CAS in the Media | Washington State University

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Hydropower isn’t carbon neutral after all, WSU researchers say

October 12, 2016 will.ferguson

WSU researchers John Harrison and Bridget Deemer report in a new paper in BioScience that decomposing organic material in reservoirs of all sorts is an important sources of the greenhouse gas methane.

In their synthesis review of 100 research papers published on the topic since 2000, the researchers and their collaborators established that methane emissions were about 25 percent higher per acre than previously understood on a given reservoir. That was because the researchers looked not only at methane diffused from the surface of lakes, but at gas in bubbles rising to the surface.

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Seattle Times

Eastern promise: gender lessons from the Islamic world

October 11, 2016 adriana

Many predominantly Muslim countries boast an enviably high proportion of female engineers. Not only are women participating in STEM subjects in much higher numbers than in the West, they are also excelling. But what are the factors drawing them in and, conversely, driving their Western counterparts away?

According to Julie Kmec, WSU distinguished professor of sociology and co-leader of a new $530,000 study of what motivates women to study engineering, a variety of interlocking socio-political elements are at play.

“We have this sort of ‘be happy, follow your dreams’ mentality, coupled with a macro-cultural value system… a system of gender centralism, which essentially is this notion that men are good at this, and women are good at something different,” Kmec said.

“In developing countries, the economy does not necessarily allow people to have a choice. In Pakistan, for example, there are limited roads and bridges, and they get washed out every time there’s a storm. And so the infrastructure of countries that are developing… means people go to study what’s important for their country.”

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Under eastern Washington runs a fault line that has jolted U.S. politics

October 11, 2016 adriana

So why is it that eastern Washington – heavily reliant on crop subsidies, fire protection, highway construction, higher education, Medicare, unemployment benefits – has shifted to politicians who have fought for government to spend less, tax less, do less?

For answers and analysis, The Spokesman-Review turned to Cornell W. Clayton, a political scientist who specializes in the study of polarization. He serves as director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University.

When Foley and his generation served in Congress, each of the two political parties was divided. To fashion a majority and get anything done, Clayton said, the leaders of Foley’s generation had to work across the aisle.

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The Spokesman-Review

Civility 101: You’re invited

October 11, 2016 adriana

North Idaho College will partner with the Coeur d’Alene Task Force on Human Relations, the school’s own Diversity Council, and the Associated Students of North Idaho College in a one-day conference, “Returning Civility to America’s Democracy: The Promotion of Civil Dialogue,” 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday at the Schuler Performing Arts Center in Boswell Hall.

The conference’s keynote speaker will be Cornell W. Clayton, director of Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University.

Clayton also is a professor of political science, an author and well-known lecturer on the topic of civility.

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CDA Press

Fossatti made the most of her 102 years

October 11, 2016 adriana

Alice Fossatti died Sunday at age 102. Her spitfire personality propelled her through the Depression, a 73-year marriage, motherhood, 23 years of teaching kindergarten at Hawthorne Elementary School and decades of communing with her inner artist.

Washington State University history professor Brigit Farley recalls how Fossatti validated and affirmed her pint-size pupils. Later, when Farley started teaching at the college level, the two discussed the teaching profession and the importance of lifting up students and teaching them to be kind thinkers.

“I think she would say that the most important thing in teaching little kids was instilling confidence and belief in themselves,” Farley said. “That’s the foundation she built in them. That’s something I very consciously took from her in my own work. Turns out that is as important when people are 25 as it is when they are just five.”

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East Oregonian