By Levi McGarry, College of Arts and Sciences, WSU Insider
The effort to modernize Washington State University’s scientific learning spaces has received a boost, as Ned and Nancy Wogman pledged $3 million to outfit three instructional chemistry laboratories in the planned Integrated Sciences Building on the Pullman campus.
The pledge will create and equip laboratory environments for student instruction and hands-on learning. The three new laboratories will prepare students to contribute to scientific research and development through accessible, student-centered chemistry and STEM-based education, and will be named the Dr. Ned and Nancy Wogman Instructional Chemistry Lab Suite.
“Our students will benefit immensely from new, modern instructional laboratory spaces, and the Wogmans’ generosity will impact chemistry and science students and our future graduates for decades,” said Courtney Meehan, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “I am humbled to receive their support and wholeheartedly share their confidence in our students’ ability to achieve great things.”
The Wogmans have previously provided generous support to the College of Arts and Sciences, creating two professorships in chemistry and physics, fellowships for both early-career faculty and graduate students, and undergraduate scholarships in chemistry, physics, environmental science, and mathematics. Though they now reside in Nevada, the Wogmans are long-time residents of Eastern Washington with deep Cougar connections.
Ned Wogman is an internationally respected nuclear chemist whose career at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory advanced critical work in national security, environmental science, and radiochemical analysis. Over his career spanning four decades at PNNL, Wogman analyzed moon rocks from the Apollo missions, served as a nuclear inspector in conflict zones, and developed solutions for U.S. national security issues. Meanwhile, Nancy Wogman contributed more than two decades of service at PNNL, enhancing the culture of curiosity and scientific discovery that powers the state of Washington.
While Nancy was raised in Kennewick, Ned grew up in Spokane and graduated from WSU in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry after receiving early tuition assistance from then Washington State College.
He told the WSU Foundation in a 2023 interview that his summer experiences with General Electric at the Hanford Site encouraged him to pursue his graduate degree. “I was originally going to teach high school chemistry, but the Manhattan Project scientists I worked with at Hanford over the summers convinced me to go to graduate school,” Wogman recalled. “Those summer experiences inside the laboratory totally changed my life.”
He went on to earn a PhD in physical chemistry with an emphasis on nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry from Purdue University. From there, he rose through the ranks at PNNL, eventually retiring as the chief scientist of the National Security Directorate at PNNL.
The Wogmans’ latest gift is an important component of the planned Integrated Sciences Building, replacing Heald Hall on the WSU Pullman campus. The proposed STEM teaching facility will feature modern instructional labs, collaborative learning spaces, and expanded access to science education. Workers are currently demolishing Heald Hall to make way for the ISB, and the design plan review is ongoing.
These improvements to WSU’s science education facilities are designed to address Washington’s growing need for STEM graduates and research partnerships in areas critical to the state’s economy, including clean energy, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, health sciences, environmental technology, and data science.