Arsenic-contaminated groundwater poses a major environmental hazard and adversely affects the health of over 100 million people worldwide. Prolonged consumption and exposure leads to arsenicosis, which can result in skin lesions, impaired cognitive development, cancer and death. One current groundwater remediation technique involves injecting microbial nutrients (i.e. sulfate and carbon) into the subsurface of contamination sites to promote the formation of minerals (through microbial-induced reducing conditions) that either integrate arsenic into their matrix or adsorb arsenic onto their surface. However, studies have shown that post-treatment arsenic levels can increase beyond pre-treatment levels if the predominant removal mechanism is adsorption, and if sufficiently high levels of organic carbon are present to further reduce the adsorbing minerals, resulting in the re-mobilization (release) of arsenic. Therefore, it is important to determine the dominant removal process in order to develop effective long-term remediation techniques. Presently, we are working to determine the effectiveness of techniques involving induced microbial sulfate reduction through nutrient injections, which are currently being used for arsenic removal near Tacoma, WA. To simulate field conditions I pumped contaminated groundwater, extracted from the site, through sediment test columns to determine the arsenic retention capacity of the system. Once effluent and influent arsenic concentrations matched, we used the method of sequential chemicals extractions, along with μXRF and μXRS (microscale x-ray fluorescence and absorption, respectively) to determine the speciation and prevalence of the various arsenic-utilizing and -adsorbing minerals created. Next, we will pump uncontaminated groundwater through the columns to determine the post-treatment concentrations expected for this site due to re-mobilization. If our results show that the dominate removal mechanism is the incorporation arsenic into precipitates, preliminary treatment will be sufficient. However, if adsorption is the primary removal mechanism, a long-term treatment plan will need to be developed to minimize the remobilization of arsenic.

Isochrysis galbana is a marine alga that produces large quantities of lipid per cell. Lipids contain extensive amounts of potential energy. Therefore, this haptophyte may be considered for use in biofuel production. The lipid body organelle—the site of neutral lipid storage—is involved in many cellular processes. To date, little is known about this organelle in I. galbana. Chloroplasts contain lipids stored within smaller structures, termed plastoglobuli. For the purpose of the study, lipid body and chloroplast isolation techniques have been developed for I. galbana.  While light intensity has shown no direct effect on I. galbana’s growth rate, we hypothesize different qualities of light will affect growth by altering cellular protein, carbohydrate and lipid content. We will culture I. galbana under red and blue wavelengths of light. Using chloroplast isolation techniques, as well as developed lipid body isolation procedures, we will analyze the lipids contained within I. galbana lipid bodies and chloroplasts when grown under different light qualities. We will also determine if these wavelengths of light induce a stress response concurrent with lipid production. Preliminary data shows that heat shock proteins 70 and 90 –proteins that maintain homeostasis within the cell—are present in I. galbana whole cell protein extracts as well as isolated lipid body proteins. Using Western blot techniques, the abundance of these stress proteins will be measured under different light conditions. These studies will provide information on growth and lipid production under different light qualities, and whether these wavelengths of light elicit a stress response in I. galbana, an alga with potential for applied biomass production.

How we discard speaks volumes about how we consume, which in turn speaks loudly about how we live and interact with the material world around us. Food waste is a special category of what we discard. It expresses our innermost beliefs and boundaries about aesthetics, health, and hygiene. Food scavengers, or pepenadores as they are known in Mexico, refer to the urban poor who pick through garbage in search of fresh produce either to consume on their own or to sell. My research begins with the basic question: what does it mean to be a food scavenger in Mexico City? Specifically, it examines the relationships negotiated between waste, want, and worth in the context of the food scavenging economy at an organic dumpster at Mexico City’s Central de Abastos – currently the world’s largest wholesale food market. What do the pepenadores know about valuing food that we do not know? What unseen and unsung roles do they perform in the urban food distribution network today? Employing anthropological methods of participant-observation, my research hopes to lay the groundwork for further qualitative analyses of the capital-scarce, labor-rich livelihoods of the pepenadores in Mexico City. Given that scavenging is often shorthand for marginal status, understanding this informal economy can assist in destigmatizing the work and its actors. Furthermore, this research aims to better illuminate our relationships with time, people, and food through its study of the pepenadores as a unique, entrepreneurial, urban class of ‘hunters and gatherers’.

In Washington State, the number of incarcerated individuals has nearly tripled in the past three decades, and almost half of all current inmates are repeat offenders. At the same time, in response to recent budget cuts, the Washington State Department of Corrections (WADOC) closed two correctional facilities, decreased their staff, and cut funding for offender rehabilitation programs. This problem is not unique to the state of Washington. The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country- about 1 in every 100 citizens are currently behind bars- and bloated correctional facilities throughout the nation are feeling the impact of the economic recession. Now more than ever, it is apparent that we need to seek new, innovative approaches to imprisonment and rehabilitation. This study examines the potential of prison gardening projects to help address this need. I focus on the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) in Washington, but include evidence from similar projects happening throughout America and abroad. My methods include first-hand observations of SPP’s gardening activities at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, interviews with program directors, and a literature review of comparable case studies and existing science on the benefits of human-nature interactions. I find that prison gardening projects in correctional facilities offer financial benefits to the state, shrink the environmental footprints of facilities, and create positive experiences for the staff and inmates. I conclude with a discussion on these benefits, including possible areas for further development of gardening programs in prisons and suggestions for future research.

Urban farming is on the rise, not only in cities across the United States, but also around the world. From backyard gardens to large-scale community projects, people are returning to the land. This research explores the causal agents and impacts of this movement in Seattle, while also exploring why the expansion of community gardens and large-scale urban farming efforts have failed to progress as rapidly in Seattle’s sister city of Tacoma. An in-depth comparison will focus on the South Park area of Seattle and the Hilltop area of Tacoma. While much has been written about the ways in which urban agriculture has benefitted Seattle through its community gardens and large-scale urban farms, very little exists about why the same movements have not flourished in Tacoma. This project will employ a range of ethnographic methods, such as participant observation, in-depth interviews, and archival investigation into city policies and historical records. The data gathered will be used to explore the multiple and complex factors that influence—both positively and negatively—community based urban agriculture (CBUA) in the study areas.

