There are many things going on this week. The Cosmic Crisp® hot air balloon is in town. There’s a luncheon in Spokane to thank Cathy McMorris Rodgers for the support she has shown WSU. President Schulz is holding a town hall meeting. CAHNRS will be well represented at each of these events while the associate deans and I travel the state for our roadshow. As of yet, it remains impossible to be in two places at the same time.
Please help me congratulate Carolyn Ross, recipient of the Office of Research’s 2024 Advancing Equity in Research Award. This honor recognizes Carolyn’s research and advocacy dedicated to the advancement of equity for children with Down syndrome. Carolyn will be recognized during the Research Excellence Awards Ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 24 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Lewis Alumni Center Great Hall in Pullman. This honor comes with a $5,000 research fund, supported through the Office of Research and the provost’s office. Congratulations, Carolyn!
Late last week, Laura Bartley shared the good news that the NASA Biology Consortium, a collaboration with the University of Washington and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was selected for funding. Six CAHNRS faculty from four departments (Phil Bates, Laura Bartley, Stephen Ficklin, Maren Friesen, Karen Sanguinet, and Andrei Smertenko) are part of a project that involves symposia and seed grants to build an even larger community positioned for additional opportunities. Congratulations to the team!
While in the northwest part of the state late this week, we’ll have a chance to visit with a couple of our elected members. I appreciate Chris Mulick working with us on this and am glad the meetings will fit in nicely around our visit to the Skagit County Extension office.
I am hoping to find time to swing by the Mount Vernon Library, not for a book, but to see the front of the building. Steve Jones reached out a couple of weeks ago and shared the following: “Janine Sanguine has been working with the new Mount Vernon Library/Community Center project managers for nearly two years to include the Breadlab and WSU into the $53 million three-story downtown structure in a very public and very grand way. Those 30-foot-tall wheat heads [in the front of the building] are Skagit 1109, the first variety released by WSU specifically for the west side. The interior of the building will have more 1109 artwork and a plaque that covers the Breadlab.” A very cool story and great tribute to the WSU Breadlab! Thanks, Janine, for your commitment to seeing this through!
Pullman will be a bit quieter this weekend. Let’s hope we keep the same temperatures we had last weekend!