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Articles 151 - 180 of 2456

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Senior Project - Sehome Arboretum Soils, Johnathan Billecci Jan 2023

Senior Project - Sehome Arboretum Soils, Johnathan Billecci

College of the Environment Internship Reports

In some areas of the Arboretum, the canopy has been transitioning from coniferous Douglas fir (Psuedotsuga menziesii) to deciduous big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). Dieback of mature Douglas fir trees may be due to the slow-growing root rot fungus, Coniferiporia weirii, or the story may be more complicated. Other soil characteristics like nutrient availability and soil biota communities may influence the susceptibility of mature Douglas fir to C. weirii. To better understand why this transition is happening, Rebecca Bunn is putting together a research class which will evaluate whether other soil characteristics may be contributing to the dieback of Douglas …

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Spmc Research Assistant, Ben Molenhouse Jan 2023

Spmc Research Assistant, Ben Molenhouse

College of the Environment Internship Reports

Upon receiving the opportunity to work at Shannon Point Marine Center on the eelgrass research team I was absolutely thrilled to take part in the experiment. Our goal for the continuing experiment is to study the effects of climate change on eelgrass, Zostera marina, populations from the Puget Sound region. Particularly, we are researching the effects of warming ocean water temperatures on eelgrass populations. My past experiences entailed mostly work and experience in terrestrial settings, in courses at Western, on a seasonal forestry crew position that I worked over the past couple summers, and in my own personal free time. …

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Wwu Herring Stock Research Intern, Alexandra Haase Jan 2023

Wwu Herring Stock Research Intern, Alexandra Haase

College of the Environment Internship Reports

This internships main goal was to follow up the work of former graduate student Heidi Stewart, and explore the predation activities of large predators in Herring spawning habitats. Last year, Dr. Sobocinski and Heidi placed metal nets in different Bays around the Salihs Sea. This was to isolate herring spawn, in order to see the impact of predators on herring spawn. During this time, I was brought onto their research team as a field assistant and video processer. Heidi trained me in her procedures and gave me my first taste of environmental field work.

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Mt Baker Snow School Intern, Megan Moran Jan 2023

Mt Baker Snow School Intern, Megan Moran

College of the Environment Internship Reports

My internship with Northwest Avalanche Center’s (NWAC) Mt Baker Snow School (MBSS) spanned from February to May of 2023. During my time at Mt Baker Snow School, I was able to engage in lots of hands-on learning opportunities, both for myself and the students I was leading. Through the primary scope of my internship, which was leading student field trips, I was able to combine snow science knowledge from my Western classes with tools and guidance provided by MBSS to facilitate a fast paced, hands-on learning environment and get students excited about our mountain systems in Whatcom County. During MBSS, …

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Bellingham Parks Volunteer Program Intern, Zeppelin Poole Jan 2023

Bellingham Parks Volunteer Program Intern, Zeppelin Poole

College of the Environment Internship Reports

The Bellingham Parks volunteer program is a part of the Bellingham Parks and Recreation department. The volunteer program is responsible for four main volunteer-based events/roles. The first is to set up and host volunteer work parties at different parks throughout Bellingham, which includes prepping the work party, setting everything and all required materials up, teaching volunteers how to carry out the work, maintaining a safe and fun environment, making sure people enjoy the work party and that everything is being done properly, and then cleaning up the work party once it is finished. The second is help set people up …

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Washington Conservation Corps Intern, Maczenzie Kelm Jan 2023

Washington Conservation Corps Intern, Maczenzie Kelm

College of the Environment Internship Reports

My work with the Washington Conservation Corp (WCC) was with a restoration crew sponsored by the Skagit River Systems Co-op. The organization does work in the Skagit river basin to restore salmon habitat. The focus of this work is on riparian areas, in the summer season which I had worked we primarily maintained sites where plantings had been done previously. This was done through brush cutting survival rings around young plants, as well as removing invasive species such as Himalayan blackberry and morning glory either through herbicide use or brush cutting. Hours worked with WCC were ten hours four days …

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Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Intern, Ava O'Neill Jan 2023

Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Intern, Ava O'Neill

College of the Environment Internship Reports

This spring I interned at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. I chose to apply for the green crab intern position at Padilla Bay because I have always had a fascination with crabs. Growing up, I spent my summers at Camp Orkila on Orcas Island, kayaking in the Salish Sea and hiking shorelines dotted with madrone, Douglas fir, and seaside juniper. Hours would go by in the sunshine with my friends, turning over rocks and searching for the shore crab with the coolest carapace, or poking sea anemones and watching them squirt. The excitement of flipping a rock and …

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Salish Scientists Summer Camp Internship, Jayden Lehner Jan 2023

Salish Scientists Summer Camp Internship, Jayden Lehner

College of the Environment Internship Reports

The non-profit is one of the fourteen Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups (RFEGs) in Washington State. They work to foster a community that cares about bringing awareness to salmon and giving everyone opportunities to contribute to the success of salmon. Salmon are an essential part of the Pacific Northwest, for people and the environment. During the summer, they run a Salish Scientists Summer camp held at the Willow Creek Salmon and Watershed Education Center in Edmonds, Washington. The center is a hatchery that they raise salmon fry to release into Willow Creek. The wetland on site is incorporated into many of …

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Institute For Watershed Studies Research Assistant, Julia Ralston Jan 2023

Institute For Watershed Studies Research Assistant, Julia Ralston

College of the Environment Internship Reports

Going into this internship I had a couple of learning objectives, and I feel I was able to complete all of them successfully. First, I was expecting to learn the specific techniques for lake sampling and how to collect those samples without compromising them. This was a goal that I feel was completed. I was taught a method of sampling that works well for small lakes, like the ones that we sampled from. For most lakes we used waders and waded into the lake. We brought with us a very long pole with a bottle at the end of it. …

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City Of Auburn Parks Dept Intern, Audrey Patton Jan 2023

City Of Auburn Parks Dept Intern, Audrey Patton

College of the Environment Internship Reports

My roles include weeding, removing invasive plants such as English Ivy (pictured below), hedging shrubs, pruning trees, watering flowers, designing garden beds, and planting annuals and perennials. Over the last 7 weeks, I have greatly increased my knowledge of natural systems in cities, specifically parks and gardens.

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Wwu Sustainability Engagement Institute Data Ambassador, Ashley Olson Jan 2023

Wwu Sustainability Engagement Institute Data Ambassador, Ashley Olson

College of the Environment Internship Reports

My internship almost entirely surrounded the project of working towards completion and submission of the WWU Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) report to receive a score assessing where our institution is both independently and comparatively in our progress towards an optimally sustainable campus. The role of my position as the data ambassador was to gather data from numerous departments and individuals throughout our campus network and craft technical writing within the majority of sections to further explain our campus operations and the data I compiled. The objective for …

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Pnnl Renew Pathway Summer School Intern, Sonya Alcocer Jan 2023

Pnnl Renew Pathway Summer School Intern, Sonya Alcocer

College of the Environment Internship Reports

Guided by federal policy, and in partnership with industry experts and the research community, PNNL scientists and engineers work every day toward a sustainable energy future for all that is not just imagined, but real. This immersive, cohort-based program introduces students to the teams at PNNL that conduct research in renewable energy science. The Pathway Summer School program provides students with mentoring, professional development, experiential learning, engaging field trips and tours, and conversations with leading experts in topics such as renewable energy, energy equity, and technology.

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Salish Scientists Summer Camp Internship, Jayden Lehner Jan 2023

Salish Scientists Summer Camp Internship, Jayden Lehner

College of the Environment Internship Reports

The non-profit is one of the fourteen Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups (RFEGs) in Washington State. They work to foster a community that cares about bringing awareness to salmon and giving everyone opportunities to contribute to the success of salmon. Salmon are an essential part of the Pacific Northwest, for people and the environment. During the summer, they run a Salish Scientists Summer camp held at the Willow Creek Salmon and Watershed Education Center in Edmonds, Washington. The center is a hatchery that they raise salmon fry to release into Willow Creek. The wetland on site is incorporated into many of …