The most common rheumatological disorder found in children is juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), a disabling disease of unknown etiology and with no cure to date. Previous studies have suggested autoantibodies of adult rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cross-react with oral pathogens, suggesting that oral infection could trigger arthritis. Severe gingivitis, an inflammatory disease of the gums, is present in 50-100% of adolescents, and may exhibit this same interaction with JIA. Costimulatory molecules on antigen presenting cells are induced during an inflammatory response to regulate T lymphocytes. Specifically, programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) known to be expressed during infection, is also highly upregulated in JIA. To test the hypothesis that PD-L1 expression is induced by oral pathogens associated with gingivitis, peripheral blood cells were isolated from JIA patients and healthy children. Gingivitis was scored by oral examination. PD-L1 expression was assayed on myeloid DCs and monocytes by flow cytometry. Preliminary data on a subset of subjects (n=7) showed a higher percentage of monocytes with PD-L1 in JIA patients compared to controls; however JIA patients had a lower density of PD-L1 per cell. There was no association between extent of gingivitis and PD-L1 expression. The results of this study could contribute to a new field of JIA therapy targeted at costimulatory molecules and oral hygiene.

Among writers both ancient and contemporary there is great interest in magic and wonder --- thaumata, thelxis, and cognates in the Greek. From the shining gods of the Homeric epics, through the second-century collection of spells known as the Papyri Magicae Graecae, down past the the occultism of Yeats, to the popularity of the Harry Potter series today, the western literary tradition has long been held fascinated by the imaginative power of such factors. Beyond popular culture, today's wealth of scholarly articles, anthologies, and monographs on the study of magic attests to a lively academic discussion around magic's cultural import. This paper aims to participate in that perennial discussion. Although it can be traced back to Platonic philosophy, it has become something of a commonplace that stories themselves work magical effects. This paper seeks to unpack the claims about narrative magic through a literary analysis of its representative deployment in selected works of Classical Antiquity. The Greek Magical Papyri are my main source for the internal terminology of magic, as it was employed in the Imperial period. For language scrutinizing magic, external to the practice itself, and for the fictional representation of both registers, I primarily examine two particularly important oeuvres: those of Lucian of Samosata, in Greek, and Apuleius, in Latin. Lucian's Philopseudes and Alethe Diegemata are key examples of fantastic stories, containing as they do the first versions of the ``Sorcerer's Apprentice'' and the ``Voyage to the Moon'' tales, respectively. Equally significant, Apuleius' Metamorphoses tells a series of magical accounts in a well-wrought masterpiece of early novelistic prose. Furthermore, both these authors are careful and clever, expressing within their texts a self-awareness of the narratological process itself. Outside these decisive thaumata, further comparative examples will be brought to bear as tangental explorations of storytelling's magical properties.

Force-feedback (haptic) displays are becoming increasingly common in consumer technology. Perceptual thresholds for haptic interaction are important for determining how much force output is required from a haptic display to provide detectable feedback to the user. In this presentation, I will talk about an experiment measuring force perceptual thresholds for single and multi-finger interaction with haptic targets. Using the UW Multi-Finger Haptic Display, subjects feel two targets on a virtual surface. One target produces center-attractive force when in contact with the subject’s finger while the other produces no force. A thresholding algorithm presents the subject a new set of haptic targets with a smaller maximum force after correctly selecting the force-producing target twice. Eventually the subject can no longer detect a target and the max force is adjusted upward. This type of forced-choice algorithm causes the threshold force to converge to where the user successfully detects the stimulus 71% of the time. In this experiment, three new methods of presenting time-correlated haptic feedback to the subject were tested. Statistical analysis shows significantly lower minimum force thresholds for multi-finger methods providing time-correlated feedback (mean thresholds of 22.94, 21.75, 22.13 mN) when compared to the single finger and multi-finger spatially correlated methods (29.24 and 33.37 mN respectively). These results suggest a neural summation effect when haptic targets are arranged to provide time-correlated stimulation to multiple fingers at once.

Recent reports have shown that metabolic signatures are highly characteristic for a cell and may act as a leading cause for cell fate changes. In particular, we have shown that during development from naïve to primed embryonic stem cells, the cells undergo a dramatic transition from metabolically bivalent to highly glycolytic. However, this state of inert mitochondria rapidly changes to highly potent mitochondria during further differentiation. It is not yet understood how and why the pluripotent cells enter the highly glycolytic, metabolically cancer-like (Warburg effect) stage and how a differentiating cell leaves this stage. We have now performed metabolomics profiling of naïve and primed pluripotent cells using mass spectrometry. Interestingly, primed cells accumulate the tryptophan degradation product kynurenine. Kynurenine (KY) can act as a ligand for the transcription factor AHR. In cancer cells AHR activation by KY incudes growth while in surrounding T-cells KY based AHR activation will inhibit T-regulatory cells. My hypothesis is that kynurenine is a key metabolite in determining stem cell stage and in helping protect the primed stage embryo against the mother's immune cells. I will now test this hypothesis by analyzing the levels of the key KY metabolism enzymes by qPCR. My prediction is that the tryptophan degrading enzyme IDO1 will be unregulated in the primed stem cells. To test whether kynurenine can change the state of naïve stem cells, I will add different concentrations of kynurenine to the stem cell media and test potential cell fate changes. Since primed ESC-like metabolism is also observed in cancer cells, it is of great interest to understand how the cellular transitions in and out of this metabolic state are controlled during normal development. These studies will shed light on the function and regulation of metabolism during normal and disease developments.

M dwarf stars are classified by their small radii and relatively cool surface temperatures. Their internal structures are known to be almost entirely convective, and this extreme convection causes a tangling of the stars' magnetic field lines. Upon realignment of the magnetic field lines, an incredible amount of energy is released from the star in what is called a flare. This research project is an ongoing observation of the flare activity on the M dwarf stars GJ1243 and GJ1245. Two months of flare activity was observed using the flux measurements made by NASA's Kepler telescope. The frequency, duration and types of flares were recorded and analyzed with the aid of the computer program "Flares by Eye." It has been observed that most flares have short rise times and long decay times, the intensities of which seem to follow a power law. Continued research on this topic will help us learn more about the physics behind the ignition of these stellar explosions, how the flares decay, and how the stars become less active as they age.

