Bringing things together through WWU’s Marine and Coastal Science (MACS) program

Brian Bingham is the Western Washington University Director of the Marine and Coastal Science, Director of the Shannon Point Marine Center, and a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Sciences. In his director role, Brian is responsible for the newly developed Marine and Coastal Science (MACS) degree program. MACS is a cohort-based, interdisciplinary, experiential program that brings together expertise and resources of the WWU Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Sciences, and Geology, and the Shannon Point Marine Center with MACS faculty research activities bridging those traditional disciplinary boundaries. The goal of MACS is to prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and experience to succeed in the field and to contribute to our understanding and stewardship of marine system. This approach includes close mentoring by faculty advisors and hands-on work with advanced research tools and state-of-the-art technology. The focus of the MACS program extends beyond the university to the people and communities whose existences are intertwined with coastal systems and resources. In this place-based approach, we work to understand the whole context of an issue, including the lands, waters, ecosystems, and human interactions with those systems.