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Institute For Watershed Studies Research Assistant, Julia Ralston Jan 2023

Institute For Watershed Studies Research Assistant, Julia Ralston

College of the Environment Internship Reports

The IWS conducts water quality research on bodies of freshwater and for some of their projects they collaborate with local government, and other organizations on water quality issues. I first learned about IWS from a job listing for their summer research assistant position, which entailed doing in the filed sampling of around 60 small lakes in the area, and also doing some lab work with those water samples. At the time I was taking a Watershed Biogeochemistry class at WWU, and my class was able to take a tour of the IWS labs and learn a little bit about what …

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City Of Auburn Parks Dept Intern, Audrey Patton Jan 2023

City Of Auburn Parks Dept Intern, Audrey Patton

College of the Environment Internship Reports

This summer, I am grateful to be employed by the City of Auburn working as a horticulturist. Horticulture is the science and art of cultivating plants. My roles include weeding, removing invasive plants such as English Ivy (pictured below), hedging shrubs, pruning trees, watering flowers, designing garden beds, and planting annuals and perennials. Over the last 7 weeks, I have greatly increased my knowledge of natural systems in cities, specifically parks and gardens.

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Biological Oscillator Synchronization With The Cellular Potts Model, Rose Una Jan 2023

Biological Oscillator Synchronization With The Cellular Potts Model, Rose Una

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Similar to how neurons synchronize their firing in the brain, individual cells of certain single-celled species can synchronize their internal oscillatory molecular clocks to those of their neighboring cells. This study develops and analyzes an abstract, discrete agent-based computational model to investigate the movement and synchronization of internal oscillators in biological cells. We adapt a Cellular Potts Model to explore this oscillator synchronization process with two-dimensional cells on a square lattice. Model assumptions are motivated by behavior in single-celled species of slime mold (Dictyostelium discoideum) and slime bacteria (myxobacteria). The effects of the spatial attraction parameter and the neighboring clock …

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Overwintering Eagle Demographics On The Nooksack River, Collette Webb Jan 2023

Overwintering Eagle Demographics On The Nooksack River, Collette Webb

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This paper provides a look into the demographics of overwintering eagles on the Nooksack River and their ties to salmon. Viewing overwintering eagles on the Nooksack River has become somewhat of a tradition for locals wanting to catch sight of these American icons in their natural habitat and consuming another PNW favorite; salmon. However, climate change and ever increasing ecological pressures have begun to alter the eagle-salmon food web dynamic in ways that are just starting to be explored. During the winter, eagles rely on the supply of salmon carcasses that wash onto the river banks and gravel bars after …

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How-To: Make Your House A Battery--How Demand-Side Management Will Be One Key To A Greener Future, Explained For Popular Audiences., Olivia Kaulfus Jan 2023

How-To: Make Your House A Battery--How Demand-Side Management Will Be One Key To A Greener Future, Explained For Popular Audiences., Olivia Kaulfus

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Demand-side management will be used to increase the electric grid's flexibility and make it easier to achieve a clean energy future. But what is it? How will it affect me, and what do I need to know? This brochure (and slide deck from the in-person presentation) will hopefully give you a bit of insight into the greater world of demand-side management. Don't know anything about electricity? No problem. Only the most necessary information is provided by this little handout. Most exciting of all is that demand-side management could be coming to a utility near you and could even help lower …

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Wwu Environmental Health And Safety Intern, Kevin Nolasco Jan 2023

Wwu Environmental Health And Safety Intern, Kevin Nolasco

College of the Environment Internship Reports

The main task as the lab assistant was to collect and characterize any hazardous wastes that were produced by academic, research or other department laboratories. This consisted of seventy percent of my time because the process is time consuming, and this task was to be prioritized as the hazardous wastes were not to be kept in Satellite Accumulation Areas (SAA) more than three days.

