Eight 91爆料 researchers have been selected as Fulbright Scholars for 2026-2027 and will pursue studies around the world.聽

Fulbright Scholars are college and university faculty, administrators and researchers, as well as artists and professionals, who build their skills and connections, gain valuable international insights and return home to share their experiences with their students and colleagues.

This year鈥檚 91爆料 cohort represents a variety of disciplines, including sciences, engineering, business, environmental sciences, electrical and computer engineering, and computer science. The scholars will conduct research across the globe, including in Australia, India, Indonesia, Western Europe, Scandinavia and East Asia.

Two-thirds of this year鈥檚 91爆料 applicants were selected as Fulbright Scholars 鈥� an astonishing acceptance rate in the prestigious and highly selective program.

鈥淲e are incredibly proud of these outstanding 91爆料 faculty and staff whose selection as Fulbright Scholars reflects the excellence, innovation and global impact of their work,鈥� said 91爆料 Vice Provost for Global Affairs Ahmad M. Ezzeddine. 鈥淭he knowledge, partnerships and cultural understanding they gain through these experiences will enrich the 91爆料 and strengthen our shared commitment to addressing global challenges through collaboration and discovery. As the Fulbright Program celebrates its 80th anniversary, we are grateful for the U.S. Department of State鈥檚 continued investment in this transformative program.鈥澛�

The Fulbright Scholar Program for academics and professionals supports more than 800 people to teach and conduct research abroad.聽

This year鈥檚 91爆料 Fulbright Scholars are:

is a professor in the Department of Biology in the College of Arts & Sciences. His research focuses on how mutually beneficial interactions between species 鈥� such as how insects pollinating plants is beneficial to both 鈥� scale into networks involving multiple species, and how the structure of those networks affects ecosystems. For example, some ecological network structures, or how connections between species are arranged, make these networks more resilient to perturbations, such as droughts or climate change.

Brosi’s Fulbright Scholar award will be through Spain’s flagship public research institution, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient铆ficas, at the Do帽ana Biological Station in Seville. His work there will involve synthesizing and analyzing two comprehensive long-term datasets 鈥� one from his lab and one from his Spanish host lab 鈥� to better understand global patterns in pollination networks. In particular, scientists have recorded species that appear to be 鈥渟pecialists鈥� 鈥� such as a bee species that has only been recorded visiting one plant species聽 鈥� in many ecological networks, but, without long-term data, it鈥檚 difficult to disentangle whether they are really specialists or just rare. Brosi will tackle this problem in collaboration with his Fulbright host, Ignasi Bartomeus, at Do帽ana.聽聽

is the director of academic services in the Department of Bioengineering in the College of Engineering and 91爆料 Medicine. She supports the department鈥檚 doctoral students with a focus on improving the research experience, expanding opportunities and advancing access and collaboration.聽

While a Fulbright Scholar, she will develop a framework for a new doctoral biomedical research exchange between the 91爆料 and Tampere University in Finland. Combs will work with faculty, students and staff at both universities to lead the development of a preliminary structure of a doctoral research exchange, including eligibility criteria, mentorship plans and evaluation metrics. She will also explore funding sources for the program鈥檚 ongoing sustainability and draft a memorandum of understanding for the institutions to consider.

, an assistant professor of management and organization and the Helen Moore Gerhardt Faculty Fellow in Entrepreneurship in the Foster School of Business. Her areas of expertise include entrepreneurship, organizational growth and scaling, technology and innovation strategy, and venture capital. DeSantola teaches entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial strategy to undergraduates, master鈥檚 and doctoral students. She was named a Poets & Quants top 50 undergraduate business professor in 2021.聽

DeSantola will use her Fulbright award, during which she will be a visiting U.S. Scholar to University College Cork in Ireland, to study factors influencing innovation and entrepreneurship in novel food technologies. The project connects to a broader stream of DeSantola鈥檚 research exploring the emergence and evolution of new technology-based industries.

is聽 an interdisciplinary scientist in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs in the College of the Environment. Her work focuses on how coastal communities adapt to climate change and other environmental and socioeconomic stressors, particularly within fisheries and aquaculture systems. During the past 15 years, she has worked with coastal populations, including Indigenous harvesters, to support food sovereignty and long-term approaches to adaptation and resilience.

