UW News

March 30, 2020

Faculty/staff honors: Outstanding educator in landscape architecture, Royal Society of Edinburgh corresponding fellowship — and the Green Rat Clingfish takes a bow

Recent honors to University of Washington faculty and staff have come from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the World Register of Marine Species. 

Green Rat Clingfish, described by UW biologist Adam Summers, noted among ‘most remarkable’ new marine species of 2019 

Adam Summers, UW professor of biology and fishery sciences. A fish he discoverd -- the Green Rat Clingfish -- was named one of the top 10 new species of 2019.

Adam Summers

The Green Rat Clingfish is having a moment of fame, thanks to Adam Summers, UW professor of biology and fishery sciences, and his co-authors.

That’s because the World Register of Marine Species has included the fish, first described by the researchers in a 2018 paper in the journal ZooKeys, as one of the “10 most remarkable new marine species from 2019.” The group announced the list on March 19, to coincide with Taxonomist Appreciation Day. Taxonomy is the science of naming, defining and classifying groups of organisms by shared characteristics.

A Green Rat Clingfish, Barryichthys algicola, from St. Helens, Tasmania.

A Green Rat Clingfish, Barryichthys algicola, from St. Helens, Tasmania. Source: Barry Hutchins in Conway, Moore & Summers (2019) ZooKeys

The Green Rat Clingfish, or Barryichthys algicola, is a small, slender, green fish with a paler green stripe on the side of its tiny head, an orange iris and green fins. Among the smallest species of clingfish, it lives on algae along the southern Australian coast. Summers and co-authors Kevin Conway of Texas A&M University and Glenn Moore of the Western Australia Museum, in Perth, described the fish based on 22 specimens found in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. They also created a new genus  — above species, below family in the taxonomic naming — Barryichthys.

Summers said of the discovery: “It is tiny and bright green, and it has a belly sucker. What could be better in a fish?”

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Mari Ostendorf named a corresponding fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Mari Ostendorf, UW professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been named a corresponding fellow by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy.

Mari OstendorfUniversity of Washington

The Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy, has chosen Mari Ostendorf, UW professor of electrical and computer engineering, as one its new corresponding fellows for 2020.

Ostendorf was named one of eight corresponding fellows, announced March 3. Fellows are leading thinkers and experts whose work has had a significant impact on the nation of Scotland. The corresponding fellow designation is for those who have attained high international standing in fields in the society’s domain, but who are not residents of the United Kingdom.

The society named 64 fellows in all for 2020, who join the 1600 existing fellows from diverse fields such as physical and life sciences, arts, humanities, social sciences, education, business, industry and public life.

Ostendorf, who came to the UW in 1999, is a professor of systems design methodologies in electrical and computer engineering and an adjunct professor of linguistics and of computer science and engineering. She is also the UW associate vice provost for research.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh was established in 1783 under the mission “Knowledge made useful.” Of UW faculty, John Scott, chair of the Department of Pharmacology, is also a corresponding fellow with the society.

Read more on the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering website.

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Thaisa Way receives 2020 Outstanding Educator Award from Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture

The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture has given Thaisa Way, UW professor of landscape architecture, its Outstanding Educator Award for 2020.

Headshot of Thaisa Way. The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture has given Thaisa Way, UW professor of landscape architecture, its Outstanding Educator Award for 2020.

Thaisa Way

The award, one of 11 award categories the council gives annually to faculty members, honors “truly outstanding, innovative and noteworthy work as an educator whose career is recognized as having made a significant contribution to the landscape architecture discipline.” Among the requirements for nomination is that the faculty member’s work must have been recognized at the national or international level in two or more of these areas: research, public service, outreach or service to education.

Way, an urban landscape historian, was to receive the award in person at the council’s 2020 conference, planned for March in Louisville, Kentucky, but the event was canceled due to the coronavirus.

She has written or edited several books, including “The Landscape Architecture of Richard Haag: From Modern Space to Urban Ecological Design” in 2015, published by University of Washington Press, which came out in paperback last year.


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