Charlotte While plays a critical role behind the scenes in the success of the Department of Atmospheric Science in the University of Wyoming’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

As the office administrator of a small but diverse department with a robust graduate program and an active research program with a large number of research support staff, While’s ability to support a broad range of activities is crucial, her colleagues say.



For taking on so many tasks and doing them well, While has been named UW’s Staff Employee of the Fourth Quarter. The award recognizes a UW staff member for his/her efforts toward excellence in the workplace. Established in March 1985 to recognize outstanding staff as the Employee of the Month Award, the award was revised into the current program in January 1990. The award is given to one current UW staff member every calendar quarter. The staff employee of the year will be named at Staff Senate’s Staff Recognition Day celebration later this semester.

A public reception to honor While is at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 5, in Room 6052 of the Engineering Building.

Keep reading here to learn more about While's amazing accomplishments and wonderful contributions she brings to the department and college!

The University of Wyoming’s commitment to serving the people of Wyoming has been recognized nationally.

The American Council on Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced that, for the first time in its history, UW has been selected as having met the criteria for the 2024 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement.

UW is one of 368 institutions in the nation found to be making significant strides in finding ways to engage with community partners, build on community assets and address a wide array of community challenges.

“Your institution’s application documented excellent alignment among campus mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement,” ACE and the Carnegie Foundation wrote in a letter notifying UW of its designation.

The Carnegie classification is not merely an award. It is an evidence-based documentation of institutional policy and practices focusing on areas such as institutional culture and mission, curricular and cocurricular programming, continuous improvement activities, and the recruitment and reward of faculty, staff and students.

Discover more about the designation here!

Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student officers - Raegan Merrill, Auna George, Kayla Ketterling, and Joey Grosz - recently traveled to Kansas City for ASCE officer leadership training. 

While outside temperatures dropped to negative degrees, it didn’t stop them from touring the Union Station, a historic civil engineering landmark.

To learn more about ASCE, contact Shawn Griffiths.

Department of Geology and Geophysics Assistant Professor Madeline Lewis was part of a short, NSF-funded documentary project on women in field geology while she was a postdoctoral scholar at Purdue University (2021-2023) that was recently released on YouTube.

Lewis started at UW in the Fall of 2023 and has continued working on the supervolcano research described in the video, as well as working on the documentary itself.

Check out the video here!

Congratulations to UW CEPS Director of Development Teddi Freedman on welcoming her third child and first son, Thomas May Freedman, into the world on Jan. 4. Weighing 7lbs and 10oz, Thomas is happy and healthy!

Join us in welcoming our Spring 2024 CEPS marketing and communications intern Ryan Luethje!

Ryan, a UW College of Business major, will be working with Caitlyn Spradley in the CEPS marketing and communications office on a variety of projects throughout the Spring 2024 semester.

Please be sure to say "hi" to Ryan as you see him throughout the buildings and events this semester.

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering and School of Computing Associate Professor Morteza Dejam has been recently appointed by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), which promotes Discovery in Earth and Space Sciences for the benefit of humanity, to join the Editorial Board of Water Resources Research (WRR) as the role of Associate Editor starting January 2024.

Water Resources Research (WRR) is an interdisciplinary and prestigious journal that focuses on hydrology and water resources. WRR publishes original research in the natural and social sciences of water. WRR emphasizes the role of water in the Earth system, including physical, chemical, biological, and ecological processes in water resources research and management, including social, policy, and public health implications. WRR encompasses observational, experimental, theoretical, analytical, numerical, and data-driven approaches that advance the science of water and its management. Submissions are evaluated for their novelty, accuracy, significance, and broader implications of the findings.

The College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Career Services team recognizes the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management (CM) for their exceptional engagement in post-graduation success efforts. In this context, post-graduation success efforts refer to any activities that assist students with thinking about what comes next or in some cases, actually helps students with that next step. For more information regarding Future Focused Recognition Program please click here.