Greene鈥檚 Fulbright award is to advance the inclusion of聽 fish and other aquatic foods 鈥斅� 鈥淏lue Foods鈥� 鈥� into Indonesia鈥檚 National School Lunch Program. The goal of this project is to improve nutritional outcomes for school-aged children while strengthening local food systems. Through working directly with fishers and fish suppliers, Green will work with the project team to identify the conditions necessary to provide Blue Foods that promote positive nutritional outcomes for children, support local fishers and sustain local ecosystems. This project is a pilot program for the initiative that will hopefully be expanded nationally.

is an associate professor in the Information School and also is part of the Responsibility in AI Systems and Experiences (RAISE) Center. An interdisciplinary scholar with expertise in human-centered AI, Mitra’s work draws on human-computer interaction, machine learning, natural language processing and social science to understand how people and AI interact in large-scale online systems. Her research examines the societal impacts of generative AI and develops methods to make AI systems more trustworthy, culturally aware and beneficial for diverse communities.

She will use her Fulbright award in India, where she will collaborate with researchers at the Centre for Machine Intelligence and Data Science (C-MInDS) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay) 鈥� the nation鈥檚 topmost and most selective public research institution. She will investigate the risks and capabilities of generative AI systems across socio-cultural contexts most relevant to the Global South. The work aims to advance more culturally aware and responsible AI while strengthening research partnerships between the United States and India.

is an associate professor in the School of Oceanography in the College of the Environment. Morris鈥� research uses cultivation and whole-genome DNA sequencing to identify the roles of bacteria in global nutrient cycles. With a focus on carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, he has conducted studies that show the effects of low dissolved oxygen on the nutrient cycling activities of the ocean’s most abundant organisms.聽

During his time at in South Korea, Morris will pursue a project entitled, 鈥淗igh-throughput cultivation-based genomics of freshwater Chloroflexota.鈥� A key goal is to advance understanding of the evolution of this important group of bacteria and its potential to mediate key nutrient transformations.

is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering. She leads a neural engineering lab focused on motor brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs. Her work combines experiments with computational methods to develop new ways to build BCIs that interact with plasticity in the brain.

During her stay at the Champalimaud Institute Centre for Restorative Neurotechnology in Portugal, she will collaborate with two researchers, Dr. Juan 脕lvaro Gallego and Dr. John Krakauer. The new projects aim to improve our understanding of how plasticity shapes brain dynamics and apply new BCI algorithms for stroke rehabilitation.聽聽

is a professor in the Information School and an adjunct professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering in the College of Engineering. He is the founding director of the InfoSeeking Lab and founding co-director of RAISE, the Center for Responsibility in AI Systems & Experiences. His research focuses on agentic AI, human-centered information seeking and responsible AI, examining how intelligent systems can act on people’s behalf while remaining transparent, trustworthy and accountable. He is also the founder and CEO of VersarAI, a startup translating his research on AI agents into enterprise applications. His book, 鈥淎gent Nation,鈥� was published this year.聽

Shah will use his Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, to study how agentic AI can responsibly power entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems. Working with RMIT researchers and Australia’s startup community, he will investigate what he calls the Delegation Paradox: the tension between the efficiency gained by delegating tasks to AI agents and the oversight, trust and accountability that delegation demands. The work aims to produce frameworks that help founders, enterprises and policymakers adopt AI agents in ways that drive innovation without sacrificing human agency.

Data spanning nearly half a century shows that endangered southern resident killer whales are spending less time in inland waters, whereas their larger cousins, Bigg鈥檚 killer whales, are increasingly present in Puget Sound.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration southern resident killer whales as endangered in 2005 after rapid population decline in the late 1990s. Now, , split into three pods: J, K and L. Bigg鈥檚 鈥� sometimes referred to as transients 鈥� are more common, but difficult to count because they travel in smaller groups over wider ranges.

Looking at data from 鈥檚 Sightings Archive between 1978 and 2022, 91爆料 researchers modeled migratory trends based on observations from researchers, recreational boaters and whale watchers. They found that K and L pods are visiting Puget Sound less often, but the J pod remains well represented. The data on Bigg鈥檚 corroborates recent results showing a steady increase in inland waters.

The results in PLOS One.

鈥淲e do see increasing transient presence over time, but we don鈥檛 see a definitive decline or overall increase for the southern residents. Their presence here is much more variable,鈥� said lead author , a 91爆料 postdoctoral researcher of marine and environmental affairs.

Key behavioral and subtle physical differences . The southern residents eat salmon, while Bigg鈥檚 prey on seals, porpoises and other marine mammals. Seals and sea lions rebounded in Washington after the Mammal Protection Act, which may have drawn Bigg鈥檚 killer whales to inland waters, but that doesn鈥檛 explain the changing distribution of southern residents.

