Summer 2023
It all adds up
Innovating in 3D printing at Washington State University » More ...
Engineering
Summer 2023
3D printing at WSU
The potential of 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, could help humans colonize Mars, improve medical implants, and help teachers.
Check out videos and stories about some of the 3D printing innovations at Washington State University.
Read about WSU innovations in 3D printing and additive manufacturing in “It all adds up,” Summer 2023 issue.
The potential of 3D printing on Mars (WSU News, 2022)
WSU researchers use 3-D printer to make parts from moon rock
(WSU News, November 28, 2012)
3D prints may guide vets through risky brain surgery (WSU Insider, April 5, 2022)
Summer 2023
Rebuilding Ukraine
Other people go on vacations. Wayne Chang visits war zones.
“I haven’t taken a vacation in five years,” says the civil engineer with a passion for projects that give people access to services he believes are basic human rights. “I joke that I take my vacation in the latest war zone. And I’m grateful they let me do this.”
Fewer than five months after Russia invaded Ukraine, escalating the Russo-Ukrainian War, Chang (’10 Civ. Eng.) traveled to the embattled country, the second-largest in Europe, to help local officials rebuild infrastructure struck by heavy artillery. He spent three months in Ukraine as a water, sanitation, and … » More …
Summer 2023
Taking the lead
WSU alum and new Oregon State University President Jayathi Murthy charts a new path. » More ...
Spring 2023
It’s in the water
PFAS, forever chemicals, are modern minutia that’s now seen as a very big and widespread problem. » More ...
Winter 2022
It’s fungi to the rescue
The value and virtues of fungi are deceptively simple. » More ...
Winter 2022
A boatload of ideas for fungi
Fungi and mycelium provide a flexible, earth-friendly material for all kinds of products.
Washington State University student Katy Ayers built a world record-setting canoe out of mycelium, her MyConoe. That’s just the beginning of her ideas about materials made from fungus. Larry Clark, editor of Washington State Magazine, talked with Ayers about products made from fungi and mycelium, along with potential fungi items such as fishing bobbers and hunting blinds.
Listen to the podcast:
Find more podcast episodes, and ways to subscribe and listen.
Read more in “It’s fungi to the rescue” (Winter 2022)
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Fall 2022
Wonders of wireless
Twenty years before Washington State University established its first radio station, the school—then Washington State College—began experimenting with the new technology of wireless telegraphy.
Here’s a short timeline of events leading up to the establishment and first broadcast of the school’s radio station in 1922.
1901—Hubert V. Carpenter introduces wireless telegraphy to the WSC campus. He builds a wireless installation in the basement of the Administration building, now Thompson Hall. Due to a noisy and distracting spark plug, the device is later moved to a wooden shack where the CUB now stands. A student named Ed Keyes (1909 Elec. Eng,) assists with the set up.
… » More …
Fall 2022
A partnership for future engineers
SEL, Ed and Beatriz Schweitzer make a transformational gift to Washington State University engineering. » More ...
Summer 2022
Permanence
The ancient Roman architect Vitruvius conceived of three primary virtues for structures: beauty, utility, and firmitas, a term that can be translated as permanence. Naturally, buildings can’t be crafted to last through time immemorial. What is permanence if even stone monuments wear away into sand?
Moreover, as Washington State University architecture professor Ayad Rahmani asks in this issue’s essay, maybe the longevity of structures should be questioned. Rahmani writes about Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic view of buildings and their inevitable decay, and that we should perhaps consider their “measured return to the earth.”
We don’t really expect our buildings to last forever, but we rely … » More …