Sara Hamilton, PhD
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sarahamilton.bsky.social
Sara Hamilton, PhD
@sarahamilton.bsky.social
Scientist at the Oregon Kelp Alliance helping to restore and protect marine ecosystems in the PNW
After years of work, a team of researchers with support from The Nature Conservancy have identified the causative agent of Sea Star Wasting Disease! Big implications for my work & an inspiring example of the amazing things we can do w/ science...plus I'm quoted in it ;)
www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
Giant sea stars are melting away — and now scientists know why
Canadian scientists say they’ve finally identified what is likely causing giant colourful sea stars in the Pacific Northwest to literally waste away: It's bacterium from the same family that causes ch...
www.cbc.ca
August 4, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
we did not need another reason to ❤️ #kelp but here's one anyway...
June 23, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Can we crowdsource backing up this data? I'd be happy to back up a chunk of it and put it up on some public github or other kind of repository
April 17, 2025 at 3:45 PM
FYI Folks, for a while NOAA's Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool was down. It's back up now! Everybody go check it out and then DOWNLOAD the data so that if/when NOAA resources continue to be gutted, we can still use that data.
edgi-govdata-archiving.github.io/j40-cejst-2/...
Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool
This screening tool identifies disadvantaged communities that are underserved &overburdened by pollution. It provides socioeconomic, environmental, health and climate info to inform decisions.
edgi-govdata-archiving.github.io
April 1, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Yup, two of my co-authored articles are in here as well :/
March 20, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Shellfish Program Leader position open at OR Dept of Fish and Wildlife. Well paid and you get to live in beautiful Newport OR. Plus you get to interface with my group, ORKA, to make management decisions about urchin removal, Pycnopodia outplanting, etc
oregon.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/SOR_Ex...
Natural Resource Specialist 4 (Shellfish Program Leader)
Initial Posting Date: 03/13/2025 Application Deadline: 03/27/2025 Agency: Department of Fish and Wildlife Salary Range: $6,667 - $9,830 Position Type: Employee Position Title: Natural Resource Special...
oregon.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
March 19, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
Did you hear? We have just launched our eco/evo mini grant! Where are our ecologist/evolutionists?!
March 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Presenting to local high schoolers for career day. What topics do you think I should hit? So far I'm going over what my job is, what a 'day in the life' looks like, how I got to this job, and ways to have a career in marine science that don't require a PhD. Anything to add or subtract??
March 5, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
The CFPB has returned over $21 billion directly to Americans scammed by Wall Street.

If you have been personally helped by the CFPB - if you've filed a complaint, got money returned to you, or benefitted from their work, I need to hear from you.

www.warren.senate.gov/share-your-c...
Share Your CFPB Story | U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
www.warren.senate.gov
February 25, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Got to attend an awesome ocean trivia night at Pelican Brewery hosted by Winter Waters PNW. Proceeds from the night went to the Oregon Kelp Alliance. So grateful for the creative, passionate folks who made this happen :)
February 7, 2025 at 9:30 PM
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: Interested in getting paid a good living wage to live on the beautiful Oregon coast and help restore and protect kelp forests? If so, check out the Oregon Kelp Alliance's new job posting! www.oregonkelp.com/opportunitie...
January 31, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
Excited to announce our work on kelp genomics is now out at Current Biology. Lead by Postdoc extraordinaire Jordan Bemmels, we sequence WGS for 600+ bull and giant kelp across BC and Washington. authors.elsevier.com/a/1kSP93QW8S...
January 17, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Hey folks! The Oregon Kelp Alliance recently released our 2024 Oregon Kelp Forest Status Report. It finds worrying losses over the last 15 years in OR's kelp forests but also exciting signs of resilience. Read it for yourself here and feel free to ask me any Qs!
www.oregonkelp.com/wp-content/u...
November 19, 2024 at 8:09 PM
Had a lovely time at the 2024 Western Society of Naturalists meeting in Portland this weekend! So much great content on kelp forest restoration, including some talks that got me super excited for ORKA's 2025 work.... feeling hopeful :)
November 13, 2024 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
Bogs are beautiful.
Bogs cool the climate.
Bogs lead to biological innovation (meat eating plants anyone?).
Bogs clean our water.
Bogs protect landscapes from drought.
We should all love and respect boglands.
October 9, 2024 at 4:43 PM
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,139,337!
September 18, 2024 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
Senator Ron Wyden (@wyden.senate.gov) thankfully continues to warn people that automakers are hoovering up vast troves of sensitive driver behavior and location data, then selling access to any nitwit with two nickels to rub together...without making any of it clear to consumers:
Wyden Investigation Reveals New Details About Automakers’ Sharing of Driver Information with Data Brokers; Wyden and Markey Urge FTC to Crack Down on Disclosures of Americans’ Data Without Drivers’ Co...
The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon
www.wyden.senate.gov
July 26, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Thanks to The Oregonian for this excellent profile of Oregon's kelp forests and the Oregon Kelp Alliance!
www.oregonlive.com/environment/...
Oregon’s underwater forests are vanishing. Can they be saved?
As marine heat waves wreak havoc on Oregon’s ocean ecosystems, the collapse of kelp forests could prove catastrophic to marine life, fisheries and tribes.
www.oregonlive.com
July 23, 2024 at 4:49 PM
ORKA is hiring! Come work for kelp forest restoration and protection on the magnificent Oregon coast.
www.oregonkelp.com/opportunitie...
Administrative/Program Assistant - Oregon Kelp Alliance
About the Organization The Oregon Kelp Alliance is a collaborative initiative dedicated to the conservation and restoration of Oregon’s vital kelp forest ecosystems. We work with scientists, researche...
www.oregonkelp.com
July 9, 2024 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
Live from NPR News, we’re now on Bluesky 👋🎙️
February 12, 2024 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
The discovery of 32-million-year-old #kelp holdfasts from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, means that this group of marine foundation species is twice as ancient as previously thought & highlights the vastly different communities that kelps have supported over time. phys.org/news/2024-01...
January 16, 2024 at 6:11 AM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
It would sure be a shame if the bots/crowds got to this form that's designed to snitch on CSU faculty participating in the strike. Definitely DON'T fill it out with bogus info if you support the hardworking faculty who just want fair wages. app.smartsheet.com/b/form/c85dc...
January 17, 2024 at 9:47 PM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
New paper alert 📣! Check out our data synthesis for ocean acidification, hypoxia and temperature for the US West coast. A massive team effort led by E. Kennedy. essd.copernicus.org/articles/16/...
January 13, 2024 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
The idea of manipulating the ocean’s nutrients to store carbon was first proposed in the late 1980s.

Getting real-world data on how well this process might work is challenging and unforeseen complications may lead to even less carbon storage.

By Jack McGovan.

hakaimagazine.com/news/iron-fe...
Iron Fertilization Isn’t Going to Save Us | Hakai Magazine
The controversial geoengineering technique can defer, at best, a few years’ worth of emissions. And that’s ignoring the potential side effects.
hakaimagazine.com
January 12, 2024 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Sara Hamilton, PhD
Interested in #GIS in #rstats? I've recently heavily modified the @thecarpentries GIS in R curriculum to focus on #seagrass beds in Casco Bay for COBALT cobalt-casco.github.io/r-raster-vec... - this is all sf and terra, using tidyterra (w/ ggplot2) and leaflet for plotting. 🌍 #geo
January 10, 2024 at 8:26 PM