Skip to main content Skip to navigation

National Institutes of Health funds WSU research to improve life for people with memory loss

WSU electrical engineering and computer science professor Diane Cook and psychology professor Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe receive a National Institutes of Health grant funding for smart adaptive technology research. The smart adaptive technology helps people with memory loss manage everyday tasks, allowing them to live independently in their homes for as long as possible.

Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe
Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe

Robert Nilan receives President’s Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service

Robert Nilan, WSU professor emeritus and former College of Sciences dean, received the WSU President’s Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service. Nilan is a leading international authority on barley genetics who came to WSU in 1951 as an agronomist and geneticist.   While at WSU he served as chair of genetics, and his worldwide recognition as a plant geneticist earned him an appointment to the Danish Academy of Science. He trained more than 75 graduate students during his career at WSU and, as dean, he oversaw development of programs in statistics, environmental science and plant physiology; laboratories in bio-analysis and biotechnology; and centers of electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance.

Nilan and his wife Winona have given generously to the arts and sciences at WSU. Attracting students to WSU’s Department of Genetics and Cell Biology was at the center of their decision to create the Robert A. and Winona P. Nilan Graduate Fellowship in Genetics.

Bob Nilan, 1963
Bob Nilan, 1963

Robert Bates steps down from his position as Provost and Executive Vice President

Provost and Executive Vice President Robert Bates stepped down on July 1 after six years as WSU’s academic leader. A WSU master’s graduate in bacteriology, after leaving his position he joined WSU Vancouver as Director of Research and Graduate Education.

Scientific American names Patricia A. Hunt one of the top 50 researchers in the world for her research into plastics

Scientific American named WSU reproductive biologist Patricia A. Hunt to their “SciAm 50” list, identifying her as one of the top 50 researchers in the world. Her research showed a potential threat to human health posed by bisphenol A (BPA), a component of the polycarbonate plastics used to make food and beverage containers.

Spillman Stone rededicated to honor a pioneer wheat breeder

The Spillman Stone, a two-ton granite rock with William Jasper Spillman’s name engraved on it, was rededicated October 21 at Clark Hall Plaza on the Pullman campus. A wheat breeder at WSU from 1894 to 1902, Spillman was the only American to independently rediscover Mendel’s Law of Heredity and was also influential in early agricultural economics.

 

WSU molecular biology research featured in “Discover” magazine

Work by WSU molecular biologist Michael K. Skinner and his research team was chosen as one of the top 100 science stories of 2005 by Discover magazine. The researchers found that exposing fetal rats to environmental toxins can affect their sexual development in a way that also shows up in subsequent generations. The mechanism was an epigenetic one.

WSU first in U.S. to diagnose “Mad Cow” Disease

A test developed at WSU was used to diagnose the nation’s first case of “mad cow” disease. Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service at WSU and from WSU’s Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology were credited. The USDA chose WSU for one of seven laboratories nationwide to conduct tests for the disease.

WSU receives grant to create Institute for Shock Physics

WSU received a $10 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to create an Institute for Shock Physics. The institute is directed by WSU physics professor, Yogi Gupta.  In 2001 the university held a ground-breaking for a new building to house WSU’s internationally recognized Institute for Shock Physics.  In 2003, the new building housing WSU’s internationally recognized Institute for Shock Physics was inaugurated.

 

Norman Borlaug receives WSU honorary doctoral degree

Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Norman Borlaug, received an honorary doctoral degree from WSU during commencement in 1995.  Borlaug and WSU professor, Orville Vogel, are credited with research crucial to the “Green Revolution” in wheat breeding, which has saved an estimated one billion lives in the twentieth century.

 

Orville Vogel, developer of the world’s most productive wheat strains, receives Regents ninth Distinguished Alumnus Award

Orville Vogel, developer of the world’s most productive wheat strains, receives Regents Ninth Distinguished Alumnus Award. Vogel received his Ph.D. at WSU in 1939 and stayed as faculty for several decades. His work helped start the “Green Revolution” in agriculture. He led the research team that produced the first commercially successful semi-dwarf wheats and was known for his inventions of scientific research equipment. He received the National Medal of Science, presented by President Ford in 1975, as well as the State of Washington Medal of Merit in 1987.

