Biological Sciences

Meet the new faculty of 2023

The breadth of scholarly interests and teaching expertise of the college’s newest faculty—from environmental humanities and many-body physics to economic globalization and the history of visual storytelling—enriches and expands the arts and sciences across the WSU system. Click “read more” to learn a little about each of these new faculty members. Arts & Humanities | […]

Seed Grants for CAS faculty

Five College of Arts & Sciences received a 2023 New Faculty Seed Grant from the WSU Office of Research. The grant program supports junior faculty in developing research, scholarly, or creative programs that lead to sustained professional development and external funding. The program is sponsored by the Office of Research and the Office of the […]

Asian clams’ spread in Columbia River warns of worse invaders

The invasive Asian clam is more common in the lower Columbia River than its native habitat of southeast Asia, according to a study of the clam’s abundance in the river. The findings don’t bode well for potential future invasions by the even more destructive quagga and zebra mussels. So far, the Columbia is one of […]

Butterfly researcher to present Distinguished Faculty Address

Cheryl Schultz helped put the Fender’s blue butterfly on the road to recovery, from a low of about 1,000 butterflies in its Oregon habitat to 20,000 to 30,000 butterflies today. It’s a rare success story of an insect that has been downlisted from endangered to threatened, made possible, she said, by science, partnerships, and time.  Schultz, […]

Preserving the Puget Sound shoreline

Washington State University is partnering with conservation organizations to protect an ecologically important portion of Puget Sound shoreline along Henderson Inlet, south of Olympia. The agreement between Capitol Land Trust (CLT), WSU, and affiliated groups, including the Squaxin Island Tribe, will also provide environmental research and education opportunities to the entire region. The land trust […]

Likely cause of increasingly common birth defect

An alarming increase in the occurrence of the most common genital malformation in male babies, hypospadias, is likely due to environmental factors, such as toxicant exposure, which alter epigenetic programming in a forming penis.  That’s according to a new study in Scientific Reports that identified a direct link between hypospadias tissue samples and the presence of epigenetic […]

Once a Coug, always a Coug

Transfer student Carrie Colbert earned her bachelor’s degree in women’s studies at WSU, graduating in 2009, and then earning an MBA at Grand Canyon University. She currently works for ALSCO, a linen company. One of her tips for current students: ask for help when [you need] help and remember “that you become part of a […]

$1.89M NIH grant to advance research in rapid evolution

What if scientists could have the funding to explore new directions of research free from the initial goals written into many grants? With a recent $1.89 million Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institutes of Health, Seth Rudman has that opportunity. Rudman is an assistant professor in WSU Vancouver’s School of Biological Sciences. MIRA […]

Twin study links exercise to beneficial epigenetic changes

A new WSU-led study indicates consistent exercise can change not just waistlines but the very molecules in the human body that influence how genes behave. Published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers found the more physically active sibling in identical twin pairs had lower signs of metabolic disease as measured by waist size and body mass […]

Cancer treatment could impact health of future generations

In one of the first-known studies of its kind, research led by WSU biologist Michael Skinner indicates a common chemotherapy drug could carry a toxic inheritance for the children and grandchildren of adolescent cancer survivors. The study, published online in iScience, found male rats who received the drug ifosfamide during