Distinguished Faculty Lecture 2024–2025

Symbiosis: The Wave of the Future

In 1913, a certain John Knowles entered the wilderness of Maine, naked, to start a two-month, bare-knuckle fight against nature that was closely followed by The Boston Post. It is a longstanding concept that the natural world is unruly and requires grave determination to survive, but is that the most helpful lens for viewing creation? What lessons could we learn from a closer look at the interactions among God’s creatures and their ways of thriving? 

David Cowles, WWU professor of biology, has long been fascinated with the natural world. During his upbringing in the oceanside rainforests of Forks, Washington, his faith and curiosity were built by Sabbath afternoons spent exploring a variety of ecosystems. His early academic pursuits unveiled examples of symbiosis, and that theme has continued to appear throughout his more than four decades of research and teaching. 

In the annual WWU Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Cowles will share some startling examples of mutualistic symbiosis between highly dissimilar organisms and what we might be able to learn from their unexpected ability to cooperate.