Welcome Rick Keil, new director of the Program on the Environment
The Environmental Studies team is delighted to welcome Rick Keil, professor of chemical oceanography, to lead the program for the next three years.
Rick brings to the directorship a diverse background of university service including stints as associate director of oceanography and as chair of the UW’s faculty sub-council on academic programs. His research focuses on a changing ocean with specific emphases on low oxygen environments (oceanic ‘dead zones’) and on the changes humans impart upon the ocean’s carbon cycle. Rick’s lab group also studies ocean pollution, focusing on the chemical contaminants associated with plastic. Rick teaches a variety of courses ranging from introductory oceanography to ocean pollution.
One of his goals as director of the Program on the Environment is to foster community between people studying and working in the humanities, and sciences.
“Now, more than ever, the world needs well educated people making a positive difference at the interface of the arts, sciences and humanities. I think the Program on the Environment plays an important role in shaping this component of the university’s mission, and I look forward to collaborating broadly across campus to bring the humanities and the natural and social sciences closer together.”
Read more at College of the Environment News.
Rick is passionate about promoting excellence and innovation in student learning. He started Ocean Intern, a paid internship program that takes 10 high school students on a research vessel for a four weeks. Students work with Rick to explore the waters of the Puget Sound and conduct ocean science experiments.
Sound Citizen, another project Rick started with Washington Sea Grant sends Puget Sound residents to collect water samples across the region that are tested for chemicals. The collected data helps raise awareness about the link between chemicals in the water and the effect on human health.