Graduate student

Research exchange to explore resilient, high-yielding crops

Students from Washington State University will travel to Germany next summer for a new research exchange program exploring complex plant traits underlying resilience and yield. Funded by a $300,000 award from the National Science Foundation’s International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) initiative, the 10-week program expands WSU’s partnership with Germany’s CEPLAS—Cluster of Excellence on Plant […]

Dry lightning study could aid wildfire forecasting

Researchers from the School of the Environment at Washington State University, Vancouver, have developed the first long-term climatology of dry lightning — lightning which occurs with less than 2.5mm of rainfall — in central and northern California, “Unlike human-caused fires that originate in a single location, lightning outbreaks can strike multiple locations and start numerous

Habitat survey sheds light on survival

Trekking through grasslands in southeastern Washington, Rebekah Lumkes, a School of the Environment master’s student, swept her radio antenna back and forth a few times, quickly homing in on a telltale tone. Moments later, a mule deer doe, radio collar number 877, bolted from cover and bounded down the gully. Lumkes backtracked to the doe’s estimated […]

New student regent and advocate for mental health

Reanne Cunningham Chilton, a clinical psychology doctoral student who has worked with populations ranging from young children and university students to retirees and incarcerated men, is serving as the new student regent on the WSU Board of Regents for academic year 2022–23. Selected by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Chilton is in

Opioids kill minorities at younger ages

Although opioid use cuts across socio-economic boundaries, WSU researchers have found racial and ethnic minorities in Washington state are more likely to die from an overdose earlier in their lives than non-Hispanic white residents. “This work confirms the epidemic is far reaching and having dramatic impacts on quality and length of life for Americans of […]

Jazz Big Band wins magazine award

Throughout the pandemic, the WSU Jazz Big Band stayed focused on their craft, leveraging Zoom and other technologies to practice, perform, and record music together while physically distanced. This spring, DownBeat magazine awarded the band its 2022 Graduate College Large Jazz Ensemble Award, recognizing the quality of the band’s asynchronous

Community and equity training

The Community and Equity Certificate Program is helping faculty and staff across the WSU system expand their understanding of equity-mindedness and build a toolkit for engaging more effectively with students, colleagues, and community partners. Kara Whitman, assistant professor in the School of the Environment, likened the workshop breakout discussions to a faculty learning community where

Preserving the “Land of Origins”

Scattered across southern Ethiopia are thousands of mysterious stone monoliths rising as high as 20 feet. “We don’t know who built the stelae in southern Ethiopia or why,” says Addisalem Melesse, a WSU doctoral student in archaeology. “However, the research we are doing at WSU is starting to shed light on the monument’s history and […]

College honors for faculty, staff, students

Eighteen faculty, two staff, and five graduate students were honored for outstanding achievement at the 2022 College of Arts and Sciences Appreciation and Recognition Social in April. Professor Craig Hemmens, a national leader in ethical criminal justice practices, and Choong-Shik Yoo, a pioneer in static high pressure