Because southern residents are organized into tight matriarchal societies led by female elders, researchers believe that social cues may play an important role.

鈥淒oes J pod know something that K and L don鈥檛? Or vice versa? We like to think about which pods have really old grandmas left and who’s teaching them where to go,鈥� said co-author , a marine mammal specialist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), West Coast Regional office.

Policies to protect southern residents typically apply to all pods. With K and L spending more time in coastal waters, NOAA for southern residents in 2021 to include 16,000 square miles of marine waters between the U.S. and Canada border and Point Sur, California.

Measures like the , which encourages commercial ships to slow down where whales are present, aim to mitigate the impact of noise. Boats are also of the southern residents.

Indications of changing habitat have prompted some to question the need for such regulations in Puget Sound, but these results underscore their continued importance.

鈥淓ven though we鈥檙e seeing less of K and L pods, we still have to think about how our actions impact J pod. They鈥檙e still hanging around,鈥� Koehn said.

The study also notes that southern residents and Bigg鈥檚 are sharing habitat more often, though it isn鈥檛 clear whether they mingle or avoid each other. This raises questions about their relationship and underscores the importance of accounting for both in management decisions.

鈥淗aving more transients around could be good for the southern residents, because they eat marine mammals that also eat salmon,鈥� Rand said.

But if the southern residents avoid the transients, their increased presence could be disruptive. Researchers are actively studying threats to the southern residents 鈥� including prey availability 鈥� to support the imperiled population.

This analysis wouldn鈥檛 have been possible without consistent contributions from citizen scientists. People who report whale sightings using apps like Whale Alert help researchers provide data to policymakers, which can be consequential for the whales.

鈥淭his study quantitatively shows things that people have been suspecting,鈥� Rand said. 鈥淭here are more transients here in Washington, but the southern resident鈥檚 story is a bit more complicated.鈥�

Additional co-authors include of the Whale Museum and of NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

This study was funded by Washington Sea Grant, NOAA Fisheries West Coast and the Puget Sound Partnership.聽

For more information, contact Rand at zrand@uw.edu.

Fish that split their lives between fresh and salt water often face obstacles getting back and forth. Dams and roads fracture river networks and interfere with traditional migratory routes, sparking concerns about fish health and abundance, as well as biodiversity on a broader scale.

Efforts to restore fish passage are cropping up across the country, but these projects come with hefty price tags. In a new study, , 91爆料 researchers explore whether this money is being well spent by examining the process that determines which projects are prioritized.

The current standard, called score and rank, involves evaluating barriers one by one and assigning a score based on potential gains, such as habitat expansion. Top-ranking projects become leading candidates for funding, but score and rank systems don鈥檛 always account for barriers in the full river context. High-scoring projects can yield stranded investments, where removing the barrier doesn鈥檛 have the desired outcome because of other barriers downstream or immediately upstream.

鈥淚deally, barriers that are most downstream will score higher, because they need to come out before the fish can benefit from upstream restoration, but approaches to scoring vary, so this isn鈥檛 always the outcome,鈥� said lead author , a 91爆料 associate professor of marine and environmental affairs.

As an alternative to score and rank, this study presents a mathematical computer program called optimization. Optimization synthesizes many inputs to make the most of a budget. It can serve as a performance indicator for other systems and highlight opportunities for improving an underperforming system.

鈥淚t’s looking at a portfolio instead of going barrier by barrier. In doing so, you can explicitly account for watershed connectivity and evaluate the performance of score and rank,鈥� Jardine said.

As concerns about the health of rivers mounted in recent years, state and federal governments have allocated billions of dollars toward reconnecting them. Fragmentation is an established threat to biodiversity, and recent studies show that a vast majority of river length is not protected by conservation measures.

Washington state is in the midst of a court ordered multibillion dollar effort to remove barriers that block salmon and steelhead from swimming upstream to spawn. The combines score and rank with optimization in a hybrid approach. Similar projects elsewhere tend to use score and rank.

鈥淚 think people see optimization as a black box because it’s not as obvious why a barrier rose to the top of the priority list,鈥� Jardine said. 鈥淲ith score and rank, they understand the scores and the process, but we don鈥檛 really know what the outcome will be.鈥�

In this study, researchers use fish passage in Western Washington as a case study to compare score and rank to optimization. They show that score and rank performs decently well when the only goal is opening up as much habitat as possible, but adding other variables into the mix, such as habitat quality, compromises its performance.

