This year’s annual Winter Welcome was held on Wednesday, March 6th beginning at 5pm in the Fisheries Science Building. We were excited to have all PCC Directors, past and present, in attendance. Don’t know who they are?  Look to Jim Murray, Chris Bretherton, LuAnne Thompson, Cecilia Bitz and Becky Alexander. We are also very thankful to have such a wonderful turnout from our PCC community, from board members, faculty, and researchers, to grad students, undergrads, and even some alumni. It was wonderful to see everyone come together!

The event kicked off with a welcome from the evening’s host and PCC Director, Becky Alexander. The current PCC board members were highlighted, you can find the full list here. Next, new faculty and staff were welcomed. We are pleased to introduce Kendall Valentine, Frankie Pavia, Andrea Durant, and Scott Kalafatis to the PCC.

We then caught up on undergraduate and graduate student activities. P-GraSC and their sub-committees shared about the “Schooner Series” where students and post-docs give short talks on climate-related topics. They are also gearing up for the Spring Symposium on Thursday May 2nd, which features graduate student lighting talks and table discussions. The grad students are also preparing for the Graduate Climate Conference which will be hosted by UW at Pack Forest November 1-3, 2024. The conference covers climate research from a variety of disciplines within the physical, natural, and social sciences and humanities. ACORN is still keeping busy as they pursue projects in community-oriented research engagement. P-GraSC will be reaching out to departments for new members this summer, but it is never too early to get students involved in the PCC. The PCC’s Undergraduate Cohort, UCo, shared that they recently became an RSO! The group has been busy with volunteer events, meet-and-greets with grad students and faculty, career and research panels, and more. 

The PCC fellows and Research Accelerator Awards were recognized next. The 2023 Graubard Broadening Research Fellowship awardees are Ben Lloyd (ESS), John Morgan Manos (ESS), Jordan Winters (OCEAN), and Naomi Wharton (OCEAN). The Research Accelerator Awards includes 10 Awards totaling $280K, $7k to $46K each. The award features PI/coPI’s from 4 colleges and 8 units: Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography, Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Biology, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs/American Indian Studies, Philosophy, and Landscape Architecture. A special thank you to William Calvin and Katherine Graubard for establishing and supporting the Graubard Fellowship and Climate Research Acceleration Fund.

The event continued with lightning talks from post-docs. The each shared a bit of the exciting things they are working on at UW. The presentations are listed below and you can find the slides here.

• Brooke L. Weigel: “Effects of climate change on snow algae in the Cascades” (NSF/OCEAN)
• Sonja Wahl: “Investigating snow processes through the lens of stable water isotopes” (ESS)
• Qiuxian Li: “A Novel Approach to Meridional Ocean Heat Transport Anomaly Decomposition” (CICOES/OCEAN)
• Gemma O’Connor: “Modeling wind/ocean interactions around West Antarctica to understand the drivers of ice loss” (OCEAN)
• Tailong He: “Increased methane emissions from oil and gas after the Soviet Union’s collapse” (ATM S)
• Laramie Jensen: “Seasonal and interannual variability of trace metals and nutrients in the Bering Strait” (APL Polar Science Center)

The presentation session concluded with an exciting announcement on this year’s Summer Institute. The 2024 theme is centered on Geoengineering and the science and ethics of climate intervention approaches. The annual event will be held at Friday Harbor Laboratories September 9-11.

The presentation was followed by catered food and drinks in the Fisheries lobby. Warm conversation flowed as everyone grabbed a bite to eat and mingled. It was wonderful to have everyone together for another great winter welcome.

Written by Elise Herzfeld, PCC Undergraduate Assistant and Student in Oceanography