Ralph Yount has given hope to millions of people who will never know his name. During his 44-year career as a professor of chemistry and molecular biosciences at WSU, Yount’s study of muscle function advanced medical understanding of diseases such as muscular dystrophy, ALS, and myasthenia gravis. His work focused on the way muscles contract, […]
A team of international scientists led by a WSU graduate student are trekking the high peaks of the greater Glacier National Park ecosystem this summer to better understand a tiny but important food source for grizzly bears—the army cutworm moth. Erik Peterson, a master’s student in the School of the Environment, partnered with WSU professor […]
At least 10 different lineages of fish have adapted to live in an extreme environment using the same mechanism, according to a study led by WSU evolutionary biologists. The fish, which were found living in streams with highly toxic levels of hydrogen sulfide in different locations in the United States, Mexico and the island of […]
Five CAS faculty members in four academic areas—chemistry, Spanish, humanities, and English—are creating free, open educational resources for their courses with the help of WSU Affordable Learning Grants. By shifting from traditional textbooks to openly licensed course materials, faculty have saved WSU students more than $1 million savings in textbook costs over the past four […]
Buddy Levy, a longtime clinical professor in English, likes to make the trip. He specializes in historical narrative, paying meticulous attention to detail, writing cinematically, and traveling to the sites of the stories he’s researching—sometimes several hundred years after they’ve occurred. Travel, he says, is necessary for scene-setting and description, and can be more meaningful than […]
Stephanie Schendel caught the journalism bug in college, spending two years on the staff of The Daily Evergreen and observing Pullman police officers as they responded to calls related to drunkenness, domestic disputes, overdoses—even a stabbing. “I did maybe a half-dozen ride-alongs,” says Schendel (’12 Spanish, Comm). “They were very patient with me and answered all of […]
In the days after Mount St. Helens first erupted—sending some 540 million tons of ash over an area of 22,000 square miles—WSU ecology professor Richard “Dick” Mack was already thinking of its potential research value. “It wasn’t research that I intended to do,” Mack says, “but there was a unique opportunity and it would be […]
Cesar Munguia, student services coordinator/advisor for Cougs Rise, received a 2020 Crimson Spirit recognition. After earning his WSU undergraduate degree in sociology, Cesar joined the University as a full-time staff member in the Office of Academic Engagement. As a project coordinator for Cougs Rise, he is committed to providing support services to students with the […]
A national expert on political advertising and campaign finance, Travis Ridout will begin on July 15 a four-year term as director of the School of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs (PPPA). Now the Thomas S. Foley Distinguished Professor of Government and Public Policy, Ridout joined the WSU faculty in 2003. Since then, he has taught […]
People in what is now Washington state were smoking Rhus glabra, a plant commonly known as smooth sumac, more than 1,400 years ago. The discovery, made by a team of WSU researchers, marks the first-time scientists have identified residue from a non-tobacco plant in an archeological pipe. “The research casts doubt on the commonly held […]