Announcing New ESS Alumni Awards

ESS is pleased to announce the creation of two new alumni awards: the ESS Distinguished Graduate Award and the ESS Emerging Leader Award. Nominations are accepted year-round; however, to be eligible for the 2025 Awards Ceremony, nominations are due by February 7, 2025. Nominate a community member.

News out of ESS

ESS celebrates 130 years at the Burke Museum

On September 20, over 300 members of the UW Earth & Space Sciences community, including over 70 alumni, came together at the Burke Museum to celebrate the Department’s 130th Anniversary.

‘N Yo’ Seismic Network: Marshawn Lynch Shakes the PNSN!

On October 10, 2024, Amazon Prime featured Marshawn’s visit to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network Seismology Lab during its Thursday Night Football pregame show before the Seattle Seahawks took on the San Francisco 49ers.

Life could exist on Mars in shallow meltwater pools below icy surface, study suggests

A new study from researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, UW, and other universities suggests microbes could find a potential home beneath layers of ice known to exist on Mars’ surface. Lead author Aditya Khuller will join the UW Applied Physics Laboratory as a senior research scientist in November. ESS professor emeritus and co-author Steve Warren is quoted.

Explaining dramatic planetwide changes after world’s last ‘Snowball Earth’ event

Some of the most dramatic climatic events in our planet’s history are “Snowball Earth” events that happened hundreds of millions of years ago, when almost the entire planet was encased in ice up to 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) thick. ESS PhD student Trent Thomas is lead author on a new study recently published in Nature Communications.

Rocky planets orbiting small stars could have stable atmospheres needed to support life

A UW-led study recently published in Nature Communications finds that certain rocky planets orbiting a small star 40 light years away may have stable atmospheres needed to support life. Lead author and ESS assistant professor Joshua Krissansen-Totton is quoted.

FieldSound Podcast Season 3

S3 E3: Astrobiology with Jodi Young and Fabian Klenner

In this episode, we meet two researchers who work with vastly different systems, but whose paths cross in the interdisciplinary field of astrobiology. ESS postdoctoral researcher Fabian Klenner is interviewed.

Listen Now

UW ESS in the media

The power of a logjam: A vision of the Northwest’s rivers of old, The Seattle Times / ESS Professor David Montgomery and alum Tim Abbe are quoted

Monitoring at Mount Adams to increase after spike in earthquake activity, KING 5 / Pacific Northwest Seismic Network

Is an uptick of rumblings under Mount Adams cause for seismic concern? KUOW / Pacific Northwest Seismic Network

PNW seismic monitoring expanding to volcanoes and underwater, KING 5 / Pacific Northwest Seismic Network

What do this year’s earthquakes mean for the Pacific Northwest? KREM 2 / Pacific Northwest Seismic Network

Our community extends far beyond the UW campus. It includes members of local and national businesses and foundations, alumni, and other individuals who help push the Department’s research and teaching forward through their support. Thank you!

 

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