Notable engagements include:

• Class presentations regarding professional development and career resources by Annie Cowger (CEPS Career Coach).
• The Industry Insight Series. A series of company presentations that students in CM courses attend for credit.
• The Exploring CAECM Course that includes presentations by professionals in the field regarding their roles and career journeys.

Student testimonies and impact report:

• “The university itself, with all the professors, industry insights, and career fairs provided and prepared me for an internship, and I am so excited and grateful for all these opportunities.” - William H. (Junior in Construction Management)
• “The inclusion of diverse activities like Industry Insight presentations, company presentations, guest alumni speakers, and encouragement to apply for positions has been instrumental in shaping my post-graduation perspective.” - Imran R. (Ph.D. Candidate in Transportation Engineering)
• “I learned a lot about civil engineering and construction companies and what they do. It has helped me know about the actual civil engineering work being done in the real world and in deciding what I want to do after graduation.” - Sahul K. (M.S. Civil Engineering)
• Of the 11 responses to our survey, 100% of students find these engagements beneficial

This past Jan. 10-12, a cohort of University of Wyoming (UW) faculty, staff, and students visited the United Launch Alliance (ULA), Lockheed Martin, Answer Engineering, and the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in the Denver area. This Trek allowed students to view facilities of some of the leading organizations in America in the aerospace and renewable energy fields and build valuable contacts along the way. 

The trip started with a tour with ULA that was facilitated by a UW alumni Tiffany Young. That same night UW trip attendees had dinner and discussed ways to make the most of the trek by talking about topics including, LinkedIn and effective ways to follow up with professionals we had met with. Day two involved a long tour with Lockheed Martin facilitated by UW alumni Eric Dirkes, followed by a tour with Answer Engineering that included a recent alumni Sean Murphy. That night students had the opportunity to network with some of their tour guides from the day and an additional attendee, Tammy Johnson, President of Merrick and Company and Engineering Hall of Fame member. The final day consisted of a tour with NREL where students were able to learn about the cutting edge research going on there and how they may be able to get involved.

“These trips offer students a valuable experience that often times help them determine their goals or helps them get their foot in the door with amazing companies," says Associate Director of Career Service in CEPS Tyler Grabner.

According to electrical engineering junior Rebecca Shaw, "this trip really helped me cultivate my networking skills and how to act and ask questions in a professional environment.” 

“Getting to see how physicists work for the United Launch Alliance, Lockheed Martin, and the National Renewable Energy Lab makes me feel confident in finding a place in the career world," says Elizabeth Bair, a freshman in physics.

Lots of news coming out of the UW School of Computing! Please take a moment to read all about these exciting updates below:

• Congratulations to School of Computing's Yufeng Luo, et al, who was published in IOPscience.

• The School of Computing recently hosted their winter retreat to collaborate on values, bylaws, policies, RTP, research, SoC handbook, student engagement, space/facility plans, professional development, mentoring, operations, and more.

• Congratulations to Di Yang, who received the School of Computing Early Career Research Award, an annual award that recognizes a School of Computing early career researcher who exemplifies the SoC’s vision for research.

• Congratulations to School of Computing's Jian Gong, an assistant research scientist, Dane Taylor, an assistant professor, and Chen Xu, an associate professor who are part of the Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center on being awarded a grant for tourism research from the Wyoming Outdoor Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality (WORTH) Initiative for UW and community college faculty-led research projects that will benefit Wyoming’s economy.

• Duncan Watson-Parris, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, UC San Diego, will be on campus for a luncheon and a talk titled, "Accelerating climate science with machine learning: Earth system emulation" on Feb. 13. Contact the School of Computing for more details.

• Geospatial Forum guest speaker Anderson Ribeiro De Figueiredo, a Postdoctoral Research Associate from WyAct & UW Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources will be giving a talk on Feb. 14. Contact the School of Computing for more details.