Learning Outside Of The Classroom

      Cherskiy, Siberia, may not sound like a world-class vacation destination, but for Environmental Science students Holly Faulstich and Tyler Llewellyn and Huxley College of the Environment Assistant Professor Andy Bunn, Siberia sounds like a little slice of heaven.

      Faulstich, Llewellyn and Bunn will spend their summer in Cherskiy with the Polaris Project, a collaboration of the National Science Foundation and five universities, studying the effect of global warming on the Arctic.

      “And make no bones about it, this is the Arctic — Cherskiy is 19 time zones to the east of us and above the Arctic Circle,” says Bunn.

      Both Faulstich and Llewellyn speak of their planned summer in the mosquito- and black-fly-infested boreal woods of the far north as if it were a trip to Disneyland. Just getting there will be an adventure, notes Bunn.

      “What an incredible experience and amazing opportunity,” says Faulstich. “But more importantly, this will be a chance to get some great experience with research in a field that I’ll probably still be working in once I get to graduate school.”

      Faulstich has already had the opportunity to complete field work on a project far from the campus, as she worked with Huxley’s Troy Abel on his ongoing work in Costa Rica.

      Cherskiy, however, will be completely different from that tropical climate.

      “This is just another example of how Huxley pushes students to leap past simply what is expected of them,” she says. “There are many opportunities for students to delve into things like field research that are very exciting.”

      Llewellyn agrees, adding that faculty members like Andy Bunn continually strive to involve undergraduates in their important field research.

      “The Polaris Project seemed like a great fit for what I want to work on in graduate school, and it wouldn’t have been possible without Andy. He has a great rapport with his students; he’s engaging and approachable and is looking to do what is best for them, to help them succeed,” he says. “Huxley has always prided itself on focusing on interactive, small-group field work where you get to know your professor — and I’d say a summer in Siberia definitely fits that bill.”

Incredible Experiences In The Field

  -- Biological research wasn’t in sophomore Alana Byrne’s plans when she first came to Western — much less taking part in the nationally recognized marine bird studies of John Bower, associate professor at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies.

      “The experience I’ve received working with John on this project is something I never could have experienced in a lab,” she says.

      Bower’s research, plotting population trends for marine seabirds, reveals declines in some species by as much as 80 percent since the first true census in the early 1970s. The alarming statistics have prompted articles in The Oregonian, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

      “What the students do on this project is invaluable,” Bower says. “There’s just no way; I couldn’t do it all myself and still be teaching a full course load.”

      Bower says the project is a reflection of Western’s values — involving undergraduates in every facet of the University experience, from traditional classroom work to field research with their professors.

      “In my opinion, good science teachers figure out ways to get their students involved in their research,” says Bower, “and this project is just an extension of that way of thinking.”

      For Seattle resident Byrne, working with Bower in the field allows interaction that she says a student normally just doesn’t get in a classroom setting.

      “John views the students working with him as co-researchers, and it shows,” she says. “We’re not treated like worker bees; he seeks out our input and values it.”

      The project also has allowed students to obtain experience in collating the data, gleaned from census sites in Whatcom and Skagit counties.

      Dacia Wiitala, a senior Geography/Resource Management major from Seattle and another of the student supervisors on the project, says the field work on Bower’s census has been the perfect way to wrap up her academic career at Western.

      “Doing real research gives me confidence and experience that other undergrads might not have from just working with predetermined sets of data,” Wiitala says.

      For Byrne, working with Bower has underscored what she wants to do with her life after graduation: to continue conducting important field work in biology.

      “John is an incredible mentor,” Byrne says. “Even after my work on the project is complete, I’m sure he’ll be a big factor in the rest of my college career.”