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CAMP student selected for prestigious congressional internship

Daniela Carvajal-Macias.
Carvajal-Macias

Daniela Carvajal-Macias, a junior pre-law student majoring in Spanish, has been selected for a National High School Equivalency Program/CAMP Association Congressional Internship.

Carvajal-Macias, who is a student in Washington State University’s College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), will begin her 10-week internship on May 30. She has been assigned to work with Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who has served Arizona’s 3rd congressional district since 2003.

“I am super excited and a little nervous,” Carvajal-Macias said. “I want to learn more about what it is like to work in a congressional office, and I look forward to seeing where this opportunity takes me.”

Carvajal-Macias will work alongside Grijalva’s staff to draft communications to constituents, write and review documents, and strategize to develop and advance legislation on issues he supports. Although CAMP interns typically serve in Washington, D.C., she will carry out her duties virtually due to the pandemic.

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WSU Insider 

Music professor selected for WSU Libraries’ Excellence Award

Keri McCarthy.
McCarthy

Washington State University School of Music Professor Keri McCarthy has been named the 2021 recipient of the WSU Libraries’ Excellence Award.

The award recognizes a non-library WSU faculty or staff member who has shown consistent support for the WSU Libraries. Recipients are chosen based on encouraging students to use the libraries; personal use of the libraries; personal support of or contributions to the libraries’ collections or services; interaction and cooperation with library faculty; and service on library-related committees.

“This award reflects some of the love for knowledge that she shared with me when I was a child,” McCarthy said. “I have great respect for WSU’s librarians and staff, and the collections they have cultivated. I have spent so much time over the years in Holland, Terrell and Kemble Stout libraries in particular, both conducting research and sharing research methods with my students. The WSU library system has given me so much, and I am surprised and grateful to be recognized.”

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WSU Insider

‘Superplant’ seminar marks growing WSU‑Germany research collaboration

Plant scientists at Washington State University and in Germany will launch a new research collaboration through a series of virtual talks about advances that help feed and sustain our world, starting Tuesday, May 4.

Mechthild Tegeder.
Tegeder

WSU scientists Mechthild Tegeder, Herbert L. Eastlick Distinguished Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, and Helmut Kirchhoff, professor in the Institute of Biological Chemistry, are leading efforts to exchange graduate students with CEPLAS members, including the University of Cologne, the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, and Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program, the European Union student exchange Erasmus Program, and the German Research Foundation.

“Direct cooperation between German and U.S. scientists and collaborative education of our scholars helps expand society’s knowledge about beneficial crops,” Tegeder said. “Interdisciplinary research experiences in Germany can also train WSU students on how to start, establish, and cultivate scientific collaboration, which will benefit them in their professional careers, make them more marketable for research occupations, and sustain our regional and national agricultural industries and economies.”

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WSU Insider

Ask Dr. Universe: How did people figure out how much a whole planet weighs? They could not have just put it on a scale! How did they do it?

About 300 years ago during another pandemic, there was a person named Sir Isaac Newton who spent a lot of time at home thinking about the universe.

Guy Worthey
Worthey

That’s what I found out from my friend Guy Worthey, an astronomer at Washington State University. Gravity plays a big part in the answer to your question, and we’ll explore that in just a moment.

“I remember when I was a kid, the textbooks said that Pluto was twice the mass of Earth,” Worthey said.

It turns out some planets, such as Venus and Mercury, do not have an orbiting object like a moon. It wasn’t until humans were able to send satellites to these planets that we were finally able to gather precise information about gravity and learn about mass.

You know, gravity is an important force. It’s what makes things fall. It’s what keeps planets in orbit. It’s what keeps us on the ground. While we may not have a scale to weigh planets, we can use what we know about gravity and mass to make all sorts of calculations and investigate questions about our universe.

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Ask Dr. Universe

Social tensions preceded disruptions in ancient Pueblo societies

Climate problems alone were not enough to end periods of ancient Pueblo development in the southwestern United States.

The findings, detailed in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that Pueblo farmers often persevered through droughts, but when social tensions were increasing, even modest droughts could spell the end of an era of development.

Tim Kohler
Kohler

“Societies that are cohesive can often find ways to overcome climate challenges,” said Tim Kohler, a Washington State University archeologist and corresponding author on the study. “But societies that are riven by internal social dynamics of any sort—which could be wealth differences, racial disparities or other divisions—are fragile because of those factors. Then climate challenges can easily become very serious.”

Social fragility was not at play, however, at the end of the Pueblo III period in the late 1200s when Pueblo farmers left the Four Corners with most moving far south. This study supports the theory that it was a combination of drought and conflict with outside groups that spurred the Pueblo peoples to leave.

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Phys.org
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