Research Excellence
Greetings!
Fiscal Year 2025 was defined by both disruption and resilience for the research enterprise at Washington State University. It tested our adaptability, reinforced our mission, and demonstrated the enduring strength of our faculty, staff, students, and research partners.
My first day as vice president for research was January 20, 2025, which coincided with the first day of a new federal presidential administration. Almost immediately, the national research landscape shifted dramatically. The second half of FY25 brought funding freezes, rapidly evolving federal guidance, stop-work orders, and abrupt changes in agency priorities. Across the university, these actions paused dozens of projects and terminated multiple federally funded awards—some of which were later reinstated through court action or agency review. By the close of the fiscal year, 34 awards totaling nearly $10 million had been terminated. At the same time, new federal awards slowed considerably, interrupting what had been strong research momentum.
Yet amid these challenges, the response from the WSU research community was extraordinary.
Our faculty continued to develop bold ideas, submit competitive proposals in record numbers, mentor students, and advance discovery despite unprecedented uncertainty. Research teams adapted quickly, supported one another, and remained focused on delivering impact for the people and communities we serve. Their resilience reflects a fundamental characteristic of WSU: our research enterprise is deeply grounded in public service, practical problem solving, and a long-standing commitment to applied research that improves lives across Washington and beyond.
That commitment continues to produce meaningful results.
FY25 saw $461.9 million in research expenditures (pending final approval). This is the highest total research expenditures ever reported by WSU to the NSF Higher Education Research and Development Survey. While total award dollars declined approximately 4% relative to FY24 due to the federal award disruptions, the overall trajectory of research remained strong and continued to grow as we pivoted to emphasize commercialization opportunities, diverse research partnerships with industry, and stronger collaborations with national labs.
We also celebrated major accomplishments by WSU researchers across disciplines, including nationally recognized faculty honors, prestigious awards, and continued leadership in areas ranging from health and agriculture to engineering, energy, AI, and environmental science. These achievements underscore the national relevance and impact of WSU research.
FY25 was also our strongest year ever for licensing revenue, exceeding $19 million. This milestone highlights the ingenuity of WSU researchers and our commitment to translating discovery into real-world innovation, economic opportunity, and societal benefit. It is a powerful example of how public research universities fuel both knowledge creation and economic development.
At the same time, we continued investing in areas of strategic growth and long-term opportunity.
One particularly exciting development was $7.6 million awarded to support development of a new Hot Cell facility. Planning activities advanced throughout FY25, with construction beginning in early FY26. Once completed, this facility will significantly expand WSU’s nuclear science and materials research capabilities at a pivotal moment for the revitalization of the nuclear energy sector.
We also continued building institutional capacity in use-inspired artificial intelligence research. Across disciplines, WSU researchers are increasingly harnessing AI to accelerate discovery, improve decision-making, and address complex societal challenges. Our investments in this area are helping position WSU to lead in the responsible application of emerging technologies to agriculture, health, engineering, sustainability, and beyond.
As we look ahead, the federal research environment will likely continue to evolve. Challenges remain and uncertainty persists. But FY25 reinforced an important truth: WSU’s research enterprise is resilient because it is purpose-driven. Our strength comes not only from the scale of our research activity, but from our focus on serving our constituents across the state and nation, advancing key technologies, and solving problems that matter.
The work highlighted throughout this report reflects that commitment. It is made possible by the creativity and determination of our faculty, staff, students, alumni, partners, and supporters across the WSU system.
To our researchers: thank you for your continued dedication, innovation and public impact at Washington State University. Together, we are building a research enterprise that is both responsive to today’s challenges and prepared to lead into the future.
Kim Christen
Vice President for Research
Top Funding Agencies
Commercialization At a Glance
Crop and Livestock Improvement
WSU researchers are strengthening Washington’s agricultural sector by developing crop varieties tailored to the Pacific Northwest and other regions. Their work advances animal health and productivity in dairy and aquaculture systems while improving pollinator resilience through leading entomology research. Together, these efforts support food security, agricultural sustainability, and economic vitality across the state. This is a core research area within WSU’s food security and sustainable agriculture research strength.
