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Cosmic Crisp®: How a Bunch Made One Good Apple

December 1, 2019 Hailey Rupp

By Cindy Hollenbeck

This is a story about how one amazing apple sweetened the bunch, and how a bunch of individuals created one amazing apple. Researchers, tree fruit growers, and industry partners from Washington state collaborated to develop and promote the Cosmic Crisp® WA 38 cv.—an apple that will have a “cosmic” effect on the world. The Cosmic Crisp® demonstrates how the science of breeding and the art of imagination can come together to make a new star apple.

Twenty-plus years after horticulturist Bruce Barritt took pollen from the Honeycrisp and placed it on the stigma of the Enterprise to produce seed, boxes of the … » More …

Dog’s Best Friend

April 3, 2018 Trevor Durham

WSU’s Katrina Mealey, Ph.D., DVM saving animal lives every day

Wheelchair-bound Tom Stark falls over unconscious while crossing the street with his service dog Hoover, an English Shepherd. After being rushed to the hospital, the staff believes Stark may have picked up a parasitic worm while traveling abroad and prescribes him an antiparastic drug. Sadly, before Stark can take the meds, Hoover, with his pale brown “eyebrows” and white paws, eats the handful of the pills and dies. Upon reflection, Dr. House notes, “Dogs with the MDR1 gene can die from certain antiparastic drugs.”

While many viewers of this 2007 episode of the medical … » More …

Meet Lisa Calvert

December 6, 2017 Trevor Durham

Lisa Calvert has served in a variety of executive development and fundraising positions during a 30-year career in higher education and the nonprofit sector. She joined the Cougar family on October 25, and will serve as WSU’s chief fundraising officer, leading efforts to build a comprehensive, integrated development and external engagement strategy that will maximize private support and investment. She will oversee the WSU Foundation and all development efforts statewide, as well as the WSU Alumni Association.

“Lisa joins us at an exciting moment in the university’s history,” said WSU President Kirk Schulz. “A vibrant culture of philanthropy is a critical component of WSU’s goal … » More …

Scott Carson awarded WSU Foundation’s top honor

October 4, 2017 Trevor Durham

The Washington State University Foundation presented its highest honor—the Weldon B. “Hoot” Gibson Distinguished Volunteer Award—to retired Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Scott Carson during the 38th Annual Recognition Gala in Pullman, Sept. 28.

The WSU Foundation presents the Gibson Award each year to recognize individuals whose service on behalf of WSU and the WSU Foundation is measured by the highest levels of achievement.

“For Scott, it’s about students,” said WSU President Kirk Schulz. “He has a real passion for creating meaningful opportunities for WSU students to hone their skills, expand their horizons, and prepare to be leaders in their chosen field and in … » More …

Calvert named new WSU VP for Advancement, CEO Foundation

October 4, 2017 Trevor Durham

Lisa Calvert, a development and fundraising expert with more than 30 years of experience, has been named vice president for advancement at Washington State University and CEO of the WSU Foundation. She will start at WSU on Oct. 25.

She has served in a variety of executive development and fundraising positions during a career in higher education and the nonprofit sector.

Calvert will serve as WSU’s chief fundraising officer, leading efforts to build a comprehensive, integrated development and external engagement strategy that will maximize private support and investment. She will oversee the WSU Foundation and all development efforts statewide, as well as the WSU Alumni … » More …

WSU private support tops $122 million

September 26, 2017 Trevor Durham

Washington State University supporters committed $21.6 million in private support in June—a record for that month—to bring WSU’s total fundraising activity to more than $122.6 million in gifts, grants, revocable commitments and other contributions during Fiscal Year 2017.

“This is a testament to each and every generous individual and organization who believe in WSU and want to be a part of instilling a margin of excellence across the University,” said Gil Picciotto, interim vice president for advancement and CEO of the WSU Foundation. “Regardless of where our donors chose to contribute—be it scholarships, research, liberal arts, medicine, athletics, etc.—their support demonstrates their faith in the … » More …

Schweitzer, SEL gifts energize WSU’s power program

September 25, 2017 Trevor Durham

Washington State University’s power engineering program will establish the Edmund O. Schweitzer III Chair in Power Apparatus and Systems in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, thanks to gifts totaling $1.5 million from Edmund and Beatriz Schweitzer, and the employee owners of Pullman-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories.

“We are humbled by the generosity of Ed and Beatriz, and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), and excited by the leadership and vision they demonstrate with the creation of this new endowed chair in Voiland College,” said WSU President Kirk H. Schulz. “The Schweitzers and SEL are writing a new chapter in their legacy for investing in WSU’s faculty … » More …

Gift advances WSU thermodynamics research

September 20, 2017 Trevor Durham

Washington State University announced the creation of the Alexandra Navrotsky Institute for Experimental Thermodynamics, made possible by a $1 million gift from Alexandra Navrotsky, Distinguished Interdisciplinary Professor of Ceramic, Earth and Environmental Materials Chemistry at University of California-Davis.

Navrotsky recently made a similar gift to UC Davis.

The new WSU institute will be part of the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering.

Navrotsky’s gift will create an endowment to support experimental thermodynamics research. The endowment will be used to advance the careers of aspiring scientists, including two of Navrotsky’s former Ph.D. students who recently joined WSU’s chemical engineering and chemistry faculty. … » More …

Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation pledges $1M to WSU Wine Science Program

August 20, 2017 Trevor Durham

The Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation will donate $1 million to the Washington State University Viticulture & Enology Program, the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.

Announced at the annual Auction of Washington Wines Gala on Aug. 19 in Woodinville, Wash., the donation will be dedicated to teaching labs and facilities as well as scholarships for viticulture and enology students.

Half of the $1 million donation will support the build-out of the Life Science Teaching Laboratory at the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates WSU Wine Science … » More …

Meet Loan Lam

June 29, 2017 Trevor Durham

“Your daughter has Leukemia.”

Loan Lam’s parents were stunned. It was July 1999 and Loan was a few days away from celebrating her 9th birthday. The formal diagnosis: childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common type of cancer in children. With ALL, the bone marrow makes too many immature lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell).

Advancements in modern medicine saved her life. According to the National Cancer Institute, from 2005-2011, the five-year relative survival rates for ALL: 91.2 percent for children and adolescents younger than 15 years, and 92.9 percent for children younger than 5 years.

However, beating ALL requires rigorous treatments. “Pediatric … » More …