There is some serendipity in everyone’s journey, and for Maisie Walker, a chance encounter led her to spend this summer serving an internship at a golf course and creating her future. 

Four University of Washington researchers have been selected as Fulbright Scholars for 2025-2026 and will pursue studies in Spain, Taiwan, Poland and Japan.
The scholars are Jamie Donatuto, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Environment & Occupational Health Sciences; Shelly Gray, a professor in the School of Pharmacy; Michael Kula, an associate professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at UW Tacoma; and Yen-Chu Weng, an assistant teaching professor in the College of the Environment. 

For Annie Schlanger, a senior in Environmental Studies, her capstone project has been an eye-opening dive into the world of citizen science and Dungeness crab conservation. As part of the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group (PCRG), Annie and other student volunteers have been collecting valuable data to help improve our understanding of the early life stages of Dungeness crabs—an iconic species in the Salish Sea, vital to both the ecosystem and local fisheries. 

The Office of Global Affairs is excited to celebrate Yen-Chu Weng for our November 2024 edition of the Global Visionaries series. The Global Visionaries series highlights the UW’s global impact by featuring innovative, globally-engaged faculty, staff, students and alumni. 

On a windy June afternoon, Chris Mantegna, ’21, encourages a half-dozen undergraduates to flip over barnacle-studded rocks and sift through seaweed. Equipped with clipboards to record their findings, they’re creating a snapshot of the organisms in the island’s intertidal zone — from orange sea cucumbers to the camouflaged armored mollusks called chitons. 

Sarah Desai, College of the Environment Scholarship
Sarah is an Environmental Studies and Anthropology double major, graduating in Spring 2026. She’s a Program Support Intern for City of Seattle’s Human Services Department, where one of her current projects is analyzing how climate change will specifically effect King County’s elderly and disadvantaged populations. 

The College of the Environment’s Student Advisory Council (SAC) helps to amplify student voices within the College, and serves as a liaison with the Dean’s office to promote positive change for the College community. 

PoE’s own Eli Wheat was featured on the most recent episode of FieldSound, the College of the Environment’s podcast, to talk about sustainable farming and our relationship as humans with the land and food we consume. 

PoE students in the news! Check out this article in the Seattle Times focused on Dungeness crab, which features Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group’s larval crab monitoring and includes a photo of one of our PoE students, Annie Schlanger, doing her capstone research. 

The University of Washington Program on the Environment (PoE) invites applications for 2 faculty positions at the level of Assistant Teaching Professor in any field of Environmental Studies. These positions may teach courses in at least one of the following areas:

Bioregional natural history
International socio-ecological issues
Quantitative and qualitative data analysis
Environmental justice

Positions are full-time (100% FTE) over a 9-month service period with additional possible summer teaching.