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Researchers named to Washington State Academy of Sciences

A distinguished professor in the Department of Sociology is among four WSU faculty named to the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) today. New members are accepted in recognition of their outstanding record of scientific achievement and willingness to work on behalf of the academy in bringing the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.

Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson
Monica Johnson

Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, professor of sociology and Honors College distinguished professor, studies work, family and education across the life course, with a particular focus on well-being and achievement in adolescence and the transition to adulthood.

The newest members of WSAS will be inducted during the ninth annual meeting at the Seattle Museum of Flight on Sept. 15.

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WSU News

Licensing deal will help combat deadly cattle disease

A gene-editing technology developed at Washington State University is being licensed to Genus plc, a global animal genetics company, to develop cattle that are more resistant to bovine respiratory disease (BRD).

The outcome of a discovery by WSU researcher Subramaniam Srikumaran, the new technology and its translation to disease-resistant animals is an example of the WSU expertise behind the recently launched Functional Genomics Initiative (FGI). FGI was developed by the College of Veterinary Medicine in partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences to address grand challenges around health and global food supply.

The goal of this initiative is to use gene-editing approaches and advanced reproductive technologies to produce livestock that will increase food production, enhance disease resistance and allow livestock to thrive as global demand for food increases. Funding for the initiative and a center dedicated to this work will lead to additional important discoveries.

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WSU News

Planning begins for Tendoy Interpretive Park

For the fourth year, the Daylight Creek Gathering near Virginia City, Mont., welcomed the Shoshone-Bannock people back to their ancestral homelands. Coordinator Leo Ariwite said, “Being up here we can see everything. These are the same mountains that our ancestors saw.”

Orlan Svingen
Orlan Svingen

Ariwite has been collaborating with Washington State University Professor of History Orlan Svingen to gather historical evidence and documentation of areas inhabited by the tribal people before white settlement. Their research uncovered a land cession document signed in 1870 which allowed Chief Tendoy’s people a land claim that the U.S. government never honored. Since the finding, Svingen and Ariwite have been trying to bring the truth to light.

With cooperation from the townsfolk of Virginia City, last year Tendoy Park, an eight-acre area was dedicated to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. This year proposed plans for a future Interpretive Park were presented by WSU students Alicia Woodard and Allison Bremmeyer, who were a part of a group of nine students who brainstormed ideas from the John and Janet Creighton Public History Field School. The discussion was meant as a public consultation with the tribal people and to gather their input.

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Sho-Ban News

Researchers ‘watch’ crystal structure change in real time

Yogendra Gupta
Yogendra Gupta

Washington State University researchers have met the long-standing scientific challenge of watching a material change its crystal structure in real time.

Their discovery is a dramatic proof of concept for a new way of discerning the makeups of various materials, from impacted meteors to body armor to iron in the center of the Earth.

Until now, researchers have had to rely on computer simulations to follow the atomic-level changes of a structural transformation under pressure, said Yogendra Gupta, Regents professor and director of the WSU Institute of Shock Physics. The new method provides a way to actually measure the physical changes and to see if the simulations are valid.

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WSU News

New radiochemistry training offered to WSU grad students

Nathalie Wall
Nathalie Wall

A new radiochemistry trainee program at Washington State University will help address a critical shortage of scientists in the nuclear energy industry.

Supported by a $3 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, the program will enhance training at WSU and let graduate students work alongside radiochemistry experts at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the next five years.

“Researchers and staff trained in America’s nuclear era in the late 20th century are retiring in large numbers and the current supply of trainees will not able to keep up with demand,” said Nathalie Wall, associate professor of chemistry and director of the WSU radiochemistry traineeship. “This program will provide our students with a variety of research experiences and a pipeline of potential employees well-educated in radiochemistry.”

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WSU News