Triadic eye gaze, a form of coordinated attention, is defined as an infants’ eye gaze shifts between another person, and an outside object or person. The current study examined whether 9-month-olds’ triadic eye gaze influences language learning; we specifically asked whether infants who engage in more episodes of triadic eye gaze show increased phoneme learning in a foreign language. The current project was conducted as part of a larger research endeavor, the Interactive Exposure study, which examined infant language learning in the context of peer social interactions. In the Interactive Exposure study, infants were exposed to a foreign language, Mandarin Chinese, through individual and peer language exposure sessions. In 12 sessions over four weeks the infants watched video clips of Mandarin Chinese. Infants activated the 20-second video clips by touching the screen. Infants in individual exposure sessions were in the room with only the touchscreen and their caregiver whereas peer exposure sessions consisted of two infants and two caregivers. Following exposure, infants’ discrimination of the Mandarin Chinese phonemes was tested via Conditioned Head Turn procedure and an ERP task. Fifteen 9-month-old participants from the peer language exposure sessions were selected for the current analysis of triadic eye gaze patterns. Using ELAN coding software, infants’ eye gaze was coded for looks to their own caregiver, other caregiver, other infant, and screen. Next, episodes of triadic eye gaze were identified for eye gaze patterns that consisted of looks between the other infant, caregiver, other caregiver and screen (e,g,, other infant – TV – other infant). Although coding and analysis are currently underway, we predict that infants who engage in more episodes of triadic eye gaze will show increased phoneme learning. If our prediction is accurate, this finding will indicate that language learning requires complex social interactions, such as triadic patterns of attention.  

Event related potentials (ERP) are electrophysiological responses of the brain measured during an electroencephalogram (EEG). The Mismatch Negativity (MMN) is an ERP component that occurs as a result of the brain detecting a deviant sound among a sequence of standards. It is represented by a negative peak in the fronto-central region of the scalp with latency 100-250 ms after onset of the abnormal stimulus. Previous studies have shown that the MMN is reduced in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) relative to typically developing children. It has been suggested that this indicates atypical automatic auditory processing in ASD. Other research has found abnormal MMN activity in schizophrenia patients as well. These studies have found an association between MMN activity and test measures of social function in individuals with schizophrenia. It has been theorized that impairment in auditory detection present in schizophrenia (as evidenced by a reduced MMN) may have downstream effects on certain facets of social cognition. No known work has yet been done to assess the same association in ASD. This study investigated the relationship of the MMN with social skills in individuals with ASD. In this study, EEG was recorded from children and adolescents with and without autism while they listened to auditory stimuli consisting of a standard sound ("ba") and deviant sounds ("da," "bi") to elicit an MMN. Parents reported on children’s social adaptive behavior in the Vineland assessment. The aims of this study are to (1) replicate previous findings that individuals with ASD have a reduced MMN relative to typically developing individuals, and (2) explore the relationship between the MMN and social behavior in children with ASD and typical development, as measured in the Vineland. A strong association may shed light on the sensory involvement in typical social functioning.

Iron-oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with tuned magnetic properties can enable novel diagnostic and therapeutic technologies such as magnetic particle imaging and hyperthermia. In order to optimize the magnetic properties of MNPs, organic synthesis methods are required. However, these organic synthesis methods render the nanoparticles hydrophobic and unusable for biomedical applications. To make MNPs functional in biomedical applications whilst retaining their magnetic functionality, they must be transferred to the aqueous phase using a biocompatible polymer. In this work, MNPs will be coated using a biocompatible PEG-ylated amphiphilic polymer: poly (maleic anhydride-alt-1-octadecene) or PMAO-PEG. To ensure the PMAO-PEG is a well suited polymer coating for MNPs, various molecular weights and molar ratios of PMAO-PEG are synthesized and characterized to study the effects of PEG surface density and molecular weight on MNPs. By altering the density of the polymer used to coat and phase transfer MNPs, effects such as the solubility, circulating life, colloidal stability, dosage frequency, and proteolytic degradation rates of MNPs in the biomedical applications are studied using data obtained from Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Molecular weight distributions of the various polymers are obtained from the GPC to evaluate the conjugation success after PEG-ylation. In addition, FTIR was used to identify known and unknown materials in the samples, determine the quality and consistency of samples, and to determine the amount of components in samples.

Autism is a disorder characterized by deficits in social and communication skills and repetitive behaviors. Fifty-two percent of the children with autism are treated with medication for some of the common co-morbid behaviors – e.g., anxiety, aggression, and hyperactivity. However, only 49-69% of these children respond positively to the medication, and about 18-26% of these children experience side effects such as insomnia, sedation, and increased appetite. An extensive series of trial-and-error might be needed for a patient, which could be time-consuming and stressful for both the patient and parents. A reliable method is needed to predict the effectiveness of the pharmacological treatment. This study used electroencephalography (EEG) to detect early changes in the brain that we cannot yet observe in behavior. Children who are diagnosed with autism and starting a medication (e.g. stimulant, antidepressant, or atypical antipsychotics) participated in this study. EEG was recorded while the subjects participated in a social processing task, a resting task, and the Go-NoGo inhibition task. The participant’s caregiver completed three questionnaires: Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory, Aberrant Behavior Checklist, and Social Communication Questionnaire. This project analyzed the subject’s change in EEG and behavioral data over three different time points (T1= before, T2= one week after, T3= one month after the start of medication). Multiple aspects of each individual’s EEG signal were examined by comparing the difference from T1-T2 and T1-T3 against the null hypotheses of no change (or comparing change to 0). The goal of this project is to search changes in the EEG signal that is related to positive (or negative) behavioral changes in this population. This study will provide an important first step for understanding changes in the brain in response to medications, which may provide useful information to professionals during the process of choosing the most effective medication for children with autism.

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has become a widely used technique in fabricating nanoparticles using a top-down approach with several advantages over bottom-up chemical methods, including being able to precisely control particle shape, size, structure, and composition. Using NIL, synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) nanoparticles can be fabricated using multilayer deposition techniques, imprinting, liftoff, and particle release into water with limited defects. The particles can also be coated with a functional polymer so that they can be used in a number of drug delivery systems. However, common NIL techniques often make it difficult to add functional coatings to the particles after the particles are released in water. Deposition methods for different layers, as well as using silicon molds that introduce defects and irregularity in particle size are other pitfalls that can be corrected using a new approach. The nanoparticles (~300 nm diameter) were homogeneously patterned using a mold to etch disk-shaped nanoparticles on a silicon substrate with layers of titanium and magnetite deposited on its surface via magnetron sputtering to contribute to the antiferromagnetic properties of the particles.  The fabrication process is extensive and utilizes many clean room processes, including nanoimprinting, dry etching, undercutting, multilayer deposition, liftoff, and polymer coating, though polymerization was not explored in this study.  Following, release techniques were used to produce a monodisperse and homogeneously-sized sample of high moment, multilayer particles in water with high saturation magnetization and low toxicity. Final results to determine the effectiveness of the particles were determined by studying the magnetic properties of the nanoparticle solution sample in the presence of an external magnetic field. With antiferromagnetic and useful imaging properties, functional biomagnetics could become a highly useful material system. Future work in this field includes biofunctionalizing the particles to modify in-solution behavior and implementing them into various biomedical systems, depending on how small the particles can be made using NIL.

