life-support systems, which are crucial to the ad-vancement of space exploration. With support fromHEDS-UP, Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium,and SAFS, students design and build closed ecologicalsystems that support a population of invertebrates for atleast a month.

A class highlight is the opportunity for two studentsto compete with other student teams at the Lunar andPlanetary Institute in Houston, where they present theirexperiments. Frieda said, “Even for students who don’tgo to Houston, the effort provides them focus—threestudents presented posters at the UW UndergraduateResearch Symposium this year.” Ultimately, students whoparticipate in this class may have a voice in developingspace exploration. Frieda observed, “Students aredelighted when they discover they can ask a scientificquestion and find the answer by experimental results—not from the text or instructor, but from the organisms.”

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In Bruce Miller’s class, undergraduates learn basic skillsrequired for jobs and research in fisheries-related fields.Students gain hands-on experience with standard re-search techniques and gear…and fish, too. In the field,they all get a turn at beach seining and processing trawlhauls on a fishing vessel. In the lab, they remove andage otoliths (fish ear bones), age scales, and conduct astomach content analysis. And, of course, they learnbasic computer programs to manage and interpret theirdata, and learn to write technical reports based on theirown data.

F I S H E R I E S T E C H N I Q U E S

In Faye Dong’s class, students learn how aquaculture andfood production from aquatic plant and animal speciescontribute to a sustainable aquatic environment. A high-light of the last class was a trip to an aquaculture facility inQuilcine, Washington—Taylor Shellfish Farm, which raisesmussels, clams, scallops, oysters, and geoducks. Faye said,“The tour helped students to understand different aquacul-ture systems, and the opportunities and limitations of ob-taining food and other products from the ocean andaquatic systems.” The facility also provides research oppor-tunities for SAFS students through internships.

S U S T A I N A B L E

A Q U A C U L T U R E A N D

F O O D P R O D U C T I O N

U N D E R G R A D U A T E R E S E A R C H

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GJohn G. Peterson Endowed Scholarship

ifts

John Peterson graduated from the School of Fisheries in1940. He put his academic studies to good use, initiallyinvestigating shark resources in South America, Mexico,and the US West Coast for the California Packing Corpo-ration. Over the years, he worked with numerous seafoodprocessing organizations, eventually becoming presidentand CEO of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Inc., in Seattle. Healso established his own company and has worked as aseafood consultant.

John has been active in professional associations, advi-sory boards, and commissions for the last 30 years; he wasa member of our school’s Visiting Committee for over 10years and continues to be a “friend of Fisheries.”

The John G. Peterson Endowed Scholarship supportsundergraduate and graduate students with a focus on thefish and shellfish populations of the Bering Sea and Gulfof Alaska, an area for which John is especially concerned.John and Hazel Peterson established the fund in 1998.Earlier this year, the Petersons made an additional contri-bution of $100,000 to the fund.

The most recent recipient of funding from thePeterson Endowed Scholarship was graduate studentSuzann Speckman. Suzann, who is studying fish andzooplankton in Alaskan waters, credits the award withhelping her to “continue progressing towards graduation.”

John hopes his latest addition to the scholarship fundwill enable students to pursue research that will helpachieve and maintain productive and healthy fish andshellfish populations “into eternity.” The School’s faculty,students, and staff deeply appreciate John’s continuingcommitment and dedication to supporting our program.

Photos(from top)

Fish 210

Students collecting

samples from a

beach seine

(D. Cooper)

Fish 324

Co-instructor Joth

Davis gives students

an overview of an

aquaculture facility

(F. Dong)

Fish 499

The HEDS-UP

class—tomorrow’s

space explorers?

(Anonymous)

Fish 499

Friday Harbor

apprenticeship

students use a

midwater trawl net

to sample juvenile

and larval fishes in

the water column

(N. Lowe)

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tween seasons. It is usually associated with elevated tempera-tures and, in some cases, phytoplankton blooms and low dis-solved oxygen levels. We are working to selectively breed oys-ters that survive in the affected regions (CA and WA). I’ll becontinuing many of these studies here.

