Shannon Point Marine Center

10/08/2026

SPMC and MACS were well represented at the International Larval Biology Symposium in Woods Hole, Massachusetts last week. Dr. Shawn Arellano (MACS/Biology) was one of the conference organizers and gave a talk titled “Components of the microbial biofilm predict larval settlement at hydrothermal vents”. Grad student Andrew Paley presented a poster titled “Comparing eDNA Metabarcoding with Traditional Sampling Methods for the Detection of Hydrothermal Vent Larvae”. Dr. Jay Dimond (MACS) gave a talk titled “Genes vs. environment: Larval body size plasticity may lead to carryover effects in Dungeness crab”. And last but not least, MACS director Dr. Brian Bingham came to help celebrate the career of Dr. Craig Young, his PhD advisor and one of the founders of the conference back in the 90s.

08/20/2026

New paper alert! Dr. Brady Olson (MACS/Biology) and his former MS student Jiho Kim (WWU MS '24) published a new study on the effect of PUAs, a class of chemicals produced by diatoms, on early life stages of surf smelt. Other coauthors include SPMC postdoc Dr. Morgan Eisenlord, MACS faculty Drs. Jim Cooper and Karin Lemkau, MACS alum Joy Cobb (BS '25), and BIOL alum Galexie Clelland (BS '26). Article link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022098126000614

08/20/2026

A few weeks ago a mysterious glow could be seen in the water off SPMC beach…

It was a group of scientific divers, of course!


OWU Scholarship Society™
American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS)
📸 Derek Smith

08/17/2026

REU 2026 came to a close last week. Thanks for a great summer, everyone, we will miss you!

We still have our / .scientific.diving interns .hatfield and .adventure here for another two weeks - they'll be participants in our upcoming Motorboat Operator Training Course.

06/24/2026

New paper alert! Dr. Jay Dimond (MACS research faculty) is a coauthor of a study reporting an introduction and outbreak of transmissible clam cancer in our region. Article link: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2611852123

06/10/2026

New paper alert! Dr. Jay Dimond (MACS research faculty) and coauthors published a study examining genetic and environmental drivers of body size variation among Dungeness crab. Article link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.70427

06/08/2026

New paper alert! Dr. Emily Roland (MACS/Geology) is a coauthor of a study showing that barriers that halt earthquake propagation along transform faults are caused by lower level seismic activity that precedes the main rupture. Article link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady6190

06/02/2026

The marine invertebrates class had a spectacular day for snorkeling SPMC beach last week. They were well outfitted thanks to 🦕

05/14/2026

04/28/2026

From SPMC Marine Tech Mira Lutz, who just returned from the Pacific Estuarine Research Society conference in Newport, OR: “A shout out to everyone who contributed to WWU students giving stellar presentations at this year’s PERS conference in Newport. These were truly enjoyable. Grad students, Delaney Adams, Marisa Viola, Aleutia Morris, and Jessica Scotten, and MACS undergrad, Zack Woods, shared their research with poise, clarity, and confidence equal to experienced scientists.

WWU students nearly swept the awards. Aleutia received the Honorable Mention (2nd place) award for grad student presentations, and Zack won first place for undergrad students, both including Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) membership. In a first for PERS, Jessica tied with Lara Breitkreutz from UW to both win the Heinle Award, including CERF memberships and $500 each toward attending the CERF conference. And Jessica did so presenting on sediment ammonium in the final hours of the conference, which she magically made fun and exciting (evidence of a truly effective educator).” 👏