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CAS in the Media Arts and Sciences Media Headlines

Beasts of the Ice Age

Not so long ago, large creatures roamed the Pullman area. Formidable beasts journeyed through the plains of the Palouse during the last Ice Age.

Fossils of mastodons, distant mammoth relatives, were found a few hours from Seattle, according to Washington State Magazine. At the site in Sequim, WSU professor Carl Gustafson uncovered evidence humans hunted the giant beasts: a spear tip embedded in a fossilized rib. Gustafson’s finding revolutionized the timeline of human presence in North America, revealing humans arrived in North America at least 800 years earlier than previously thought.

Gustafson’s discovery remains one of the most significant in WSU history. He also unearthed mammoth bones in central Washington, according to the Seattle Times. After nearly 40 years of teaching, Gustafson retired from WSU in 1998. He passed away in 2016, leaving a legacy of mammoth proportions. You can visit the Conner Museum on the ground floor of Abelson Hall to see a fossilized mammoth femur and mastodon teeth in person.

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Daily Evergreen

WSU named top producer of Fulbright U.S. Scholars

Washington State University is among the colleges and universities that produced the most Fulbright U.S. Scholars in 2021-22, said the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

“For 2021-2022, WSU has three faculty members—two from Pullman and one from Vancouver—who applied for and received Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards, and we are very proud of their achievement,” said Laura Griner Hill, WSU senior vice provost. She serves as one of WSU’s campus representatives for Fulbright Scholars.

Members of CAS among WSU’s 2021-22 Fulbright U.S. Scholars

Carolyn Long
Long
  • Carolyn N. Long, WSU Vancouver associate professor in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, is at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia where she is teaching on the subject of American politics. She was also a Fulbright scholar there in 2009-2010.
  • Jeffrey Sanders.
    Sanders

    Jeffrey C. Sanders, WSU Pullman associate professor in the Department of History, is at Cardiff University in Wales continuing his research into radiation movement through global ecosystems.

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WSU Insider

Update: Tri-City high school student’s documentary to premiere on the big screen

A Tri-Cities filmmaker will have the premiere of his first feature-length documentary at Fairchild Cinemas in Richland later this month.

Augustin Dulauroy has been making short videos with friends since middle school and had a short film he directed selected for the All American Film Festival in New York last fall.

Robert Franklin.
Franklin

He interviewed experts on Hanford like Robert Franklin, president of the B Reactor Museum Association and assistant professor of History at Washington State University Tri-Cities, and health physicist Ron Kathren, the first professor emeritus for WSU Tri-Cities.

The documentary was released on Amazon Prime Video USA on March 2 and on Vimeo-On-Demand Worldwide on March 3.

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Tri-City Herald

Playing for a cause

Christiano Rodrigues playing violin.
Rodrigues

Christiano Rodrigues, assistant professor of violin and viola at Washington State University, performs Tuesday in the Terrell Library atrium on the WSU campus in Pullman as part of a humanitarian concert in support of Ukraine in the midst of recent Russian attacks. The concert featured works by Ukrainian composers combined with music from around the world.

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Daily News

Physicist honored for microscope invention, impact on society

Matt McCluskey.
McCluskey

A recognized authority on compound semiconductors and the recipient of two U.S. patents, Professor Matthew McCluskey has been named a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors.

“Professor McCluskey excels at research and mentoring that has real, long-lasting impact both within and outside the lab,” said Todd Butler, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “He has emerged as a leader and high-value partner for industrial scientists engaged in the multi-billion-dollar industry of compound semiconductor materials and device products, and many of his students go on to employment in not just academia but also industry and national laboratories.”

McCluskey, the Westinghouse Distinguished professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a faculty member in the interdisciplinary Materials Science and Engineering Program, is the second WSU researcher to be named an NAI Senior Member since the program began in 2018. Jacob Leachman in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering was honored in 2021.

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WSU Insider