Clarissa Troutman ’22 has spent a lot of time on the Puget Sound, hanging out with friends, but last summer she made repeated visits there for a different purpose: to collect seawater for her undergraduate research project. Troutman has been working with Oscar Sosa, assistant professor of biology, to better understand the unaccounted-for biological sources of methane in the ocean.
Addie Tinkham ’22 spent last summer taking a closer look at local beaches. She was one of the students who participated in summer research at Puget Sound in 2020. Working alongside her faculty advisor, Professor Berry Goldstein, Tinkham cataloged slope, length, and sand grain size at 10 Tacoma-area beaches. A volunteer from Citizens for a Healthy Bay worked with Tinkham to collect the data that will be used as a baseline for future scientists to apply to their research. This project was the first of its kind in the Tacoma area.
In March 2020, Julie Davidson ’96 made a pivot. A certified facilitator, coach, and consultant—and president and CEO of her own consulting company, The JD Group— Davidson started to see her contracts dry up as employees were sent home in the early days of the pandemic. So, she leaned into a hobby: kombucha brewing.
Six Puget Sound students were awarded highly competitive grants, fellowships, and exchanges in recognition of their contributions in the fields of mental health research, social justice, art history, international relations, and language instruction. This spring, the awards announced include two Fulbright grantees, a Frederick Douglass fellow, a Watson Fellow, a CBYX young professional, a CIEE English teaching assistant, and a Fulbright Taiwan English teaching fellow.
Preparing for a new baby during COVID-19 was not what Jamilia Sherls-Jones ’05 had hoped for. She wanted to touch the soft cotton of newborn onesies, turn over car seats to choose just the right one, judge—in person—which stroller, crib, and changing table were best. Instead, she was forced to do most of her baby shopping online. Many of her prenatal appointments went online, too.
If there’s anyone whose career demonstrates the value of the liberal arts, it’s Tony Gómez ’93. Today, he’s associate director of education at Tacoma Arts Live, but his career also has included being a K-12 teacher, arts administrator, percussionist, and PBS education producer.
In honor of Puget Sound receiving a Tree Campus Higher Education designation from the Arbor Day Foundation, recognizing the university’s responsible stewardship of campus trees, we sought out an expert to help us get to know some of the evergreens and elms that greet Loggers every day. Enter Associate Professor of Biology (and resident Puget Sound tree expert) Carrie Woods, who set us straight on the role trees play on our campus and in the Pacific Northwest. Here are five things we learned:
As the new president and CEO of the Ravinia Festival, the country’s oldest music festival, Jeffrey Haydon ’97 is guided by a singular mission. “Music,” he says, “is a universal language that inspires each of us to come together, to listen more deeply, and to explore new ideas.”
