Faculty

Debut book earns prestigious honor

Aaron Oforlea’s first book, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison and the Rhetorics of Black Male Subjectivity, has earned the College Language Association’s Creative Scholarship Award for 2018. The international honor, whose previous winners include renowned scholars from Harvard, Penn and Stanford, recognizes excellence in literary criticism and is awarded at the organization’s annual convention.. The nominations

WSU startup receives NSF research grant

A startup company launched by WSU physicist Matthew McCluskey received a $740,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase-II grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue the research and development of a new affordable and easy-to-use microscope. Klar Scientific designs and manufactures an innovative spectroscopic confocal optical profile (COP) microscope, which collects

Understanding the role of water around the planet

On the southern slope of Mount Adams in Washington, Kevan Moffett and her students are working to learn how soils recover moisture following wildfires so that trees and plants can sprout again. The field area has suffered three fires in the last 14 years—the McDonald Ridge fire of 2004, the Cold Springs fire of 2008 […]

Big data on big animals

Work at the WSU Bear Research, Education, and Conservation Center goes well beyond important things like enrichment programs and energy-monitoring collars. WSU scientists are looking at the genomic level to try and determine the myriad ways that bears adapt to their climate. Joanna Kelley, an evolutionary geneticist and assistant professor in the School of Biological […]

Re-Imagined Radio: Sound-based storytelling for the digital age

Before riding off in search of the Oregon Territory, the rangers stood and joined the audience in one final chorus of the famous words from the mysterious masked man known as The Lone Ranger: “Hi-yo, Silver! Away!” Applause erupted for the 11 voice actors and Foley artists dressed for the Old West. The lights of […]

Psychology professor named Group Psychologist of the Year

David Marcus, professor and chair of the Department of Psychology, was named Group Psychologist of the Year by the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy (Division 49). The award recognizes Marcus’s fundamental contributions to the understanding of how people behave within the groups to which they belong and how they are […]

Mathematics prof wins NSF grant to help stabilize power grid

The rapid adoption of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, poses new threats to the stability of modern power systems across the United States and worldwide. To address these risks and help ensure a steady supply of energy to homes and businesses, a Washington State University mathematics professor has received a $200,000, three-year […]

Students partner with local businesses, gain real-world writing experience

A technical writing course at WSU Tri-Cities partnered with local businesses and organizations to produce documents ranging from manuals, to booklets, to instruction guides. This opportunity allowed students to hone the skills they cultivated throughout the course to fulfill a real-world business need. Vanessa Cozza, clinical assistant professor of English and instructor of the course, […]

Revealing how bacteria and grasses fix nitrogen

Reducing synthetic fertilizer use, pollution, farming costs, while freeing up nitrogen, mark possible benefits of a research project by Sarah Roley, assistant professor with the School of the Environment, Washington State University Tri-Cities. Roley, and her two colleagues, recently landed a $483,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation, to pursue a more detailed understanding […]

Viewing the ordinary with new eyes

Sporting a Portland Trail Blazers jersey, artist and Washington State University Vancouver associate professor of fine arts Avantika Bawa is talking about her new solo show at the Portland Art Museum. The show, which opened Aug. 18, includes almost two dozen drawings of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum where the Blazers won their most recent championship […]