CAHNRS News—May 18, 2012

New on the Dean’s Blog

Diamond and Golden Grads Inspire Us
It is interesting to track history as a result of engaging with our Diamond and Golden Grads, CAHNRS’ 50- and 60-year alumnae. Over the last few years, we finished up celebrating the 60th year anniversaries of the graduation of the WWII group. These folks, mainly male, and appropriately coined by Tom Brokaw as “The Greatest Generation,” returned to Washington State College following service in the war.
Now we are moving into a new era of alumnus – this year’s being graduates of 1952 and 1962. We had fun reliving old times – the ’52 graduates were on campus when C. Clement French was appointed as president of WSC, and the ’62 graduates recalled the Apple Cup during their senior year when WSU beat UW in Seattle, 27-25. Read more »

Happy B-day, USDA!
May 15 was the 150th anniversary of the United States Department of Agriculture.
It was an incredible act of leadership that, in the midst of the greatest turmoil our country has ever faced, President Abraham Lincoln signed bills to establish USDA and to enact the Morrill Act. These two actions simultaneously created the foundation for the greatest agricultural research enterprise in the history of humankind. And, in addition, Lincoln’s actions established the mechanism to deliver this information and technology to the people who needed it. Read more »

Events

Move-in 2012
Save the Date:
Saturday & Sunday, August 11th and 12th.

This fall, over 400 people will help orient, move-in and welcome our newest community members. You can work a 4-hour shift between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Volunteers receive a free t-shirt and the ability to show new Cougars how great the WSU community is. You could be moving boxes, giving directions, pushing carts and welcoming our newest community members. See http://bit.ly/KFlH1c for more details.

Kudos

Lisa Shipley, professor in the School of the Environment, received a formal commitment from the National Science Foundation to fund a 4-year, $324K project, “Collaborative Research: Modeling the Tradeoffs within Food-, Fear-, and Thermal-Scapes to Explain Habitat Use by Mammalian Herbivores” in collaboration with the University of Idaho and Boise State University. Shipley is Principal Investigator on the project.

School of the Environment Ph.D. students Ellen Preece and Bridget Deemer have both been awarded 3-year, $126,000 EPA STAR fellowships to fund the completion of their Ph.Ds. Preece is supervised by assistant professor Barry Moore, and Deemer is supervised by assistant professor John Harrison.

Sheng-Chen (Skylar) Lin, M.A. student in Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles, will receive $500 from the Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles Research Endowed Fund to support her research, “The relationship between consumers lifestyles and willingness to pay for organic cotton.” Dr. Joan Ellis is Skylar’s thesis advisor.

Senior Instructor Patricia Fischer was instrumental in the Department of Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles receiving two industry pro dress forms from PGM-Pro, Inc as part of the Education Sponsorship Program 2012.

Karen Sowers, Dennis Roe and W. L. Pan of the department of Crop and Soil Sciences have published Oilseed Production Case Studies in the Eastern Washington Low-to-Intermediate Rainfall Zone, a electronic compilation of five profiles of farms with experience growing various oilseed crops. The publication is especially intended for those new to the practice. See the publication at http://bit.ly/KwVEuv.

Recent News Releases

Local orchard visits planned for WSU Cherry Field Day on June 4
Transgender Youth Research Reveals Body Dissatisfaction, Risk of Eating Disorders

WSU Organics Pioneer Says Blend of Ag Systems Will Feed the World
Food Engineer Juming Tang Named First WSU Distinguished Chair in Field
Seattle Business Execs More Optimistic About Local, State, National Economies
WSU Faculty, Staff, Students Give Back to Community with Fruits of the Earth
WSU provides precise irrigation recommendations via online program
Gov. Gregoire Recognizes 39th Anniversary with WSU Master Gardener Volunteer Week
April weather a smorgasbord of extremes – WSU AgWeatherNet monthly report
Flight of the Alkali Bee: New Study to Follow Insect’s Population, Flight Path over U.S. Highway 12
New WSU Extension Education Materials Promote Eating Better by Eating Together

All our news releases are archived at http://cahnrsnews.wsu.edu/news-archive/.

New in CAHNRS e-Newsletters

The May 17 issue of Voice of the Vine features an article on recently graduated Master’s student Emily Goodstein and her research with Dr. Carolyn Ross on white wine finish. Read the article and subscribe to Voice of the Vine at http://bit.ly/JkauEC.

The May 9 issue of On Solid Ground features stories on efforts to help mason bees traverse a road-building project, micrografting, and efforts to transfer ag technology knowledge to farmers in African nations. You’ll find On Solid Ground at http://bit.ly/JjO9Yx.

Archives

CAHNRS News is archived at http://cahnrsnews.wsu.edu/category/cnews/.