Research in Action
- WSU study to track dryland soil health, wheat yields
- WSU researchers eye bug-hunting fungi as potential orchard protectors
- ‘We will prove it’: Student scientists eager to benefit from donor-supported Plant Growth Facility
- Big Data Comes for the Big Apple: WSU Researchers Develop Interactive Tool for Visualizing Food Consumption
- Dog detectives could help growers sniff out Little Cherry Disease
Understanding Health Gaps
Health challenges are not experienced evenly across communities, and access to quality care varies widely. WSU health science researchers are addressing these disparities by examining unequal disease burdens and barriers to care, with particular focus on rural and Indigenous communities. Their work informs policy, improves clinical practice, and expands access to evidence-based healthcare solutions. This is a key research area within WSU’s community and public health research strength.
Research in Action
- Smartphone location data shows promise for public health research
- New tech for managing type 1 diabetes is effective for older adults
- WSU joins national program to support Indigenous-led research on substance use, pain
- Feline therapy: Study suggests cats could fill an assistive niche
- More dense, populated neighborhoods inspire people to walk more
- New lab focuses on music, movement, and motor re-learning
Climate Science: Adaptations to Changing Ecosystems
Across forests, waterways, and agricultural systems, WSU scientists are advancing understanding of how ecosystems respond to climate change. Their work spans wildlife and habitat monitoring, wildfire prediction and mitigation, forest resiliency, and development of crop varieties adapted to shifting environmental conditions. By integrating field research, modeling, and applied solutions, these efforts help communities prepare for and adapt to a changing climate. This is a key focus area within WSU’s environmental sciences and energy futures research strength.
Research in Action
- New study takes long-term look at how biochar and hemp improve yields, crops
- WSU wine scientists show pre- and post-fermentation alcohol adjustments have comparable results
- New soil virus database reveals unknown diversity
- WSU unveils campaign for new Plant Growth Facility to improve tree fruit research
- Manure management research seeks to cut greenhouse gases, boost dairy farm economics
- As U.S. butterfly populations plummet, scientists map a road to recovery
Immunology and Infectious Disease
Preventing and controlling infectious disease requires insight at both the molecular and population levels. WSU advances this work through research in epidemiology, disease monitoring, vector biology, antimicrobial resistance, and immune response. Research on the mechanisms of disease transmission and host defense contributes to improved public health preparedness and biomedical innovation. This is a key research focus area within WSU’s biomedical, life sciences, and biotechnology research strength.
Research in Action
- Once bitten, animals develop resistance that shrinks tick population
- Bat cells could aid in fighting humans’ most deadly diseases
- WSU’s veterinary rehabilitation is a service to the wild world
- Vampires are real, much smaller than you’d expect but still deadly
- New program looks to expand early pathogen detection in potato crops
- Bat viruses similar to MERS have potential to jump to humans
- Scientists discover new code governing gene activity
Matter Under Extreme Conditions
Understanding how materials behave under extreme pressure, temperature, and shock conditions is critical to national security and advanced manufacturing. WSU researchers push the boundaries of materials science in collaboration with national laboratories and academic partners, supporting applications in space science, energy systems, and next-generation technologies. This is a key focus area within WSU’s next generation materials and advanced manufacturing research strength.
Research in Action
- Serendipitous discovery could lead to more efficient catalysts
- Researchers watch a single catalytic grain do work in real time
- New ion speed record holds potential for faster battery charging, biosensing
- WSU part of consortium exploring biology in space
- Corn leads to improved performance in lithium-sulfur batteries
Fundamental and Applied Artificial Intelligence
As computing systems grow more complex, advances in artificial intelligence and electronic design automation play a crucial role. WSU researchers develop advanced chip design strategies, algorithms, and system modeling approaches that support AI and machine learning integration across agriculture, health, infrastructure and national security. This work strengthens hardware and software systems alike and expands WSU’s leadership in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics. This is within WSU’s broader artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics emerging research area.
Research in Action
- NSF grant aims to improve resilience of safety-critical networks
- New method holds potential to efficiently recycle widely used polyester plastics
- Modeling method provides smarter way to predict customer demand
- Researchers improve search for cancer drivers
- Project aims to better understand water demands from extreme heat
- NSF grant to support cybersecurity training
- AI method can spot potential disease faster, better than humans
Shaping Public Perspectives
How people understand and communicate complex social issues is shaped by history, the media people consume, and the public conversations that surround them. At WSU, researchers in the arts, humanities, and social sciences study how these influences affect the way people interpret social and political life. Their work examines how narratives form, how misinformation circulates, and how cultural values change over time. Together, their scholarship and creative work deepen public engagement and contribute to WSU’s broader research strengths.
