Spring 2013
Tribble Trouble
The famous Star Trek tribbles owe a lot to previous science fiction works, as does Princess Leia.
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Spring 2013
Heirloom apples in Washington state
Heirloom apples, such as the Palouse and Grimes Golden and the other varieties in this guide, have been making a comeback in local Washington markets.
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Spring 2013
Steadfast Cougar Spirit
Golden and Diamond Graduates Reunion
A lot has changed in 60 years. Six decades ago, Washington State University was still called the State College of Washington. Todd Hall, Holland Library, and the Compton Union Building were newly built. Legendary coach Jack Friel helmed the men’s basketball team, and the college belonged to the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference.
Today, campus landmarks include a new Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health and a freshly remodeled Martin Stadium. One thing remains unchanged: the Cougar homing instinct. No matter when they graduated, Cougars love returning “home” to Pullman. This April, hundreds of WSU graduates from 1953 and … » More …
Spring 2013
John Bryant ’88—Here for the beer
John Bryant’s first taste of the beer business was pouring pints for fellow Washington State University students at the Cougar Cottage. Since then, the 1988 communications graduate has helped build microbreweries in Oregon and Colorado into some of the most successful and respected in the country.
Now he is hoping to do the same in Spokane with the recently rebranded No-Li Brewhouse. Since he arrived, sales have soared and the brewery is winning awards and attention across the United States and overseas.
“The guy is moving 100 miles per hour all the time,” says Jeff Allen of the Odom Corporation, which distributes No-Li beers … » More …
Spring 2013
George R. “Bob” Pettit ’52—A profile in persistence
Every few days, Bob Pettit ’52 runs six miles. Now 83, he has done this since his late 20s, when he joined the faculty of the University of Maine and felt the mounting tensions of academic life.
“It’s a great release of stress,” he said this fall while visiting Pullman to receive the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award, the highest honor for WSU alumni. “And I think aerobic exercise is the secret formula for longevity.”
Pettit’s running habit also speaks to his fortitude, whether he’s diving in waters around the world in a search for natural cures to cancer, finding new ways to process tons of … » More …
Spring 2013
Asif Chaudhry ’88—The ambassador
In 2008, when Asif Chaudhry became U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Moldova, the small Eastern European country wedged between Romania and Ukraine was in flux. As it moved from Communist rule to a free market, pro-Western government, the country was seeking a stronger relationship with the United States.
Chaudhry ’88 PhD knew the new Moldovan government faced economic problems as well as social issues with human trafficking. He also recognized Moldova’s importance as a former Soviet state and an economic partner with the European Union.
“The biggest challenge that we faced was a country that previously was not as strong in terms of the … » More …
Spring 2013
Patrick Rothfuss ’02—World Builder
Fantasy writer Patrick Rothfuss (’02 MA) enters the sleek atrium of the Chicago Hyatt with aplomb—passing through a lobby packed with weird characters. A human-sized rabbit taps away on a laptop, a steampunk Victorian-era archaeologist hunts for her friends, a green-haired space alien stands in line for a latte.
These are Rothfuss’s people. Or as he calls them, “Geeks of all creeds and nations.”
Rothfuss also looks weird. He hails from another time or place—maybe 1970s America, since Simon and Garfunkel peer out from his black t-shirt, or maybe the Middle Ages where his unruly beard would suit him in any village. Or maybe sometime … » More …
Spring 2013
Taste, an Accounting in Three Scenes
Questions of taste—let’s put it simply—can tire. Like a second colonoscopy. Like a second fall of man. Do we have to go through that again?
In the beginning, one is innocent of taste. Then, introduced to the concept, our new Adam and Eve realize their paradisal minds contain no data concerning the charms of early polyphony, track lighting, or cocktail recipes using angostura bitters. Cover up!
Now some years back, the Spanish metaphysician José Ortega y Gasset had the audacity (bad taste?) to question René Descartes. “I think, therefore I am,”Ortega y Gasset said, was based on a false premise. For some reason it didn’t … » More …
Spring 2013
Passing the Smell Test
The act of smelling starts out as chemical detection but often ends up as an emotional trigger
Among all the modern variations on evolution are several hundred shoppers who two years ago wandered into a home decoration store in northern Switzerland. For most of them, it was just another chance to buy some plates or a basket, with the exception of a researcher asking them to fill out a questionnaire at the cash register. But after nearly a month of monitoring customers, researchers noticed that one group of about 100 spent on average significantly more money. The customers told the researchers as much, and receipts … » More …
Spring 2013
How Washington tastes: The Apple meets Cougar Gold
Much of Carolyn Ross’s work involves training people to quantify their taste. The sensory evaluation panels that she and her graduate students organize assess taste attributes in fruit and other foods and beverages such as sweetness, acidity, bitterness, and astringency. And “mouth feel,” which contributes enormously to the taste experience.
But for these panels to arrive at a consensus of, say, how sweet a given apple is, or how tart, or how much it crunches in relation to other apples, everyone must agree on the intensity of those attributes.
Before the panel members can evaluate a given food, they will train for a number of … » More …