In the Media
Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA), America's second-oldest foundation and the first wholly devoted to science, announced today that it has presented Scialog® Collaborative Innovation Awards of $100,000 to each of three groups of scientists to supplement the initial grant awards under RCSA's groundbreaking Scialog research initiative.
Two original Scialog awardees - Raymond Schaak, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Penn State University, and Alan Heyduk, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of California-Irvine - and John Gilbertson, Assistant Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Western Washington University and a U.S. National Science Foundation SOLAR awardee, will research artificial nanoscale enzymes for carbon dioxide reduction catalysis.
Next year will be one of slow, steady improvement, but the economy regionally and nationally is still a long way from digging out from the financial mess of two years ago, particularly with employment.
That was the theme at the 21st annual U.S. Bank Economic Outlook Forum, held Tuesday, Dec. 7, at the Bellingham Golf & Country Club. A panel of four economists took a look at what has happened in different regions - Whatcom and Skagit counties, Washington state, British Columbia and the U.S. - and offered opinions about what to expect in 2011.
Western Washington University's Music Library will remain in the Performing Arts Center, but staff and hours of operation will be reduced in order to meet budget constraints.
The decision comes after a couple months of discussion about potentially consolidating the library into Wilson Library, the main library on campus, and reducing staff. The move was one cost-saving measure proposed during the latest round of 2010-11 budget cut discussions at the start of the school year.
Office holiday parties offer a great opportunity to mingle, socialize and network with your co-workers but if you're not careful they can be a recipe for career disaster.
"No matter how fun or festive the work party is — it's still a work function," said Stacey Carroll, a professor at Western Washington University and a blogger for PayScale. "While family and friends tend to forgive your slip-ups — it's different at work."
Gov. Chris Gregoire says she'll call a special legislative session before Christmas to deal with a projected $1.1 billion state budget shortfall for the current fiscal year.
The governor made the announcement Monday after meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders from the House and Senate.
No date has been set, but Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown said she urged Gregoire to start the special session Friday and work through the weekend.
"My input to her is we're here now, so it's probably less expensive overall if people just stay," said Brown, D-Spokane.
In her senior season at Western Washington University, women’s basketball player Amanda Dunbar is chasing history.
And the person behind that history is one of Snohomish County’s all-time hoops legends.
Most students at Washington's four-year universities come from this state. Because so many now take college-level courses in high school such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Running Start, they know what's expected in a college class, said Karen Copetas, director of admissions at Western Washington University.
The business, originally named JQ Flower Shoppe, began 56 years ago at 1327 Railroad Ave. Chuck Manley bought the flower shop in 1980 - one year before he married Trish, who was studying education at Western Washington University. Trish thought her work at the shop would be temporary. "I figured I'd help out," she said. "My garden path led me here." Now it's hard for Manley to imagine doing any other kind of work.
But due to an oversight, Joseph Starkovich's name wasn't chiseled into the World War II wall.
That's about to change, thanks to Del Wolf of Bellingham.
A 77-year-old Army veteran and a retired maintenance manager at Western Washington University, Wolf visited the Arizona Memorial many years ago with his wife, Marlene. She happened to grow up near the Starkovich household on Meridian Street, across from Bellingham Golf and Country Club, and knew the story of Charles and Joseph Jr.
Drummer Julian MacDonough is well-known in the Bellingham community as one of the best drummers around, particularly as a jazz drummer.
Born in Everett, he grew up in Bellingham and describes himself as an "almost-graduate of Sehome High School," who then "studied at the 'University of Mike Allen."' (Allen is the jazz program coordinator at Western Washington University, and MacDonough is part of WWU's Faculty Jazz Collective.)