Sciences News

Heather Cochran, administrative professional staff and academic coordinator for the Department of Psychology will receive the President’s Employee Excellence Award at the 2013 Celebrating Excellence Recognition Banquet on March 29.

Her broad experience and thorough knowledge of resources available to help students succeed at WSU and beyond contribute to her expertise as an outstanding advisor. She insists that advisees learn to “navigate the system” on their own to enhance their professional development and personal growth. She helps students construct multi-year plans to get the most from their time at WSU – a remarkable undertaking, considering that she advises upwards of 450 students.

Cochran cares about students and the challenge to help them figure out the “right fit” so they can make the most of their talents and interests. She is energetic, good-natured, receptive to feedback and collaborative with co-workers.

Cochran will be honored alongside four other outstanding WSU employees at the banquet, part of the Washington State University Showcase annual celebration of faculty, staff and student achievement.

Read more about all the honorees at WSU News >>

Pamela Lee and Judy Meuth, both clinical associate professors in the College of Arts and Sciences, are the inaugural recipients of the annual President’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Nontenure Track Faculty at Washington State University.

Pamela Lee

The new award will be among those presented at the Celebrating Excellence Recognition Banquet on March 29, part of the WSU Showcase annual celebration of faculty, staff and student achievement.

Lee, a WSU alumna in the Department of Fine Arts and the Honors College whose art is featured inexhibits and collections nationwide, says she is passionate about the “art and craft” of teaching and extends herself to keep her teaching contemporary and engaging for students.

Judy Mueth

Meuth teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies, including the popular Women’s Studies 220 (Gender, Culture and Science) since 2003. She leads workshops and mentors interns, McNair scholars and honors students on their thesis projects.

Read more at WSU News >>

Sam Reed, former Washington secretary of state and WSU social studies and political science graduate, was honored recently with the highest honor bestowed by the WSU Alumni Association.

Presented at the “Sam Reed Roast and Toast” retirement celebration on Jan. 10 in Seattle, the Alumni Achievement Award recognized his outstanding accomplishments and leadership during his 35 years in elected office.

Read more about the WSU endowed professorship created in his name →

As a freshman, Nick Montanari spent part of his spring break in Morton, Wash., helping people he had never met clean up and rebuild after severe flooding damaged their community earlier in the year. The five-day “Spring to Action, Break for Change” program, organized by the WSU Center for Civic Engagement, was a turning point for Montanari.

Read more about his 1,000-plus hours of service and being selected for the 2013 MLK Distinguished Service Award at WSU. →

Will Hamlin (right), a professor in Department of English, and Hubert Schwabl (left), a professor in the School of Biological Sciences, have been selected to receive two of the first International Research Travel Awards sponsored by the WSU Office of International Programs  and Office of Research.

Read the full story >>

Vicente Mariscal

By Joanna Steward, College of Arts and Sciences

Digital technology and culture senior Vicente Mariscal has been selected to carry the College of Arts and Sciences gonfalon during Saturday’s commencement ceremony in Beasley Coliseum.

With more than 10 years of active military service under his belt before he even stepped on campus, Mariscal wasn’t your average college student.

“His sense of humor, along with his amazing work ethic and his determination to work through his war injuries, has made him a role model,” said Kristin Arola, a digital technology professor who nominated Mariscal for the program’s Outstanding Senior of the Year award last spring.

Mariscal served two tours in Iraq with the Army’s 1st Infantry Division and led an infantry squad in numerous high-profile forays. He experienced eight IED (improvised explosive device) or rocket-propelled grenade explosions that left him with migraines and memory loss. (more…)

Eight WSU faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, including six in the College of Arts and Sciences:

• Sue Clark, regents professor of chemistry
• Daryll DeWald, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
• Herbert Hill Jr., regents professor of chemistry
• Ursula Mazur, professor of chemistry and materials science
• Kenneth Nash, professor of chemistry
• Michael Skinner, professor of biological sciences

Also named a fellow this year is psychology alumnus John Roll, professor of nursing and associate dean for faculty affairs in the WSU College of Nursing.

You may read more details at the WSU News Center.

Mara Riley

By Miesha Swensen, College of Arts and Sciences communication intern

Graduate student Mara Riley was selected for a rare honor this fall, thanks to her unique research comparing the effects of breastfeeding and infant formula on infant health.

“Out of more than 200 abstracts, she was the only student selected to present her data in an oral presentation rather than a poster,” said Shelley McGuire, Washington State University nutrition professor/lactation physiologist and Riley’s advisor. “This is something Mara should be very proud of.”

McGuire is the principal investigator on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant that funded Riley’s research.

Riley gave her presentation at the biennial International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML) conference in Trieste, Italy, in September.

“To be able to showcase data from my research to that group of professionals really made me feel like the research had come to life,” she said.

Riley’s research focuses on infant health and gastrointestinal microbiota by looking at the two feeding modes, breastfed and formula-fed, and changes in infant health over time. She collected saliva, milk, and feces from 23 woman-and-infant pairs in the Pullman/Moscow area and analyzed the bacteria present in each of the samples.

Riley was awarded the Young Investigator Travel Award from ISRHML, which made it possible for her to attend the conference. The award recognizes junior investigators who have shown outstanding scientific research in the study of milk and lactation. She also received funding from the Carl H. Elling Endowment in the WSU School of Biological Sciences to support her research and travel expenses.

Riley and McGuire collaborate with University of Idaho lactation physiologist Mark McGuire and his lab.

By Richard H. Miller, WSU Global Campus

Washington State University’s online bachelor’s degree in criminal justice has been ranked third in the nation by TheBestSchools.org.

The ranking cites WSU’s long history in criminal justice education as well as the professional experience of the faculty.

The ranking follows several other top national rankings for WSU Online in the last year:

• Sixth place for supporting the military in the 2012 Guide to Online Schools.
• Fourth place for the overall degree program from the SuperScholars website.
• Sixth place from U.S. News & World Report for student services and technology.

WSU Online, part of WSU’s Global Campus, offers eight online undergraduate programs and eight master’s programs, including the new master’s in agriculture with a food science and management specialization.

Matt Lanka

Washington State University saxophonist and composer Matt Lanka is showcased in a recent issue of Jazziz magazine, one of the top jazz publications in the world. A recording of Lanka’s composition “Howl,” performed by the WSU Jazz Big Band, is included on the CD “Fall Into Jazz,” distributed internationally in the fall 2012 issue of the magazine.

The CD also features recordings from new releases by top jazz figures David Sanborn, Al Jarreau, Béla Fleck, Marcus Miller, the Bad Plus, and Bob Mintzer.

“Lanka is an excellent saxophonist and gifted composer with a bright future,” said Greg Yasinitsky, director of the WSU School of Music. “This is the 10th year in a row that WSU students have been featured in Jazziz, and it is gratifying to see our School of Music honored in this way.”

Lanka is an M.A. candidate and teaching assistant in the School of Music. He studies saxophone with Dave Hagelganz and composition with Yasinitsky and performs in the WSU Jazz Big Band under Yasinitsky’s direction. The recording was made last spring in the WSU Recording Studio with Dave Bjur, engineer.