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Wwu_Geology_Cetaceon_Queen_Charlotte_Fault, Cameron Dillman Jan 2023

Wwu_Geology_Cetaceon_Queen_Charlotte_Fault, Cameron Dillman

College of the Environment Internship Reports

The Transform Obliquity on the Queen Charlotte fault and Earthquake Study (TOQUES) cruise occurred from July 18 – Aug 23 of 2021 in the N. Pacific Ocean. During this time, TOQUES was using ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS) and acoustic arrays to map the sub-surficial geological features of the Queen Charlotte Fault (QCF). Expendable bathymetry (XBT) was deployed to measure the temperature of the water column in order to determine the speed of sound of the water column.

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Nsea Community Program Intern, Paige Aagaard Jan 2023

Nsea Community Program Intern, Paige Aagaard

College of the Environment Internship Reports

was a Community Program Intern with the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association’s (NSEA) Future Leaders of Whatcom County (FLOW) program for spring 2023. NSEA is a local, community-based organization within Whatcom County. It is a 501 c(3) organization meaning that NSEA is a charitable, nonprofit for the benefit of the community (IRS, 2023). Main funding comes from various grants. NSEA’s major focus is on habitat restoration to help declining salmon populations:

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Re-Sources North Sound Waterkeeper, Hannah Miller Jan 2023

Re-Sources North Sound Waterkeeper, Hannah Miller

College of the Environment Internship Reports

My role specifically was as the North Sound Water Keeper. I assisted in various activities that helped monitor, restore, and measure local water ecosystems and engaged with local community members. I created a stormwater pollution permit project to compile data on local facilities in Bellingham. Every month, I assisted in stormwater monitoring of 7 outfalls in Bellingham. The data we collected was entered onto Water Reporter where the public has access. I attended training to learn about the DOE, NPDES, EPA, and beach cleanups. I assisted the Pollution Prevention Specialist on pollution patrols via canoe. The locations we observed were …

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Wwu Iws Internship, Owen Sinderman Jan 2023

Wwu Iws Internship, Owen Sinderman

College of the Environment Internship Reports

The IWS performs several roles, both within the university and with external government and non-government organizations. Among these are assistance with student projects, program development, sponsorship of watershed-related seminars, and provision of equipment and knowledge for water quality monitoring and research. One of the main projects of the IWS is the Lake Whatcom monitoring program, a large-scale watershed study that has been collecting data since 1988. During my time with the Institute, I assisted primarily in this project, specifically with the tributary stormwater and lake water quality aspects. I additionally got a chance to help with the start of a …

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Generations Of Stewards: Re-Indigenizing Youth Leadership, Learning, And Conservation Education, Drew Slaney Jan 2023

Generations Of Stewards: Re-Indigenizing Youth Leadership, Learning, And Conservation Education, Drew Slaney

WWU Graduate School Collection

My thesis is an exploratory case study into epistemologies (or worldviews) supported by organizations and agencies that develop outdoor conservation and education programs for Native youth called Native Youth Stewardship Programs (NYSPs). This subject relies on the content developed by Medin and Bang (2014) who state that an under-representation of Indigenous peoples in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields is largely the result of epistemological conflicts between educators and Indigenous students. I hypothesize that there is a considerable epistemological difference between the conservation entities developing programs to engage Native youth. These differences may create significant barriers with youth recruitment, …

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Using Camera-Monitored Sediment Traps To Evaluate Sediment Availability And The Role Of Waves In Resuspending Seafloor Sediment, Bellingham Bay, Wa, Liam Horner Jan 2023

Using Camera-Monitored Sediment Traps To Evaluate Sediment Availability And The Role Of Waves In Resuspending Seafloor Sediment, Bellingham Bay, Wa, Liam Horner

WWU Graduate School Collection

Understanding nearshore sediment budgets and processes is important for evaluating coastal hazards, habitats, and contaminant fate to enable informed decisions in coastal planning and management. I aimed to evaluate the role of waves in resuspending and redistributing sediments and by proxy contaminants in the urban/estuarine Bellingham Bay, and better understand the transport and rate of fluvial sediment moving through the nearshore. I integrated analyses using camera-mounted sediment traps, seafloor grain-size data, short-lived radioisotopes, and other fluvial, physical oceanographic, and wind data. I paired cameras with sediment traps, to identify the timing and rate of sedimentation on the seafloor at hourly …

