Currently 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. Since the program’s launch in 2014, we have funded over 100 research projects.

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• 2025-26 |

  • Regenerative farming

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  • Dave Montgomery, Faculty

  Comparison of soil organic matter on regenerative, organic, and conventional farms in the Seattle/Snohomish River valley region

  The project involves measuring microplastic concentrations, soil organic matter, and soil health on planting beds at regenerative farms, organic farms, and conventional farms in the Seattle/Snohomish River valley region. The plan is to measure the effects of farming practices on these things at 10 paired sets of farms around the region. The study would build on the results of prior studies of paired farms across the US and examining time trends at the UW Farm. The questions to be address focus on the amount of soil organic matter (carbon) increase by adopting regenerative practices (no-till, cover crops, and diverse crop rotations) compared to conventional farms (tillage, no cover crops, and monocultures). In addition, the microplastics component would assess the extent to which reliance on plastic sheeting for weed control on organic farms impacts microplastic contents in soils and the associated effects (if any) on soil health.