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Spring 2026 Symposium Schedule: May 26th and June 2nd

The Program on the Environment will host the Spring 2026 Capstone Symposium on Tuesday, May 26th (online) AND on Tuesday, June 2nd (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.

The online 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 in-person event is reserved for students & members of the UW community, but we encourage alumni to reach out for ways to be involved through volunteering.

Spring 2026 Symposium Schedule

Day 1: Online Poster Symposium (Tuesday May 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 — Resilience in Practice: Science, Restoration, and Changing Ecosystems

Natalia Breeden (Room #1): AI-Assisted Literature Review for Salmon Conservation: Evaluating Google Gemini. Site Partner: NOAA Fisheries
Charles Foster (Room #2): Cascadia Out of Sync: Communication Breakdowns in Coastal Climate Resilience. Site Partner: Washington Sea Grant
Oliver Girouard (Room #3): Trees on the Move: Mapping the Current Scope of Assisted Population Migration in Washington State. Site Partner: Oxbow Farm and Conservation Center
Evan Gray (Room #4): Touching Grass (Gently): Minimizing the Impacts of Trails on Wet Meadows. Site Partner: Magnuson Environmental Stewardship Alliance
De Lila Green (Room #5): Screen vs Skeletons: How Could Digitizing Public Education Spaces Lower Community Conservation. Site Partner: Highline MaST Center Aquarium
Scarlet Hopper (Room #6): The Boating Blind Spot: Quantifying the Impact of Recreational Boating on Eelgrass (Zostera Marina). Site Partner: Friday Harbor Labs, University of Washington
Joel Hyde (Room #7): Understanding Invasive Species: Finding Ways To Add Nuance To The Label. Site Partner: Collaborative for Socio-Ecological Engagement
Kira Kolhoff (Room #8): Developing Guides to Increase Community Resilience to Compound Flooding Events. Site Partner: Washington Sea Grant
Adele Lundberg (Room #9): What Sphagnum and Feather Mosses Reveal About Bog Ecosystem Health. Site Partner: Shadow Lake Nature Preserve
Emily Mittenthal (Room #10): Cities That Sustain: Reimagining Resilience In Seattle Through Food Forests. Site Partner: Beacon Hill Food Forest
Jiwon Mun (Room #11): Cultivating Environmental Stewardship: Do Marine Ecology & Place-Based Scientific Inquiry Education Alter Environmental Attitudes in Students? Site Partner: Office of Resilience and Climate Action (ORCA)
Mia Pardini (Room #12): Forever Chemicals and Climate Change: Implications for Environment, Health, and Policy in Washington State. Site Partner: Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington
Madison Parker (Room #13): Restoring Balance: Invasive Removal and Native Recovery in Urban Wetlands. Site Partner: Weed Warriors Nature Stewards Program
Ang Rosengreen (Room #14): Adapting to Warming Waters: Behavioral Shifts in Endangered Steller Sea Lions. Site Partner: NOAA
Marisela Sampaga-Smith (Room #15): Every Little Thing She Does Is Molting: Using Participatory Science To Improve Data Quality In Dungeness Crab Molt Research. Site Partner: Washington Sea Grant
Maleen Schoenberg (Room #16): Transforming AIS Data into Ecological Risk: Assessing the Impact of Recreational Boating on Eelgrass Habitats in the San Juan Islands with MCDM. Site Partner: Friday Harbor Labs, University of Washington
Declan Smith (Room #17): Steller Sea Lion Conservation and Machine Learning. Site Partner: NOAA
Yanyi Wu (Room #18): Measuring Restoration Efficiency in Lincoln Park: Implications for Urban Forest Planning. Site Partner: Friends of Lincoln Park
Chang Yan (Room #19): Finding Alternatives to Wood Chip Mulch: Evaluating Fruit and Leaf-Based Materials for Soil Improvement. Site Partner: Green Seattle Partnership

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 — Systems in Transition: Equity, Policy, and Sustainable Communities

