Solar car donation accelerates renewables education

SEL’s Shawn Greeman and Eddie Schweitzer examine the electric car recently donated to WSU with Javier Guerrero-Sedeno, a WSU instructor in renewable energy.

April 12, 2013
 

Talk about recycling and reusing.

An electric car that became a Washington State University student project in solar power for Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) is finding new life with its donation to WSU for use in a renewable energy course.

“We’re grateful to SEL for this generous donation,’’ said Behrooz Shirazi, Huie-Rogers chair and director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “It’s wonderful to see how our current and future students will benefit not only from SEL’s generosity but also from the hard work of our previous students.’’

Sponsored by SEL, a group of students in 2009 worked on the car as part of their senior design project. The students upgraded the standard Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) e4 electric car provided by SEL, adding solar panels and a power monitoring system. The aim was to meet the company’s needs for an electric city vehicle, increasing the speed, range and reliability of the car for city driving. The team also investigated putting excess power generated by an integrated solar panel into the power grid.

With SEL’s donation, the car will be used in WSU’s renewable energy course. The course teaches students about renewable energy sources – including wind, solar and fuel cells – as well as emerging technologies. The coursework, geared for senior-level majors in engineering, electrical engineering and the sciences, ranges from the design and construction of wind turbines, solar photovoltaic arrays, biomass generation and hydrogen fuel cells, to the public policy and ecological impact of conventional and alternative sources of energy.

(L-R) Pete Isakson, Behrooz Shirazi, Tammy Lewis, Jennifer White (’97 Comm.), Eddie Schweitzer (’03 ME), Shawn Greeman (’09 Comp. Eng.), Don Shearer

“Addressing our need for energy is our nation’s biggest challenge, and renewable energy is imperative,’’ said Shirazi. “This gift allows our students to get a firm understanding of the technologies that will be the focus of their 21st century workplace.’’

Support from SEL is part of The Campaign for WSU. To learn more about the campaign, click here.

Gift Funds Scholarships and Building Technology in the College of Business

WSU College of Business

A generous gift from Walter and Phyllis Roenicke is supporting undergraduate business scholarships and programming, and technology maintenance in the atrium of WSU’s College of Business.

The $100,000 donation will create two endowments named after Phyllis’ father, Claude E. Hayfield, a well-known pioneer banker of Whitman County.

Seventy-five percent will be designated toward The Claude E. Hayfield Endowed Scholarship in Business, which will award tuition scholarships for undergraduate business students from the Palouse, including north Idaho counties. Twenty-five percent will be designated to The Claude E. Hayfield Endowed Excellence Fund in Business, which will create a permanent read more…

Washington Cherry, Stone Fruit Growers Invest in WSU Research, Extension

Washington Cherry, Stone Fruit Growers Approve $5 Million Special Assessment to Support WSU Research, ExtensionCherry and stone fruit growers throughout the state have agreed to make a $5 million investment over the next eight years to support research and extension at Washington State University Centers in Prosser and Wenatchee. This investment builds on a similar measure passed by apple and pear growers in 2011 to galvanize the partnership between the Washington tree fruit industry and WSU.

“The close partnership between Washington’s tree fruit industry and Washington State University continues to be transformational,” said WSU President Elson S. Floyd. “Working together for more than a century, we have helped to make Washington a world leader in tree fruit production.”

“The assessment by cherry and stone fruit growers in combination with the $27 million investment in WSU made by apple and pear growers in 2011 helps to ensure that our partnership in progress continues for an even brighter future for our state. We are extremely grateful for the industry’s confidence and investment in WSU.”

This investment comes at a time when the state’s $46 billion food and agriculture industry continues to increase its contribution to the state’s economy. Annually, the Washington tree fruit industry accounts for more than $7 billion of economic impact, with more than a third of that total derived from exports. Read more…

Preserving the Past

Image courtesy of WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections

With the help of generous donors, the WSU Libraries has secured a highly technical new gadget—the Zeutschel Omniscan 14000 AO—that will help to digitize thousands of historical documents, including oversized books, newspapers, and maps, and make them broadly accessible via the Internet.

