CAS Story Hub

Understanding cybercrime marketplaces

As instances of online identity theft continue to rise over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, WSU criminologist Alex Kigerl is helping to shed light on the shady world of cybercriminals and how it operates. A backstabbing crime boss and thousands of people looking for free tutorials on hacking and identity theft were among the […]

University honors chemistry professor

Ralph Yount has given hope to millions of people who will never know his name. During his 44-year career as a professor of chemistry and molecular biosciences at WSU, Yount’s study of muscle function advanced medical understanding of diseases such as muscular dystrophy, ALS, and myasthenia gravis. His work focused on the way muscles contract, […]

Bear butter: Studying tiny moths as a rich food source

A team of international scientists led by a WSU graduate student are trekking the high peaks of the greater Glacier National Park ecosystem this summer to better understand a tiny but important food source for grizzly bears—the army cutworm moth. Erik Peterson, a master’s student in the School of the Environment, partnered with WSU professor […]

Sniffing out patterns

Dogs and humans have been inseparable for many millennia. Dogs eat, sleep, play, and work with us in relationships so intimate that we call them people, family members, and, as novelist Spencer Quinn puts it, members of “a nation within a nation.” Or so it would seem to your typical American dog owner. In fact, […]

Enhancing research, creative activity in arts and humanities

Eleven of WSUs most innovative scholars and artists have been selected for faculty fellowships and mini-grants from the Center for Arts and Humanities (CAH) and the Office of Research. Representing seven academic units and totaling nearly $78,000 in direct support, the funded projects include the creation of new international musical collaborations, investigations of interracial marriage […]

Several fish adapt in same way to toxic water

At least 10 different lineages of fish have adapted to live in an extreme environment using the same mechanism, according to a study led by WSU evolutionary biologists. The fish, which were found living in streams with highly toxic levels of hydrogen sulfide in different locations in the United States, Mexico and the island of […]

Sociologist elected to Washington State Academy of Sciences

Alair MacLean, associate professor of sociology at WSU Vancouver, will join the 2020 class of the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS). The academy announced its newest members in July, including seven from WSU. The honor recognizes researchers for their outstanding scientific and technical achievement as well as their willingness to work on behalf of […]

Putting Affordable Learning Grants into action

Five CAS faculty members in four academic areas—chemistry, Spanish, humanities, and English—are creating free, open educational resources for their courses with the help of WSU Affordable Learning Grants. By shifting from traditional textbooks to openly licensed course materials,  faculty have saved WSU students more than $1 million savings in textbook costs over the past four […]

Field work yields science and cultural understanding

Iridescent little fairywrens drew doctoral student Jordan Boersma to the grasslands of Papua New Guinea, but it was the unexpected generosity of the people that captured the researcher’s heart. “I’ve traveled all over Asia and never experienced this level of hospitality. If you accept their culture, they’ll really take you in and look after you,” […]