Western Today for Thursday, July 2
Huxley prof, undergrads head to Siberia today for field course in climate change
Andrew Bunn, assistant professor of Environmental Science, will for the second consecutive summer take a pair of WWU undergraduates on a summer research project to the Siberian arctic to study the effects of climate change on these ecologically vital and sensitive areas.
The Polaris Project is a two-year-old initiative coordinated by the Woods Hole Research Center to study the rapid and profound changes under way in the Arctic in response to global warming. While in Siberia, the students and scientists will be based at the Northeast Science Station, which is located approximately 80 kilometers south of the Arctic Ocean on the Kolyma River, near the town of Cherskiy. See below for more.
courtesy photo
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| Big Ole to sound July 4 |
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Western Washington University will sound Bellingham's historic steam whistle "Big Ole," in observance of the Fourth of July holiday.
The Haggen Family Fourth of July Celebration's fireworks display is scheduled for approximately 10:30 p.m. Saturday and before then the steam the whistle will sound four times, starting at about 9:45 p.m.
This will not be a test or signal of an actual emergency. Normally, during a test or actual emergency, the sound of the whistle is a signal for students, faculty and staff to look for text messages, e-mails, or go to the University's homepage or the Emergency Information Web site at emergency.wwu.edu for more information.
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The Bellingham Herald
- Local graduates make good
Ian Smith, an Environmental Science graduate student at Western Washington University, has won a John Knauss Fellowship and will serve a year in Washington, D.C., helping to formulate the country's marine fisheries policy. He is the first Western student awarded a Knauss Fellowship. Smith is a 2002 graduate of Sehome High School and a 2006 graduate of the University of Washington.
The Seattle P-I.com
- Another $250 million caseload hit to state budget
Higher demand for government services, particularly health programs, is pushing Washington's state budget deeper into the red amid the lingering recession.
Wednesday's update of state caseloads will increase government costs about $250 million more than previously expected through the next two-year state budget cycle.
Combined with a roughly $200 million shortfall recently pegged to a drop in tax collections, the state is now facing a nearly half-billion-dollar hole in a budget that lawmakers balanced just two months ago.
First Science
- International team of students and scientists depart for the Siberian Arctic
Scientists and undergraduate students from across the United States and Russia are departing July 2 for a month-long field course in the Russian Arctic. The program, known as The Polaris Project, is training future leaders in arctic research and education, and informing the public about the impacts of climate change.
Andy Bunn, a faculty member at Western Washington University, comments, "I did not appreciate the massive changes underway in the Arctic before traveling to Siberia last year. Yet, that change is just likely beginning. I'm excited to return this year and to see this anew with the fresh crop of students. They are the luckiest undergraduates in the country."
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