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Miles Berkey Bryophyte Research, Hattie Bakke Jan 2023

Miles Berkey Bryophyte Research, Hattie Bakke

College of the Environment Internship Reports

assisted in mapping bryophyte flora in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Park, along LGM (last glacial maximum) spatial boundaries determined by GIS (see
Figure 1). The aim of this research has been to determine the likelihood of an ice age refugium in Barlow Pass, by comparing the proportion of disjunct species to the known ice age refugium, Brooks Peninsula (Figure 2), and the known non-refugial area Cascade Pass (Figure 3). Bryophytes are a group of non-vascular plants, divided into mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. They are amongst the oldest extant lineage of terrestrial plants.

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Using Qm/Mm Methods To Explore Sortase Enzyme Intermediates, Kinetics, And Stability, Kyle Whitham Jan 2023

Using Qm/Mm Methods To Explore Sortase Enzyme Intermediates, Kinetics, And Stability, Kyle Whitham

WWU Graduate School Collection

Biochemistry has seen advancements in methods and understanding of the inner workings of proteins, yet biochemists struggle to see real time reaction pathways of protein intermediates. This is where computational chemistry comes in and fills in the holes in knowledge through the use of Quantum Mechanical (QM) models. QM chemistry alone does not give results in a reasonable timescale to predict protein chemistry in a reasonable amount of time. Computational chemistry methods such as Quantum mechanical (QM)/ Molecular Mechanical (MM) (QM/MM), allow us to split the in-silico system into two regions that utilize a fast MM force field region and …

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Stereoselective Synthesis Of (+)- And (-)-Cananodine, Haley Holliday Jan 2023

Stereoselective Synthesis Of (+)- And (-)-Cananodine, Haley Holliday

WWU Graduate School Collection

Natural products are an important class of molecules utilized in traditional medicine and inspire drug design in medicinal chemistry. Cananga odorata, a tree commonly known as ylang-ylang, contains natural products known to positively benefit health, and specifically promote liver health. One alkaloid isolated from Cananga odorata, cananodine, possesses cytotoxic properties, specifically against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCC is the most common type of liver cancer, with one million diagnoses projected by 2025 globally. Cananodine is a member of the guaipyridine alkaloid family, a class of compounds that feature a substituted pyridine bonded to a seven-membered ring. The first enantiomer …

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Does Sediment Supply Impact The Threshold For Initial Sediment Motion In Natural, Gravel Bedded Streams?, Emily Loucks Jan 2023

Does Sediment Supply Impact The Threshold For Initial Sediment Motion In Natural, Gravel Bedded Streams?, Emily Loucks

WWU Graduate School Collection

Sediment transport in river channels control channel morphology, streamflow, and benthic ecosystems. Predicting sediment transport rates through a channel is required for sediment management for stream restoration and aquatic habitat assessment. The critical Shields stress (τ*c), is a dimensionless parameter used in sediment transport models that characterizes the river bed surface shear stress required to initiate sediment motion. The τ*c is typically assumed constant in transport models, yet compilations of field data have shown that τ*c can vary wildly, causing sediment transport models to over- or under-predict fluxes by an order of magnitude or more. Understanding …

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Paleomagnetic Determination Of Vertical Axis Block Rotation Near The Doty Fault In Southwestern Washington, Charles Linneman Jan 2023

Paleomagnetic Determination Of Vertical Axis Block Rotation Near The Doty Fault In Southwestern Washington, Charles Linneman

WWU Graduate School Collection

In this paper I present the results of paleomagnetically derived vertical axis rotations (VARs) of sites in two different flows of the Columbia River Basalt (CRB) – the 16 Ma Sentinel Bluffs member of the Grande Ronde flow and the 12 Ma Pomona Member of the Packsack Lookout – near the Doty fault in southwestern Washington. In two field seasons, I collected 99 cores from 14 sites, 11 in the Grande Ronde flow and three in the Pomona member flow. Of the 227 specimens that I demagnetized, 212 had well-defined magnetic directions. Positive fold and reversal tests results confirm the …

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