CAS in the Media | Washington State University

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WSU research projects focus on memory problems

December 3, 2013

By volunteering as a memory research subject, Johnnie Bosworth of Spokane is helping WSU researchers develop strategies for people with age-related memory loss or cognitive impairment to live safely in their own homes.

We really want to keep people “functioning as independently as possible for as long as possible,” said Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe, a clinical neuropsychologist in the Department of Psychology who’s leading the research with faculty in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Considering that nearly one in five U.S. residents will be 65 and older in 2030, “There’s some concern about how we’re going to handle this aging population,” Schmitter-Edgecombe said.

Hispanic population helps redefine New Orleans region

December 2, 2013

New Orleans—which sometimes bills itself as the Gateway to the Americas—has deep ties to Latin America that stretch back to the turn of the 20th century. But New Orleans never became a teeming hub of Hispanic immigration like its fellow port cities of Houston, Miami and Los Angeles. And for most of the 20th century, the metropolitan region’s Hispanic population grew slowly. A small but diverse population of Cubans, Salvadorans, Hondurans and Brazilians eventually took root.

Elizabeth Fussell, associate professor of sociology, has done extensive research on the city’s post-Katrina influx of Hispanic people.

Read more in the New Orleans Advocate.

Project aims to preserve voices of Hanford’s history

November 26, 2013

Seventy years ago, the U.S. military evacuated two small communities in southeast Washington and created a place called Hanford. The historic moments that happened there since can get lost in all the news the nuclear cleanup is creating today. Now, a major effort is underway to preserve the voices of Hanford’s past.

Bob Bauman, professor of history at WSU Tri-Cities, is recording memories of the area through the Hanford Oral History Project.

Watch the video at KING5 News

JFK assassination: Gen Y students weigh in during new class

November 18, 2013

From the grassy knoll in Dallas to the wheat-covered hills of the Palouse, President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 remains a whodunit that stumps the old and young alike.

Or maybe not.

Though Kennedy’s shooting is one of the “greatest mysteries of all times,” according to students in history instructor Scott Stratton’s course “50th Anniversary of the JFK Assassination,” it’s not such a mystery after all.

Read the article at WSU News

Exploring citizenship in Asian American women’s lit

November 16, 2013

Pamela Thoma, Critical Cultures, Gender, and Race Studies — Pamela Thoma

Pamela Thoma, associate professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies, published a new book exploring the conditions of cultural and political belonging for Asian American women depicted in popular fiction.

Asian American Women’s Popular Literature; Feminizing Genres and Neoliberal Belonging examines the ways Asian American female writers address various family and financial pressures on women to reconcile the demands of work, motherhood, and consumer culture.