Skip to main content Skip to navigation
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Honors and achievements

Members of the College of Arts and Sciences community do excellent work that is recognized across the University and around the world.

Spread the good news about your accomplishments using this simple online form.

Sisouvanh Keopanapay
Keopanapay
Kris Boreen
Boreen

Kris Boreen, finance/budget manager,physics and astronomy, and Sisouvanh Keopanapay, academic coordinator, criminal justice and criminology, were named recipients of the WSU President’s Employee Excellence Award for 2013-14.

Biological Systems paper coverA team of WSU researchers in biological sciences and mathematics co-authored a paper about the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic on the Pullman campus that was published in the Journal of Biological Systems in December 2013. Lydia Miller, Mindy Morgan, and Sergey Lapin, all in mathematics, along with Theresa Jones in biological sciences and Elissa Schwartz, whose appointment is in both units, report on stochastic simulation models in “Individual-Based Computational Model Used To Explain 2009 Pandemic H1n1 In Rural Campus Community.

Yvonne BerlinerYvonne Berliner, adjunct professor, history, co-authored with Philip Benson a new textbook by Hodder Publications, The Mexican Revolution 1910-1940. Also, a series of Berliner’s oral history interviews with descendants in Chile of 19th-century German naturalist R.A. Philippi are cited in The Sociable Sciences, Darwin and His Contemporaries in Chile by Patience A. Schell, Palgrave 2013.

Gerald BerthiaumeGerald Berthiaume, professor, music, was selected to be named a fellow of the Music Teachers National Association Foundation, the nation’s top academic organization for pianists.

Ashish BhattaraiAshish Bhattarai, graduate student, is first author with chemistry colleagues Kerry Hipps, professor and chair, and Ursula Mazur, professor, of a research paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the world’s top chemistry journal: “A Single Molecule Level Study of the Temperature Dependent Kinetics for the Formation of Metal Porphyrin Monolayers on Au(111) from Solution.”

Leonard BurnsLeonard Burns, professor, psychology, recently published with colleagues three articles about the relationship of sluggish cognitive tempo and ADHD-inattention symptom dimensions: “Distinctions between Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, ADHD-IN and Depression Symptom Dimensions in Spanish First-Grade Children” in the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology; and both “Validity of the sluggish cognitive tempo symptom dimension in children: Sluggish cognitive tempo and ADHD-Inattention as distinct symptom dimensions” and “Structure and Validity of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Using an Expanded Item Pool in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder” in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

Omar CornejoOmar Cornejo, assistant professor, biological sciences, is co-author of “The genome of a Late Pleistocene human from a Clovis burial site in western Montana” published in the journal Nature. The paper concludes a male infant, buried approximately 12,600 years ago with ochre-covered Clovis artifacts at the Anzick site, belonged to a meta-population from which many contemporary Native Americans are descended and is closely related to all indigenous American populations.

Dennis DehartDennis DeHart, assistant professor, fine arts, was invited by the American Studies Department of the University of Nantes, France, to present two joint keynote lectures for the international workshop The American and British Nations in Contemporary Landscape Photography. DeHart’s lecture is financially supported by the Centre de Recherche sur les Identités Nationales et l’Interculturalité (CRINI), Université de Nantes.

Chris DickeyChris Dickey, clinical assistant professor of tuba and euphonium, music, was a featured artist at the 2014 Isla Verde Bronces International Brass Festival in Cordoba, Argentina. He presented several master classes and recitals and conducted brass ensembles. Faculty participants were selected from among the finest brass pedagogues worldwide. Dickey also has been invited to perform at the 2014 International Tuba-Euphonium Conference in Bloomington, Ind. His recital will feature music set for professional recording release by Albany Records next spring.

Mark DybdahlMark Dybdahl, associate professor, biological sciences, presented a seminar on “The molecular basis of host-parasite coevolution: a synthesis of theoretical models and immune mechanisms” to the Evolutionary Biology group at the University of Basel, Germany.

Jade D'Alpoim GuedesJade d’Alpoim Guedes, assistant professor, anthropology, was awarded an honorable mention for the Dissertation Prize from the Society for American Archaeology.

Yasaman GhadarYasaman Ghadar, teaching assistant/graduate student, chemistry, received the Jim and Lee Ella Ruck Graduate Fellowship recognizing academic achievements and the promise for continued professional development.

Yi GuYi Gu, associate professor, physics and astronomy, is one of two newly elected members of the American Physical Society (APS) Northwest Section’s Executive Committee. The appointment runs for four years.

Joanna KelleyJoanna Kelley, assistant professor, biological sciences, is one of 20 scientists worldwide named as promising young investigators in the annual list compiled by GenomeWeb publisher.

Brian KempBrian Kemp, associate professor, anthropology andbiological sciences, recently published the paper “Evaluation of Methods that Subdue the Effects of Polymerase Chain Reaction Inhibitors in the Study of Ancient and Degraded DNA” in the Journal of Archaeological Science. His WSU co-authors include Cara Monroe (research associate), Kathleen G. Judd (undergraduate), Erin Reams (undergraduate), andColin Grier, associate professor, archeology.

Paul KwonPaul Kwon, associate professor, psychology, co-edited a special issue on psychopathology in Asians and theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in the Asian Journal of Psychiatry.

Sergey LapinSergey Lapin, assistant professor, mathematics, won an American Institute of Mathematics award for organizing a week-long workshop, titled “Ocular Blood Flow and Its Role in Development of Glaucoma,” through AIM’s Structured Quartet Research Ensembles (SQuaREs) program.

Tahira ProbstTahira Probst, professor, psychology, Vancouver, was elected a fellow of the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology (APA, Div. 14). She also was appointed co-editor in chief of Stress and Health.

Joshua RosnowJosh Rosnow, PhD candidate, biological sciences, is lead author on a recently published article in Biomed Central’s journal BMC Plant Biology. The article, “Exploring mechanisms linked to differentiation and function of dimorphic chloroplasts in the single cell C4 species Bienertia sinuspersici” (pdf) is co-authored with Gerald Edwards, Regents professor, biological sciences; Thomas Okita from the WSU Institute of Biological Chemistry; and colleagues from the State University of New York.

Elissa SchwartzElissa Schwartz, assistant professor, biological sciencesand mathematics, recently published the paper “Immune control of equine infectious anemia virus infection by CTLs and antibodies” in Applied Mathematics. Coauthors are biological sciences PhD student Karin Harrington and mathematics graduate students Rick Cangelosi and Silvia Madrid, along with Kasia Pawelek (University of South Carolina).

Samantha SwindellSamantha Swindell, clinical associate professor, psychology, was named a 2014 recipient of the WSU President’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Non-Tenure Track Faculty.

Jennifer ThigpenA new book by Jennifer Thigpen, assistant professor, history,Island Queens and Mission Wives: How Gender and Empire Remade Hawaii’s Pacific World, is scheduled for publication by University of North Carolina Press in March.

Marine TolmachevaMarina Tolmacheva, professor, history, received an American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE) Honorable Mention for a multivolume reference work in the humanities and social sciences in recognition of her two recent commissioned articles in theOxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women: “Hajj, Women’s Patronage of: Historical Practice” and “Women’s Travel Historical.”

Shannon TushinghamShannon Tushingham, assistant director, Museum of Anthropology, co-authored a research paper on human behavioral ecology, “Why foragers choose acorns before salmon: Storage, mobility, and risk in aboriginal California,” in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.