Computer-generated transportation models are used by State Departments of Transportation to simulate flows of goods and people on roadways. Infrastructure investments and policy decisions can be supported by results of these models. Passenger travel is well developed and uses activity-based models using characteristics of the household to more accurately model travel behavior. Freight, on the other hand, is not as developed, and uses simple algorithms to predict goods movement. This research focuses on characterizing freight travel in the context of supply chains to more appropriately model frieght behavior. A survey was conducted of motor carriers in Oregon and Washington to capture fleet statistics, carrier services, travel distances, time of day travel patterns, and company characteristics to find which factors differentiate motor carriers. The results revealed a key distinction between "Supply Chain Node Carriers" and "Only Transportation Carriers," with "Supply Chain Node Carriers" being split further into those companies linked to raw materials, manufacturing facilities, storage facilities, distribution centers, and retail outlets. Suggestions are made on how to implement these findings into state transportation model developments to enhance them. These more precise models allow for evidence-backed infrastructure investments and policy decisions.

Can a group of men and women be paired together to guarantee no divorces or scandals? In 1962, two economists posed this question mathematically and offered a solution. A 2012 Nobel Prize went to two of the key researchers that worked on this problem. Their solution took the form of an algorithm, a systematic procedure that could be performed by a computer. The solution to the "stable marriage problem" has both interesting theoretical properties and real-world applications, such as the assignment of medical students to hospitals. In the original version of the problem, each man and woman know their preferences over all their potential partners. We are considering a variant in which they only know some of their preferences. The algorithm not only needs to figure out whom to match with whom, but also what information to gather on preferences. We present our preliminary results on efficient algorithms for this problem. This is joint work with Anna Karlin and Jamie Morgenstern.

How domestic tasks are shared among household members is an important issue because the time women spent on housework translates to time spent not acquiring valuable skills and experience that enhance aspects of women’s lives which are external to the family such as their career and political involvement. This paper studies the effects of the distribution of intra-household bargaining power on families’ time allocation using cooperative bargaining model. I hypothesize that the wife’s time spent doing domestic chores is directly proportional to her relative bargaining power in the family. I test this hypothesis using instrumental variable approach —I exploit the enactment of equitable distribution of marital property in Florida in 1988 as a natural experiment which redistributes bargaining power while holding household’s preference and price constant. This method overcomes the problem of simultaneous causal relationship between family’s time allocation and household’s characteristics such as wife’s wage. Prior to the law enactment, marital property was divided according to the name on the property title which is disadvantageous to women who generally earn less than their husbands. Thus, the enactment of equitable distribution of property in divorce increases women’s bargaining powers by improving their prospects outside marriage. They can use the ‘threat’ of leaving the marriage as leverage when negotiating with their partners to do less housework. Other literature which studies the intra-household bargaining process focuses on the effects of a shift in bargaining power on married women’s labor supply and family’s expenditure on physical goods such as clothing. Instead of replicating previous research, I instead examine the effects of a change in the bargaining position of each spouse on their allocation of non-market labor time. I anticipate that after the enactment of equitable distribution of marital property statute, the allocation of household chores between the partners becomes more equal.

Corals are important marine animals that provide significant habitats for thousands of marine teleost and invertebrate species, natural barriers to protect coastal communities, and sources of income for people in more than 100 countries around the world. Despite their vital importance, however, little is known about their taxonomy. Currently, they are classified based on their calcium-based skeleton morphology and coloration, which often causes problems because of high phenotypic variability within species. Thus, I used DNA sequencing in my research to identify species of the genus Lobophyllia from the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Specifically, I tested whether color morphs from different areas in Indonesia actually represent different species or mere color variations. For that purpose, I conducted PCR amplification of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase gene and two nuclear genes in 42 colonies of 14 color morphs of Lobophyllia sp. The PCR products were sequenced in both directions at the High Throughput Sequencing Center of the University of Washington, and phylogenetic trees including known species were used to determine the species identities. I expected that color morphs would be genetically differentiated and therefore might represent different species. Regardless of the outcome, this project has helped to understand the biodiversity in coral reefs better, and is also useful to identify appropriate units for coral management and conservation.

 The diatoms are a prolific and productive group of phytoplankton belonging to the phylum Heterokontophyta. They are responsible for ~30% of oceanic primary production and their high photosynthetic capacity depends on their abilities to synthesize chlorophyll. The penultimate step in the biosynthesis of chlorophyll is catalyzed by the enzyme ‘light-dependent protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase’. To understand the evolutionary history of the gene (por) encoding this enzyme (POR) we have constructed an algal por gene tree using diatom por genes as well as those from sister taxa and distantly related taxa. This process involved the cultivation of various strains of algae, DNA extraction, PCR, gene sequencing, data mining from public databases, and bioinformatic analysis. We found two distinct por genes (por1 and por2) within the diatoms and a single haptophyte alga. We propose three hypotheses as to the origin of dual por genes in diatoms: (1) a por gene duplication event occurred before the divergence of the Heterokonts and Haptophytes; (2) a por gene was laterally transferred to a common ancestor of these two algal taxa; or (3) reciprocal lateral gene transfers occurred between these two algal taxa. Whereas the first two hypotheses are more parsimonious, we are unable to determine which scenario is correct with the current dataset. Nonetheless, these data provide evidence for a shared common ancestor between the heterokonts and haptophytes, a hypothesis that is currently hotly debated. Furthermore, the presence of these two por genes in various algal taxa presents a rich opportunity to study the evolutionary forces that either modify or maintain cellular gene function after gene duplication or lateral gene transfer. Thus, the results of this study will soon be complemented with research regarding the enzymatic function and regulation of the two por genes in diatoms.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are defined by communication and language development difficulties, so for children with ASD, developing vocabulary is difficult yet all the more important for developing communication. This project asks whether repeated exposure to vocabulary words through the dialogic reading method is effective in expanding vocabulary in preschool children (3-5 years old) with autism. The Preschool Autism Literacy Project collected the data for this project. The study consists of trained tutors who read with preschool children (N=23) with ASD 4 times a week using Dialogic Reading. In the dialogic reading method, the reader of the book asks the student pre-planned questions about the story and text, creating dialogue. The tutors read a book from a prepared set with the children every week for 20 weeks. For data on vocabulary development, tutors gave their students vocabulary tests before the 1st session and after the 4th session of each 4-session week. The tests consisted of 10 vocabulary words present in the book they were reading that week. For the testing material, each vocabulary word was represented on a sheet of paper with an image that matched the vocabulary word. The tutor asked the subjects to identify each image, each correct response earning the subject a score of 1 point, and each incorrect response earning the subject a score of 0. The scores from the 1st and 4th session tests were compared to calculate a gain score for each subject on all 20 books and graphed to illustrate progress. I hypothesize that the data will indicate that the children’s vocabulary will improve using the dialogic reading methods. If Dialogic Reading is found to increase the students’ vocabulary, it may lead to research on its effectiveness for older children with autism, and an expanse of its use among parents of children with autism.

