Highlights and more for the 2018-2019 Academic Year
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Looking back at a year of achievements
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The 2018-2019 academic year was full of major achievements and milestones, including the completion of the USU Life Sciences Building, and the naming of a professor, Dean Maura Hagan, to the National Academy of Sciences for the first time in USU's history. We've compiled the following major news stories from the year to highlight student, faculty, and staff achievements, including stories about ground-breaking research, student presentations, and community events.
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USU Biologist Will Pearse Receives National Science Foundation Grant:
As wildfires continue to rage across the American West and the resulting smoky haze obscures mountain views outside his office window, Utah State University scientist Will Pearse ponders preventive steps land managers could have taken, if they’d had a glimpse into the future.
“If we’d been able, years ago, to predict the spread of invasive species like cheatgrass, we might be dealing with a very different situation,” says Pearse, assistant professor in USU’s Department of Biology and the USU Ecology Center...
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USU's Science Unwrapped Announces 10th Anniversary 'Powers of 10' Series:
Science Unwrapped, the public science outreach program of Utah State University’s College of Science, announces its new Fall 2018-Spring 2019 “Powers of 10” series. The series, which kicks off Friday, Sept. 28, celebrates the program’s 10th anniversary. “We’re very excited to mark this important milestone,” says Nancy Huntly, Science Unwrapped chair, director of USU’s Ecology Center and professor in the Department of Biology. “Our 10th anniversary explores ‘Powers of 10’ notation, which allows us to quantify very large and very small phenomena beyond our visual comprehension. Over the course of the academic year, we’ll discuss the mind-boggling breadth of the Cosmos down to the tiny quantum scale.”
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USU Scientists Named Geological Society of America Fellows:
Utah State University Geology faculty members Carol Dehler and Tammy Rittenour have been named Fellows of the Geological Society of America, a global professional society of more than 24,000 Earth scientists in 115 countries. Two of 89 honorees this year, Dehler and Rittenour will be formally recognized during the GSA’s annual meeting Nov. 4-7, 2018, in Indianapolis. GSA Fellows are nominated by the society’s existing fellows in recognition of distinguished contributions to the geosciences through peer-reviewed publications, research, teaching, administration and outreach.
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USU Chemists Boost Green Battery Capability:
Solar and wind energy are widely regarded as sustainable, environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil fuels, but each is only intermittently available. Both solutions need affordable, high performance energy storage technologies to be considered for widespread, reliable use. Aqueous organic redox flow batteries, known as “AORFBs,” offer a promising large-scale energy storage solution, but still have limitations. In a molecular engineering study published online October 25, 2018, in Joule, Utah State University chemists report advances to address these limitations.
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All Aggies Invited to Enjoy USU Science Week Nov. 2-9:
The Utah State University community is invited to enjoy brain-energizing fun as USU’s College of Science Student Council hosts ‘Science Week’ Nov. 2-9. “We invite all Aggies to channel their ‘inner geek’ and join us in some great activities,” says Abigail Longaker Service, USU Science Senator. “We have something for everyone.”
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Grand Staircase-Escalante Has Rich Bee Diversity say USU Scientists:
The state of Utah’s nickname is “The Beehive State,” and the moniker couldn’t be more apt, say Utah State University scientists. One out of every four bee species in the United States is found In Utah and the arid, western state is home to more bee species than most states in the nation. About half of those species dwell within the original boundaries of the newly reduced Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
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USU Life Science Building construction ends and classes begin:
An exciting new chapter for USU students engaged in science courses opens this month, as 19 months of construction on the new USU Life Sciences Building (LSB) conclude. Ground broke on the USU Life Sciences Building on April 25, 2017, and the project will conclude on-time and on-budget. The new facility benefits students in more than 30 majors (life sciences, agricultural sciences, engineering, food and nutrition sciences, natural resources and more) providing space for foundational biology classrooms, lecture and lab courses, as well as research.
