The WWU Biology Department provides an outstanding and inclusive learning environment that integrates education, scholarship, and service, actively engages students in the biological sciences, and fosters their development as lifelong learners. Our curriculum spans subdisciplines from marine ecology to developmental genetics to bioinformatics and provides abundant opportunities for interactions with educators who are national leaders in biology education at the college level.
Graduate Student Summer Research Support
The Biology Department supports approximately 20 master’s student researchers who work on everything from understanding DNA to understanding ecosystems. During the academic year, these students often work as teaching assistants, and, therefore, are invaluable in supporting the biology training of Biology undergraduate students. The summer, on the other hand, is a critical time for graduate students to focus on their own research and training—made possible only through generous donations that we use to develop summer graduate research fellowships or grants. Your gift here will directly promote the education and training of new scientists across all disciplines as they pursue their Master’s degrees. We thank all who have contributed and have experienced first-hand the significance of research and education in WWU Biology. Gifts of every size make a difference!
WWU Biology graduate students outplanting larval abalone to facilitate restoration of Haliotis kamtschatkana, an endangered WA state species.
Biology Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP)
Summer 2022 brought the launch of the new Biology Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP). This program is largely supported by generous donors who are interested in helping to offer full-time summer research opportunities for undergraduates in Biology labs here at Western. The program is led by a rotating group of several faculty across biological disciplines, who mentor students and give undergraduate participants the opportunity to build their scientific communication skills, find opportunities for career development and planning for next steps in their scientific journey. You can read a great article about the program here. One of the best aspects of the SURP program is that students engaged in a vast array of research within the participating labs, from molecular and cellular to ecological and organismal. We are excited to build upon this program for years to come and invest in our undergraduate's success!
The summer 2025 SURP program participants, along with Biology faculty and staff during the kickoff event.
General Biology Fund
A gift to the General Biology Fund will go to the area of greatest need in the department and often provides critical support to fund student research, student travel to conferences, career networking opportunities, and a diversity of seminar speakers, including alumni, to speak directly with our students. Donations to this fund brighten the future of our student and faculty researchers by supporting career growth and allows for exciting new discoveries to happen. The hands-on experiences our students gain here at WWU Biology is especially important for them to obtain successful admission to post-graduate programs in areas as diverse as Ecology to Cellular Biology. We pride ourselves in the success of our students and your gift here will help WWU Biology graduates succeed in their goals.
WWU Biology Department Faculty and Staff Biology Department Insect Collection
With approximately 75,000 insect specimens, the WWU insect collection (WWUC) is the largest public insect collection in Western Washington. Our large collection includes examples of the first "murder hornets" identified here in Whatcom County, fossilized insects, and spectacular butterflies and beetles from the PNW and beyond. To share some of the amazing specimens in our collection we initiated a quarterly Insect Collection Community Open House, a free, family-friendly event that is open to the public. The events have been hugely successful and your gift here will help support ongoing curatorial work, specimen acquisition and storage, and continued community engagement for all ages. Read more about the open house in WWU News.
Joann Otto Microscopy Fund
This fund was established by the late Dr. Joann Otto, Emerita Faculty and long-time Department Chair of Biology to make microscopy more accessible to all students. The Biology department is grateful to our donors that her dedication and commitment to student success will continue on through this endowment. A donation to this fund will provide valuable hands-on research experiences to our students using state-of-the-art scientific equipment. Through funding obtained from federal agencies and generous donors to this fund, Biology has been able to provide opportunities for students to learn cutting-edge fluorescent and confocal microscopy in research labs and the classroom. This technology is so vital to many disciplines and is used by students to investigate many biological questions, including zebrafish development, plant fertilization, yeast mating systems, and protein interactions. The Joann Otto Microscopy Fund is an endowment created to support efforts to continuously update and modernize our microscopes for the broadest use.
