News & Events

Western Washington University graduate student Hannah Hein studied the vast rolling prairies of her native Minnesota as an undergrad at St. Olaf College – and she has now shifted her research focus to a vital underwater grassland, the critically important eelgrass meadows of the Pacific Northwest, and specifically those found in Skagit County’s Padilla Bay.

Western’s faculty and students are engaged in exciting research across a variety of fields. Periodically, Western Today will share short summaries of the latest developments in grants and research at Western Washington University. Interested in reading in-depth stories about science and research at Western? Go to Gaia, the university's online journal of research, discovery and scholarship.

Western’s faculty and students are engaged in exciting research across a variety of fields. Periodically, Western Today will share short summaries of the latest developments in grants and research at Western Washington University.

Western Washington University Associate Professor of Geology Melissa Rice is going to be working nights for the next three months. Martian nights. Rice, who is a science team member of NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission that lands on the Red Planet on Thursday, Feb. 18, said she is prepping for “90 days of jet lag” once the rover sets down.

Even the worst chemical compounds poisoning our environment and our bodies all have one thing in common: they are made up of common chemicals that pose little or no danger to us. What if we could take these harmful compounds apart, removing pieces like we would to deconstruct a LEGO creation, and turn them from a toxic compound into a harmless one?

What can looking into the past tell us about the future? Western Washington University Anthropology Research Associate Mike Etnier and his colleague, Boston University Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology Catherine West, are hoping that digging deep into Alaska’s past can shed light on how to move forward to conserve and protect one of the region’s most important commercial fisheries: the Pacific cod.

As Western’s brand-new Marine and Coastal Science (MACS) program nears its first-ever major-application deadline on Dec. 31, Western Today thought it would be helpful for the campus community – and especially the second-year students now on campus who might be considering applying to the major and be part of its first official cohort -- to meet the program’s newest faculty.

Western Washington University invites the community to join the virtual celebration of summer and fall graduates Saturday, Dec. 12, at noon for an online ceremony featuring video clips from family and faculty, an address by a student speaker, and personalized slides for graduates who made reservations. The prerecorded ceremony will be online at commencement.wwu.edu Saturday at noon. A 6-minute preshow begins at 11:54 a.m.