According to the CDC, diabetes mellitus affected 11.3% of US residents over 20 years of age and 26.9% of those over 65 in 2011. Because this disease can lead to severe health complications, patients with diabetes are over-represented in healthcare settings. A person with diabetes must incorporate disease management into every aspect of his or her life, remaining constantly vigilant and accommodating continual lifestyle modifications. Despite the daily challenges that confront these individuals, healthcare providers often practice without fully understanding the impact this diagnosis has on a patient’s life. As a result, patients may experience negative attitudes from healthcare workers that make them feel objectified and stigmatized, ultimately leading to poor health outcomes. Studies have shown that health simulation experiences, in which a person experiences the reality of a disease or condition, can be powerful tools for influencing the perceptions of healthcare workers. However, little is known about how these programs impact the perceptions of nurses who work closely with patients to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes. The purpose of this research study is to explore and describe the perceptions of nurses after completion of the Diabetes Reality Experience, an educational program in which they live for several days as though they have diabetes by incorporating monitoring, treatment, and prevention measures into their daily life. Evaluations and reflections written by participants will be qualitatively analyzed and interpreted to identify themes related to how the simulation experience influenced their insight and attitudes. This research has the potential to contribute to our understanding of how nurses and other healthcare workers can be better prepared to work sensitively with patients who have complex chronic conditions.

In the next 50 years, global population in urban areas will double; mass transit systems are one area where both policymakers and planners have the ability to ameliorate potential negative environmental and social impacts of urbanization. Research in the United States has found that socioeconomic status (SES) is related inversely with physical access to employment and public services, partially due to underlying inequalities in spatial distribution of housing and transportation. Thus, mass transportation projects that provide mobility across neighborhood SES boundaries have the potential to positively impact the quality of life and future opportunities for billions of urban dwellers by improving inequalities of access to important urban areas. Examining the case of Seattle, Washington, I investigate how inequalities are addressed by the public transportation planning process and how SES is linked with differing levels of transit service. Interviews with individuals involved in transit planning explore transit characteristics unique to Seattle, steps taken to address inequity in the planning and design stages of transit provision, and broader factors that impact building and maintaining equitable transit services. A complementary GIS-based examination of the relationship between SES and the level of access granted by public transit to other areas of the city is performed. SES is measured using census and property value data, while transit access is measured using a novel network-based, parcel-level approach. Preliminary findings indicate that a significant tension exists between maximizing ridership and providing similar mobility to neighborhoods of differing SES; this problem is poorly addressed by methods currently used for incorporating equity in transit design and further aggravated by overlapping jurisdictions of power and systemic funding uncertainty. Informed by these results, I present both new techniques for evaluating mobility granted by transit in relation to spatial equity and a discussion of challenges to providing equitable public transit beyond measurement.

Digital planetariums and their software are revolutionizing what can be visualized and hence raising the educational impact to K-12 students and the general public. The ability planetariums offer to present and visualize cutting-edge research of star, planet, and galaxy formation and evolution, in 3-dimensions, has unlocked new discovery space in educators’ ability to communicate and teach science. In order to improve the UW Astronomy department's public outreach programs as well as lay out a model for other Universities and astronomy outreach groups to follow, we assembled a mobile planetarium using new cost-saving methods and have begun designing an innovative curriculum to best implement digital planetariums in high school classrooms. To accomplish this, we used an HST education and public outreach grant (EO-12512) to build the planetarium as well as offset transportation costs to the UW planetarium. The UW mobile Planetarium was developed for less than $18,000, and allows us to increase the number of underserved elementary and high school students the UW Astronomy department reaches. We are beginning to test and evaluate the efficacy of teaching using the mobile planetarium in a high school setting. The mobile nature of the planetarium allows us to develop interesting inquiry-based lessons that incorporate WWT tours.

The U.S. goal of producing 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol by 2022 will be possible only by carefully making use of all available feedstock sources. Forest residues, including material remaining after logging or thinning, are an inexpensive and widely available feedstock, with estimated potentials between 30 to 120 million dry tons a year on the source. However, their heterogeneous nature and relatively low cellulose content renders them a challenge to current pretreatment and bioconversion methods. Forest residues typically consist of branches, needles/leaves, bark and wood in varying proportions and particle sizes, so some degree of homogenization prior to pretreatment is essential for consistent results. Our objective in this research was to develop methods to utilize this material for production of ethanol via SO₂ catalyzed steam explosion pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. To achieve this, we first homogenized biomass consisting of Douglas-fir and Hemlock residues. We pretreated this material at temperatures ranging from 195°C to 205°C, with residence times from 5 to 20 minutes to fractionate the cellulose and hemicellulose from lignin. We subsequently quantified the sugars remaining after pretreatment, in both the liquid and solid phases using gravimetric and HPLC analysis to determine which pretreatment resulted in the best sugar recovery from the original raw biomass. This data was then used to determine which pretreated solids were the best candidates for enzymatic hydrolysis, which we then conducted to convert all of the insoluble cellulose to soluble, fermentable glucose. From our data we compared sugar recovery, enzymatic hydrolysability and other factors to determine the best pretreatment conditions to use to increase the overall production of ethanol from heterogeneous forest residues.

