Research Strengths

WSU researchers contribute to Washington’s diverse agricultural sector through the development of varietals of specialty and staple crops (wheat in particular) that are ideally suited for the environments of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. WSU is also home to research on animal farming: improving animal health and productivity, particularly in dairy and fish farming. Additionally, WSU entomologists are working to improve the population health of bees and other pollinators essential to agriculture.

WSU is home to wide ranging efforts to prevent and mitigate the impact of pests and plant diseases on our agricultural system. Farmers and pest managers throughout Washington reap the benefits of advances in the lab and on WSU’s test farms through WSU extension’s IPM program, which advocates an approach to pest management that reduces human health risks, minimizes adverse environmental impacts, and maximizes sustainable returns for farmers.

Food scientists at WSU work to ensure that the fresh foods produced by Washington farms are as safe and nutritious when they reach consumers as they were at harvest. Aside from advancements in post-harvest food safety, WSU is also home to significant research in food processing and packaging maximizing safety and nutritious stability. Allied research includes dietetics and community nutrition.

WSU soil scientists work to develop environmentally and economically sustainable cropping systems. These advances help farmers deliver the highest quality, most nutritious crops to our communities while ensuring that our agricultural systems are sustainable in the long term.

WSU scientists are developing and refining products from a variety of plant-based sources. Crops are being used as materials for new kinds of products at the same time as researchers are exploring new ways of drawing on the myriad waste streams of our economy—food waste, biosolids, plastics, and more—to create the building blocks of new bioproducts. These efforts are closely aligned with others at WSU to use plant-based materials and waste to create sustainable fuels. 

Communities do not experience health challenges equally and many lack access to healthcare that others may take for granted. WSU’s health science researchers are grounded in this understanding and their research touches on disproportionalities in the impacts of disease and access to quality healthcare, particularly in, often intersecting, rural communities and Indigenous communities.

WSU scientists and their partners in communities worldwide are at the front lines of disease monitoring. These researchers protect our communities by studying diseases in animals and those carried by vectors like ticks. By developing close understandings of human–animal relationships, WSU disease experts can better understand the dynamics of zoonotic outbreaks and help to lessen their impact.

WSU is home to a broad group of researchers in many disciplines who investigate the relationship between humans and drugs, including drug abuse. This includes work from the basic neurophysiology of addiction in the brain, to best practices for community-based interventions in substance use disorder. WSU is also a center of research on the effects of cannabis use on individuals and on society more broadly as its legality and acceptance continue to spread.

WSU researchers have expertise in the impacts of sleep and fatigue on cognitive and physical performance, physical stressors at work, and the neurology and physiology of movement. This research is applied across many areas including the military, first responders and other groups involved in high stress occupations.

WSU researchers investigate a variety of mental health related questions with a strong orientation toward improving access to effective care and interventions in Washington communities. In addition to investigations of addiction and substance use behaviors, WSU researchers investigate important questions pertaining to youth mental health and wellbeing in educational and other contexts, depression and learning and cognition, among many other topics.

WSU researchers are making advances in low carbon and renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. A major component of such research at WSU is bioenergy: transforming biomass residues and waste carbon into fuels. WSU researchers have leading roles in the development of technologies and policy around plant-derived sustainable aviation fuels. These efforts are complemented by those taking place at the WSU–PNNL Bioproducts Institute which also include the development of renewable biodiesels. Beyond biofuels, WSU engineers are contributing to improving wind turbines, and refining the production, storage, and use of hydrogen as a fuel source with diverse applications. WSU is a developing center for Hydrogen fuel studies and is a member PNWH₂, with major funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs Program. The Institute for Northwest Energy Futures, located on the WSU Tri-Cities Campus, will help develop and implement a roadmap for a clean energy systems approach for the Tri-Cities area, Washington, and beyond.

As global climate change continues to impact diverse ecosystems in distinct ways, WSU scientists seek to understand how human and animal communities respond to these changes. Contributions range from wildlife habitat monitoring, to predicting and mitigating the impacts of wildfire and forest resiliency, to breeding crop varieties specifically adapted to changing agricultural ecosystems.

Water resources and their effective management are integral to the economic and social wellbeing globally. Across WSU, researchers take holistic approaches to understanding hydrologic resources worldwide while engaging with communities globally in research that ensures those resources are protected, managed, and used sustainably. More locally, the State of Washington Water Research Center (WRC) is host to scientists with expertise in the water resources of the Pacific Northwest, helping to inform policy that ensures that regional resources are used sustainably. 

Low carbon and renewable energy technologies are only one part of the future of sustainable energy. WSU researchers are also developing new technologies for the storage and delivery of novel energy systems, through storage and delivery systems for hydrogen fuel, advances in battery technology, and innovative smart grid technologies. WSU is home to leading research in power system engineering who conduct research in advanced grid modeling and complex power systems through the Advanced Grid Institute, a collaborative research center with PNNL.