Orville Vogel on a on is a small plot combine (designed by Dr. Vogel himself). It was used to harvest small wheat plots.
Orville Vogel on a on is a small plot combine (designed by Dr. Vogel himself). It was used to harvest small wheat plots.

Geologist Roald Fryxell examines lunar rocks in Houston

Geologist Roald Fryxell examines lunar rocks in Houston after all six manned moon landings. Fryxell was initially asked simply  to present to the lunar teams on core-sample analysis, but so impressed NASA that he was asked to join the analysis team.  A leader in the field of geoarchaeology, Fryxell was the co-principal investigator with Dr. Richard Daugherty of the Marmes Rockshelter site and designed the apparatus used for collecting the lunar rocks. A lunar crater is named Fryxell in his honor.

The FAA awards WSU and MIT a grant to co-lead the new Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuels and the Environment

The FAA awards WSU and MIT a grant to co-lead the new Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuels and the Environment. The 10-year, $40 million grant funds a 16-school research effort to develop bio-jet fuels, boost fuel mileage, and reduce airport noise and carbon dioxide emissions.

 

 

Vogel receives the National Medal of Science for his work in wheat breeding

Orville Vogel (left) and President Gerald Ford
Orville Vogel (left) and President Gerald Ford

On October 18, 1976, President Gerald Ford presented the National Medal of Science to WSU Professor Emeritus, Orville Vogel. Vogel helped develop wheat varieties with stronger stalks and higher yield potential, which now grow on five continents. This research launched the “Green Revolution,” a push in agricultural research to help feed the world’s hungry. Vogel worked at WSU from 1931 to 1973, receiving his Ph.D. here in 1939.

WSC Creamery produces the first can of Cougar Gold Cheese

In the late 1930s, the WSC Creamery wanted to find a new way to store cheese. Wax cracked easily and plastic hadn’t been invented. The only option left was cans. In the 1940s, the U.S. Government and the American Can Company funded WSC’s research into storing cheese in cans.

An unexpected product of this research was Cougar Gold, an American cheddar named after Dr. N.S. Golding, one of the researchers.

The WSU Creamery continues to produce 250,000 cans of cheese a year, 80 percent of which are Cougar Gold. Cougar Gold has won multiple awards, including the World Cheese Awards Gold Medal in 2006 and makes great mac and cheese.

 

 

 

President Holland establishes a faculty and graduate student journal

Research Studies of the State College of Washington provides an avenue to publication for faculty and graduate students. The journal publishes a few issues before funding is cut due to the Great Depression. It is revived in 1935 and eventually becomes the WSU Press.

Conner Museum named after Regent who kickstarted it

In November of 1893, Board of Regents chair Charles R. Conner persuades the state and others to donate their exhibits from the Chicago World’s Fair to the fledgling Washington Agricultural College. In 1914, the museum is officially named after Conner. As the collection evolves in the following years it focuses on vertebrate mammals. Now housed in Abelson Hall, the Conner Museum displays 700 specimens, with more than 65,000 in its research library.

RaccoonSkel

WSU archaeologists discover 12,000-year-old human remains

In 1962, WSU archeologists Richard Daugherty and Roald Fryxell began excavating the Marmes Rockshelter, near where the Snake and Palouse rivers meet. During the excavation, they found what was then the oldest human remains in the western hemisphere at approximately 12,000 years old.

The site was scheduled to be flooded during the construction of the Lower Monumental Dam, but thanks to the discovery President Lyndon Johnson authorized the construction of a coffer dam to protect it. Unfortunately, in 1969, the site was flooded anyway because of leaks under the dam. It had only been partially excavated.

 

WSU researchers receive grant to purchase a low-grade nuclear reactor

In September 1953, Dean S. Town Stephenson and a dozen science colleagues began planning to acquire a low-grade nuclear reactor for research.  They received a $300,000 grant to construct a building to hold a swimming pool type reactor. In 1957 the Atomic Energy Commission gave $105,000 to purchase the equipment. In 1961, the WSU nuclear research program completes its first chain reaction.

Nuclear_Reactor_1968