The late Oligocene (~23-28 million years ago) Blakeley Formation of Puget Sound has received multiple interpretations over the past century, ranging from a coastal embayment to a submarine fan. The formation is exposed along an uplifted terrace just south of the Seattle fault zone, in a discontinuous east-west band across Puget Sound. At Alki Point, the formation appears as an asymmetrical northeast plunging anticline and is characterized by fossiliferous siliciclastic siltstone and mudstone, typically in units several meters thick. These fine-grained units are interbedded with limestone in the lower part of our measured section and with sandstone in the upper part. Deposits of reworked volcanic ash and pumice are scattered throughout the section as well. The overall lithology and paleontology of the section suggests that the Blakeley Formation at Alki Point was deposited in a continental shelf environment. Sandstone beds in the upper section are broadly consistent with distal storm deposits, indicating a relatively shallow depth (< 100m). Finer sediment size and the absence of storm deposits in the lower section suggests deposition in somewhat deeper waters, perhaps in a middle to outer shelf environment. Some siltstone beds contain fossil bivalve shells, calcareous concretions, and infilled burrows, which are characteristic of cold methane seep ecosystems. The presence of reworked tephra, possible volcanic flood deposits, plant debris, and the general immaturity of sediment at Alki Point indicate that sediment was probably supplied by a river draining an active, ancestral Cascade volcano. Based upon the abundance of volcanic material in the sediments, it is also likely that the volcano was nearer the open coast than current Cascade volcanoes are. A possible modern analog for the Blakeley Formation of Alki Point might be the eastern Japan-island arc, where rivers deposit sediments from nearby volcanoes onto the continental shelf.

What is the structure and effectiveness of our local bilingual education programs? Availability of effective bilingual education is still one of the most important issues Chicanos/as face today, especially here in the Yakima Valley. While we have become a majority minority district, bilingual services provided at many Valley public high schools have not advanced with the changing times. Additional support to our parents and limited-English students is needed to create strong parent engagement. By taking a closer look at flawed services provided by our public school agents, we can create awareness to aid in strengthening our education systems. Throughout this study, I will be looking for new ways of combating the lack of support to our parents and struggling English learners. A generalized view of this project includes analyzing my previous work experience at a local high school. The next step is to study the works of new and local agencies that support Bilingual Education including the work of Heritage University’s own, Patricia Valdez-Zontek. I also attempt to gather opinions from personnel of two leading supporters of Bilingual Education state wide: Migrant Student Data and Recruitment center (MSDR) and Secondary Education for Migrant Youth (SEMY). As a result of this study, I anticipate to deliver strong and detailed facts about what works and what doesn’t, and more importantly about what is lacking and what can be done to better involve parents in support of non-English speaking students in our schools.

Mussels attach themselves to hard substrates by extruding thin, strong, and flexible hair-like attachments known as byssal threads, which are anchored in place with small adhesive plaques. While many studies have examined how multiple abiotic variables affect mussel attachment strength, few have performed extensive single variable tests within a controlled lab setting. In this study, we investigated the effects of temperature on byssus production in the native Northern Pacific intertidal blue mussel, Mytilus trossulus, and expected to see a decline in production with increasing temperatures (specifically, between 18°C-25°C). We also hypothesized that threads produced in warmer temperatures would show a visual decline in quality, either through thinning, degradation, or tearing. Mussels were placed in a temperature controlled flume for 24 hours. Six different trials were run at 10°C, 14°C, 18°C, 20°C, 22°C, and 25°C. Byssal threads were counted for the duration of each trial to determine production and rate of attachment. Threads produced under these different temperature regimes were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy to visually compare differences in quality. Overall, there was a significantly negative correlation between thread production and increases in temperature, with the highest amount occurring at 18°C (11.25 threads +2.0 s.e.m.) and the lowest at 25°C (0 threads). Acclimatization and rate of thread production was also negatively affected by temperature increases. In addition, we saw a significant difference in percentage of mussel attachment between temperatures, with up to 93% attached in the 10°C and 18°C treatments and 50-0% in the 20°C-25°C treatments. However, visual analyses of thread quality differences were inconclusive. Our findings indicate that climatic temperature increases may negatively affect both the range of M. trossulus within Northern Pacific rocky intertidal zones as well as potentially setback the aquaculture of the species.

 The Washington State TF-CBT and CBT+ Initiative offers training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for clinicians working in public mental health across Washington State. While CBT has been shown in previous studies to be an effective therapy for anxiety, depression, behavior problems, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, its use is limited in public mental health because of the lack of available training. The purpose of the study is to examine whether clinician orientation affects clinician learning of CBT for anxiety, depression, behavior problems, and PTSD. Our first hypothesis is that clinicians with a cognitive behavioral orientation will have a higher skill level before training in comparison to clinician of other orientations. The second hypothesis is that clinicians of other orientations will have a higher skill level after the training than those clinicians with a cognitive behavioral orientation due to a higher rate of improvement. Clinician self-reported efficacy in elements of CBT for anxiety, depression, behavior problems, and PTSD, was assessed before the three-day training, after training, and after 6 months of bi-weekly phone consultations with a CBT expert, and will be compared for each theoretical orientation. The participating clinicians in this study vary in theoretical orientation, including integrative/eclectic, biological, interpersonal, cognitive behavioral, psychodynamic/analytic, systems, humanistic/existential and others. We plan to integrate the results of the study implications for future clinician training of CBT. If our hypotheses are supported, it will suggest that clinicians with a cognitive behavioral orientation may need specialized training in CBT that takes into account their previous knowledge and offers more advanced training options for those with past experience in CBT.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been successfully used to map 3D brain structure due to its ability to characterize water diffusion rate, anisotropy, and direction. However, DTI-based 3D fiber tracking has not yet been done in human breast. The objective of this study is to develop an approach for 3D fiber tracking of the breast ductal network. In the study, an optimized DTI pulse sequence has been determined by testing on different parameter combinations. Intra-subject reproducibility has also been characterized to assess the reliability of the DTI data and post-processing methods. Lastly, 3D fiber tracking of the breast ductal network is under development using DTI measures obtained from scanning the breast of healthy volunteers. The resulting information on 3D trajectory of breast ducts can benefit the study of the anatomy and development of the breast. It may also help detect early malignancy within the ducts because of the disruption of the ductal system.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is defined as impairment in three areas of development: social skills, communication, and repetitive behavior. In typically developing children, there is a significant relationship between the development of communication and the use of joint attention (JA). Impairments in JA could also be related to some of the core features of ASD. This thesis will use data collected at the University of Washington as part of the larger, multisite Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) Autism Center of Excellence (HD055741). The IBIS investigates brain and behavioral development in infants with older siblings with ASD, who are at high risk for ASD and related disabilities. This thesis project investigates the relationship between JA and early communication in high-risk infants. Our hypothesis is that high-risk infants with deficits in JA will also demonstrate more delayed language development than infants without these deficits. We have studied approximately 55 12-month-old high-risk infants and approximately 35 low-risk infants with a typically developing sibling. Language ability was assessed with the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) and joint attention was assessed with the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS). Correlations between scores from 12-month-old high-risk and low-risk infants on the CDI and CSBS were then reported. This research will have implications on our understanding of the relationship between joint attention and language development as it applies to social interaction and learning in children with ASD. This thesis will expand on earlier research that has shown that joint attention plays a pivotal role in social interaction and language learning.