While optimization has the capability to balance variables, it might not work for everyone. The program needs data to run and someone with a mathematical background to run it. Still, even small tweaks to the score and rank approach can produce results that rival optimization.

鈥淢ajor change is hard, but minor changes may be enough,鈥� Jardine said.

Because these projects often represent the values of multiple stakeholders, it鈥檚 important to include safeguards against stranded investments.

鈥淵ou need to work from downstream up to make sure the success of a project isn鈥檛 contingent upon other projects,鈥� Jardine said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e spending a lot of money on this, but the total cost of restoring all barriers is much higher than the budget, so it’s really important that we make the most out of the financial resources that we have.鈥�

Additional co-authors include , a 91爆料 postdoctoral researcher in environmental and marine affairs; , who completed this research as a 91爆料 master鈥檚 student in environmental and marine Affairs;聽 J Kahn, who completed this research as a 91爆料 master鈥檚 student in quantitative ecology and resource management; Andrew Cooke, a 91爆料 research consultant in environmental and forest sciences, , a 91爆料 research scientist in environmental and forest sciences; , a 91爆料 associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences and , , , and of NOAA.

This study was funded by Washington Sea Grant and the Rae S. and Bell M. Shimada Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Memory of Warren S. Wooster.

For more information, contact Jardine at jardine@uw.edu.聽 聽聽

The 91爆料 is the best in the U.S. and No. 2 in the world for library and information management, according to the 2026 released Wednesday. Three other 91爆料 subject areas placed in the top 10 in the world: geology, geophysics and Earth and marine sciences.

This ranking tracks an analysis of reputation and research output, conducted by . The consultancy looks at more than 18,300 individual university programs at more than 1,700 universities in 100 locations around the world. The ranking spans 55 academic disciplines across five broad faculty areas including arts and humanities; engineering and technology; life sciences and medicine; natural sciences; and social sciences and management.

The 91爆料 has 29 programs in the top 100, 14 in the top 50, and four in the top 10, including:

• Library and information management 鈥� No. 2
• Geology 鈥� No. 8
• Geophysics 鈥� No. 9
• Earth and marine sciences 鈥� No. 10

Visit the rankings site for .

During the annual salmon run last fall, 91爆料 researchers pulled salmon DNA out of thin air and used it to estimate the number of fish that passed through the adjacent river. , a 91爆料 research scientist of marine and environmental affairs, began formulating the driving hypothesis for the study while hiking on the Olympic Peninsula.

鈥淚 saw the fish jumping and the water splashing and I started thinking 鈥� could we recover their genetic material from the air?,鈥� he said.

The researchers placed air filters at several sites on Issaquah Creek, near the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery in Washington. To their amazement, the filters captured Coho salmon DNA, even 10 to 12 feet from the river. Scientists collect environmental DNA, or eDNA, to identify species living in or passing through an area, but few have attempted to track aquatic species by sampling air.

This study, , shows that eDNA can move between air and water 鈥� a possibility scientists hadn鈥檛 accounted for even though aquatic animal DNA sometimes appears in airborne study data.

The researchers then merged air and water eDNA with the hatchery鈥檚 visual counts in a model to track how salmon numbers rose and fell during the fall migration. Although the amount of salmon DNA in the air was 25,000 times less than what was observed in the water, its concentration still varied with observed migratory trends.

鈥淭his work is at the edge of what is possible with eDNA,鈥� said senior author , a 91爆料 professor of marine and environmental affairs and director of . 鈥淚t pushes the boundaries way further than I thought we could.鈥�

Researchers have streamlined the process of sampling eDNA over the past decade. Water and air are reservoirs for discarded bits of skin, hair and other DNA-rich detritus. Like a footprint, eDNA flags the presence of a species nearby.

After hatching, young salmon migrate to the ocean for one to several years before returning to the same stream to spawn. They leap and thrash near the surface of the water, likely shedding eDNA in the process. Every year, as the fish pass through migratory bottlenecks, people count them to gauge population health, set catch limits and monitor rehabilitation efforts.

Ip began to wonder about remote monitoring efforts while watching the fish wiggle upstream. eDNA has become a valuable tool for tracking endangered and invasive species. He developed an experiment to test the air for salmon DNA in conjunction with colleagues at the 91爆料.

鈥淭his is Aden鈥檚 baby,鈥� said Kelly. 鈥淗e arrived saying 鈥業 know you can get eDNA from the water, but I want to do something nobody has done before.鈥欌��

Researchers placed filters 10 to 12 feet from the stream and left them out for 24 hours on six different days between August and October, testing four filter types each time. Three were vertical filters and the fourth was an open 2-liter tub of deionized water to capture settling particles.

