Hard apple cider is growing in popularity around the country, and craft ciders from small cideries are the fastest growing segment of that market. Equipped with a grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a new group, led by Washington State University researchers, will work with orchardists and cider makers to develop […]
On the southern slope of Mount Adams in Washington, Kevan Moffett and her students are working to learn how soils recover moisture following wildfires so that trees and plants can sprout again. The field area has suffered three fires in the last 14 years—the McDonald Ridge fire of 2004, the Cold Springs fire of 2008 […]
Work at the WSU Bear Research, Education, and Conservation Center goes well beyond important things like enrichment programs and energy-monitoring collars. WSU scientists are looking at the genomic level to try and determine the myriad ways that bears adapt to their climate. Joanna Kelley, an evolutionary geneticist and assistant professor in the School of Biological […]
Reducing synthetic fertilizer use, pollution, farming costs, while freeing up nitrogen, mark possible benefits of a research project by Sarah Roley, assistant professor with the School of the Environment, Washington State University Tri-Cities. Roley, and her two colleagues, recently landed a $483,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation, to pursue a more detailed understanding […]
Four student projects mentored by College of Arts and Sciences faculty were selected to receive $3,000 each as part of the 2018 WSU Tri-Cities Chancellor’s Summer Scholars program. The projects span environmental and biological sciences, mechanical and electrical engineering, and fine arts. The Chancellor’s Summer Scholars Program offers students the opportunity to develop skills to
WSU geologists have found a new way to estimate how fast magma is recharging beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano. Scientists now have a better understanding of a key factor of what’s underneath the massive caldera: a pool of basalt magma continually recharging the system. “It is the coal in the furnace that’s
Four years ago, on his way home to Walla Walla from school in Arizona, Taylor Hermsen was thumbing through an in-flight magazine when he was struck by an idea for his doctoral research. “The magazine was all about wine,” Hermsen said. “Being a native of the Inland Northwest, I thought I knew a lot about my home, but the fact that many people visiting eastern Washington are doing so […]
A researcher at WSU Vancouver encountered rare and elusive beaked whales while on a research vessel west of Ireland last month. Enrico Pirotta, a post doc in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, was on the last days of a six-day cruise when the crew had several sightings. The first sightings were too far away […]
WSU researchers Caren Goldberg, Katherine Strickler, and Alex Fremier are being honored this week for their use of a technique that can detect minute amounts of DNA to see if at-risk species are in an area. The researchers took the Project of the Year for Resource Conservation and Resiliency award during the Strategic Environmental Research […]
Kent Keller, professor and fellow of the Geological Society of America, has been named director of the School of the Environment at Washington State University. A WSU researcher and teacher since 1988, Keller began his career studying geological processes deep under the Earth. Today he studies the critical zone, the vital skin of Earth where […]