BEST POSTER PRESENTATION: Scout McHugh, “On the Right Track: Addressing the Barriers in Non-Profit Organization Collaborations”.

HONORABLE MENTION – BEST POSTER: Grace Cui, “Broadening Participation in Green Stormwater Infrastructure: Customizing RainWise Outreach through Community Lifestyles, Cultures, and Interests”. 

Grace is a student majoring in Environmental Studies with a minor in Environmental Public Health. Her Capstone project, titled Broadening Participation in Green Stormwater Infrastructure: Customizing RainWise Outreach through Community Lifestyles, Cultures, and Interests, explored how community lifestyles, interests, and cultural backgrounds can be used to design more inclusive and effective outreach strategies for green stormwater infrastructure. Through survey research and in-person community engagement, Grace interacted with Seattle’s residents, aimed at expanding participation for the RainWise programs. Her favourite part of the capstone internship was communicating with residents directly, it enriched her experience in engaging with diverse communities in Seattle as an international student.

Grace plans to graduate in Winter 2026. After graduation, she plans to pursue a graduate degree in Sustainable Accounting and Finance at the University of Hong Kong, and hopes to work in ESG-related roles.

BEST LIGHTNING TALK PRESENTATION: Ava Potter, “Reef Response: Impacts of Marine Heatwaves and Urchin Herbivory on Hawaiian Coral Reef Health and Restoration”.

Ava graduated UW’s Program on the Environment in December 2025 with a major in Environmental Studies and a minor in Business Administration. For her capstone project, she partnered with the Seattle Aquarium to examine changes in coral cover, marine heatwaves, and urchin populations in West Hawaiʻi. She used video transect analysis to create large-scale data sets and developed coding skills to extract, analyze, and visualize her data. Her favorite parts of the capstone experience were getting to have a real impact on scientific research and educating the public at the symposia and aquarium. Ava completed both an oral and poster project for her capstone, and presented at both symposia. She will be publishing two peer-reviewed papers with the Seattle Aquarium in late 2026 to early 2027 about her research.

Post-graduation, Ava is taking some time to travel before working in environmental business. She is a rescue scuba diver and recently visited Indonesia to see live, healthy, and biodiverse coral reefs in person. She also is developing her art skills in ways that can tie her to environmentalism, including marine-themed stained glass, boat building for freshwater exploration, and wild clay harvesting.

HONORABLE MENTION – BEST LIGHTNING TALK: Kaija Koenigberg, “

Kaija is an environmental studies major and American Indian studies minor who will graduate in Spring 2026. Their capstone project studied the relationship between soil health and in-soil invertebrate populations on three certified Organic Washington farms. Using a variety of methods, they measured how these results tracked with soil tillage intensity and found that lower disturbance methods had overall healthier soils and more robust invertebrate populations. Their highlights from this experience were working on SkyRoot Farm and learning research methods that relate to their career goals in agricultural entomology. These next two quarters, with the help of the Mary Gates Research Scholarship, they will be finalizing this data and publishing an academic article by the end of spring, and will hopefully be farming post graduation! Kaija has been deeply involved with the UW Farm after moving to Seattle in 2022, working as their vermicompost lead for a season, creating their winter food collection program with various HFS locations, serving as Dirty Dozen (UW Farm Club) president for over 2 years, and working as a TA for the Urban Farm class for 3 quarters. They’re excited to continue this work through 2026 and apply the knowledge they have gained through this experience to their future in academia and beyond.