In the lab, they washed eDNA from the filter and measured its concentration with a Coho salmon-specific tag to a DNA amplification method called polymerase chain reaction. They referenced air and water eDNA concentration and visual counts to track population changes, assuming that each method has its own margin of error, and the true number of fish is unknown.

The airborne eDNA concentration fluctuated with the visual counts reported by the hatchery, suggesting that this could become a useful tool for tracking salmon populations. The strategy is more remote-friendly than other methods because it does not require electricity.

鈥淭his technique quantitatively links air, water and fish,鈥� Ip said. 鈥淎irborne eDNA doesn鈥檛 give us a headcount, but it does tell us where salmon are and what their relative abundance is in different streams.鈥�

There are still a number of variables to account for, such as rain, wind, humidity and temperature, that the researchers plan to continue exploring in future studies.

鈥淩ight now, we鈥檙e pushing the boundaries of possibility,鈥� Kelly said. 鈥淓ventually, we will develop the technique, as we have for waterborne eDNA, into something that can help guide management and policy.鈥�

For more information, contact Aden Yincheong Ip at adenip@uw.edu

Co-authors include , a 91爆料 postdoctoral researcher in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and , chief scientist at the eDNA collaborative in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at 91爆料.聽

This research was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Oceankind.

The 91爆料 is No. 8 on the 2025-26 U.S. News & World Report鈥檚 Best Global Universities rankings, 聽on Tuesday. The 91爆料 maintained its No. 2 ranking among U.S. public institutions.

The 91爆料 also placed in the top 10 in eight subject areas ranked by U.S. News.

Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University topped the list in that order. The University of Oxford is No. 4, followed by University of Cambridge, the University of California, Berkeley, University College London and the 91爆料. Yale University and Columbia University rounded out the top 10.

鈥淯nquestionably, the 91爆料 is advancing discovery that saves and improves lives, promotes prosperity, makes our nation stronger and expands human knowledge for the good of all,鈥� said 91爆料 President Ana Mari Cauce. 鈥淚鈥檓 very proud to see this extraordinary impact recognized through this latest ranking.鈥�

The U.S. News ranking聽聽鈥斅燽ased on data and metrics provided by Clarivate 鈥� weighs factors that measure a university鈥檚 global and regional research reputation and academic research performance. For the overall rankings, this includes bibliometric indicators such as the number of publications, citations and international collaboration.

The overall Best Global Universities ranking encompasses 2,250 institutions spread across 105 countries, according to U.S. News.

Here are the 91爆料 fields of study that are in the top 10 in U.S. News鈥� subject rankings:

Molecular biology and genetics 鈥� No. 6

Clinical medicine 鈥� No. 6

Public, environmental and occupational health 鈥� No. 6

Microbiology 鈥� No. 7

Biology and biochemistry 鈥� No. 8 (up from 9)

Infectious diseases 鈥� No. 9

Marine and freshwater biology 鈥� No. 9

Social sciences and public health 鈥� No. 9

To help struggling salmon populations, the state of Washington is legally required to replace hundreds of culverts that divert streams under roadways. The state transportation department is replacing old, rusting metal pipes with broad, concrete promenades that provide more gradual gradients and gentler flows for salmon swimming upstream to access more spawning grounds. The of the effort will last 17 years and cost $3.8 billion.

But how successful are these projects at boosting fish traffic? A team from the 91爆料 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration performed genetic sleuthing during two culvert replacements in 2021-22 near the city of Bellingham. Post-intervention monitoring shows that upgrading one culvert 鈥� which went under Interstate-5 鈥� had a big impact, and the other culvert may not have been as much of a barrier. Construction did not disrupt fish populations at either site.

The will appear in a forthcoming issue of Environmental Applications.

鈥淭his was an amazing study to work on, both in terms of the science and the broader implications. We demonstrated that we can measure the impact of management interventions using only DNA recovered from the water,鈥� said lead author , who began the project as a 91爆料 postdoctoral researcher in marine and environmental affairs and is now chief scientist at the 91爆料-based .

For the study, the researchers didn鈥檛 catch or count a single fish. Instead, from March 2021 to December 2022 鈥� before, during and after the project 鈥� they collected water samples each month at locations just upstream and downstream of the culvert. Back in the lab, they sequenced the fragments of floating DNA to identify the type and amount of DNA of salmonid species present.

