September 10, 2025
Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is excited to announce that Danielle Brady, a current graduate student at Virginia Tech, has been selected as the 2025-2026 WSG Keystone Fellow. Danielle will be working with host Puget Sound Partnership.
The WSG Keystone Fellowship seeks to build pathways into marine science, policy ...
Read MoreSeptember 5, 2025
By Sydney Fishman, WSG Coastal Management Specialist
The Lower Willapa River, including the cities of Raymond and South Bend, is beloved by its residents for its access to nature, sense of community, and small-town charm. The Willapa River and nearby Pacific coastline support a variety of commercial and recreational activities. Yet there are tradeoffs to living in this low-lying part of Washington state. While waterfront challenges like flooding and erosion have always been a fact of life ...
Read MoreSeptember 2, 2025
We are pleased to announce that recent graduates Delaney Cyphers, Cirque Gammelin, and Courtney Skalley have been awarded the Washington Sea Grant Hershman Fellowship for 2025–2026. This fellowship places highly motivated, qualified individuals with marine and coastal host offices throughout Washington, providing fellows with a unique perspective on building marine policy and allowing them to share their academic expertise with the host offices.
This year’s host offices are ...
Read MoreBy Brian McGreal, WSG Science Communications Fellow
In 2018, in a case brought forth by 21 Northwest Tribes, the Supreme Court ruled that Washington State has a duty to protect tribal treaty rights by preserving fish runs. The main focus of this case was replacing culverts — infrastructure that allows streams to pass underneath a road or path, and ...
Read MoreBy Jess Davis, WSG Science Communications Fellow
Big actions often start with simple dreams. Nearly 40 years ago, many Washington state salmon fishermen began noticing declining stocks in salmon populations. Livelihoods impacted, a group of these fishermen felt a sense of urgency to initiate an effort to reinvigorate Washington salmon fishery ...
August 21, 2025
Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is excited to share about our research, outreach and education programs through Sea Star, our biannual magazine.
The summer 2025 issue is, unofficially, the “salmon issue,” with five feature stories highlighting the rich variety of WSG’s work through the ...
Read MoreJuly 24, 2025
One year ago, I assumed the role of interim faculty director at Washington Sea Grant (WSG). This represented a new leadership model for WSG, and my goal was to pilot the new model for 12 months while actively helping to recruit a permanent director from among the UW faculty. A second goal—no less important—was to expand the role of WSG ...
Read MoreJuly 18, 2025
WSG is thrilled to share that Kate Litle, WSG interim director and deputy director, was nominated for the prestigious 2025 Washington Governor’s Outstanding Leadership Award.
The award recognizes state managers who “not only met high standards of leadership, but who also advanced innovation, equity and continuous improvement in the work they do every day,” Washington Governor Bob Ferguson wrote in the call for nominations. Kate embodies all of these qualities, and more.
Since joining ...
Read MoreJuly 14, 2025
Seattle, WA – Moon jellyfish blooms are a stunning sight to see, their white and translucent colors making them appear light and delicate. However, these jellyfish are hidden predators lurking for their next meal. A research paper published in Marine Ecology Progress Series found that moon jellyfish (Aurelia labiata) ...
Read MoreJuly 1, 2025
WSG is excited to welcome Ava Vaughan as the Community-Engaged Intern! In her role, Ava will work with community engagement specialist Sanpisa Sritrairat, coastal hazards specialist Ian Miller, and partners at Washington Emergency Management Division to support coastal hazard mitigation planning and social vulnerability assessments.
Ava is currently pursuing a ...
Read MoreJune 24, 2025
For twenty-seven years, Robyn Ricks has shaped how the outside world sees Washington Sea Grant. As the program’s creative director, Robyn has brought her visual branding and graphic design skills to produce materials from websites to the Sea Star print magazine to formal presentations. She brings an element of magic to everything she touches, turning even the most bureaucratic of documents into something beautiful.
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June 20, 2025
Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is excited to welcome two new staff this summer: Jubilee Cho is the new graphic designer, and Kaitlyn Kowaleski is a new postdoctoral scholar.
In Jubilee’s role, she works across several creative mediums in print, web, digital and experiential to promote WSG communications, outreach and campaigns.
Jubilee earned her double degree from ...
Read MoreJune 16, 2025
By Alison Lorenz, WSG Communications Project Coordinator
Dr. Wesley Hull has been awarded the University of Washington (UW) Graduate School Medal for his dissertation research, supported in part by Washington Sea Grant (WSG).
The Graduate School Medal recognizes a doctoral candidate whose academic expertise and social awareness are integrated in a way that demonstrates an exemplary commitment to the University and its larger community. Hull, who recently completed his doctorate in biology at UW, worked with shellfish farmers, coastal ...
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June 13, 2025
Hello everyone!
I am so excited to serve as the new Crab Team graduate student assistant. I am passionate about both crab and citizen science, so I feel like I am definitely in the right place here amongst all these crabby people. I just finished my first year of graduate school at the University of Washington in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and I am currently working on my thesis which uses Dungeness crab data ...
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June 10, 2024
This spring, WSG Crab Team was joined by an undergraduate student assistant, Christopher Harris-Adams. Christopher Harris-Adams is currently pursuing his B.S. at UW’s College of the Environment researching microclimate variation in the greenhouse environment. We asked Christopher to share some of his story and introduce himself to the broader Crab Team community.
For quite a long time, I’ve been interested in the structure and ...
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