Autumn 2024 Symposium Schedule: November 26th and December 4th
The Program on the Environment will host the Autumn 2024 Capstone Symposium on Tuesday, November 26th (online) AND on Wednesday, December 4th (in person) at the UW School of Aquatic Fisheries & Science. All are welcome to attend and support students as they present on the culmination of their hard work over three quarters.
The Capstone Course Series is a highlight for many students, and serves to catapult some into their first jobs or even their dream careers. Through internships, research, and social media training, students come out of the experience well equipped to communicate about the problem they sought to solve, and to tie their academic learning with specific research questions.
This event is open to the public, and we encourage students interested in learning about the Capstone, as well as members of the community, to join us.
The following links provide: Event Program, Video Presentations, and All Student Abstracts.
Autumn 2024 Symposium Schedule
Day 1: Online Poster Symposium (Tuesday November 26th)
4:30 PM – 4:40 PM Welcome & Session Overview
4:40 – 4:50 PM Session A Speaker Intros
4:50 – 5:50 PM Poster Session A — Natural Science, Business & Sustainability, Policy & Regulation
| Ada Cashmere (Room #1) – The Guidance of Salmonberries: How we can Reclaim Mother Nature as her Children and not her Antithesis. Site Partner: Free the Green |
| Maya Clauson-Nehus (Room #2) – Bird Talk: Patch Cuts as a Means of Conservation. Site Partner: Great Peninsula Conservancy |
| Sara Da Silva (Room #3) – Waves of Insight: A Methodology for Tracking Recreational Boating Patterns and Significance in the San Juan Archipelago. Site Partner: Friday Harbor Laboratories |
| Maeve Doolin (Room #4) – Capitalism and Sustainability: Understanding the Role and Implications of Corporate Greenwashing and Climate Misinformation. Site Partner: Raise Green Inc. |
| Sydney Elfstrom (Room #5) – How to Achieve Transit-Oriented Development in an Equitable and Just Way. Site Partner: Public Health Seattle and King County |
| Kayla Engelhardt (Room #6) – Shifting Thermal Windows: The Impact of Climate Change on Bull Kelp in the Salish Sea. Site Partner: Washington State Department of Ecology |
| Grace Georgitsis (Room #7) – Know your Audience: Creating Better Transit Systems through Co-Design with Community Stakeholders. Site Partner: The Seattle Subway Foundation |
| Olivia Hallas (Room #8) – The Dangers of Weak Policy: Voluntary Corporate Participation in Standardized Date Labeling as an Enabler of Food Waste. Site Partner: Zero Waste Washington |
| Nha Khuc (Room #9) – Barriers Hindering the Minority and Women-Owned Businesses to Reuse and Recycle Construction and Demolition Debris. Site Partner: King County Solid Waste Division |
| Chikita Nigam (Room #10) – Nature’s Wealth: Quantifying Benefits of Nature Exposure and Promoting Equitable Access through Policy. Site Partner: EarthLab |
| Dhanush Pamarthi (Room #11) – Designing For Sustainability: The Role Of A Reuse Commons Mall In Reducing Landfill Impact Through Community Engagement & Education. Site Partner: Seattle REconomy |
| Caroline Pavloff (Room #12) – What does it Take to Improve Recycling Contamination in the Medical Field? Site Partner: Harborview Medical Center |
| Talia Russom (Room #13) – Oysters in Acidic Waters: Pioneering Research in Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal and Pacific Oysters (Crassostrea gigas). Site Partner: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) |
| Jack Ryan (Room #14) – Achieving a Sustainable Future Through Design & Planning. Site Partner: UW Bothell/Cascadia College |
| Daniele Scroggins (Room #15) – Fishing Gear Modifications to Reduce the Bycatch of Green Sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris). Site Partner: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) |
| Elena Vega de Soto (Room #16) – Toxic Tech: Washington’s Path to a Sustainable Electronics Recycling System. Site Partner: King County Solid Waste Division |
| Michael Lu (Room #17) – Unhoused People as Park Users: Their Perspectives and Needs. Site Partner: King County Parks |
| Amber Wang (Room #18) – Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals: Opportunities and Challenges in the Arctic Region. Site Partner: UW Bothell/Cascadia College |
| Jaelyn Yanni (Room #19) – Are our Green Spaces Adequate? The Impact of Nature Immersion on Emotional Well-being. Site Partner: NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center |
5:50 – 6:00 PM Break
6:00 – 6:05 PM Session B OVerview
6:05 – 6:15 PM Session B Speaker Intros
6:15 – 7:15 PM Poster Session B — Agriculture & Food Systems, Education, Outreach & Engagement
| Alec Baron (Room #1) – Reinventing Recycling: How Drop-off Sites can Engage Consumers and Keep Recyclables out of the Landfill. Site Partner: King County Solid Waste Division |
| Lea Bodmer (Room #2) – Let’s Map It Out: The Potential of Mapping in Raising Sustainability Awareness of UW Students. Site Partner: UW Sustainability |
| Tess Brobeck (Room #3) – Let’s Glean: What is Gleaning and what Motivates People to do it? Site Partner: FareStart |
| Brianna Cateriano (Room #4) – Secondhand, First-Class: Identifying Target Communities for the Reuse Commons and Effective Marketing Strategies for Engagement. Site Partner: Seattle REconomy |