The study used a new type of monitoring known as 鈥渆nvironmental DNA,鈥� or eDNA. Fragments of DNA floating in the environment on scales, scat, fur or other material can help researchers detect which species are nearby, rather than relying on visual counts, cameras or traps.

A fish鈥檚 DNA stays in the water for a day or two. The researchers aimed to use the culvert project as a model for the use of eDNA in environmental impact reporting, more generally.

The study focused on along Padden Creek, a roughly 3-mile creek flowing from Padden Lake to Bellingham Bay. One culvert replacement was a major upgrade under I-5. DNA results show improvement for the four species of interest: cutthroat trout, coho salmon, rainbow trout and sockeye salmon. The other project, a smaller culvert replacement under state Route 11, or Old Fairhaven Parkway, had less impact: Trout and salmon DNA were present at similar levels before and after construction, meaning the older culvert may have been passable to fish.

鈥淚t is clear that not all things that are marked as a blockage to salmon are, in fact, blockages to salmon,鈥� Allan said. 鈥淚n the future, DNA sampling upstream of culverts might be something to add to the prioritization process.鈥�

The results could help support across the West Coast and in Alaska.

鈥淓nvironmental DNA offers a pretty different way of seeing the world,鈥� said co-lead author , a 91爆料 associate professor of marine and environmental affairs. 鈥淲e can see thousands of species in a liter of water, in a way that no other sampling method can. And what makes eDNA really attractive is it鈥檚 easily repeatable and scalable.鈥�

Researchers collected water samples using a high-tech backpack donated by Smith-Root, a company based in Vancouver, Washington. They sequenced about 52 million fragments of DNA in total, about half of which were for the four salmonid species of interest.

Researchers also surveyed five other creeks as controls. In the future, the authors say, engineers or surveyors could collect water samples for environmental monitoring more easily than surveying and identifying fish, making it simpler to combine with other measurements.

鈥淚f you had to go out there with another method and find and count fish, it would take all day,鈥� Kelly said. 鈥淪o eDNA offers a real savings in terms of in terms of time and effort in the field.鈥�

Other co-authors are postdoctoral researcher , master鈥檚 student and research scientist , all in the 91爆料 School of Marine and Environmental Affairs; and and at NOAA. The research was funded by Oceankind, a grantmaking organization based in California, and by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

For more information, contact Allan at eallan@uw.edu or Kelly at rpkelly@uw.edu.

Many people are aware of plastic pollution in the oceans. Photos of turtles or seabirds entangled in plastic garbage first went viral in the 1990s, and the is now the focus of highly publicized cleanup efforts.

Less recognized is how marine plastic waste affects human populations, and the unequal burden on different communities. A report, 鈥�,鈥� outlines the current situation and attempts to address the problem.

鈥淲e all benefit from plastics, but some people are paying more of the external costs in terms of the environmental damage, well-being issues and just horrendous scenes that they must live with in places they call home,鈥� said project leader , a 91爆料 professor of practice in marine and environmental affairs and director of The Nippon Foundation .

Increasingly, the greenhouse gases causing climate change are seen as an issue in which some countries produce most of the pollution while other countries or groups are more at risk from the long-term consequences. Plastic pollution, this report argues, is a similar issue for coastal communities.

The report, published in late November, includes 31 authors from nine countries. It incorporates case studies and analyses from around the world as well as larger, overarching recommendations for change.

The authors conclude that coastal communities most affected by marine plastic pollution should be better represented in drafting potential solutions. A free, virtual event in March will bring together stakeholders from around the world to draw up a road map for an equity-focused path to address marine plastics.

The Ocean Nexus Center was founded in 2019 as a 10-year initiative based in 91爆料 EarthLab that includes more than 20 member universities and organizations around the world. Its mission is to bring together equity and justice in the oceans on a global scale.

The recently published report covers topics such as:

• A call to replace the term 鈥減lastic litter鈥� with 鈥減lastic pollution.鈥� The word 鈥渓itter鈥� frames the issue on a small scale that can be addressed with better waste collection, disposal or recycling, rather than broader industry-wide changes to production.
• A discussion of the rise in plastic waste during the COVID-19 pandemic, through masks, gloves, face shields and a resurgence of single-use and individually wrapped products.
• Chapters that provide place-based case studies, including interviews with local residents about their experiences with marine plastics. Locations include a fishing community in Ghana, coastal mangrove forests in Ecuador, and an island in southern Japan that includes both tourists and residents.
• Two analyses of waste cleanup programs 鈥� Washington state鈥檚 and the program in the Netherlands.
• A section with multiple authors focused on the island of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Maori perspectives have been disregarded in efforts to address marine plastic pollution, authors write, despite the greater impact and importance of marine environments for Maori people鈥檚 livelihood and culture.
• A review of international rules for plastic waste disposal 鈥� a patchwork of regulations including the Basel Convention, a nonbinding agreement that the U.S. has not signed.
• A critique of Coca-Cola Co.鈥檚 鈥� as an example of industry-backed solutions to marine plastic pollution that focus on individual consumers, rather than bigger, more permanent solutions that could reduce plastic waste.