Research has made tremendous gains in therapy efficacy for children and adolescents, yet the therapies have not effectively been implemented into usual care settings. The mental health field has recently initiated a huge drive to disseminate Evidence Supported Therapies, or ESTs, in order to better serve our children. Do clinicians trained in ESTs deliver the clinically relevant components to their clients and utilize important structural elements of EST such as agenda setting, assigning/reviewing homework? If clinicians are not utilizing the components and structure supported for the specific clinical target, then children may not be receiving efficacious therapy. Clinicians across Washington State were invited to participate in the Washington State Initiative and receive components based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT Plus. The training included components for Anxiety, Depression, Behavioral Problems and PTSD. Each clinician involved in the study entered assessment data on his/her cases as well as what components and structural elements were delivered. Research has shown that clinicians are reluctant to deliver exposure.  For instance, if a child has PTSD and has a panic attack each time he hears an ambulance, exposure to ambulances reduces the related anxiety.  It is predicted that clinicians delivering CBT Plus with a clinical target of anxiety or PTSD will be less likely to deliver the adequate components due to this exposure reluctance. The preliminary data shows that many clinicians did not consistently provide the necessary components and structure for their clients’ clinical presentations. If clinicians delivering EST are not utilizing the relevant components, then the children are not receiving the best care possible and the ESTs are not being effectively disseminated. Training for ESTs would thus need to focus more strongly on combating clinicians’ negative perceptions of exposure. This may be achieved through more thorough psychoeducation and theory explanation during EST training.

Induced Pluripotent Stem cells (iPSCs) have the capability to differentiate into beating cardiomyocytes, therefore have the potential to regenerate injured heart. Structural and metabolic maturation is important to support the increase in energetic demand during the differentiation process. These metabolic and energetic requirements of iPSCs during their differentiation into iPSCs-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CM) are largely unexplored. The aim of this project is to study the changes in metabolic pathways in iPSCs during differentiation processes, using state-of-the-art, extracellular flux (XF) analyzer manufactured by Seahorse Bioscience (Massachusetts, USA). IPSCs were differentiated into cardiomyocytes in 96-well plates using directed differentiation protocol. Oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis rates were measured in plate using XF machines on different time points of differentiation. The XF machine monitors the changes in energy producing pathways by measuring the amount of oxygen consumption and the acidification rate. Our findings showed significant difference in the energetic requirements of undifferentiated and differentiated stem cells. We found that undifferentiated iPSCs have active mitochondrial metabolism reflected by high respiratory rate. During differentiation of iPSCs, their metabolism shifts to a more glycolytic pathway. Fully matured cardiomyocytes demonstrate greater metabolic flexibility characterized by quick shift of energy production from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis in conditions where mitochondrial respiration is impaired. To our knowledge, this is the first study to measure the changes in energy metabolism in iPSCs during differentiation into cardiomyocytes by XF analyzer. The protocol developed in this study will provide novel platform for analyzing the energetics of other cells types during differentiation processes. The results of the study will provide an insight into metabolic processes underlying cardiomyocyte differentiation of iPSCs and might be useful for establishing metabolic targets to regulate cardiogenesis and cell maturation.

Cellular noise is the variability in a biological quantity due to randomness. It is mathematically defined as the quotient of the quantity’s standard deviation and mean. Systems of genotypically identical cells may exhibit noisy gene expression—there are often differences between cells in terms of protein abundance. We are interested in developing a model to better understand this noise. Many factors contribute to gene expression noise, one of which is alternative splicing. RNA splicing is when sequences of RNA are “cut out”, leaving only the regions that will be translated into protein. Alternative splicing is when pre-mRNA transcripts are spliced differently, resulting in similar yet different specialized proteins. This is common in eukaryotes and increases protein diversity, allowing cells to take on particular functions and thereby playing a role in cellular decision making. To model the noise, we began by cloning different plasmids, each of which had two fluorescent reporter genes, citrine and mCherry. To better understand the alternative splicing mechanism, one of our plasmids contained an extra sequence of bases, an intron, in citrine. We used our two reporters to produce fluorescence readouts of correct versus incorrect splicing. We measured the fluorescence with a flow cytometer and the noise could be quantified by determining the spread and mean of the data. We hypothesize that as mRNA concentration increases, noise in expression will decrease, since variation decreases with increasing sample size. We also hypothesize that the plasmid with the intron will be noisier than that without since the alternative splicing mechanism will have a greater length sequence to splice. Alternative splicing will sometimes produce abnormal transcripts that are found to be in high concentration in cancerous cells. So in modeling the noise and gaining a better understanding of this mechanism, we may improve understanding of how cancer develops.

