WSU Research Highlights
May 2016
Cosmic Crisp™
Our new apple is changing the industry. – US News Link
Big Data – Kamiak high-performance computer
Big-data computer will facilitate research, collaboration. – WSU Link
Disability Research
Jae Kennedy receives $2.5M to examine the Affordable Care Act and those with disabilities. – WSU Link
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Clouds amplify warming in Arctic, study finds (Von Walden). – WSU Link
Mystery of Pueblo People
Regents Professor Tim Kohler, trying to solve the mystery of Pueblo people vanishing from the Four Corners area, found three other periods of social disruption. – The Santa Fe New Mexican Link
Biological Systems Engineering
Juming Tang has found a way of using microwave technology to preserve food with more nutrition and flavor than our current methods. You might think of it as the greatest invention since the can. He was recently awarded $4 million from the US Department of Agriculture to create a Center of Excellence that will bring his technology to market, working directly with researchers, industry, regulatory agencies and consumers.
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Philip Lazarus receives $2.6M to study tobacco carcinogens. – WSU Link
Psychology
Psychologist Joyce Ehrlinger has made some startling discoveries about the danger of overconfidence. – NPR Link
Materials Science
Key improvement made in solar cell voltage technology (Kelvin Lynn). – WSU Link
Global Animal Health
Kariuki Njenga, a professor in the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, has received a $2.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control to help Kenya adopt a One Health approach to minimizing the spread of animal diseases to humans, responding effectively to disease outbreaks, and limiting the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience
Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp has discovered a promising drug therapy for suicidal feelings. – New Scientist Link
Energy Innovation
WSU researchers in the Energy Systems Innovation Center will install photovoltaic modules on the Pullman campus and integrate them into Pullman’s “Smart City” test bed and WSU’s micro grid system (Chen-Ching Liu). – WSU Link
WSU Vancouver
WSU Vancouver mathematicians are predicting what forests will look under climate change 1,000 years into the future. – New York Times Link
Honors/Awards
Gravity Waves
WSU researchers share in ‘Breakthrough Prize’. – WSU Link
Washington State Academy of Sciences
Four elected to Washington State Academy of Sciences. – WSU Link
History/Guggenheim
Matt Sutton was just announced as a winner in this year’s John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship competition. There have been only 8 Guggenheim fellows in WSU’s history. – WSU Link
Women in STEM
Jennifer Adam among top 100 inspiring women in STEM. – WSU Link
Three new NSF CAREER awards
Three WSU faculty received new NSF CAREER awards this year. Here is one story: – WSU Link
College of Education
Richard Lamb won the Early Career Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. – WSU Link
College of Nursing
Cindy Corbett was inducted into the Western Academy of Nursing on April 8. – WSU Link
National Academy of Inventors
Yong Wang, an internationally known researcher in catalysis and reaction engineering for energy and renewable fuels and chemicals, has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. – WSU Link