'Wizards @ Western' lecture series continues Dec. 4 with 'Living with Volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest'

Western Washington University’s College of Sciences and Technology will continue its “Wizards @ Western” youth lecture series with “Living with Volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest” at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4, in Science Lecture Room 150 on WWU’s campus.

The event is free and open to the public, and is geared toward children in grades four through eight.

Bellingham sits only a few miles from an active volcano, and numerous Washington cities sit on volcanic deposits from Mount Rainer. What causes volcanoes in this area? How hazardous are Washington's volcanoes? How well can volcanic eruptions be predicted? These questions will be addressed in this Wizards @ Western presentation. Assistant Professor of Geology Jacqueline Caplan-Auerbach will discuss why we have volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest, what we can expect from them, and how scientists monitor volcanoes.

Winter quarter’s Wizard will be WWU Engineering Technology’s Stephen Dillman, who will discuss plastics and composites; the spring quarter’s Wizard will be Biology’s Ben Miner, who will discuss local marine invertebrates. Times and dates for these lectures are to be decided.

For more information on WWU’s Wizards @ Western youth lecture series, contact Jennifer Mott, program coordinator of WWU’s College of Sciences and Technology, at (360) 650-2454 or jennifer.mott@wwu.edu.