In this edition of Tuesday Q&A, Western Today chatted with WWU historian Hunter Price and political scientist Todd Donovan about one of the most divisive features of our Democracy: the Electoral College. Only five presidents have been elected even after losing the popular vote, but two of those are since 2000: George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

Is the Electoral College an archaic remnant of our post-Revolution past or a vital cog in our election process? Read on, and decide for yourself.

Western Washington University students Celida Moran (San Francisco, California/Environmental Science) and Samara Almonte (Bothell/Urban Planning) have been awarded prestigious two-year Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program fellowships.

Moran is completing her fellowship at the University of Washington, while Almonte is completing hers at the University of Michigan.

Western Washington University Professor of Psychology Jeff Grimm has received a new grant from the National Institutes of Health furthering his research into the body’s craving for sugar, and he and his team of undergraduates recently published a paper showing how a certain protein, DARPP32, was related to sucrose craving and how that craving could be reduced through environmental enrichment. Western Today recently talked with Grimm about his work and the research of his team.

Western Washington University Professor of Biology Eric DeChaine in July received a three-year, $225,000 grant from the U.S. National Park Service’s Shared Beringian Heritage Program to document the diversity and distribution of plants across the North Pacific, including the Alaska Peninsula, the Aleutian Islands, and Kamchatka Russia, and how these arctic plants have been reacting to a planet that is growing ever warmer.