Lars Bergstrom (Room #1): Greenspace Embrace: Improving Access to Urban Greenspaces. Site Partner: Friends of Cheasty
Sarah Desai (Room #2): Mapping the Enduring Legacy of Redlining in Tacoma: The Power of Trees. Site Partner: The Nature Conservancy
Lauren Dull (Room #3): Building Capacity for a Circular Economy: Overcoming Barriers to Engage Businesses in Reuse Through Effective Communication. Site Partner: Repair X Reuse Washington
Hannah Fakhri Tazangi (Room #4): How to Clean Up Our Ecosystem Through Proper Volunteer Management. Site Partner: Seattle ReCreative
Jenna Fennell (Room #5): Let’s Talk Trash: The Importance of Effective Solid Waste Collection Contracts. Site Partner: Bin There Consulting, LLC.
Justin Giddings (Room #6): Green Award Programs as a Form of Sustainability Reporting. Site Partner: UW Harborview Medical Center
Kaitlyn Hardt-Mason (Room #7): Why Awareness Isn’t Enough: Rethinking Place-Based Science Education. Site Partner: Pierce County Office of Resilience and Climate Action
Kelsi Higashi (Room #8): The Dirt on Composting: Perceptions and Barriers in Tribal Communities. Site Partner: Tribal Solid Waste Advisory Network
Tashi Jackson (Room #9): Barriers and Belonging: Immigrant and Refugee Youth in Green Workforce Training. Site Partner: Partner in Employment
Paola Juarez (Room #10): From Barriers to Accessibility: Making Environmental Stewardship More Inclusive. Site Partner: Sound Salmon Solutions
Maya Keenan (Room #11): Growing Green Spaces: Understanding the Insights of Community Leaders Working Towards Expanding Nature Access. Site Partner: UW Center for Nature and Health
Samantha Kline (Room #12): Growing Local: Using Digital Storytelling and Data-Driven Marketing to Strengthen Community Food Systems. Site Partner: Whidbey Island Grown Cooperative
Julian Lopez (Room #13): Track to the Future: Ways to Boost Light Rail Ridership. Site Partner: Seattle Subway Foundation
Avery Miller (Room #14): From Revenue to Resilience: Evaluating Fiscal Restructuring, Accountability, and Investment Trade-offs in Washington’s Climate Commitment Act under HB 2251. Site Partner: Puget Sound Partnership
Bianca Pistaferri (Room #15): Can’t See the Forest or the Trees: Rethinking Urban Canopy Policy in King County. Site Partner: Seattle & King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks
Julie Shafer (Room #16): Bottles to Behavior: Evaluating Refill Station Use at the UW. Site Partner: UW Sustainability
Miles Scherer (Room #17): Public Mistrust in U.S. Government Institutions: Understanding Its Causes and Potential Remedies. Site Partner: NOAA
Celise Stowe (Room #18): Rethinking Urban Mobility: Exploring Aerial Gondolas for the University of Washington. Site Partner: Seattle Subway Foundation
Myrka Trejo Hernandez (Room #19): Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts: Addressing the Fragmentation of Environmental Education. Site Partner: Sound Salmon Solutions
Farrah Tung (Room #20): Learning in a Warming Climate: Heat Mitigation Strategies for Healthy K–12 Schools in King County. Site Partner: Public Health – Seattle & King County
Theo Wright (Room #21): Developing Guides to Increase Community Resilience to Compound Flooding Events. Site Partner: wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Intellectual House, University of Washington
Ava Wygant (Room #22): Sustainability Integration in Healthcare: Identifying Organizational Factors for Institutional Change. Site Partner: UW Harborview Medical Center

7:15 – 7:30 PM Closing Remarks

Day 2: Oral Presentation Symposium & Celebration (In-person, Tuesday December 2nd)

UW School of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences | 1122 NE Boat St, Seattle WA 98105

4:30 – 4:40 PM Welcome & Housekeeping

4:40 – 5:35 PM Session A: From Awareness to Action: Environmental Education and Public Engagement for Justice and Social Transformation

4:45 Serena Mlodinoff: Learning from the Land: Place-Based Scientific Inquiry in STEM Education. Site Partner: Pierce County Office of Resilience and Climate Action
4:55 Remi Vernon: Environmental Documentaries: A New Face of Environmental Education. Site Partner: Washington Department of Natural Resources
5:05 Abby Kerbyson: Velociraptor? No, Vélonomie: Community Bike Shops and a Fair Transportation Transition. Site Partner: Seattle REconomy
5:15 Danielle Israelov: Breaking the Cycle: Understanding Barriers to Unemployment for Homeless Youth at Teen Feed. Site Partner: Teen Feed
5:25 Carson Brown: Voices to Votes: How Outreach Shapes Advocacy and Environmental Policy Change. Site Partner: Washington Conservation Action

5:35-5:45 PM Intermission

5:45 – 6:30 PM Session B: Landscapes of Change: Ecological Restoration and Environmental Decision-Making

5:50 Laura Biassio: Agricultural Land and Ecosystem-Based Disaster Risk Reduction for Flooding in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Site Partner: Plural Land Use Planning Consulting
5:58 Phoebe Clifton: Experimental Assisted Migration: A Case Study with Bigleaf Maple. Site Partner: Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center
6:06 Angela Perry: Beyond the Bay: Using Historical Imagery Analysis in South Portage Bay to Further Generate Public Interest and Participation. Site Partner: Friends of South Portage Bay
6:14 Veronica Goldberg: Urban Tree Canopy: Impacts on Heat, Health, and Inequality. Site Partner: Seattle & King County Public Health and Department of Natural Resources and Parks
6:22 Sofia Berkowitz: A Drop in the Bucket? Implementation and Outcomes under Washington’s Streamflow Restoration Act. Site Partner: Washington Water Trust
6:30 Mathilda Myerhoff: Stories, Systems, and Stakeholders: Understanding Pillars of Collaborative Environmental Governance. Site Partner: NOAA and Washington Sea Grant.

6:40 – 6:50 PM Intermission

6:50 – 7:45 PM Session Introduction: Restoring Ecosystems and Rethinking Sustainability

6:55 Cillian Mullen: Breaking the Ice: Informing Arctic Environmental Policy with Oral Histories. Site Partner:
7:03 Sonali Argawal: Aging and Climate Together: Building Partnerships for Community Resilience. Site Partner:
7:11 Lorin O’Leary Stephens: Beyond Diversity Commitments: What it Takes to Build an Inclusive Environmental Workforce. Site Partner:
7:18 Catherine Miggins: Let There Be Light: The Hidden Hazards Threatening the Duwamish’s Buried Grid. Site Partner:
7:25 Emily Neal: Science in Doubt: Rethinking NOAA’s Communication in an Era of Institutional Distrust. Site Partner:
7:33 Cyril Clement: Reclaiming the Script: Imagining Climate-Resilient Futures through Iterative Game Design. Site Partner:

7:40 – 7:45 PM Closing Remarks

7:45 – 8:30 PM Poster Highlights** & Reception in the 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.