The Office of Research releases the FY2019 Research Annual Report
The Office of Research announces the FY2019 Annual Research Report is now available online. The report highlights significant and impactful research and achievements.
With this report, we are excited to highlight the outstanding research, scholarship, and creative activities conducted by Washington State University faculty, staff, and students and their collaborators during fiscal year 2019. We are proud of our researchers accomplishments as they push back the frontiers of knowledge and seek novel solutions to societal problems in support of the University’s land-grant mission and President Kirk Schulz’s Drive to 25.
WSU research continues to grow. In FY2018, we set a record of $360.5 million in total research and development (R&D) expenditures, as reported by the National Science Foundation. In FY2019, the Office of Research Support and Operations submitted over 2,500 proposals and processed over 1,600 awards, bringing in over $230 million to support WSU researchers. Additionally, the Office of Research received $6.7 million in license income, setting a new WSU record.
Some notable research achievements highlighted in this report include:
• The development of a new, genetically distinct variety of wheat that’s safer for people with celiac disease.
• The discovery of a critical link in mapping recurrent mutations of melanoma. From this discovery, researchers have developed a next-generation sequencing-based technology that allows them to precisely map the locations of UV-induced DNA damage throughout the whole human genome.
• Research that aided in the first full-length biography tracing the lives of slaves in the Indian Ocean in the 1750s, including a man named Furcy who battled relentlessly for his freedom in the courts for more than two decades.
• The discovery of significant vulnerabilities in high-performance computer chips that could lead to failures in modern electronics.
We also celebrate milestones reached by our researchers. Eight WSU faculty members to the Washington State Academy of Sciences: Celestine Barbosa-Leiker, Tom Kawula, Christopher Keane, Julie Kmec, Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe, Michael Skinner, John Stark, and Juming Tang. Additionally, Ron Mittelhammer and Sue Ritter were elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences Board of Directors. Kathryn Meier, Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, and Glenn Prestwich were named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of the Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. Arda Gozen and Jana Doppa have received faculty Early Career Awards from the National Science Foundation. The founding director of WSU’s Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, Guy Palmer, has received the 2019 Excellence in Research Award from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. These are a few examples of the accomplishments our researchers achieved during FY2019.
To read the full report, visit https://research.wsu.edu/documents/2020/12/2019-annual-report.pdf/.