In the Media

Wednesday, June 14, 2023 - Scientific American

Headlines about workplace sexism regularly bring us men sharing social media posts and retweets with hashtags like #GenderEquality. Yet, many of their female colleagues read those posts and think, “That guy? An ally? Really?”

The skepticism may be deserved. I study allyship—the idea of someone from an advantaged group supporting the professional and personal well-being of someone who is typically marginalized in society, such as women or people of color. Despite widespread beliefs that gender bias is not really a problem or that supporting women in their workplaces goes against men’s own self-interests, more men are starting to express an interest in being allies; in recent research from my group, 76 percent, or 1,342 of 1,751 participants, said that they wanted to be allies for underrepresented and marginalized people in their organization. But new research has questioned whether that interest is largely performativemirroring the skepticism that women often express.

(column by WWU Associate Professor of Management Meg Warren)

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 - Cascadia Daily News

For the better part of the last 20 years, Western Washington University environmental science professor Marco Hatch has had his hands in the muddy shores of the Pacific Northwest and Canada, digging for clams. 

Specifically, Hatch has dedicated his life's work to clam gardens and the cultural importance to the Indigenous people of the region. For centuries, they would place heavy rocks at the low tide line to build a short wall. The high tide would deposit sediment, creating the ideal habitat for clams to grow and thrive, and for other small marine species, like crabs and young fish, to find safe harbor. They managed and harvested the gardens, before colonization. 

Monday, May 8, 2023 - Associated Press

“Just like humans, dogs get characterized for what they can do, but more importantly what they can symbolize,” says Cameron Whitley, a Western Washington University sociology professor and the chair-elect of the American Sociological Association's Animals and Society section. Whitley argues that breeds' popularity depends less on their traits than on their portrayal in media and pop culture.

Thursday, May 4, 2023 - Salish Current

Op-Ed by Derek Moscato, an associate professor in the Department of Journalism at Western Washington University and a research fellow with the Border Policy Research Institute.

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 - Columbia Gorge News

Eric DeChaine is the curator of the Pacific Northwest Herbarium and a professor of biology at Western Washington University, but he says that at heart he is a naturalist.

DeChaine was one of two presenters at the April 21 Wild About Nature presentation held at the White Salmon Grange.

Bothered by bugs while researching in tropical rainforests, he had the bright idea: “I’m going to the arctic!” The audience laughed as he confirmed, “Yes, mosquitoes!” He now researches in the area of the Pacific Rim, the “Ring of Fire,” which consists of an arc of volcanoes stretching from south of Japan north through Russia, across to Alaska, and down the west coast of the Americas.

Monday, May 1, 2023 - Cascadia Daily News

Just five months after academic student employees (ASEs) at Western Washington University announced the intent to unionize, their group — Western Academic Workers United (WAWU) — has helped pass a bill in the state Legislature codifying their right to collective bargaining.

Monday, May 1, 2023 - Cascadia Daily News

New legislation, passed by the state Legislature earlier this month, requires boats and vessels in Puget Sound to maintain a 1,000-yard buffer between them and endangered Southern Resident orcas. 

But scientists and researchers at Western Washington University’s Salish Sea Institute don’t know if it’s enough, and say more research on the endangered animals is necessary. 

Monday, May 1, 2023 - Cascadia Daily News

Each year, hundreds of tons of plastics wash up along Alaska’s remote shorelines — from buoys to nets to plastic bottles. At Western Washington University, students are reimagining the future of those plastics. 

In 2019, Western’s polymer materials engineering program partnered with the Ocean Plastics Recovery Project in an effort to collect and recycle ocean plastics. Over the past four summers, groups of students have engaged in intensive cleanups along the shores of Alaskan beaches, bringing materials back to Western’s labs for student research.  

“Alaska is kind of shaped like this perfect catcher's mitt, and the way the currents come out of the Pacific Ocean, they push debris that's in the ocean up into the shorelines,” said John Misasi, an associate professor of polymer materials engineering at Western.  

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 - KUOW

Why is snow turning pink?

"There's a group of algae that have adapted to live in the snow habitat," said Robin Kodner, the lead scientist for the Living Snow Project at Western Washington University. "But they only start to grow in the springtime, when there's a lot of water saturating the snowpack."

Kodner said there are microbes living in snow all the time, but the algae causing the pink coloration on snow throughout the alpine regions of the state are unique. One hypothesis is that algae spores sit on soil surfaces, rocks, or ice, and in the winter months transform into swimming cells that can then settle on the surface of snow.

The good news for humans is that a pink snow bloom is not toxic, unlike green algae blooms on larger bodies of water downstream.

"They're actually pretty closely related to the types of algae that we sometimes put in smoothies," Kodner said.

Tuesday, April 25, 2023 - KBBI Radio - Homer, AK

WWU's Kristina Walowski discusses her recent research on Alaska's Augustine volcano. Click the link at right to listen.