“This remarkable equipment allows us to share WSU’s big ideas with the world,” says Anna Wheatley, assistant director of development for The Libraries at WSU. “The possibilities for preserving and creating unique digital collections from WSU’s holdings are now unlimited.”

The scanner is a critical investment as many irreplaceable documents within the Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections department are showing the wear of time.

“To be able to put this stuff online and to be able to do it quickly and without damaging fragile works is just a wonderful thing,” says Mark O’English, University archivist.

The $125,000 investment needed for the purchase was made by more than 80 donors over the course of two years. Thanks to their generosity, The Libraries’ valuable collection will be readily available for the research and enjoyment of future generations.

Clif Bar Family Foundation grant supports food production research at WSU

Clif Bar Family Foundation LogoA new WSU program charged with measuring the sustainability of food production systems has received a three-year, $240,000 grant from the Clif Bar Family Foundation.

“Our partnership with Washington State University couldn’t be more timely,” says Kit Crawford, president of Clif Bar Family Foundation. “Agriculture has a huge impact on the health of people and the planet. Now more than ever, we need to back the rigorous, scientific study of organic, sustainable agriculture and its many benefits.”

The program, called “Measure to Manage: Food and Farm Diagnostics for Sustainability and Health,” or M2M, will develop new, and refine existing, science-based tools to quantify and compare the nutritional quality of food, agricultural and food production safety parameters, and agriculture’s environmental impact. Through web-based and other open-access systems, the tools will be made publicly available, especially to decision makers and their advisors, including food-system professionals, researchers and policymakers.

“Our new program will strive to improve the return on time and resources invested across the agricultural sector in complying with a growing array of standards and certification programs by measuring performance attributes with clear links to outcomes that improve people’s lives and promote environmental quality,” says Charles Benbrook, M2M program leader and WSU research professor. Resolving conflicts between different sets of standards and certification requirements is a core M2M goal.

Multiple efforts are under way across the agricultural sector and food industry to develop and adopt sustainable farming systems that produce food with benefits—like more nutrients—and less risky pesticide residues. New standard-setting and certification programs for food quality and safety are emerging at state and national levels and from several international organizations. M2M will address what makes one farming system more or less sustainable than another and how farmers, food companies and third-party certifiers can quantify improvements in food nutritional quality and safety.

The grant from the Clif Bar Family Foundation will accelerate M2M’s development and provide public access to program results and analytical tools via the M2M website.

“M2M will serve as a catalyst for enhancing the sophistication of measurement methods within multidisciplinary and multi-institutional teams conducting research on a wide variety of agricultural and food systems,” says Chad Kruger, director of WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, the institutional home of M2M. Sharper quantification of baseline levels of performance at the beginning of projects, along with better ways to track the impacts of ongoing work, will help produce more rigorous analysis of research outcomes.

Several companies striving to enhance product quality, reduce their environmental footprint and document progress toward sustainability have provided startup capital for the program. These include United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) and the UNFI Foundation, Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative, Whole Foods and Stonyfield, Inc. Additionally, a $25,000 grant from Annie’s Inc. will support work to calculate the embedded environmental and food safety attributes from organic ingredients.

“All of the companies providing core support for M2M recognize the need for more careful research on the impacts of different farming methods and technologies, from organic farming to genetic engineering,” says Michael Funk, chairman and co-founder of UNFI. “Our hope is the M2M program will draw upon the tremendous scientific talent across WSU in creating next-generation, open-access measurement tools to guide innovation and track progress along food value chains.

Visit the M2M website for more information on goals, areas of research and activities. To learn how you can help support this program at WSU, contact Melissa Bean at melissa.bean@wsu.edu or 509-335-0505.