| Hana Chollar (Room #5) – Thinking About Nature: How Forest Classrooms Foster Systems Thinking Skills in Preschoolers. Site Partner: Fiddleheads Forest School |
| Genevieve Fend (Room #6) – Assessing Involvements of Farmer’s Markets in Communities. Site Partner: Camas Farmer’s Market |
| Zachary Flagler (Room #7) – Emotion in Science: The Role of Emotion in Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science Methods in Environmental Science. Site Partner: Sustainability Ambassadors |
| Ella Gostisha (Room #8) – Comparing Apples to Oranges… Fruit Preference & It’s Implications. Site Partner: City Fruit |
| Liam Griffith (Room #9) – Nature’s Crucial Role in Child Development through the Lens of a Pandemic. Site Partner: True Nature Kids |
| Caroline Hale (Room #10) – Awareness to Action: Fostering Empathy Through Immersive Learning in Climate Justice Education. Site Partner: Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington. |
| Monica Hniang Dawt Chin (Room #11) – Cultivating Well-being: The Transformative Impact of Community-Based Environmental Learning. Site Partner: University of Washington |
| Andres Kappes (Room #12) – We Can Manage: Examining Offal Waste Management Pathways For Washington State. Site Partner: Zero Waste Washington |
| Haley Nelson (Room #13) – Why Save Something You Don’t Care About? – The Importance Of Outdoor Environmental Education Programs For Kids. Site Partner: Sound Salmon Solutions |
| Christina Rhoades (Room #14) – Is the Perspective Changing; Assessing the Relationship between Young Christians and the Environment. Site Partner: Young Life Camp |
| Annie Schlanger (Room #15) – Citizen Sciences: Transforming Community Members into Environmental Educators. Site Partner: Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group (PCRG) |
| Chloe Stafford (Room #16) – Bridging the Gap to Nature: Finding Solutions to Green Space Access Inequality. Site Partner: The Nature Project |
| Kellie Telis (Room #17) – Social Sustainability – the Unmapped Pillar at the University of Washington. Site Partner: UW Sustainability |
| Amy Whitham (Room #18) – Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges: Youth Entering Natural Resource Careers. Site Partner: Washington State Department of Natural Resources |
7:15 – 7:30 PM Closing Remarks
Day 2: Oral Presentation Symposium & Celebration (In-person, Wednesday December 4th)
UW School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences | 1122 NE Boat St, Seattle WA 98105
4:30 – 4:40 PM Welcome & Housekeeping
4:40 – 5:10 PM Poster Highlights** & Refreshments
5:10 – 5:20 PM Break
5:20 – 5:25 PM Session Introduction
| 5:25 – 5:35 | Evelyn Osburn – Top Barriers to Multifamily Composting: Matters of Accessibility & Justice. Site Partner: Zero Waste Washington |
| 5:35 – 5:45 | Zoe Warren – Urban Agriculture: A Method for Reducing Food Insecurity in Seattle’s Food Deserts. Site Partner: City Fruit |
| 5:45 – 5:55 | Katie Olsen – Keeping our Communities Fed: A Local Approach to Food System Planning. Site Partner: Whidbey Island Grow Cooperative |
| 5:55 – 6:05 | Miles Crook – Light Rail Heavy Impacts: How a Toxic Relationship can Halt the Expansion of Seattle’s Light Rail System |
| 6:05 – 6:15 | William Hooper – The Power of a Circular Economy to Meet Sustainable Development Goals. Site Partner: Seattle REconomy |
| 6:15 – 6:25 | Natasha Shafer – Integrating Environmental Justice into NGOs: The Challenges and Opportunities. Site Partner: Partner in Employment |
| 6:25 – 6:35 | Mia Nelson – How the Collective Impact Framework can Inspire Meaningful Partnership and Rapidly Advance a Sustainable Future. Site Partner: Sustainability Ambassadors |
6:35 – 6:50 PM Intermission
| 6:50 – 7:00 | Ainsleigh McKinlay – From Coastlines to Classrooms: Marine Mammals as a Wake-up Call for Transformative Environmental Education. Site Partner: Highline College MaST Center Aquarium |
| 7:00 – 7:10 | Nile Peoples – What’s In a Name? Themes for Addressing Racist Language in Natural History Collections. Site Partner: Burke Museum of Natural History |
| 7:10 – 7:20 | Anika Remmers Jansen – Use Your Indicators! The Significance of Baseline Data of Indicator Species on Future Marine Research. Site Partner: NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center |
| 7:20 – 7:30 | Tess Petrillo – Creating Green: Native Plant Restoration in Urban Spaces. Site Partner: Weed Warriors, Nature Stewards Program |
| 7:30 – 7:40 | Abigail Rocke – Bark & Ambrosia Beetle Dynamics: A New Lens for Forest Management Practices. Site Partner: Great Peninsual Conservancy |
| 7:40 – 7:50 | Nina Pursai – Bridging Divides: Holistic Approaches to Managing Salmon and Forest Ecosystems Amidst Increasing Wildfires. Site Partner: The Nature Conservancy |
| 7:50 – 8:00 | Kort Maeda – Storytelling as Co-design: Reframing Participatory Design Methodologies and Frameworks for Indigenous-led Climate Justice Work. Site Partner: Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, University of Washington |
8:00 – 8:05 PM Closing Remarks
8:05 – 9:00 PM Symposium ends & celebration continues in lobby
**Note: the judges will choose 10 posters from Day 1, which will be printed out and displayed during day 2. Those poster authors will be invited to present their posters during the reception.