September 30, 2025
In July, Washington Sea Grant (WSG) shared that Kate Litle, WSG interim director, had been nominated for the prestigious 2025 Washington Governor’s Outstanding Leadership Award. Now, we are so excited to say that Kate is a recipient of the award!
Along with 23 other dedicated public servants, Kate was recognized by Governor Bob Ferguson at a ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion on September 23. The ...
Read MoreSeptember 17, 2025
We are pleased to announce that recent graduates Anabel Baker, Elyse Kelsey, Madeleine Lucas and Rich Desanto have been awarded the Washington Sea Grant (WSG) Coastal Resilience Fellowship for 2025–2027.
This is the inaugural cohort of the new WSG Coastal Resilience Fellowship, a unique educational opportunity for early or shifting career professionals to provide additional capacity for coastal communities around coastal resilience. A two-year, paid fellowship ...
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 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 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 MoreMay 15, 2025
Mel Lemke is a self-proclaimed creepy-crawly-enthusiast who loves the deep sea. Hailing from the mountains of Colorado, Mel has always had an awe and appreciation for the complexity of marine systems, leading her to complete her B.S. in marine biology from the University of Oregon in 2021. During her undergraduate education, she ...
Read MoreMay 12, 2025
We are happy to announce that Dr. Nicole Naar, WSG social science and education specialist, was selected to receive the UW College of the Environment’s 2025 Outstanding Community Impact Award. This award recognizes stakeholder engagement that stimulates, inspires and drives interactive uses of environmental science and information to impact the broader community. The Awards Committee was impressed with the way Nicole exemplifies the spirit of this award by engaging with diverse constituents to convey complex information ...
Read MoreMarch 13, 2025
Dear Partners and Friends of Washington Sea Grant:
For more than 50 years, Washington Sea Grant has served the State of Washington, the Pacific Northwest, and the nation by funding marine research, providing technical assistance, and working with communities, managers, businesses, educators, and the public to advance regional understanding and sustainable use of ocean and coastal resources. WSG’s work in 2018-2023 brought more than $190 million in services and economic benefits to the state. As a non-partisan state-federal partnership, ...
Read MoreFebruary 25, 2025
Luciana Calle was born and raised in the Midwest yet has been living in Washington for 8 years. Her awe for the Pacific Northwest and her fascination with the environment led her to pursue environmental science and resource management, which she currently studies as an undergraduate at the University of Washington. She also took an interest in climate change early ...
Read MoreFebruary 3, 2025
Washington Sea Grant (WSG) is excited to announce that Erick Dowell, a recent graduate of the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, has been selected as the 2025 WSG Keystone Fellow. Erick will be working with host Puget Sound Restoration Fund.
The WSG Keystone Fellowship seeks to build pathways into marine science, policy and related industry careers for individuals from ...
Read MoreJanuary 30, 2025
We are sad to share the news of the passing of former Washington Sea Grant (WSG) science writer Eric Scigliano, who died in a diving accident in the Galápagos Islands last week. He was 71.
In addition to serving on the WSG communications team from 2013–2017, Scigliano wrote on wide-ranging topics from the environment, art ...
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