鈥淐oca-Cola is the world鈥檚 biggest producer of plastic waste, and it serves as a case study of how multinational corporations engage in waste reduction and corporate social responsibility,鈥� said lead author , a 91爆料 postdoctoral researcher in marine and environmental affairs who wrote the analysis of Coca-Cola鈥檚 initiative.

鈥淎s we highlight in the report, one of the key actions we see as imperative for addressing marine plastic pollution is refocusing the problem as one of plastics production, rather than as an issue of waste management,鈥� Vandenberg said.

, a Seattle-based artist, created digital watercolor paintings that appear throughout the document. The report is funded by The Nippon Foundation and is intended to be an accessible, comprehensive summary of the issue that can be read by policymakers, educators and other audiences, Ota said.

The March event will bring together audiences to implement the report鈥檚 main recommendations. Visit The Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center to find forthcoming event details.

For more information, contact Ocean Nexus marketing and communications lead Ariel Wang at arielyw@uw.edu, Ota at yota1@uw.edu or Vandenberg at jvandenb@uw.edu (note: Vandenberg is currently a visiting scholar at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, on Central European Time).

More than a century of preserved fish specimens offer a rare glimpse into long-term trends in parasite populations. New research from the 91爆料 shows that fish parasites plummeted from 1880 to 2019, a 140-year stretch when Puget Sound 鈥� their habitat and the second largest estuary in the mainland U.S. 鈥� warmed significantly.

The , published the week of Jan. 9 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the world鈥檚 largest and longest dataset of wildlife parasite abundance. It suggests that parasites may be especially vulnerable to a changing climate.

鈥淧eople generally think that climate change will cause parasites to thrive, that we will see an increase in parasite outbreaks as the world warms,鈥� said lead author , a 91爆料 associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences. 鈥淔or some parasite species that may be true, but parasites depend on hosts, and that makes them particularly vulnerable in a changing world where the fate of hosts is being reshuffled.鈥�

While some parasites have a single host species, many parasites travel between host species. Eggs are carried in one host species, the larvae emerge and infect another host and the adult may reach maturity in a third host before laying eggs.

For parasites that rely on three or more host species during their lifecycle 鈥� including more than half the parasite species identified in the study鈥檚 Puget Sound fish 鈥� analysis of historic fish specimens showed an 11% average decline per decade in abundance. Of 10 parasite species that had disappeared completely by 1980, nine relied on three or more hosts.

鈥淥ur results show that parasites with one or two host species stayed pretty steady, but parasites with three or more hosts crashed,鈥� Wood said. 鈥淭he degree of decline was severe. It would trigger conservation action if it occurred in the types of species that people care about, like mammals or birds.鈥�

And while parasites inspire fear or disgust 鈥� especially for people who associate them with illness in themselves, their kids or their pets 鈥� the result is worrying news for ecosystems, Wood said.

鈥淧arasite ecology is really in its infancy, but what we do know is that these complex-lifecycle parasites probably play an important role in pushing energy through food webs and in supporting top apex predators,鈥� Wood said. She is one of the authors of a 2020 report laying out a conservation plan for parasites.

Wood鈥檚 study is among the first to use a new method for resurrecting information on parasite populations of the past. Mammals and birds are preserved with taxidermy, which retains parasites only on skin, feathers or fur. But fish, reptile and amphibian specimens are preserved in fluid, which also preserves any parasites living inside the animal at the time of its death.

The study focused on eight species of fish that are common in the behind-the-scenes collections of natural history museums. Most came from the 91爆料 Fish Collection at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. The authors carefully sliced into the preserved fish specimens and then identified and counted the parasites they discovered inside before returning the specimens to the museums.

鈥淚t took a long time. It鈥檚 certainly not for the faint of heart,鈥� Wood said. 鈥淚鈥檇 love to stick these fish in a blender and use a genomic technique to detect their parasites鈥� DNA, but the fish were first preserved with a fluid that shreds DNA. So what we did was just regular old shoe-leather parasitology.鈥�

Among the multi-celled parasites they found were , or animals with an exoskeleton, including crustaceans, as well as what Wood describes as 鈥渦nbelievably gorgeous tapeworms:鈥� the , whose heads are armed with hook-covered tentacles. In total, the team counted 17,259 parasites, of 85 types, from 699 fish specimens.