 

A WSU Online First

Nancy Krook is not one to give up easily. And even though she left Pullman years ago when she and her husband, Frank, moved to Western Washington, she wasn’t going to let a minor detail—like the distance to Pullman—keep her from earning her WSU degree.

Actually, nothing was going to keep Nancy from graduating. Between family, careers, and life, the process took several decades.

“Unbeknownst to me, my husband had signed me up for information about the distance program in social sciences,” says Nancy. She jumped at the chance to enroll. Back then, the program involved watching videotapes, a far cry from the interactive experience of today’s WSU Online. Fortunately, the quality of the faculty made up for the low-tech delivery.

“The professors were outstanding and motivated me to finish my remaining credits and graduate with the first class of 1994,” says Nancy.

Frank and Nancy felt a tug to help others share in the WSU pride, even those who live far from a campus. In 2011, they created the Nancy and Frank Krook Scholarship, which will award a $1,000 annual scholarship for generations to come.

Brian Gass of Bellingham received the first Krook Scholarship this spring. He is planning to finish his bachelor’s degree in accounting next year through WSU Online. His goal is to become a certified public accountant.

Brian Gass, first recipient of the Krook Scholarship at Washington State University

In addition to his studies, Brian Gass, first recipient of the Krook Scholarship at WSU, volunteers in his children’s elementary school and has helped the Lummi tribe manage grant money.

“I have three children,” says Brian, “and a wife with multiple sclerosis. So this scholarship was a godsend.”

In her final WSU term paper, Nancy wrote that she would someday like to help other distance students earning their WSU degrees from afar. That was nearly 20 years ago, and today she and Frank are doing just that. “WSU’s program opened the door for me,” says Nancy. “We are thrilled to offer a scholarship that helps further people’s educations and careers.”

Largest-ever commitment to The Libraries at WSU

 

Library Gifts at WSU illustration

Longtime Washington State University supporters and alumni Mike and Liz Johnson are making the largest-ever commitment to The Libraries at WSU, a bequest valued at $3.2 million. By naming the libraries as beneficiary of their estate, the Kirkland, Wash., couple looks to ensure the libraries keep pace in the future with the ever-changing ways information is stored and shared.

“This isn’t your grandfather’s library and it’s still changing very fast,” said Mike. “Libraries prepared to keep up with technology and communication trends are vibrant places that facilitate academic scholarship and research with resources outside of, but not excluding, actual books.”

The Johnsons designated their bequest for unrestricted use. As such, the dean of the libraries can determine how best to strategically leverage the funds to make the greatest impact at the time they are received.  Current priorities for The Libraries at WSU include developing life skills through student employment, continuing education and professional development for staff, and upgrading electronic equipment, but by making an unrestricted commitment, the Johnsons are providing for the priorities of the future, whatever they might be.

“Mike and Liz want to make a significant impact on their alma mater by contributing to a unit that supports every single person in the university system. Libraries are literally the University’s crossroads of learning,” said Jay Starratt, dean of The Libraries at WSU. “The Johnsons recognize this and understand that although the look of libraries and the nature of their services are changing, the importance of libraries in the success of a university is not diminished.”

The libraries at WSU’s Pullman campus as well as those at the Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver campuses collectively offer more than 2.1 million book volumes and 30,000 periodical subscriptions in addition to other resources. The collection is further extended through participation in a consortium of 37 Washington, Oregon, and Idaho libraries, offering students and faculty access to more than 28 million items.

“Attracting, retaining, and developing the best minds in academia requires access to meticulously curated knowledge, academic resources, and historical records,” said Liz Johnson. “We are proud that our gift will help WSU continue doing just that well into the future and hope that others will also be inspired to support the critical work being done by WSU’s libraries.”

Through their generous commitment, Liz and Mike Johnson are ensuring the ability of WSU Libraries to adapt to future technologies and changing demands.

Through their generous commitment, Liz and Mike Johnson are ensuring the ability of WSU Libraries to adapt to future technologies and changing demands.

