Highlights and more for the 2019-2020 Academic Year
|
|
Science Council members host a "Science Trivia" event in the TSC during Science Week in November 2019.
|
|
Looking back at a year of achievements
|
|
The 2019-2020 academic year was full of major achievements, milestones and surprises. The global pandemic upended many of our plans, but our students, faculty and staff forged ahead with perseverance and resilience. We invite you to look back on our achievements and celebrate outstanding efforts.
|
|
Taking Pains: USU Researchers Study Opioid Modulation in the Brain:
The periaqueductal gray is a partially uncharted region of the brain. Discoveries in the 1970s revealed it plays a role in pain inhibition and opioid functions, yet the full purpose of the “PAG,” as the gray area located in the midbrain is informally known, remains a mystery. Utah State University researchers are investigating a newly identified G protein-coupled receptor, known as “GPR171,” widely expressed in the PAG, that may hold potential for future pain therapies.
“We see GPR171 on the same neurons as opioid receptors and we hypothesized GPR171 played a similar role in reducing pain,” says Erin Bobeck, assistant professor in
USU’s Department of Biology
. “But we discovered that’s not quite the case...”
|
|
Gates Foundation Taps USU Expertise to Tackle Global Food Supply Challenges:
From fridge to microwave to table, preparing a daily meal may not seem like much of a challenge. But back up and dissect that process – molecule by molecule – from air to soil to table, and you’ll uncover one of the most vexing puzzles known to humankind. How do you capture nitrogen from the air (which – newsflash – you can’t survive without, yet can’t take in through your skin or by breathing) and get it into a form you can eat? Hint: It’s complicated.Utah State University biochemist Lance Seefeldt has pursued this scientific mystery for most of his three decades-long career. He’s made significant strides in understanding nitrogen fixation...
|
|
USU Data Scientist Contributes to Multi-Institution Dengue Fever Study:
Once considered relatively rare, dengue fever is popping up throughout the globe, including the United States. The mosquito-borne virus is having a particularly active year, which some public health officials attribute, at least partially, to a warming climate.Transmitted to humans through the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, dengue causes fever, vomiting, headache, muscle and joint pain, as well as skin rashes. Most people infected with the virus recover, but the disease can escalate into lethal complications. And, curiously, while people who’ve recovered from the virus develop immunity to the strain that infected them, they often become more susceptible to infection by different strains of the virus...
|
|
USU Computer Scientists Conduct Campus-wide ‘Hackathon’:
Eat. Sleep (not). Code. Repeat.
Perhaps you’ve always wanted to learn to code or tinker with hardware or maybe you’re a card-carrying-techie-programming-whiz. Whatever your skill level, all Utah college students are invited to participate in the fifth annual HackUSU intercollegiate hackathon, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16, on the Utah State University campus in Logan. “Our group’s mission is to promote tech and hacker culture to improve quality of life,” says Joshua Jibson, president of HackUSU, a student club sponsored by
USU’s Department of Computer Science
. “Ours is the largest hackathon in Utah.” Held in the Eccles Conference Center, the marathon begins Friday
,
Nov. 15, and continues
.
...
|
|
Three Aggies Receive Presidential Teaching Award for Math, Science:
Three Utah State University Aggies are among four Utahns selected for the national Presidential Teaching Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Awarded by the White House and the National Science Foundation, the recognition is the nation’s highest honor for K-12 teachers of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computer science. Honorees are alums Deborah Stringham Morgan (BS’02, Geology) and Orson “Mike” Spencer (BS’07, Mathematics; M.Ed.’12) and USU doctoral student Rachel Checketts Reeder. The trio were honored...
|
|
Buried Secrets: USU Geoscientist Aids Efforts to Study Climate Data from Cold War Base:
In 1960, as the Cold War heated up, the U.S. Army launched “Project Iceworm,” a top secret effort to build a network of mobile nuclear launch sites under the Greenland Ice Sheet. Hampered by brutal blizzards and unstable ice conditions, the project, located at Camp Century in northwestern Greenland, was cancelled in 1966. A curious remnant of the doomed project – unique sediment collected at the bottom of a 1.3-kilometer-long ice core extracted from the site – languished in storage for years at New York’s University of Buffalo. Largely forgotten for...
