Highline Community College’s MaST Center will reopen for winter quarter classes on Jan. 3 and to the public on Jan. 8 for Water Weekends and the Science on the Sound speaker series.

Water Weekends from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays allow community members to explore the MaST Center and learn about the Puget Sound’s marine environment.

Science on the Sound features experts discussing environmental issues important to the Puget Sound and the region. The seminar takes place on the first and third Saturday of the month.

The Science on the Sound speaker series runs Jan. 8 through March 5, noon to 12:45 p.m. It is free to the public.

The center was forced to shut down after sustaining damage during the Nov. 22 storm.

Highline’s MaST Center is located on Redondo Beach in Des Moines; address: 28203 Redondo Beach Drive S., Des Moines.

For more information, visit www.highline.edu/mast/.

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Upcoming speakers:

• Jan. 8: The Fishes Stay the Same

Andy Lamb, author and owner/operation of Cedar Beach Ocean Lodge on Thetis Island, B.C., discusses how changes in the marine environment affect not only the fish, but the various user groups who interact with them.

• Jan. 22: Ocean Gliders: Exploring the Ocean Depths

Fritz Stahr, president of the Ocean Inquiry Project, discusses how ocean gliders are used to collect data we never thought was possible.

• Feb. 5: Writing on the Sound Writers Workshop

Susan Landgraf, poet and professor at Highline Community College, leads a workshop on writing short stories about the marine environment.

• Feb. 19: Ocean Acidification

People for Puget Sound’s Director of Science Doug Meyers presents the ways that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affects basic ocean chemistry and what that means for the Puget Sound.

• March 5: Women and Whales of the Pacific Northwest: What They Have in Common

Jourdan Keith, founder and director of The Urban Wilderness Project, explores the ways humans and wildlife share the same ecology, and like it or not, how our fates are intertwined.

Sponsored by: Marine Science and Technology (MaST) Center