Engineering

illustration of girl writing math equations on chalkboard

Spring 2020

How to encourage a girl: Improving diversity in STEM

“Your daughter is obviously good at math,” the teacher says to the girl’s parents at a fourth-grade parent-teacher meeting.

The parents have noticed this, too, and suggest to the fourth grader that she study physics, astronomy, maybe engineering or another math-intensive field. As she gets older, she remains interested in all those things, but she’s also picking up messages that are telling her something quite different.

She and her family are avid Big Bang Theory fans. They’ve watched every episode. So even as her parents and teachers are saying, “You’re good at this!” and “Follow your passion!” she’s seeing portrayals of men in gendered professions, … » More …

Spring 2020

I, scientist

Cultural constraints and biases keep women and people of color from entering and remaining in science, technology, engineering, and math. Washington State University and other national universities are working to increase the participation of these underrepresented minorities. » More ...

Winter 2019

Winds of change

Understanding the capricious changes to our planet's winds keeps WSU and other atmospheric researchers' heads in the clouds. » More ...

Winter 2019

Sensing something wrong with bridges

Damage in bridges is sometimes hidden inside. Washington State University civil engineering researchers have found ways to find that internal damage with sensors. » More ...

Yoni Rodriguez (left) with Von Walden (Photo Shelly Hanks)

Winter 2019

The McNair connection

Washington State University biochemistry student and McNair Scholar Yoni Rodriguez made a connection to his faculty mentor Von Walden, who in turn connected back to scientist and astronaut Ronald McNair. » More ...

Illustration adapted from “Micro additive manufacturing of glucose biosensors: A feasibility study,” Analytica Chimica Acta,

Summer 2019

A better sense of health monitoring

Simpler testing methods for glucose levels, such as non-invasive wearables devised at Washington State University, and on-demand delivery of medication can make large improvements in managing diabetes. » More ...

Carolina Parada (Photo Raymond Yuen/Nvidia Corporation)

Winter 2018

Making artificial intelligence smart

It’s not a simple thing to get a car to see what we see.

“The world is very complex. That’s what makes vision for self-driving cars a challenge. There are millions of scenarios and millions of contexts,” says Carolina Parada (’04, ’06 MS Elec. Eng.) from her home in Boulder, Colorado.

A senior manager for Nvidia, a company probably best known in the video gaming community for its top-shelf graphics cards but with a strong presence in the machine learning market, Parada and her team are working on machine perception, a key piece of getting self-driving cars safely on the
… » More …

Illustration of baseball as atom nucleus

Summer 2018

Physics at the bat

Today’s baseball game, brought to you by Physics Unlimited, is a blockbuster contest between the famous Mathematical Physicists and Washington State University’s own Oblique Collisions.

As the Oblique Collisions take the field, Ernest Rutherford, the renowned English physicist, is first up for the Mathematical Physicists. Better known outside physics circles for his cricketing skills, Rutherford is quite the hitter, though usually of particles much smaller than baseballs.

Indeed, in describing the collision of an alpha particle—better known as the nucleus of a helium atom, two protons and two massive neutrons—with a gold atom, Rutherford had this to say: “It was as if you fired a … » More …

Satellite map showing smoke covering the entire state of Washington on September 5, 2017

Summer 2018

In the hazy days of summer

As wildfires are on the rise throughout the western United States, so is smoke and its effects on health. Here are ten tips to deal with wildfire smoke. » More ...

Summer 2018

Rising particulates in Washington air

Over the last several years, people in Washington state have been exposed to worsening air quality for longer periods of time. The following charts show that increase, based on information from Rahil Dhammapala ’06 PhD (Civ. Eng.) at the Washington State Department of Ecology.

View the above chart in PDF format

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