Published research/scholarship/creative work

2019 news recap: CAS research made headlines worldwide

From Instagram selfies to an ancient tattoo tool, research from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) made headlines around the world in 2019. The University distributed press releases for more than 65 scientific papers last year, including many from CAS faculty and scientists. Together, the findings were seen potentially billions of times by readers […]

WSU students named finalists in NFL data competition

If you’ve never watched American football, it can look like organized chaos. But for WSU graduate students Namrata Ray and Jugal Marfatia, looking at data snapshots of plays allowed them to find hidden data inside the chaos. That eventually lead the duo to a trip to the 2020 National Football League’s Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. […]

Mapping natural and legal boundaries to help wildlife move

Wildlife need to move to survive: to find food, reproduce and escape wildfires and other hazards. Yet as soon as they leave protected areas like national forests or parks, they often wind up on a landscape that is very fragmented in terms of natural boundaries and human ones. To help create more corridors for wildlife […]

BAM! Documenting creativity, action, and art in the 1960s

The Black Arts Movement of Chicago is the subject of a documentary by two WSU Vancouver associate professors of English, Thabiti Lewis and Pavithra Narayanan. The 50-minute film took four years to make. It’s quick-cut style keeps viewers riveted and hungry to learn more about a period of American history that birthed a rich aesthetic […]

Documenting the collapse of the white-lipped peccary

White-lipped peccaries of Central America have declined by as much as 90% from their historical range, signaling a population collapse of a key species in the region, according to a study by WSU researchers and colleagues published recently in the journal Biological Conservation. “White-lipped peccary populations are in more of a critical condition than previously […]

Microscopic partners could help plants survive stressful environments

Tiny, symbiotic fungi play an outsized role in helping plants survive stresses like drought and extreme temperatures, which could help feed a planet experiencing climate change, report WSU scientists. Recently published in the journal Functional Ecology, the discovery by plant-microbe biologist Stephanie Porter and plant pathologist Maren Friesen sheds light on

WSU political media expert on BBC

Several hotly contested government seats and the likely fate of Brexit were all up for grabs in the Dec. 12 general election in the UK. To find out how social media and other digital campaign tactics are being used to influence—or manipulate—British voters, BBC World Service invited Travis Ridout, WSU political science professor and political […]

Cannabis reduces headache and migraine pain by nearly half

Inhaled cannabis reduces self-reported headache severity by 47.3% and migraine severity by 49.6%, according to a recent study led by Carrie Cuttler, a Washington State University assistant professor of psychology. The study, published online recently in the Journal of Pain, is the first to use big data from headache and migraine patients using cannabis in […]