People

Dr. Sam Kastner joined the WWU faculty in Environmental Science (ES) and Marine & Coastal Science (MACS) in Fall 2021. He is a coastal physical oceanographer interested in coastal and estuarine circulation, mixing, and transport, and the impact of related physical processes on ecosystems and communities. Sam received his Ph. D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington in 2020 and was a postdoctoral scholar at University of California-Irvine.

Chloe is a lifelong Washingtonian who has always had a deep interest in our local waters. Discovering the connections between marine ecology, chemistry, geology and climate brought Chloe to Western Washington University. In 2023, Chloe graduated from WWU with a Bachelors degree in Marine and Coastal Science with a desire to keep studying estuarine dynamics.

Currently Chloe’s goals are to combine indigenous/traditional knowledge with marine science to enhance our understanding of nearshore physical and ecological interactions and appreciate the services the Salish Sea provides local communities. Outside of academics Chloe is a dog lover who works in positive reinforcement training. In her spare time, Chloe can be found kayaking, beach combing, enjoying live music, crafting and playing with her dog, Ozzy.

Maia completed her undergraduate degree in Marine and Coastal Science at Western Washington University. During this time she studied deep sea larval biology with Dr. Shawn Arellano. In her senior year of college she realized that she wanted to pursue research that lies at the nexus of marine science, sustainability, and social justice. With all this in mind, she joined the Environmental Hydrodynamics Lab to work on the clam garden physical processes & residence time project.

Her current research focuses on assessing water movement in a clam garden. Clam gardens are an ancestral practice of many indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest. They are used to increase the yield of shellfish collection in order to feed community members. In this setting, she is studying flow transformation caused by the clam garden wall as well as calculating a volume budget and residence time of water within the clam garden.  

Outside of school and research, Maia enjoys skiing, biking, hiking, cooking, painting, reading, playing D&D, and wing foiling. 

Brielle is currently an undergraduate in the Marine and Coastal Science Program graduating in Spring of 2025. During undergrad she has worked in an environmental analytical chemistry lab researching coastal contaminants with Dr. Karin Lemkau. She has taken an interest in the coastal marine physical processes and joined EHL in Spring 2024 to work on a project funded by Backyard Buoys. This project focuses on using in situ wave data to validate a wave model for nearshore use in American Samoa. She is currently looking to attend graduate school in Fall of 2026 to study coastal engineering and how it affects nearshore hydrodynamics. Outside of her studies, Brielle enjoys hiking, playing music, painting, and cooking!

Amelia is currently an undergraduate in the Marine and Coastal Science program at Western Washington University. Within MACS, she has enjoyed studying physical marine processes, and is currently working on the clam garden project by researching heat dynamics within the garden. Outside of school, Amelia loves skiing, tidepooling, hiking, reading and baking.

Grace is currently an undergraduate in the Marine and Coastal Science Program graduating in Spring of 2026. During her studies she has found a passion for physics and has enjoyed learning about coastal physical oceanographic processes. She is currently working on characterizing spatial variability and drivers of stratification in a clam garden. Outside of her studies, she enjoys sewing, crochet, watching movies and swimming.

Phelan is completing his undergraduate degree in Marine and Coastal Science, graduating spring 2026. He is interested in coastal hydrodynamics and learning more about what drives biologically important processes in shallow water. Phelan will begin working on investigating an observed tidal phase lag in a local clam garden in Summer 2025. He is passionate about biking, SCUBA diving, and traveling, and is always willing to try something new!

Spencer is an undergraduate student in the Marine and Coastal Science program, set to graduate in the spring of 2026. He is currently working to quantify carbon fluxes in Padilla Bay in collaboration with Dr. Catherine Clark's lab in the Chemistry department. Passionate about polar regions, Spencer plans to pursue graduate studies in 2026 with a focus on sea-ice dynamics. In his free time, he enjoys SCUBA diving, writing music, and working on his car.

Cady is currently an undergraduate studying environmental science at Western Washington University. Her research interests include coastal wetland restoration assessment, blue carbon stocks, and estuarine processes in the context of anthropogenic forcing. In EHL, she processes and analyzes GNSS data collected by drifting buoys to estimate water velocity in the Swinomish clam garden. Outside of her studies, Cady enjoys running, mountain biking, baking, painting, and learning languages!

Riley is a graduate of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. In summer 2022 as a Shannon Point Marine Center REU student, he investigated the relative importance of advective and turbulent nitrogen fluxes in balancing benthic denitrification. Riley presented his work at the 2022 American Geophyiscal Union Fall Meeting in Chicago, IL.

Maya graduated this summer from Western Washington University with a degree in Marine & Coastal Science. During her time as an undergraduate student, she studied paleoceanography under Dr. Nina Whitney. While Maya was fascinated by the field, she wanted to pursue a career that worked more closely with coastal communities and has decided to move towards coastal engineering.

EHL provided a coastal engineering related research opportunity to analyze bathymetric changes in a clam garden through RTK GNSS surveys. Maya has been a part of the lab since the spring of her senior year and will continue to work as a research assistant while she applies for graduate school where she hopes to work toward a Ph.D. in nature-based coastal engineering. Outside of academia, Maya enjoys playing outside on mountain bikes, snowboards, sailboats, and surfboards, and will occasionally slow down for a bit to read, bake, or strum part of a tune on the guitar.

Abi is a WWU Marine and Coastal Science graduate (2023). In summer 2022, she helped build and test a mounting system for an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler to be used from the Shannon Point Marine Center's R/V Zoea. Abi is now a Master's student in the WWU Biology department, where she worked with Dr. Jim Cooper studying the effects of climate change on the development of coastal forage fishes in the Pacific Northwest.

Nikolai is a WWU Environmental Science graduate (2024). In winter 2024, he investigated the tropical cyclone-driven storm surge in American Samoa using historical data from the University of Hawaii Sea Level Center.

Gabi is a WWU Marine and Coastal Science graduate (2023). In summer 2022, she helped build and test a mounting system for an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler to be used from the Shannon Point Marine Center's R/V Zoea. After graduating, Gabi started an internship with the Coral Restoration Foundation. She's also a great photographer; several of her photos are featured on this site!