Liz is a 1976 communication major, and Mike earned two degrees from WSU—a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1975 and a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1976. The couple met at WSU and studied together in the Holland Library in Pullman before they married and moved out of state to attend graduate school.

Liz retired from Microsoft in 2008 and now works in strategic sourcing and program management with Coinstar/Redbox.  After leaving the financial departments of several major insurance companies in 2001, Mike has been a private funds money manager.

“We are grateful for Mike and Liz Johnson’s visionary leadership and generous commitment to the future of The Libraries at WSU,” said Elson S. Floyd, WSU president. “They understand the critical role private support plays in advancing the essential services provided by the libraries and have planted the seed for a truly valuable legacy from which the entire community will benefit.”

The Johnsons’ generous estate commitment is a part of The Campaign for Washington State University: Because the World Needs Big Ideas. Since July 2006, the campaign has raised more than $670.8 million toward a goal of $1 billion to increase support for WSU’s students, faculty, research and programs and to leverage the university’s impact across the state, nation and world.

WSU Announces Investment to Support Organic Agriculture, Model Farm

Organic Farm at WSU

Washington State University is one giant step closer to becoming a world model for research, teaching and extension in organic and sustainable agriculture thanks to a $5 million donor investment announced here this afternoon.

“Washington State University has played an important role in the region’s organic and sustainable agriculture for quite some time, establishing the nation’s first four-year organic agriculture systems major in 2006,” said WSU President Elson S. Floyd. “WSU’s ability to serve this economically important and growing industry regionally, nationally and around the globe will be greatly enhanced by this generous investment.”

WSU officials announced a $5 million investment by alumni and natural foods pioneers Chuck and Louanna Eggert and their family to expand the WSU Organic Farm from four acres to nearly 30 acres. The expansion provides WSU with the largest organic teaching farm on a university campus in the United States.

“This gift reflects how much our whole family appreciates what the university is doing to prepare future leaders in the food industry, and in particular, the organic students,” said Chuck Eggert, who with Louanna founded Pacific Natural Foods in 1987. The couple, who met while attending WSU, have grown the company from a small soymilk production company to a global leader in natural food development, sustainable and organic farming and land stewardship that supports farmers and ranchers.

“This is a game changer for the program,” said John Reganold, WSU Regents Professor of Soil Sciences and Agroecology who leads the university’s organic agriculture major. “This investment by the Eggert family sets the stage for WSU to lead not only the nation, but the world in the field of organic agriculture.”

The gift was announced during an Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Summit organized by the WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. Forty representatives from every aspect of the organic and sustainable food and agriculture industry in the Pacific Northwest attended.

The Eggerts’ gift will be counted as part of the university’s $1 billion comprehensive fundraising effort: The Campaign for Washington State University: Because the World Needs Big Ideas. To date, generous donors, businesses and organizations have committed more than $680 million to the Campaign for WSU to increase support for the university’s students, faculty, research and extension programs and to leverage the university’s impact across the state, nation and world.

A young girl’s illness sparks spirited support for nursing students

Sick with what was later diagnosed as a rare autoimmune reaction, seven-year-old Petra was rushed by her parents to Seattle Children’s Hospital for emergency care in December of 2010. As the talented medical staff attended to the dehydrated and distressed child, one nurse noticed Petra’s WSU Cougars sweatshirt and commented that she, too, was a Coug. So were many of her colleagues.

Susan and Chris Marker share their Cougar spirit with their granddaughters, Anna and Petra.

Chris and Susan Marker with grand kids.

That comment demonstrates the strength of the extended WSU family. Throughout the long week Petra spent in the hospital, her grandparents, WSU alumni Chris (’64 Hotel & Rest. Mgmt., ’66 MBA) and Susan (’64 Ed.) Marker, were especially touched by the compassion and understanding of the WSU College of Nursing graduates. And in honor of the difference these nurses made during Petra’s health scare, the Markers decided to endow a scholarship at their alma mater.