MD: You are pursuing a new direction here.

CF: I’m interested in developing a culture industry for thepinto abalone and, within a conservation context, investigatingways to reestablish this species. I am also interested in collabo-rating with Don Gunderson on looking at the health of spotprawns in relation to population dynamics and management.

MD: What motivated you to come to SAFS?

CF: The UW has an excellent reputation. I wanted to teachand interact more with students; SAFS gives me better access tostudents than I had at BML. The regulatory aspects of CDF&Gwere placing increased demands on me without providing addi-tional resources. Also, some of my research is focused up here.

MD: How do you see yourself contributing to our program?

CF: I want to pursue aquatic animal culture, not only forfood production but also in the context of conservation, man-agement, and endangered species restoration. Students are inter-ested in culture beyond its role in producing food.

MD: What courses will you teach?

CF: I’ll co-teach Fish 324, “Sustainable Aquaculture,” withFaye Dong in winter 2002. My goal is to give students informa-tion that they need to know to be successful in aquaculture irre-spective of their individual goals. For students who want tolearn the “how to” aspects of culture, we might offer seminarsand internships at culture facilities. Also, I will teach the aquaticanimal health course, currently called Fish Diseases.

MD: What’s your vision of SAFS’ future?

CF: I would like to see a popular track in aquaculture, withincreased enrollment of majors and non-majors such as Zoologystudents. I would like to expose SAFS students to diverse typesof research including combined wet laboratory and field experi-ments conducted in conjunction with physiological, immuno-logical and/or cellular analyses. I’d like to see more interaction

Carolyn, who hails from San Francisco, is our newestfaculty member. She’s been interested in fishes and marineinvertebrates since her youth—by age 9, she knew she wanted tobe a marine biologist.

Carolyn’s ongoing work as a shellfish pathologist with theCalifornia Department of Fish & Game’s (CDF&G) Bodega BayMarine Lab (BML), which she started while in graduate school,precluded the usual post-doctoral track. She continues her affili-ation with the lab to this day. In 1991, she accepted an adjunctfaculty appointment with the UC Davis School of VeterinaryMedicine, which she still holds.

MD: Why invertebrate pathology?

CF: It was serendipity: before graduate school, I took theinvertebrate zoology and biomechanics classes at Friday HarborLabs. I liked the area and the UW, so I moved to Seattle and washired by the US Fish & Wildlife Service Fish Pathology Lab. Onthe basis of this experience, I decided to combine my interest inmarine invertebrates and pathology in my graduate studies.

MD: What are some examples of research you’ve pursued?

CF: Several projects have centered around Withering Syndrome(WS), a chronic, degenerative, rickettsial disease of abalone.Studies included identifying and characterizing the causativeagent, and optimizing a polymerase chain reaction diagnostictest for detecting the bacterium. We are developing a treatmentof abalone infected with the rickettsial bacterium in farms toreduce losses. Another study is looking at environmental param-eters associated with El Niño and seasonal warm-water eventsthat contribute to development and spread of WS.

I have been collaborating with researchers from BML andthe Pacific Shellfish Institute to investigate mass mortality ofPacific oysters on the Pacific Coast. This is a non-infectious,stress-related disease; its magnitude and cause(s) can vary be-

Assistant Professor

PhD in Comparative Pathology, UC Davis (1990)Focus: Bacterial disease of oysters in the Pacific NorthwestSpecialty: Invertebrate pathology

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Si is a “lifer” at SAFS—his tenure here, including undergradu-ate and graduate studies, spans nearly 35 years. Earlier this year,the SAFS faculty approved his promotion to associate researchprofessor—an acknowledgment of his valuable, long-term contri-butions to the School.

Initially, Si was attracted to working with animals in theirnatural environment because of the setting—be it stream orocean. He then became interested in the environmental aspectsof larger aquatic systems that support fishes and fisheries.

After Si’s freshman year, he worked off the Aleutian Islands,studying the effects of radiation on fishes; later, he worked onthe Elliott Bay/Duwamish River studies. He continued bothfoci through graduate school and as a fishery biologist for theFisheries Research Institute (FRI).

