Spring/Summer 2015

The Truth is Out Here

Western’s Melissa Rice is part of a NASA team uncovering the secrets of Mars

This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover was assembled from dozens of images from the high-resolution camera on Curiosity's robotic arm and shows a sweeping view of the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop on Mars' Mount Sharp.

Resilience Grows Here

One alum brings fellow combat vets to the farm to grow vegetables and help each other heal

An Ocean of Stories

How Western's vast Mongolia Collection became one of the largest in the country

A page from “Sutra in 42 sections,” a quadralingual sutra with parallel text in Manchu, Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese. Printed sometime after 1780, possibly in China, the work is a gift of Henry Schwarz and housed in Western’s Rare Book Collection.

No such thing as 'no'

Some told Snow Jones (’14) that her college goals weren’t meant for someone with so much to overcome. Even more are glad she didn’t listen

Snow Jones ('14, MBA) was named Outstanding Graduate of her MBA program group. She had wanted to study abroad ever since she was a little girl growing up on a farm in Vietnam.

From Here to Odesza

Two grads are huge in electronic music

Ice Cream Genius

Is there anything Tyler Malek can't put in a frozen scoop?

A Viking in the Japanese House of Representatives

Hokkaido lawmaker soaked up art, music, scenery in Bellingham while earning an MBA at Western

Hirohisa Takagi ('87, MBA)

Meet a new molecule

A theoretical physicist from Western helped create a new molecule

Molecules like this are often called trilobite molecules because they look a bit like trilobite fossils. They’re also huge – larger than a cold virus.

Some days you go to work, sprint down a sheet of ice, fold yourself in like human origami and just hang on

Alex Harrison is a member of the U.S. men's Bobsled Team

Alex Harrison ('10), in the rear of the sled, is a member of the U.S. Men's Bobsled Team.

Service Legacy

Two alumni and Sociology faculty study the long-term effects of military service

Sociology faculty Jay Teachman (’73 and ’76) and Lucky Tedrow (’74) collaborate on research about veterans.

Bellingham’s Frasers gave millions for scholarships, academic programs

Gifts to Western from Alice and Gordon "Bus" Fraser are the largest in the university's history.

Students’ solar window wows the EPA

Western students who are developing a transparent window that doubles as a solar panel recently won a $75,000 grant from the EPA to keep the project going

Sarah O’Sell, left, holds the Smart Solar Window as fellow students (clockwise from top) Jim Kintzele, Adam Slater and James Mayther test it out before heading to Washington, D.C. and winning a national EPA competition.

Seeing Double

Three sets of twins are also teammates in Western Athletics in 2014-15.

An ancient Skagit Valley tree becomes a work of art

A slab of a tree that has spanned three millennia is on display at Western

This table in the Smith & Vallee Gallery in Edison was made from wood from a 300-year-old Douglas fir that fell and was preserved in the mud for about 2,000 years.

He met WWU students in Rwanda and now studies English at Western

Hassan Byumvuhore is a student in Western's Intensive English Program

Hassan Byumvuhore, left, from Rwanda, is a student in Western’s Intensive English Program. He worked at a medical clinic that Western students visited during a service-learning trip two years ago.

President's Message

Awards are nice, but Western’s real achievement is our superb learning culture

Bruce Shepard. Photo by Dan Levine.