Future Rivers is a National Science Foundation Research Traineeship that prepares University of Washington graduate students to be fluent in 21st century data science approaches. Students will develop new technical skills, be a part of innovative scientific research, improve their communication skills, increase their cultural awareness, and much more.
Each year we welcome a new, diverse cohort of University of Washington graduate students and faculty to the program. Together with our partners, our team brings a wide-range of multidisciplinary experience and a passion for transforming freshwater science.
As an EarthLab initiative, students in the program will learn to work in applied ways within career fields outside of academia to create a solid foundation that connects academic, government, industry, and community partners.
Future Rivers is a National Science Foundation program funded through a five-year grant. Since the start, program leadership has been pursuing various paths for sustainable funding to allow the program to continue beyond the grant period, with an ultimate goal of creating a Center for Freshwater Science at the University of Washington.
This summer, Future Rivers is helping to support graduate student alum Sophie Hammond’s internship with the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center. While there, she is conducting research using a Y-maze to study the effects of 6PPD-Quinone on olfactory mediated behaviors in cutthroat trout.
The Awards Committee was impressed with the breadth and depth of Athena’s work and the impact that she has, which was highlighted in her nomination letters. Her nominators note that she is absolutely essential to the success and impact of Future Rivers; she is completely dedicated to making the UW and College of the Environment a world leader in transdisciplinary environmental science research and education; her extraordinary commitment to excellence; and her ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice through programs, trainings and continuous improvement opportunities.
Year 3 cohort students attending last year’s Summer Institute studying the Elwha River in Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula recently completed their joint project. If you are on campus this summer or fall, stop by the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences building on Boat Street along the waterfront to check it out.
Current Future River student Emma Boudreau received support funding to participate in the CUAHSI Snow Measurement Field School in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire this past winter. In this course, she received fundamental training in making and analyzing snow measurements like depth, density, water equivalence, grain shape, stratigraphy, temperature, and hardness.
This spring, University of Washington’s Future Rivers NRT teamed up with Washington State University’s Rivers, Watersheds, and Communities NRT to connect and share ideas, resources, and research grounded in a mutual focus of enhancing freshwater science in the state of Washington.