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 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 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.

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.