By the mid-1970s, nearshore community ecology had be-come a cornerstone of his long-term research focus. He creditsErnie Salo, Bruce Miller, and former FRI Director Bud Burgneras major influences in his education and experience.

The early 1980s saw the beginnings of the Wetland Ecosys-tem Team (WET), an informal science team that conducts pro-grammatic research. The initial research, with FRI biologist RonThom (now at Battelle Marine Sciences Lab), focused on com-munity-scale structure and interactions of fishes and wetlands,and how to restore the relationships to a natural state.

MD: Was the restoration research driven by mitigation projects?

CS: At first, it was a response to mitigation for permit actionsunder the Clean Water Act. That work was the impetus fordeveloping habitat restoration for salmon recovery.

MD: Was there a guiding theme that led from the earlynearshore work to the programmatic focus of WET?

CS: For years, my colleague, fishery biologist Jeff Cordell,and I had a fish stomach processing shop, which accumulatedknowledge somewhat haphazardly for numerous, often unre-lated projects. We decided instead to focus on habitat and fishecology studies to understand juvenile fish use of estuaries andcoastal wetlands. This attracted graduate students who formeda team in which we learn from and help each other. Combiningthis with a critical mass of research focusing on the same

theories, concepts, and tests culminated in WET.

MD: By the mid-1990s, WET research had expanded into largeecosystems.

CS: The epitome of this was the NSF-funded Columbia RiverEstuarine Turbidity Maxima study, which looked at a large estu-ary and watershed in which wetlands played a major role. Thiswork exemplified our expanding interdisciplinary approach tounderstanding estuarine ecology: With collaborators from theUW and other universities, we looked at sedimentology, geo-morphology, climatology, and so forth, to help our studentslearn how systems function and restore because these processescan regulate the rates and patterns of restoration.

Now we’re studying invasive species, largely due to Jeff’sprominence in the field. We’ve undertaken “NearPRISM,”focusing on the Puget Sound estuarine–nearshore interfacefrom a process rather than descriptive approach. This is impor-tant for understanding how humans alter those processes.

With Battelle and Ron Thom, we are studying the effects offerries and terminals on eelgrass to strategize for scientific andmitigation policy. And we’re immersed in large-scale issuesabout restoring entire ecosystems. Our Salmon River study islooking at restoration sites across the spectrum of ages and loca-tions, and our studies in San Francisco Bay/Sacramento–SanJoaquin Delta focus on the results of intentional and uninten-tional restoration of emergent wetlands.

MD: What is the state of restoration?

CJ: Restoration takes time. The trick is to kick it in the rightdirection and then let natural processes occur. Within decades,sites can approach “comparability” to natural states, but muchdepends on the setting and how stressed and limited it is.

MD: What opportunities does your new faculty status present?

CS: Jeff and I have been advising students for years; now this

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Associate Research ProfessorCoordinator, Wetland Ecosystem Team

MS in Fisheries (1971)Specialties: Estuarine & coastal ecology,

food web structure, juvenile salmon ecology

C H A R L E S “ S I ” S I M E N S T A D

F A C U L T Y

M. L

evin

, UW

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with our aquaculture community and conservation and managementgroups like the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, where onecan learn about current issues and develop appropriate research programs.I enjoy interdisciplinary research and am interested in collaborating withecologists in our department to examine the effects of disease on popula-tion dynamics.”

Carolyn is married and has a 4-year-old son. Hobbies include horseback riding(dressage which is on a back burner for now having just sold her horse of ten years),reading, hiking, and spending time with her family.

is more direct and explicit because I can chair a student’s thesis committee.Probably the biggest change is my ability to influence the school’s pro-grammatic direction. I can vote, but more importantly, I have a voice.Also, I hope to give our staff a better voice with the faculty.

MD: Where do you see the school headed?

CS: I’d like us to take a bigger role in regional applied science issues.I would encourage greater contributions and involvement in issues likethe Endangered Species Act. I’ve been involved in such issues all along,and I’d like faculty and students to get more involved.

continued from page 10F R I E D M A N

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