Blast Off!
Professor Billie J. Swalla, Director of FHL
Wow, just wow! It has been a terrific summer! We very much appreciate all of the support and well-wishes that have come in to FHL from across the globe as I begin my 5-year term as Director. There is an air of excitement and possibility that's being quickly translated into action and new initiatives. I would like to thank you all for your support and encouragement during a very difficult spring. I have a whole new circle of friends: those of you who cherish and support FHL from afar!
Marine research continues to be a strong center for Friday Harbor Laboratories. Ken Sebens received $349,889 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a project titled “FSML: Instrumentation at UW Friday Harbor Laboratories for Studies of the Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification and Ocean Change.” Congratulations, Ken! This grant will provide funding for monitoring instruments and facilitate collaborations with UW Oceanography and the Applied Physics Lab. Co-PIs are Emily Carrington, Alex Gagnon, Danny Grunbaum, and myself, Billie Swalla.
We have hired Connie Sullivan to manage the Ocean Acidification Environmental Laboratory. Connie began her position on July 15, 2014. The OAEL was very busy this summer with visiting and local researchers conducting experiments. One of our researchers, Tony Pires from Dickinson College, has received a 3-year NSF grant to continue OAEL research at FHL. Tony worked in the OAEL this summer with an FHL Research Experience Undergraduate (REU) student, gathering preliminary data.
Victoria Foe has been awarded a $102,000 Seaver grant for her research project “Polymerase Collision.” She is using transmission electron microscopy to look directly at the process of DNA transcription and replication, and interactions between the two processes. This is fundamental research that may uncover new paradigms for DNA transcription and replication.
We had a bustling campus from June through September this year, including a new course titled Deep Sea Biodiversity, Connectivity, & Ecosystem Function taught by Craig Smith and Ken Halanych, who are two regular FHL researchers. The students collected wood and marine mammal carcasses from different depths in order to study how they are degraded and utilized as a food source by other animals. The course spent many hours on the R/V Centennial and in lectures and lab. Our Illg lecturer, Professor Lisa Levin, gave three lectures in the course and checked out the student projects. You can read more about Lisa's work in her Illg lecture article.
We had 80 graduate and undergraduate students recruited for the summer of 2014. We gave out $95,491 in FHL scholarships and fellowships: $50,703 in Adopt-A-Student funding and $54,200 from grants written by instructors for their summer courses (Deep Sea Ecology – Craig Smith and Ken Halanych), (Infectious Diseases –Drew Harvell, Carolyn Friedman, and Steven Roberts), and (Fish – Adam Summers and Misty Paig-Tran). We thank all of our donors for their support of students and we thank our tireless instructors who give cutting edge courses in Marine Science! The interactions of researchers, instructors, and students are what make FHL an amazing experience for any visitor, or for those of us lucky enough to be here all year long.
Even though it was summer, we continued with many outreach activities on San Juan Island. We had three beach walks, including one each at False Bay and Argyle Creek with the surrounding neighbors. It has been great to meet so many good stewards of the land and water and we are looking forward to continuing interactions with the community.
In addition, the BEACON: Evolution in Action grant (Billie Swalla, PI) paid for 30 high school students who have been volunteering at the Seattle Aquarium to visit FHL over the long Labor Day weekend. The field trip was arranged by Christen Foehring (the UW Marine Biology Advisor in the College of the Environment) and participants were chosen from a large pool by lottery. The students spent a full day and part of two others at FHL, and departed full of enthusiasm and excitement about careers in Marine Biology. Thanks to everyone who came out on the holiday weekend to talk to the group and inspire them!
We have nearly completed the “greening up” ESCO project and are currently in the process of fire mitigation on campus. This involves making a gap between the forest and the campus buildings and also thinning and removing dead trees and those that pose a significant fire risk. This will give our campus a more open look and will be much easier for our crew to maintain and manage. On the docket is a project to replace pipes in our main building, Fernald. This project will be done this winter at FHL.
A final “Thank You” to Rachel Anderson, Kristy Kull, Laurie Spaulding and her amazing staff for a lovely party given for me at FHL on August 22. College of the Environment Dean Lisa Graumlich, Professor Megan Dethier, Advancement Chair Kevin Schofield, and myself all said a few words about our vision for FHL. Read all about it and more in this newsletter. Thanks again to everyone for your words of support and encouragement! I am humbled and proud of our successes.