Research in Action
- New study reveals wealth inequality’s deep roots in human prehistory
- Study suggests a new way to curb social media’s body image toll
- Fear of appearing prejudiced can inhibit accurate performance feedback to women
- New WSU study shows how scarcity pricing helps ‘cult wineries’ drive demand
- Delivery robots’ green credentials make them more attractive to consumers
- Murrow College to map state’s local news landscape
Kim Meidenbauer
Department of Psychology
College of Arts and Sciences
Research Interests: Meidenbauer studies how physical and social environments influence the way people think, feel and behave. Her research brings together psychology, neuroscience and environmental science to understand how surroundings shape attention, emotion, and well-being. From greenspaces and urban settings to heat exposure and social environments, she examines how everyday experiences affect the brain and behavior across the lifespan.
Project to watch: Meidenbauer’s recent research explores how people respond psychologically and emotionally to extreme heat. One recent study examined how heat affects emotional well-being across age groups, contributing to a growing understanding of the ways climate-related stressors influence daily life. As communities face more frequent heat events, her work helps researchers and policymakers better understand the human side of environmental change.
Tingting Li
Department of Teaching and Learning
College of Education, Sport, and Human Sciences
Research Interests: Li studies how students learn science and how that process changes when artificial intelligence enters the classroom. Her work looks closely at engagement, examining how students participate, respond, and build understanding over time. She designs learning environments where AI tools support that process while still reflecting how teaching actually happens in real classrooms, with particular attention to how students apply knowledge rather than simply recall it.
Project to watch: Supported through a Microsoft AI initiative, Li is leading the RAISE Project, working with teachers in small and rural school districts to study how AI tools fit into everyday classroom practice. Workshops, interviews and classroom observations identify what supports meaningful learning, where challenges emerge, and how schools with limited resources can make effective use of AI.
Jiemei Lin
Department of Art
College of Arts and Sciences
Research Interests: Lin is an artist and illustrator whose work explores identity, memory and cultural experience through visual storytelling. Working across painting, murals, illustration and mixed media, she creates pieces that invite viewers to reflect on personal histories, community connections and the stories people carry with them. Her creative scholarship bridges studio practice and public engagement, bringing art into conversation with broader social and cultural questions.
Project to watch: One recent project is Lin’s “Virginia and Vanessa” mural in WSU’s Terrell Library. Created in partnership with WSU Libraries’ Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections, the mural celebrates sisters Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell while highlighting one of the university’s distinctive literary collections. The work transforms a public space into a place of discovery, connecting art, literature and history through a contemporary visual lens.
Monowar Hasan
School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
Research Interests: Hasan studies how to secure systems where data moves continuously and timing matters. His work focuses on cyber-physical systems, including environments such as autonomous vehicles, medical devices and industrial networks, where small vulnerabilities can lead to larger failures. He examines how information flows through these systems and how security can be strengthened without interrupting performance, with attention to both system design and user interaction.
Project to watch: Hasan received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to study information leakage in time-sensitive systems. His research focuses on covert timing channels, where attackers can infer or transmit information by observing how systems behave over time rather than accessing data directly. New detection and mitigation strategies are being developed to block these pathways while keeping systems stable and responsive.
Claire Murphy
School of Food Science
College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences
Research Interests: Based at the Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center, Murphy studies the ecology and epidemiology of foodborne pathogens, with a focus on how contamination occurs and how it can be prevented throughout the food supply chain. Her work examines pathogens such as Listeria, E. coli and Salmonella in agricultural and post-harvest environments, combining laboratory research with practical solutions for growers and food producers. By connecting science with real-world application, she helps strengthen food safety from the field to the consumer.
Project to watch: Murphy is contributing to research exploring how compounds derived from extremophile microbes could help protect apple production systems. Her work focuses on food safety applications, including efforts to better understand and reduce contamination risks associated with Listeria. The research brings together plant health, microbiology, and food safety, with potential benefits for Washington’s tree fruit industry.
Rachel Wilbur
Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health
Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Research Interests: Wilbur studies American Indian and Alaska Native community well-being, with a focus on Indigenous health, self-determination and community-led research. Her work emphasizes partnerships that begin with tribal priorities and continue through the design, interpretation and use of research. Rather than treating health as a narrow clinical outcome, she examines well-being through culture, community, history and place.
Project to watch: Wilbur’s work through WSU’s Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH) focuses on community-driven approaches to Indigenous health. Current projects involve partnerships with tribal communities to examine how changes in land use, food access and environmental conditions affect well-being over time. Community priorities shape the research from the beginning, helping ensure that findings support goals identified by the communities themselves.
