Recognition | University Categories | CAS in the Media

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Psychology educator earns award for non-tenure track teaching

February 7, 2014

Clinical associate professor Samantha Swindell is one of two recipients of the annual President’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Non-tenure Track Faculty at Washington State University.

Swindell has taught in the Department of Psychology since 1998. She teaches lab, lecture, and online courses to classes of all sizes, and mentors undergraduate researchers and graduate instructors individually. She is a member of the WSU Academic Advising Association and has served on its certification committee since 2008.

As director of the psychology undergraduate program, she coordinates the annual undergraduate research symposium. Her own research focuses on teaching methods, outcomes, assessment, and implementing what is discovered in order to improve teaching and learning.

Swindell’s award will be among those presented at the Celebrating Excellence Recognition Banquet on March 28, part of the WSU Showcase annual celebration of faculty, staff, and student achievement.

Find out more about Swindell and WSU Showcase

Biologist named one of top 20 promising young investigators

February 4, 2014

GenomeWeb’s 8th annual list of top Young Investigators included Joanna Kelley, an assistant professor of biology in the WSU School of Biological Sciences. As a mathematics and biology undergraduate, Kelley focused her Ph.D. work on genetic adaptation. In her lab at Washington State University, research focuses on genetic changes as populations diverge and adapt to the (sometimes extreme) environments they encounter. Among other projects, her lab is comparing populations of fish that have adapted to live in hydrogen sulfide-rich waters and studying the genome of an Antarctic fly.

GenoneWeb profile (email registration required)
WSU Daily Evergreen
WSU News
The Kelley Lab at WSU

CAS alumna is state’s top science teacher

January 17, 2014

Two WSU alumnae are the most recent state winners of the annual Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Pamela Nolan-Beasley, who earned her master’s degree in foreign languages and literature at WSU, is a certified K-12 teacher at Waitsburg (Wash.) Elementary School where she has taught kindergarten for 13 years. She is also a state Leadership and Assistance for Science Education and Reform (LASER) facilitator and teacher leader for sustainable innovation and reform in science. She will receive $10,000 from the National Science Foundation and a trip for two to Washington, D.C., for recognition events and professional development.

More about the Presidential Awards

Innovative police safety app debuts at White House conference

January 13, 2014

A computer application to help reduce fatigue and improve police officer safety will be presented at a White House innovation conference Tuesday, Jan. 14, by Bryan Vila, professor of criminal justice and criminology, WSU Spokane.

Ten teams from White House “DataJam” safety innovation competitions nationwide were invited to present their projects at the White House Safety Datapalooza in Washington D.C. Vila and his team developed the BeSharp app to monitor objective assessments of police officers’ fatigue rather than depending on self-assessments, since performance can be seriously impaired by the time officers actually feel drowsy.

New CAS faculty identified as promising young investigator

January 7, 2014

Joanna Kelley, a new assistant professor in biological sciences, is one of 20 scientists worldwide named as promising young investigators in the annual list compiled by GenomeWeb publisher.

The early-career honorees were recommended by established principal investigators. Kelley was recommended by Carlos Bustamante, Stanford University School of Medicine.