Faculty in the News
Our faculty members made local, regional and national news with their research and expertise this year. Here are five stories that garnered widespread coverage:
“It is a continental-size lake stored in the rocks at the top of the mountains, like a big water tower. That there are similar large volcanic aquifers north of the Columbia Gorge and near Mount Shasta likely make the Cascade Range the largest aquifer of its kind in the world.”
—Leif Karlstrom, study co-author and associate professor in the Department of Earth Sciences
“The skin is a parallel system to what’s happening in the gut, which is really well-studied. We know that the intestinal microbiome can modify host compounds and make their own unique compounds that have new functions. Skin is lipid-rich, and the skin microbiome processes these lipids to also produce bioactive compounds.”
—Caitlin Kowalski, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology
“Policymakers can use our findings to identify and prioritize enforcement efforts in hotspots, make improvements in infrastructure and implement policies that ensure affordable and safe drinking water — particularly for socially vulnerable communities.”
—Alex Segrè Cohen, lead author and assistant professor of science and risk communication
“What this means is that, for whatever reason, if an infant is expected to be at the very low birth weight end of the scale, then glyphosate exposure could affect you more. It’s like being sick and then getting hit with another illness. You’re more vulnerable.”
—Edward Rubin, an environmental economist in the Department of Economics, who co-authored the paper with graduate student Emmett Reynier
"Imagine if, after Hurricane Katrina, after all the horrible things that happened, if we'd also lost big chunks of New Orleans and it never came back.”
—Diego Melgar, associate professor of Earth Sciences and director of the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center
