Fall 2022
A partnership for future engineers
SEL, Ed and Beatriz Schweitzer make a transformational gift to Washington State University engineering. » More ...
Engineering
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 …
Summer 2022
Bad breaks for our state’s bridges
Washington State University researchers are going for broke on Washington’s aging bridges. » More ...
Spring 2022
Robot swarms, soft bots, and other robotic ideas
We’ve come a long way from clunky, claw-handed Robot from Lost in Space.
Robots have had industrial and entertainment uses for a number of years, but researchers at Washington State University are rethinking robots’ design, tasks, and collaboration with humans. From the tiniest self-powered robot to soft robots, fruit-picking bots, and swarms of small robots like bees that can search collapsed buildings, the very idea of what is a “robot” is changing.
The creation of the National Robotics Initiative in 2011 also pushed the field toward more collaborative robots (or co-robots), which are designed to work cooperatively with humans. The robots are no longer … » More …
Spring 2022
Mighty tiny
Robeetle breaks world record for lightest self-powered crawling robot, thanks to a Washington State University engineer. » More ...
Winter 2021
Collecting
Stories from the Winter 2021 issue of Washington State Magazine feature collecting, from books in archives to plastic waste for recycling. » More ...
Winter 2021
To shield and protect
Matthew Percival and the US State Department's Diplomatic Security Service ensure the safety of embassies and staff. » More ...
Winter 2021
Plastic
Piling up without foreseeable end, Washington State University researchers work to solve the “plastics problem.” » More ...
Winter 2021
Plant plastics
Why make plastic from petroleum and fossil fuels when they can be made from plants and bio-based materials?
Plastic waste remains a huge problem, one that WSU researchers are working on, but other research across the country looks at alternatives to fossil fuel-based plastics.
WSU collaborates with Iowa State University on the Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites (CB2) on developing high-value biobased products from agricultural and forestry feedstocks. The WSU Composite Materials and Engineering Center provides expertise in renewable resources to develop those novel bio-based polymers, chemicals, and composites.
The work at WSU has been underway for a … » More …
Fall 2021
Mimicking mother nature
Manufacturing biological components to fix broken bodies is no longer a science fiction. » More ...