|
|
Science Undergrads Present Research to Utah Legislators
|
|
Bad Breaths: USU Scientist Studies Effects of Particulate Air Pollution on Human Lung Cells:
The characteristics that make Cache Valley, home of Utah State University, an enchanting place to live – encircling, majestic peaks; pastoral scenes of grazing cattle and snowy landscapes – are the very factors that contribute to one of the area’s not-so-attractive qualities: smoggy winters. During cold months, emissions from the tailpipes of cars – and livestock – contribute to the gray mist that hangs ominously over the bowl-shaped valley, where high pressure weather systems trap particulate matter like a lid on a pot. During cold months, emissions from...
|
|
Not Junk: USU Biologist Explores Small Non-Coding RNA in Bumble Bee:
When the Human Genome Project was declared complete in April 2003, scientists celebrated the bits of DNA coded for proteins, but many dismissed the importance of non-coding DNA. Thinking it had no purpose, it was dubbed “Junk DNA.” Since that time, the scientific community has acknowledged those indecipherable genomic sequences, transcribed into functional non-coding RNA molecules, are not junk at all. Rather, investigators are now striving to unlock the secrets of these regulatory switches, signals and sign posts. Utah State University...
|
|
USU Researchers Seek Community-Led Approach to Improve Refugee Health Care:
Imagine fleeing untenable conditions in your homeland. While you may feel relief, you’re immediately confronted with uncertainty and frustration, as you learn to navigate a new country, a new language and a new culture. Piled on top of your worries are concerns about making a living, creating a home and ensuring a stable environment for your loved ones. Overriding everything is your health and the health of your family. “Refugees and immigrants are in a vulnerable situation for many reasons and health is always a dimension,” says Utah State University undergraduate researcher...
|
|
USU Scientist Seth Lyman Named “UCAIR Person of the Year” for Uintah Basin Air Pollution Research:
Utah State University’s air quality expert Seth Lyman was awarded the Clean Air Person of the Year by the Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR) for his continued work into developing solutions to fight Utah’s air pollution problems in the Uintah Basin. Lyman, director of USU’s Bingham Entrepreneurship & Energy Research Center in Vernal, is a research associate professor in chemistry and biochemistry. Over the past several years, he and his team have worked with community leaders in the Uintah Basin to understand and mitigate air pollution. “I...
|
|
Research Excellence: Eight Aggies Honored in NSF Grad Research Fellow Search:
Eight Utah State University scholars are honorees of the prestigious 2020 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship search. The Aggies, whose awards are collectively valued at about $828,000, are among nearly 2,000 students selected from more than 13,000 applicants nationwide. USU’s 2020 NSF Graduate Research Fellows are graduating seniors Jared Bryan ’20 (Geology and Physics) and Bryce Frederickson ’20 (Mathematics), along with recent USU graduates Margaret Hallerud ‘18 (Wildlife Ecology and Management) and Andrea Halling ‘16 (Physics and Biology), as well as USU graduate students Ema Armstrong (Geology)...
|
|
College of Science Recognizes Top Scholars of 2020:
Utah State University’s College of Science honors 2020 graduates with a
video message
and recognizes students, faculty and staff for outstanding achievements. “At this unprecedented time in this unprecedented situation, we honor our students for their hard work and for their service,” said College of Science Dean Maura Hagan. “We also honor our faculty and staff for their mentorship of students, excellence in research and their efforts in providing meaningful learning opportunities.” Valedictorian for the college is Jesse Wheeler and the college’s Scholar of the Year is Jared Bryan. Bryan was also named...
|
|
These are just highlights of many great stories of our student, faculty, staff and alumni efforts!
|
|
Stay in touch this summer!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