WSU’s Nuclear Science Center houses a 1 MW Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics (TRIGA) nuclear reactor, affording nuclear chemists at WSU with unique opportunities to study the effects of radiation on an array of materials. This research has applications in materials sciences, radioecology, nuclear waste management, and nuclear energy. WSU is also home to the U.S. Transuranic and Uranium Registries, a unique complement to WSU’s growing capacity in nuclear medicine research. Further strengthening WSU’s position as a leader in the nuclear sciences is a longstanding partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a historic center of nuclear science research.

WSU Pharmaceutical scientists are experts in clinical pharmacology, drug discovery and design—especially computational design utilizing mathematical modeling and simulation—and understanding human diseases and pathogenic mechanisms in the context of drug discovery. Research at WSU in this area is leading to novel treatments of cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic and autoimmune diseases, and others including rare and understudied disorders.

Epidemiology, disease monitoring, and control of disease vector are critical actions to prevent the spread of disease in human and animal communities. WSU is home to experts in the biological mechanisms of bacterial and viral diseases in humans and animals. By understanding issues like innate immunity, monitoring antimicrobial resistance, and the routes through which diseases come to impact communities, WSU researchers create interventions to prevent bacterial and viral disease.

WSU researchers are investigating the cellular foundations for the functioning of biological systems in humans and animals. This research has important impacts for understanding disease processes in the heart, for example, the underlying mechanisms of skeletal muscle function, and the process of gametogenesis (critical to understanding how genes are successfully transferred in reproductive processes).

WSU is an established leader in reproductive biology. The dozens of researchers associated with the Center for Reproductive Biology study the reproductive processes and biological structures through which genetic information flows from generation to generation. Understanding these processes is critical due to their role in the expression traits coded in individuals’ unique genetic code. This expertise is complementary to efforts in genetic engineering, genomics, and developmental biology.

Researchers in evolutionary biology—concentrated in the College of Arts and Sciences’ School of Biological Sciences—explore the ways that species change through time by investigating diverse topics from the trajectories and impacts of plant and animal domestication to modern population genetics. Understanding these large-scale processes enables insights into ecological questions like wildlife population management, functional genomics, and the biology of infectious diseases.

A strong expertise in genetics, genomics, and genetic engineering makes WSU a leader in both the study of genetic functionality and the development of novel gene-based methods for the editing of genetic traits in animals. Beyond the benefits to human health that advances in these areas promise—in understanding the relationship between damage to cellular DNA and cancer, for example—WSU also possesses a unique authorization from the USDA to explore gene editing in livestock to improve the U.S. and global food supply.

Researchers, primarily in the WSU Institute for Shock Physics, investigate how matter behaves under extreme pressure and shock conditions. This work, which includes partnerships with national laboratories and leading universities nationwide, has applications in national security, additive manufacturing, space technology, and energy.

Buildings and other constructed environments are a major component of humanity’s ecological footprint. WSU researchers contribute to a greener future through the development of novel sustainable building materials. These materials are often engineered using recycled or waste materials, meaning that they require reduced amounts of raw materials relative to their traditional counterparts while standing up to the same functional demands as traditional materials.

Engineering researchers at WSU lead innovations in chip design as well as the materials underlying chips and electronic devices. Such advances enable more compact and reliable components with a huge range of applications. WSU is home to leaders in the related field of additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, which has been applied by WSU researchers in soft materials for electronics, soft bio-materials, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, and more.

WSU researchers develop and refine new materials and technologies in this area and are growing leaders in training the next generation of researchers in advanced ceramics, with critical application in many areas including national security and energy technologies.

Centered around the AI Institute for Transforming Workforce & Decision Support (AgAID), WSU researchers and their partners at institutions, corporations and with community partners across the country are collaborating to bring cutting-edge technologies driven by artificial intelligence. Using sensor networks to inform decision-making around labor and the allocation of other resources along with the use of purpose-designed robots and other autonomous systems will produce sustained increase in productivity, essential to meeting future food demands.

The incorporation of novel technologies, including machine learning and artificial intelligence, into healthcare practices is a priority for ensuring the highest quality care reaches the greatest number of individuals. The smart health systems being investigated by WSU nurse scientists, engineers, and industry and community partners utilize advanced health and behavioral sensing systems paired with machine learning algorithms to enhance evidence-based best practices for healthcare delivery.

Electronic and other devices worn by humans pose unique engineering challenges. WSU researchers utilize novel materials and innovative designs to develop devices for health monitoring and drug delivery, injury treatment, personal environmental monitoring, and more. These devices take a variety of forms including traditional electronics, conductive biofilms and other biomaterials, and even textiles, which will lead to articles of clothing themselves that function as devices.

As networked devices are increasingly integrated into critical systems in realms as diverse as health, energy, and agriculture, securing those systems against attack has become more important than ever. WSU is home to experts developing tools and techniques for securing against threats to a variety of electronic systems. WSU faculty lead the Northwest Institute for Cybersecurity Education and Research (CySER) advancing cybersecurity research while developing the cybersecurity workforce.

WSU specialists in electronic design automation are turning their expertise in chip design, algorithm development, and system modeling toward the problems and opportunities presented by the widening use of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools in our society. These include many of the other areas of strength at WSU including AI/ML integration in tools for agriculture and health. WSU researchers are helping to ensure that these new tools are developed and deployed in equitable ways through partnerships across disciplines and in communities.