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Ring Doorbell Cameras Help Fight Crime, Raise Other Issues

Nationally, doorbell cameras’ effectiveness in deterring crime is not yet apparent. Additionally, there have been several ethical dilemmas raised by minority groups and police watchdogs as the cameras become more popular.

Clayton Mosher.
Mosher

Clayton Mosher, a professor of sociology at Washington State University Vancouver who focuses on criminology, said a key issue surrounding the devices is the involvement of big corporations such as Amazon in marketing them. The companies may be using “questionable ‘research’ to overstate their effectiveness and increase their profits,” he said.

“It is possible that the installation of doorbell cameras [or related technologies] may have a short-term impact on burglaries, but there are also displacement issues. People will still commit burglaries, and perhaps just go to different areas,” Mosher said.

Technology is ahead of the government’s attempts to regulate it, Mosher said. He is also concerned, he said, about who will have access to data from doorbell cameras and whether it will be linked to other data, especially law enforcement data, potentially violating people’s rights.

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Government Technology

New Boeing Distinguished Professor in Environmental Sociology named

An expert in environmental conflict and the sociology of energy systems, Dylan Bugden has been named Boeing Distinguished Professor in Environmental Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Dylan Bugden.
Bugden

Bugden is an enthusiastic educator and researcher who examines environmental electoral politics, social movements, and land-use conflicts with a focus on energy infrastructure and resources, said Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, department chair. He also studies the unequal distribution of environmental risks and benefits, particularly as they intersect with public conflicts.

“The Boeing Professorship is a genuinely transformative resource for my work and for the research being done in the new Environment and Society Laboratory,” Bugden said. “The sociology department at WSU is known nationally as the historical home of environmental sociology, and our lab will build on this legacy while expanding it in new, exciting directions.”

Working with students and other faculty in the lab, Bugden seeks to identify the social roots of environmental and energy challenges and to inform equitable structural solutions. The lab was established with support from his Boeing professorship and provides opportunities for students to develop and apply critical knowledge and skills in research, education and outreach.

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WSU Insider

WSU students dedicate innovative artwork to Kamiak Elementary School, community

Imagine a large, outdoor painting that changes colors when warmed by the sun or by the touch of a child’s hand and shifts hues again in cool rain and winter’s chill.

Two such temperature-sensitive paintings are among four vibrant murals created this fall through a unique collaboration between Washington State University artists and chemists for public display at Kamiak Elementary School in Pullman. The innovative paintings will be dedicated to the new elementary school and surrounding community on Monday, Oct. 21, at 4 p.m.

The free, public event will be held on the school playground at 1400 NW Terre View Dr. or, in case of rain, in the school library.

Joe Hedges.
Hedges
Amy Nielsen.
Nielsen

“Our goal was to create an outdoor mural, inspired and informed by chemical science, that is both educational and interactive,” said Amy Nielsen, clinical assistant professor of chemistry, who co‑led the project with Joe Hedges, assistant professor of fine arts.

The professors worked with master of fine arts student Kelsey Baker, chemistry graduate student Aaron Hendrickson, and about 25 students in Hedges’s advanced and intermediate painting class to create the murals designed by Baker and Jiemei Lin, a graphic artist at WSU.

The incoming student class at Kamiak Elementary and members of the community voted for their favorite of three designs presented by the mural team in early August.

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WSU Insider
Northwest Public Broadcasting (NWPB)

Center for Arts and Humanities celebrates launch, hosts NEH chairman

Washington State University will celebrate the public launch of the Center for Arts and Humanities (CAH) with two workshops and a reception on Oct. 24. Joining the festivities will be Jon Parrish Peede, chairman for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“The center will serve as a ‘front door’ to the arts and humanities at WSU. Our goal is to nurture curiosity and encourage innovation that crosses traditional scholarly boundaries and supports the public good,” said Todd Butler, associate professor of English and CAH director.

The center will award its first two undergraduate scholarships at the reception and celebrate the work of the current cohort of eight CAH Faculty Fellows, who are pursuing projects ranging from an examination of the links between Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frank Lloyd Wright to collaborations with Native American singers to preserve recordings of traditional Nez Perce songs.

Formally approved by the Board of Regents in May 2019, the center is supported by a University-wide consortium that includes the Office of Research, College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School, WSU Libraries, and the Office of the President.

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WSU Insider

Dynamic history, significance of WSU shock physics topic of talk Oct. 17

From the design of lighter-weight bullet-proof vests to understanding meteorite impacts to the quest for sustainable energy through nuclear fusion, a wide variety of innovations have origins in shock physics research—a field in which Washington State University is the academic leader.

Yogendra Gupta.
Gupta

More than 60 years ago, WSU physicists pioneered U.S. academic research in shock wave compression of condensed matter, theoretical and experimental work that has contributed to innumerable advances in national security, energy, advanced materials, and geo/planetary sciences. On Thursday, Oct. 17, Yogendra Gupta, Regents professor of physics and director of the Institute for Shock Physics, will present an historical overview of the significant scientific activity and achievements of the WSU faculty, staff, and graduate students in this dynamic and exciting field.

Gupta’s address, “Sixty‑plus years of shock wave research and graduate education at Washington State University,” will begin at 4:10 p.m. in Kate B. Webster Physical Sciences Building, room 17, on the WSU Pullman campus. The free, public address will be of interest to physicists and non‑physicists alike.

“Dr. Gupta is internationally renowned for his many innovations and discoveries in shock wave and high pressure research,” said Brian Saam, professor and chair of physics and astronomy at WSU. “He will explain the scientific significance of shock wave research and provide insights about the underlying physics concepts in such a way that even non‑physicists will find compelling.”

Gupta’s is the second Distinguished Colloquium in Physics of 2019–20 and part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s year-long 100th anniversary celebration “100 Years of Education, Innovation, and Discovery.”

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WSU Insider