More Bang for Your Buckwheat
RAISE: Wildfire-Resilient Power Grid Infrastructure Planning: Socio-Technical Innovations for Energy and Health Equity
Strength in HEALing: Indigenous Community-Led Strategies to Treat Stimulant Use
CAREER: Mechanics of Soft Multiphase Architected Materials
Risk, Resilience, and Recovery: A Longitudinal Mixed-Method Study Examining the Role of Peer Relationships in Pediatric Pain
A Full-Stack Approach to Declarative Analytics at Scale
Washington State University faculty are leaders in research.
Below are many of the recognitions and awards given to WSU faculty members during FY25. Listed alphabetically by faculty, these awards recognize the continued impacts that research at WSU makes across the state, region, nation, and world.
- Warwick Bayly, Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence, American Veterinary Medical Association
- Elizabeth Beers, Fellow, Entomological Society of America
- Jeffrey Bell, Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Narasimha Boddeti, Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Kelly Brayton, American Academy of Microbiology Fellow, American Society for Microbiology
- Elizabeth Canning, Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
- Andra Chastain, Fulbright Scholar, United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
- Brittany Cooper, Translational Science Award, Society for Prevention Research
- Erica Crespi, Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize, Society for Developmental Biology
- Jennifer Duckworth, Translational Science Award, Society for Prevention Research
- Ana Espinola-Arredondo, Outstanding CJAE Article Award, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society (CAES)
- Maria Gartstein, APA Fellow, American Psychological Association
- Leila Harrison, Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership/ELAM Fellow, Drexel University
- Monowar Hasan, Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Lawrence Hatter, Fellow, Royal Historical Society
- Joe Hedges, SECAC Artist’s Fellowship, Southeastern College Art Conference
- Jennifer Henrichsen, Andrew Carnegie Fellow, Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Gwen-Alyn Hoheisel, Superior Paper Award, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
- Julie Rachelle Kaczmark, ACR Fellow, American College of Radiology
- Thomas Kawula, American Academy of Microbiology Fellow, American Society for Microbiology
- Lav Khot, Educational Aids Blue Ribbon Awards, and Superior Paper Award, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
- Dae-Hyun Kim, Technical Committee on Dependable Computing and Fault-Tolerance and IFIP Working Group/DSN Test-of-Time Award, IEEE Computer Society
- Jenny Kim, Lifetime Research Achievement Award, International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (CHRIE)
- Soo-Yeun Lee, IFT Fellow, Institute of Food Technologists
- Yen-I Lee, MCS Research Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
- Tingting Li, ACTFL Research Priorities Project Grant, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages; and Spencer Fellow, National Academy of Education
- Chang Liu, Visionary Grant, American Psychological Foundation
- Hang Liu, Mid-Career Excellence Award, International Textile and Apparel Association
- Yiyong Liu, NIH Outstanding Investigator Award (R35), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- John McCloy, SPIE Fellow, International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE)
- Matthew McCluskey, APS Fellow, American Physical Society
- Carol Miles, ASHS Fellow, American Society for Horticultural Science
- Changki Mo, Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
- Michelle Moyer, Excellence in Extension Award, American Phytopathological Society
- Henry Mroch, Fellow of the ASN (FASN), American Society of Nephrology
- Melanie-Angela Neuilly, Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Grants, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
- Joshua J. Neumiller, Outstanding Educator in Diabetes Award, American Diabetes Association
- Susan Peabody, Humboldt Research Award, Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation
- Lucia Peixoto, ISCB Senior Member, ISCB Fellow, and Outstanding Contributions to ISCB Award, International Society for Computational Biology
- Gitanjali Shrestha, Translational Science Award, Society for Prevention Research
- Andrew Storfer, AAAS Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- Lauren Thompson, Editor’s Award, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
- Mark VanDam, Editor’s Award, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
- Yong Wang, RH Wilhelm Award in Chemical Reaction Engineering, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE); and Robert Burwell Lectureship in Catalysis, North American Catalysis Society
- Elizabeth Weybright, Translational Science Award, Society for Prevention Research
- Rachel Wilbur, Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Patty Wilde, CCCC Research Initiative, National Council of Teachers of English
- Jessica Willoughby, Krieghbaum Mid-Career Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
- Yan Yan, Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Choong-Shik Yoo, APS Fellow, American Physical Society