Wally Davis

I obtained a master’s degree and completed the course work for a Ph.D. in zoology at UC Berkeley in 1968 then, at the height of the Vietnam War, joined the Navy as a pilot. After serving 5 years active duty, I went to work for an electric utility company, obtained a second master’s degree in business and continued to fly for the Navy as a reservist. I spent about 25 years managing environmental programs and writing environmental reports for electric utilities. When construction of new power plants came to a near halt, the amount of environmental work diminished significantly. My background in statistics and mathematics allowed me make a mid-life career change to quality assurance. I retired as the Director of Quality from a multinational electric/electronics company. I also retired from the Navy as a Commander.

Rekindling my love of biology and the environment, in 2010 I began taking upper division and graduate courses in the University of Washington’s Biology Department; an activity I still pursue at the rate of 3 or 4 courses a year. Since 2011 I have been studying anthropogenic microplastic in marine waters and beaches of the Pacific Northwest. In 2015 I was the lead author of a paper published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin titled Plastic in surface waters of the Inside Passage and beaches of the U.S. Salish Sea.

December 2016