Previously Funded Projects

QRC members lead and participate in a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research projects from the study of past earth climates and glaciations to shifts in the geographic distributions and evolution of vegetation and faunal communities, to the evolution and dispersals of the genus Homo and the increasing scales of human modification of earth environments through the Holocene. QRC provides a venue for meeting and collaborating with scholars across Quaternary disciplines. We are also fortunate to be able to provide seed funding and small grants for member research projects. We are especially happy to support grad student and junior scholar research activities, much of which leads to larger, external funding from agencies like the National Science Foundation.

4 projects in Conference All Projects
  • 2021-22 | |
    • Ben Fitzhugh, Faculty

    Equipment for QRC related hybrid format conference facilitation

    Abstract: Beyond its terrible toll on global health and economies, one silver lining to the disruption wrought by the Covid-19 Pandemic was the discovery that virtual gatherings could accomplish some of the same goals as in-person meetings, while providing unique advantages in the form of greater accessibility and broader participation, in many cases at reduced financial cost and with significantly lower carbon-footprints. Nevertheless, a parallel experience through the pivot to online scholarly interactions has been the profound sense of lost opportunity for professional networking. These losses differentially impact early career researchers who stand to gain the most by the ability to present to and meet peers and more senior scholars and funders in person. Efforts to design virtual platforms to replicate the experiences of on-the-spot introductions, hallway conversations, and working meals have had limited uptake, notwithstanding efforts with products like Gathertown, SpatialChat and Floors to simulate interaction spaces virtually.

    The outcome of the mixed experience with online conferencing is a growing groundswell of interest in “hybrid” or mixed online and in-person conferences. For larger organizations, hybrid meetings are currently prohibitively expensive, given the high rates charged by hotels and convention centers for per room internet access and A/V technology as well as the need to depend on purpose-built web platforms for coordinating and distributing multiple channels of live streaming from multiple venue rooms. And yet members are pressing harder than ever to see hybrid become standard.

    Obstacles to hybrid conferencing are more surmountable for smaller meeting contexts, such as those that the QRC often hosts or that our members help organize, and it is in these contexts that we have the greatest latitude to pioneer hybrid formats and gain the experiences that larger organizations can learn from. With this award, the QRC is investing in a future that allows for greater flexibility in conference participation to improve equity and diversity, expand the audiences and participants of our professional gatherings and reduce our unnecessary impacts on a world in climate crisis – a crisis that fuels the urgency of much of our Quaternary scholarship to varying degrees.

    This award provides funds to purchase a “Pan/Tilt/Zoom” (PTZ) camera, tripod and an external microphone and cables. The camera will be of sufficient dynamic range to film in the low light environments of auditorium spaces, have plug-and-play functionality to integrate through a laptop to Zoom or other online interactive video platform without needing additional hardware and technical training. The microphone is intended to extend the audio streaming beyond the reach of a speaker’s laptop and to allow clear recovery of comments from “the floor” during Q&A and discussions. This package will facilitate the QRC hosted joint conference of the Ecosystem Studies of Subarctic and Arctic Seas (ESSAS) and Oceans Past Initiative (OPI) from June 19-25. The package will then be available for checkout from the QRC office, as needed by QRC members.

    Report: pending

  • 2019-20 | |
    • Caroline Strömberg, Member

    Supporting diversity, equity and inclusion for the Midcontinent Paleobotanical Colloquium 2020 in Seattle

    Abstract: The Midcontinent Paleobotanical Colloquium (MPC), an annual, (inter)national paleobotany meeting will be hosted at UW May 1-3, 2020. This small (~40-60 attendees) conference typically attracts students and other, early-career paleobotanists as a “safe place” to present; in addition, a broad set of influential paleobotanists (from paleosystematists to paleoecologists) routinely come. The meeting takes place over three days, with a Friday-night mixer, talks in the Burke Museum on Saturday followed by posters and a banquet in the Life Science Building, and several fieldtrips on Sunday. This year will also feature a Friday workshop about paleobotany databases. The talks and posters will be bookended by keynote lectures from leading paleobotanists (Drs. Ellen Currano and Alejandra Gandolfo).

    To allow students and postdocs to come, MPC registration rates are typically low. However, because the meetings have historically been held in the midwestern to eastern US, the higher transportation costs and comparatively pricy lodging in Seattle will nonetheless make conference expenses prohibitive for many students. To encourage participation, we are therefore offering travel stipends (~$400/student) for four or more students. The funds granted by QRC will exclusively be used to this end.

    The MPC benefits the QRC by bringing several emerging and established paleobotanists to Seattle and highlighting the importance of the QRC for UW’s paleo research community. The meeting will help build the UW’s reputation as a hub for paleontology research and graduate student training and promote networking with prominent paleobotanists for our graduate and undergraduate students in paleontology, many of whom are QRC members.

    Conference website: https://sites.google.com/uw.edu/mpc-2020/home

    Report: [pending]

  • 2017-18 | |
    • Gerard Roe, Faculty

    Workshop: Hhydrologic change over Asia and North America on geological time scales

    Abstract: As a group, we believe there is value in combining some key periods (perhaps early Neogene, Glacial, and Holocene), the latest proxy indicators of precipitation and aridity (e.g, speleothems, soils, lakes, dust), and some important recent innovations in our theoretical understanding of the hydrologic cycle (much of which originates with UW research). Just to touch on the science: recent UW studies have shown that changes in the zonal-mean hydrologic cycle under increasing CO2 can be understood as a requirement of the down-gradient transport of atmospheric moist static energy (=MSE, the sensible-plus-latent-plus-potential energy). Other recent work (MIT, Yale, UW) has shown the Asian monsoon is driven by zonal asymmetries in the patterns of MSE. We are keen to apply these concepts to paleoclimate states, and believe that the implications for our understanding of paleohydrology would be wide ranging.

    Report: na

  • 2015-16 | |
    • Ian Lee, Student

    UArctic Student Forum and Congress 2016, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Abstract: As part of the Future of Ice (FOI) Initiative, the University of Washington, Seattle (UW) is one of the few universities in the U.S. that are part of the University of the Arctic (UArctic), a coalition of institutions of higher education which aim to raise awareness of Arctic issues and promote Arctic-related opportunities, which among many others include internships, conferences and youth programs, to anyone around the world who has an active interests in the Arctic. In 2014 I was appointed part of the inaugural group of UArctic Student Ambassadors and represented both the UW and the U.S. The first event I attended as a UArctic Student Ambassador was in January last year when I went to Norway for the Arctic Frontiers Conference. During the conference, the student ambassadors had multiple opportunities to share their opinions on various Arctic issues as well as have special windows to chat with various luminaries in the Arctic world.

    The goals I have in mind for attending the UArctic Student Forum and Congress 2016 is to gain valuable experience through a highly unique opportunity to both take the lead to and learn what it means to voice your opinions about key Arctic issues. Whether it be a scientific, humanities or social perspective(s), the growing/learning experience will be universal. As mentioned above, attendance at such conferences also serve as a major networking opportunity for me, which when considering my future goals of immersing myself in the fields of Glaciology, will definitely prove valuable to me wherever I go in life.

    Report: Read the full report here.

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