Established in the fall of 2011, the Chris and Susan Marker Family Scholarship in Nursing Excellence honors the professionalism of WSU’s nursing graduates, and will help offset the cost of education for current and future nursing students. The first scholarship will be awarded to an outstanding nursing candidate for the 2012 academic year.

“Petra made it clear that she wanted to be in charge of her recovery,” said Allison Rider (’91 Bus. Admin.), Petra’s mother. “And although this took extra time and patience, the nurses involved her in all steps of her treatment and healing.” Petra was isolated during her stay, and benefited from the extra time and attention the nursing staff gave her by bringing her toys and movies, making origami room decorations, and visiting.

Today Petra is a happy, healthy nine-year-old, and her family’s appreciation for the WSU College of Nursing will live on.Her grandparents’ generous endowed gift will forever provide annual scholarships to help ensure that new generations of deserving nursing students will have the opportunity to impact the lives of many more families.

The Markers’ gift is a vital part of The Campaign for Washington State University—a shared commitment to raise $1 billion for WSU’s students, faculty, research, and programs while leveraging the University’s global impact.

Learn more about how your support of scholarships in the WSU College of Nursing can make a difference in health care throughout Washington and beyond by contacting Karen Malone at 509-324-7339 or malone@wsu.edu.

A community icon supports the mission and work of WSU Tribal Extension

 

When Donna Mae Rickard saw the lasting impression Washington State University Extension agents were making on youth at the Colville Confederated Tribes Reservation, she knew she wanted to invest in the work.

“I could see how the agents were instilling these wonderful values—planning ahead, working hard, thinking about the next step—into the young people in 4-H,” Rickard says. “They were always urging the kids to do more, be more, try for more.”

Donna Mae Rickard (seated) pictured with her daughter, Jean Rickard Berney.

Donna Mae Rickard (seated) pictured with her daughter, Jean Rickard Berney.

To date, the 99-year-old has invested enough to establish and support the WSU-Colville Tribal Family Project Fund. Proceeds paired with tribal matching funds underwrite an Extension position focused on topics like family life, nutrition, and financial management. Rickard sees it as a way to give back to her community.

“So much of our lives, we take,” she says. “You reach a point where you need to give. I think it is exciting to be able to help. You may not be able to see the results of your gift in your lifetime, but you are building something that will last a long time.”

Dan Fagerlie, WSU Ferry County and the Colville Reservation extension director, agrees.

“I have seen the positive impacts the Tribal Extension FCS program has had on youth and families,” Fagerlie says. “The food preservation workshops and the yearly Tribal Nutrition Calendar are always a hit. Kids learn to stay healthy with ‘black light hand washing’ activities. Without Donna Mae and the CCT match, none of this would be occurring.”

Born in Chico, California, Rickard belongs to the Mechoopda Tribe of Northern California. She completed high school there before taking secretarial studies and meeting her husband-to-be, Fred Rickard, at the Chemawa Boarding School near Salem, Oregon. The couple married in 1935 and moved to Nespelem in 1949. Their daughter, Jean Berney (’58, Ag. & Home Ec.), participated in 4-H throughout her school years and as a student at then Washington State College in Pullman.

In addition to years of church and community volunteering, Rickard worked more than 30 years as a secretary to the superintendent of the Colville Indian Reservation and for department heads there. She has always cared about young people and education.

Donna Mae Rickard (seated) with (L – R) Charlie Moses, James McCuen, Del Peasley, Buzz Berney, Jean Berney, and Dan Fagerlie.

Donna Mae Rickard (seated) with (L – R) Charlie Moses, James McCuen, Del Peasley, Buzz Berney, Jean Berney, and Dan Fagerlie.

“I knew education would be very important,” she says, “because I had seen so many kids who didn’t have the opportunity, and they weren’t able to do too well for themselves.”

Dan Bernardo, dean of the WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences and WSU Extension director, says Rickard’s example will touch families for generations.

“The impact one person can have is amazing,” he says. “Donna Mae’s legacy truly will be a healthier, happier community.”