To explain the parasite declines, the authors considered three possible causes: how abundant the host species was in Puget Sound; pollution levels; and temperature at the ocean鈥檚 surface. The variable that best explained the decline in parasites was sea surface temperature, which rose by 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in Puget Sound from 1950 to 2019.

A parasite that requires multiple hosts is like a delicate , Wood said. The complex series of steps they face to complete their lifecycle makes them vulnerable to disruption at any point along the way.

鈥淭his study demonstrates that major parasite declines have happened in Puget Sound. If this can happen unnoticed in an ecosystem as well studied as this one, where else might it be happening?鈥� Wood said. 鈥淚 hope our work inspires other ecologists to think about their own focal ecosystems, identify the right museum specimens, and see whether these trends are unique to Puget Sound, or something that is occurring in other places as well.

鈥淥ur result draws attention to the fact that parasitic species might be in real danger,鈥� Wood added. 鈥淎nd that could mean bad stuff for us 鈥� not just fewer worms, but less of the parasite-driven ecosystem services that we鈥檝e come to depend on.鈥�

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the 91爆料-based Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the 91爆料 and the Washington Research Foundation.

Co-authors are at Pennsylvania鈥檚 Neumann University, who did this work as a 91爆料 postdoctoral researcher; at Georgia鈥檚 Kennesaw State University, who did this work as a 91爆料 postdoctoral researcher; , a 91爆料 Research Technologist; , a 91爆料 doctoral student; , manager of the 91爆料 Fish Collection at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture; and , faculty members in aquatic and fishery sciences at the 91爆料; at NOAA鈥檚 Northwest Fisheries Science Center; and at HelmWest Laboratory in Missoula, Montana.

For more information, contact Wood, who is currently in California, at chelwood@uw.edu. Accompanying images and b-roll video available .

Grants: NSF: 2141898

The 91爆料 rose from No. 7 to No. 6 on the聽, released on Tuesday. The 91爆料 maintained its No. 2 ranking among U.S. public institutions.

U.S. News also ranked several subjects, and the 91爆料 placed in the top 10 in 10 subject areas, including immunology (No. 4), molecular biology and genetics (No. 5) and clinical medicine (No. 6).

In another ranking out this week, Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 by Subject, six subject areas at the 91爆料 placed in the top 25.

鈥淎s a global public research university, the 91爆料鈥檚 mission is to create and accelerate change for the public good,鈥� 91爆料 President Ana Mari Cauce said. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud that these rankings reflect the outstanding and wide-ranging work of our faculty, staff and students to expand knowledge and discovery that is changing people鈥檚 lives for the better, particularly in the health sciences.鈥�

The U.S. News ranking 鈥斅� based on Web of Science data and metrics provided by Clarivate Analytics InCites 鈥� weighs factors that measure a university鈥檚 global and regional research reputation and academic research performance. For the overall rankings, this includes bibliometric indicators such as publications, citations and international collaboration.

The overall Best Global Universities ranking, now in its ninth year, encompasses the top 2,000 institutions spread across 90 countries, according to U.S. News.聽American universities make up eight of the top 10 spots.

Here are all the top 10 91爆料 rankings in U.S. News鈥� subject rankings:

• Immunology 鈥� No. 4
• Molecular biology and genetics 鈥� No. 5
• Clinical medicine 鈥� No. 6
• Geosciences 鈥� No. 7
• Infectious diseases 鈥� No. 7
• Public, environmental and occupational health 鈥� No. 7
• Social sciences and public health 鈥� No. 7
• Biology and biochemistry 鈥� No. 8
• Microbiology 鈥� No. 10

In the rankings, 91爆料鈥檚 programs in these areas placed in the top 25:

• : No. 15
• (includes agriculture and forestry, biological sciences, veterinary science and sport science): No. 16
• (includes medicine, dentistry and other health subjects): No. 17
• (includes communication and media studies, politics and international studies 鈥� including development studies, sociology and geography): No. 18
• (includes mathematics and statistics, physics and astronomy, chemistry, geology, environmental sciences, and Earth and marine sciences): No. 19
• (includes education, teacher training, and academic studies in education): No. 23

The subject tables employ the same used in the overall聽; however, the methodology is recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields.