Huxley College Speakers Series explores conservation in 2015-16

The Huxley College Speaker Series, which brings guest lecturers to campus to address topics of contemporary environmental concern in the region and beyond, is intended to bring together environmentally-minded members of the Western and Bellingham communities. 

For 2015-16, the theme for the series was conservation, including research ecology, habitat and population recovery, community resilience, and sustainability consulting.

The lectures, typically held each Thursday at 4 p.m., were free and open to the public and included opportunities to ask questions.

Speakers included: 

• Ralph Riley, formerly of the University of the South Pacific, on ecology research in Fiji.
• Keturah Witter, a scientist for Environmental Resources Management on "Working Toward the Triple Bottom Line: Sustainability and Consulting." 
• Michael Medler, associate professor of Environmental Studies, on "The Pyrogeography of Wildfires in the Western U.S."
• Dave Bennink, owner of Re-Use Consulting, on "Sustainable Employment, Sustainable Life." 
• Bob Dillman, regional vice president for First Financial Healthcare Solutions, on "Economic Empowerment within the WWU Student Population." 
• Mary Christina Wood, the Philip H. Knight Professor of Law and faculty director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Oregon School of Law, on "Nature's Trust: Environmental Law for an Ecological Age."
• Becky Petersen, acquisition project manager for King County's Water and Land Resources Division on "Conservation and Preservation: Saving Lands for Future Generations." 
• Martin Stapanian from the U.S. Geological Survey on "PCBs and Mercury Concentrations in Freshwater Fish." 
• Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest, on "Recovering Washington's Carnivores." 
• Timothy Ballew II, chairman of the Lummi Nation, on "Pulling Together in the Salish Sea," the inaugural event in the Salish Sea Speaker Series. 
• Christopher James, principal at Regulatory Assistance Project, on "How Can China Achieve Blue Skies and Prevent Further Rises in Greenhouse Gas Emissions When It Is Building New Coal Plants?"
• An environmental career panel including Derek Koellmann, principal environmental planner with Anchor QEA, Keri Shepherd, transportation planner for the Nooksack Indian Tribe, Rose Lathrop, green building and smart growth manager for Sustainable Connections, and Nick Saling, Washington Conservation Corps crew supervisor for the State Department of Ecology. 
• Brian Janous, director of energy strategy at Microsoft, on "Powering Microsoft's Cloud." 
• Joe Scott, international programs director at Conservation Northwest, on "Conservation Across Borders."
• Jeff Hammarlund from Portland State University on "How and Why Energy Policy is Different (Even a Little Weird) In the Pacific Northwest." 
• Jen Watkins, a conservation associate with Conservation Northwest on "Connecting Wildlife in the Cascades: Maintaining and Restoring Habitat Connectivity in the I-90 Corridor."
• Sam Cushman, a research landscape ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and director of the Center for Landscape Science, on "Applications of Landscape Genetics, Connectivity Modeling and Carnivore Consercation."
• David Wallin, Environmental Science professor at Huxley, on "Conservation and Restoration of Mountain Goat Populations in the Washington Cascades."
• Kevin Schneider, a principal research engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, on "The History and Current Status of the Electricity Infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest." 
• Rebekah Paci-Green, director of Western's Resilience Institute, on "In the Shadow of the Himalaya: Assessing Nepal's use of school retrofitting as catalysts for earthquake risk reduction."
• Larry Campbell, tribal historical preservation officer for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, on "Why Developing Indigenous-Specific Indicators of Mental Health Matters." 
• Roberta Riley, Climate Adventures Program manager for CoolMom, on "Climate Adventures Show and Tell." 
• Robyn Angliss, deputy director of the Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries, on "Using Unmanned Aerial Systems to Study Marine Mammal Populations."
• Steve Hollenhorst, dean of Huxley College, on "The Race for Renewable Aviation Fuels and Environmentally Preferred Co-Products."
• Carl Schmitt, an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, on "Measurements and Impacts of Light Absorbing Particles on Tropical Glaciers."
•  Leah Bendell, professor of Marine Ecology and Conservation at Simon Fraser University, on "Common Sense Approaches to Environmental Conflicts."