Faculty

Three recently hired Arts & Sciences faculty were awarded seed grant funding to develop unique research and creative projects in anthropology, history, and music. 

Bala Krishnamoorthy, professor of mathematics and statistics at WSU Vancouver, has been named the first recipient of the Yang “Wendy” Liu Award for Excellence in Teaching International Students. In nominating Krishnamoorthy for the award, PhD student James Asare noted, “In all three of Bala’s classes I took, what struck me the most was his careful […]

Birds of a feather not only flock together but also appear to settle down together. “The presence of another bird that isn’t migratory seems to be a really potent cue to stop migration,” said Heather Watts, a Washington State University behavioral ecologist and corresponding author on a study recently published in Biology Letters. “We saw […]

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

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

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 […]

A team of researchers led by Maria Gartstein, professor of psychology, developed a novel research study using machine learning to attempt to classify infants by gender and age. “It was a cool opportunity to do kind of a demonstration study using techniques that require really large data sets and are not very common in social […]

Through the WSU Emeritus Society, retired faculty members continue to support student success and empower experiential learning. In 2022, four arts & sciences students were selected to receive an undergraduate research or scholarship award from the society, along with funding to continue their independent projects.

An emerging expert in nuclear thermodynamics, Assistant Professor Xiaofeng Guo recently received an NSF CAREER award as well as an Early Career Achievement award from the WSU College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on materials critically important to the nuclear fuel cycle and the safe long-term storage of nuclear waste. His unique thermodynamic […]

An interdisciplinary study of adolescence-to-adult health found young adults who were at risk of food insecurity had an increased incidence of diabetes 10 years later. WSU researchers in sociology, medicine, and nursing analyzed data on nearly 4,000 people from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. They found that adults ages 24–32 who […]