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USU hosts conference for more than 150 undergraduate women in physics and science:
Utah State University was one of the 12 campuses chosen to host the American Physics Society 2019 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics this weekend. USU welcomed 154 undergraduates from six different states, including Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and New Mexico, to attend the conference held concurrently across the U.S. The APS, the largest association of physicists in the country, noted a lack of women in the physics field and decided to sponsor this conference to help women in the field, USU Physics Assistant Professor and CUWiP Organizer Oscar Varela said.
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USU Statistician Explores When Technology Outpaces Law:
Firearms constructed with 3D-printed parts aren’t suited for the long haul. After firing a few rounds, barrels warp, break and they’re ready for disposal. And that’s what provides advantages to criminals. Crafted from plastic, the weapons won’t set off metal detectors. Built at home without serial numbers and discarded after use, the untraceable weapons contribute to a larger “ghost gun” problem. Utah State University undergraduate researcher Tori Bodine wonders just how many of these weapons are in circulation. In the Sacramento, California area alone, she says, ATF agents reported seizure of 270 such firearms in 2017, but those figures may only scratch the surface.
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USU Undergrad Researcher Explores Emerging 'CRISPR' Technology:
Emerging CRISPR (pronounced “crisper”) technology is “all over the news,” says Utah State University Undergraduate Research Fellow Matt Armbrust. “Many think of it as a tool for editing DNA and correctly see its potential for curing diseases,” he says. “Simply put, CRISPR is an immune system found in bacteria.” And, yes, certain CRISPR-based immune systems, such as “CRISPR-Cas9,” which stands for “Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR associated protein 9,” are simple, yet powerful genome editors. Bacteria use CRISPR systems as a defense to chop up the DNA of invading, bacteria-killing viruses.
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NASA Selects USU-led Mission to Study Space Weather from Space Station:
NASA has selected Utah State University’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) mission to study space weather from the International Space Station. Planned for launch in August 2022, the AWE experiment features an imager, known as the Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper, that will capture colorful bands of light in Earth’s atmosphere, called “airglow,” to determine the combination of forces driving space weather in the upper atmosphere. “We are honored Utah State University has been selected to lead this important NASA mission,” says USU President Noelle Cockett. “AWE continues USU’s long tradition of working with NASA to realize its mission of achieving a deep, scientific understanding of Earth, our solar system and the universe beyond.”
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USU College of Science Recognizes Top Scholars of 2019:
Utah State University’s College of Science hosted an awards ceremony and banquet April 3, 2019, to recognize the college’s top scholars. “Today, 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.”
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USU scientists Tianbiao Liu and Zach Gompert receive prestigious NSF CAREER Awards:
Among the challenges of meeting energy demands of evolving portable devices, electric vehicles and alternative energy storage is developing a safe, affordable, high-energy density and high-power density battery technology alternative to existing options. Utah State University chemist Tianbiao “Leo” Liu and his team believe they’re on the right track and their USTAR-fuel research is garnering attention.
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Two USU students are named Goldwater Scholars in recognition of their achievements in science and mathematics: Utah State University Honors students and Undergraduate Research Fellows Bryce Frederickson and Ethan Hammer were named 2019 Goldwater Scholars in a prestigious national competition that recognizes outstanding achievements in science and mathematics. The awards were announced April 26 by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, which administers the program. Frederickson and Hammer are among 495 awardees selected this year, from more than 1,200 nominees representing 443 institutions.
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USU Science Dean Maura Hagan Named to National Academy of Sciences:
Utah State University Science Dean Maura Hagan is among 100 U.S. scientists and 25 international associates elected this year to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the world’s premier academic institutions, which provides science advice to the U.S. federal government and other national and international policy-making organizations. The appointments were announced April 30 in a news release, which stated membership is “widely accepted as a mark of excellence in sciences and is considered one of the highest honors a scientist can receive.”
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Campus caps off a stellar year by celebrating Commencement:
The college of science awarded more than 350 degrees to deserving Aggie Scientists on May 2, 2019 in the Daines Concert Center on the USU Logan campus. 2019 Validictorian Jesse Steadman addressed students and talked about his transformative time at USU and hopes for the future.
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Stay in touch this summer!
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