Individual bees often show flower constancy, specializing on a floral resource while avoiding switches to newly available resources. The familiar plant species benefits by receiving high rates of visitation even when competing floral resources become available. However, the phenology of some plants is shifting more rapidly than others in response to climate change, resulting in a changed sequence of floral resources bees encounter. To determine whether this affects plant fitness, we asked how pollinator visitation to competing plant species depends on the order in which those species bloom. We used two plant species with overlapping phenology and a common pollinator, Hypochaeris radicata and Campanula rotundifolia. We allowed Bombus impatiens to forage in floral arrays representing three phenological progressions: (1) CR Early, with C. rotundifolia decreasing from 100% to 0% while H. radicata gradually increased from 0% to 100%; (2) HR Early, with H. radicata decreasing from 100% to 0% while C. rotundifolia gradually increased from 0% to 100%; and (3) a Control with both species at 50% throughout. We quantified visitation rate to both species, and seed production by H. radicata. Overall, the number of bee visits received by both species was significantly higher when that species was introduced first than when it was introduced after its competitor. In treatments where the proportion of the early species decreased over time, the visitation rate per flower to that species increased, for both species and across all stages of experimental treatments. Seed set for H. radicata showed a similar pattern to visitation. Our results corroborate other work suggesting that individual bees learn and become specialized on a single floral resource and are slow to switch to a newly emerging resource. As a result, the flower species that blooms first can benefit from higher bee visitation and thus, potentially higher reproductive success.

Observations suggest that the intracluster medium in galaxy clusters is strongly influenced by supermassive black holes residing in cluster centers. We investigate the consequences a black hole can have on the thermodynamics of the gas in galaxy clusters by comparing the properties of a simulated galaxy cluster without black holes to X-ray observations of real clusters, which have black holes. For our data we used Python to manipulate a cosmological simulation made with ChaNGa, a code capable of simulating gravity, thermodynamics, and other things. Our cluster simulation includes gravity, hydrodynamics, gas cooling, star formation, and stellar feedback in a fully cosmological setting. However, this simulation lacks black hole formation, growth, and feedback, allowing us to pinpoint the effects of these processes on the cluster by comparing to observations. In our investigation, we found only minor differences in the density, temperature, and pressures of the gas between the observed and simulated galaxy clusters in the cluster outskirts. However, we found significant deviations between the simulation and observations near the cluster centers, where a large spike in star formation is present in the simulated cluster, not seen in the observations. Our results suggest that black hole formation and feedback in galaxy clusters most strongly affect the cluster in the central regions, where it can significantly decrease star formation by heating the gas.

Within the last 20 years, global climate change has become well accepted. Research on plant dynamics has documented species shifting their ranges to higher elevations in order to remain within physiologically optimal conditions. This general observation has motivated my investigation of elevation as a driver of life history traits within alpine and subalpine plants. Specifically I’m interested in sex-ratios among the subalpine flower Erythronium montanum. This species of flower has been shown to exhibit a unique trait known as androdioecy, wherein some individuals produce male-only flowers instead of hermaphroditic flowers. In other species this trait has been attributed to sexual dimorphism, the variability between the sexes in terms of morphology and/or phenology. The discovery of this trait in E. montanum has inspired my research project with two distinct goals: To determine whether 1) abiotic factors such as elevation, soil moisture and time of flowering and 2) biotic factors such as canopy cover, and flowering density, influence sex-ratios within E. montanum. Surveys done at Mt. Rainier in 2011 and 2012 by the Hille Ris Lambers lab provide data on multiple factors which should allow me to test a number of possible hypotheses. Preliminary data analysis spanning both elevation and flowering time, show biased sex-ratios where the number of males to hermaphrodites decreases at higher elevations, late in the season. A future look at the extent of sexual dimorphism within the population can help to shed light on the mechanism behind sex-ratio bias and increase our understanding of plant reproductive-ecology over an altitudinal gradient. As many species begin a slow but steady march up the mountain, it’s paramount that we have a better understanding of how and why life-history traits fundamental to reproduction (e.g. sexual dimorphism) vary with elevation. Ultimately, future generations and plant communities rely on what is happening today.

Deficiencies of monoamine neurotransmitters including serotonin, norepinephrine, and/or dopamine have been associated with many CNS diseases including depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, autism, Parkinson’s disease, and Tourette syndrome. The intensity and duration of monoamine signaling is mainly determined by the clearance of the released transmitters through uptake1 and uptake2 transporters. The recently discovered uptake2 transporters including the plasma membrane monoamine transporter (PMAT) and organic cation tansporter3 (OCT3) have been less studied partly due to the lack of specific inhibitors. Recently, inhibition of PMAT and/or OCT3 has been proposed as a strategy for the development of antidepressant drugs with improved efficacy and faster onset of actions. The goal of this project is to characterize specific chemical inhibitors for PMAT and OCT3. Previously, 10-40 small molecule inhibitors for PMAT and OCT3 were identified from high throughput screening. We will choose two to three inhibitors for PMAT and OCT3 obtained from the initial screen and further analyze their potency, specificity and mechanism of inhibition towards PMAT and OCT3. We first will determine their inhibition potencies (IC50) towards PMAT and OCT3 using radiotracer uptake assays in cell lines stably expressing these transporters. Preliminary data showed that two compounds inhibited OCT3 with IC50 values of 1.97 ± 0.766 and 2.86 ± 0.532 µM. One compound inhibited PMAT with an IC50 value of 2.15 ± 0.537 µM. Further studies will be performed to determine the specificity and mechanism of inhibition for these inhibitors. The proposed studies may lead to novel, highly specific and potent PMAT and OCT3 inhibitors that could be further evaluated and developed in preclinical models for the treatment of depression and other monoamine-related diseases.

Climate change is likely to affect the altitudinal range limits of conifers in the Pacific Northwest as population performance declines at lower elevations and populations expand into upper elevations. However, it is possible that populations are locally adapted, thus influencing range shift dynamics. To assess the potential for local adaptation for three conifer species, Abies amabilis, Tsuga heterophylla, and Tsuga mertensiana, we monitored bud set and bud dormancy in seedlings collected from two to three different source elevations at Mt. Rainier National Park. Phenotypic differences in bud set and bud dormancy influence the length of the growing season, and thus, have impacts on fitness. However, source elevations from which we collected seeds differ strongly in climate, meaning that the optimal climatic triggers for bud set and dormancy are likely to differ. Observations on apical (terminal) bud formation were taken for one year in a common garden at the UW Greenhouse, to correct for environmental differences. Our study thus provides a glimpse at whether or not populations of one species in different locations on Mount Rainier are producing seeds with similar or different phenological traits when observed in the same climate. If seeds of the same species from different locations have inherent differences in the timing of key ecological events, a species may experience difficulty shifting its range when between-population interactions from different elevations become necessary because of climate. Dormancy and bud set differences at the seedling level could influence how conifer population dynamics on Mount Rainier and in other places around the Pacific Northwest will change. In preliminary analyses, we found that seedlings differ in budset and dormancy by species, and there is a trend for differences by elevation within species.