In the Media

Thursday, December 14, 2023 - Politico

Washington State’s Emergency Management Division calculates that nearly 90,000 people live or work in the outer coast’s inundation zone, and there are another 86,000 more along inner waterways that the waves will take longer to reach. On a summer day, they could be joined in the danger zone by up to 248,000 sightseers, clam diggers and other visitors. Western Washington University’s Resilience Institute has calculated that as many as 28 percent would be unable to reach higher ground in time to escape the tsunami and 18 percent — up to 60,000 people — would be crushed or swept out to sea.

Thursday, December 14, 2023 - AOL

Seattle seismologist found the crowd's dancing mixed with the booming speakers at Lumen Field caused seismic activity on par with a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a seismologist and geology professor at Western Washington University, discovered the "Swift Quake." In 2011, running back Marshawn Lynch's scored a touchdown causing the "Beast Shake," which compared to a 2.0 magnitude earthquake.

Thursday, December 14, 2023 - Daily Journal of Commerce

Kaiser Borsari Hall has topped out at the Western Washington University campus in Bellingham. When completed, the four-story, approximately 54,000-square-foot building will be the new home for the university's electrical engineering, computer science, and energy science and technology programs. It will also be the region's first carbon net-neutral collegiate facility.

Thursday, December 14, 2023 - KPUG

Researchers at Western Washington University are looking to collect stories from residents along our northern border about life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Western’s Border Policy Research Institute was created to inform our local policy-makers on matters concerning the border with Canada.

Thursday, November 30, 2023 - Seattle Times

Voter turnout for this November’s election was the lowest on record for a general election in Washington state history, according to a Seattle Times analysis of election data from the Secretary of State’s Office.

Nearly two-thirds of registered voters did not turn in ballots, leaving turnout at less than 37%, the lowest recorded since reliable voter registration counts began in 1936. That continues a trend for odd-year elections observed since 2015, when voter turnout first fell below 40%. 

State law requires that city and local district elections are held in odd-numbered years. Federal and state races occur in even-numbered years. Buoyed by the lackluster turnout for this latest election, some state lawmakers are trying to revive a bill that would let cities have their elections in even years.

The absence of statewide ballot measures this year may be connected to the drop in voter turnout, said Todd Donovan, a political-science professor at Western Washington University and longtime observer of state politics.

Thursday, November 16, 2023 - Council on Foreign Relations

International trade has shaped the world for much of the past century. Countries benefited from the global flow of goods, and the world became richer and safer. At the same time, many Americans lost their jobs to cheaper overseas competitors. Now, a series of compounding challenges, including great power competition and climate change, have led U.S. officials to rethink trade policy. What's next for international trade? And can the United States retain the benefits of trade while protecting critical supply chains and fighting climate change?

Thursday, November 16, 2023 - ChipChick

According to Myron Shekelle, a biology instructor and researcher at Western Washington University, this absence of the reflective layer in the tarsier’s eyes offers some insight into the evolution of primates.

He stated that tarsiers may have once been diurnal primates, which means they were active during the day, so they had no need for the reflective layer in their eyes. Somewhere along the line, they reversed course and became nocturnal again, but they had already lost their reflective layer.

Thursday, November 16, 2023 - Quanta Magazine

We often think of volcanoes as skyscraping marvels, but these portals to the geologic underworld also reside underwater. Unfortunately, submarine volcanoes are trickier to study than their terrestrial siblings. But you would be hard-pressed to find anyone more enchanted by them — and more stubbornly determined to study them — than Jackie Caplan-Auerbach.

A volcanologist at Western Washington University, Caplan-Auerbach is also a seismologist, someone who uses the jiggles of earthquakes to understand geophysics. And it just so happens that active volcanoes are prodigious earthquake producers; they make as much seismic noise as they can muster. For Caplan-Auerbach, that noise is music to her scientific ears — data that can be used to learn about the internal workings of our planet.

Monday, October 30, 2023 - Cascadia Daily News

Like many medications, naloxone — the nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose — comes in a flimsy box. The device that administers the medication is shaped like a cartoon spaceship and has to remain sealed in blister pack until use. It’s clunky to carry and can be sprayed accidentally. 

With a new device that began as a class project, Western Washington University alum Brendan Mudd wants to put the life-saving medication into more hands by making it easier to carry around and conceal.  

Mudd spent the four months since graduation finalizing its design and is now seeking Food and Drug Administration approval — a process that could take several years, he said.  

Thursday, October 26, 2023 - Daily Journal of Commerce

Two new Washington projects aim to establish healthier learning environments that improve student performance and morale, and foster feelings of belonging and well-being.

Two new regional developments have implemented this Living Design Framework: University of Washington’s Life Sciences Building and Western Washington University’s electrical engineering and computer science building, Kaiser Borsari Hall.