UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Greats 2013:
The Power to Change for Good

You know what's GREAT about ideas? Anyone can have one. They can come anytime, from anywhere, right out of the blue, in ways we least expect.

Ideas are the turbo engine of humanity. They have a remarkable way of turning nonsense into common sense, making the improbable shockingly possible. Ideas are the foundations — thoughts that continue to build on each other. They are the checkpoints on a road to progress that, eventually, make us ... an improved us.

One-hundred-fifty years ago, some people with foresight had a very good idea. They decided to set aside land and money for a new kind of college — our nation's land-grant universities — places where conventional wisdom could be challenged and reimagined constantly. Places where fertile minds could flourish and grow and where one could learn how to lead their communities — and the world — toward a better, smarter future. It was one simple idea, but it's already led to millions more.

What started as a small-town college tucked away in the Northern Utah mountains has grown into "Idea Central," a thriving research university known and respected around the world. Our professors are filled with PASSION for what they do — professors such as Joyce Kinkead, USU's 13th Carnegie professor. Our students and researchers embrace the opportunities offered by COLLABORATION, such as partnering with universities from around the world to find new methods to slow the effects of Alzheimer's.

At Utah State University, we nurture INNOVATION and embrace possibility. We don't just change students; we transform entire communities. We do more than study the human experience; we celebrate it. We engage in fields of study the world can't live without, and our influence is anything but earthbound.

It's really no surprise that we EMPOWER our students to enrich the lives of others. After all, a place like this, in a setting like this, has a power all its own.

The power to uplift ...
The power to share ...
The power to thrill ...
The power to inspire ...
The power to challenge ...
To accomplish ...
To surprise ...
To grow ...
Utah State University: The power to change ... for good.

2 Undergraduate Researchers Earn GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIPS

// Tyler Gish (Chemistry & Physics)
// Jordan Rozum (Physics & Math)

4 Graduate Students named NSF RESEARCH FELLOWS

5th consecutive WIN at the North American international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. Their project: "Arachnicoli" - first-ever spider silk thread from BioBrick parts

Huntsman School of ACCOUNTANCY tops national 6%

// Undergraduate program: 34th nationally
// Graduate program: 37th nationally

#3 highest-ranked university in the Nation with the Lowest Tuition in "AMERICA'S TOP COLEGES" (Forbes, "Top Colleges," Aug. 2013)

Emma Eccles Jones COLLEGE OF EDUCATION & HUMAN SERVICES

// 4th in the nation for research funding among graduate schools of education
// 24th among graduate schools in the nation
// TOP 20 Special Education and Rehabilitation Programs

Concrete Canoe Team places 5th IN THE NATION at the American Society of Civil Engineers National Student Concrete Canoe Competition

Alum Named 2013 Nobel Economics Laureate, Lars Hansen (Mathematics / Political Science, '74)

One of three Americans named as a recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics for groundbreaking research on the workings of financial markets, asset prices and behavioral economics.

// A Cache Valley native. Son of the late R. Gaurth Hansen, renowned biochemist and former USU provost, and longtime USU supporter Anna Lou Rees Hansen
// USU Honorary Degree '12, Huntsman School of Business Professional Achievement Award '09
// David Rockefeller Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and Statistics, University of Chicago
// Inaugural Research Director for the Becker-Friedman Institute, University of Chicago

Another Carnegie Professor of the Year: Joyce Kinkead, Faculty Member, English

// 5th consecutive USU Carnegie Professor, 13 USU Professors in 18 years
// CHaSS Researcher of the Year
// Council for Undergraduate Research Fellow
// Former director of the university's undergraduate research program
// Founded the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research
// Created the annual undergraduate research day at the Capitol

Aggie Football Caps off Year in the GREATest Way

// Poinsettia Bowl 21-14 victory against No. 24 Northern Illinois
// First year in Mountain West Conference
// Mountain Division Champions in MWC
// Matt Wells, football coach, named Mountain West Coach of the Year
// 14 Aggies earn All-Conference Honors
// 7th in the nation in scoring defense
// 37th in the nation in final Associated Press and Coaches' Poll
// Seniors end season as winningest group in school history

INNOVATION

B.A.M.B.I. Makes It Possible

Break-Apart Mobile Bridging and Infiltration device

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Students: First Place: U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) University Design Challenge

// BAMBI: Break-Apart Mobile Bridging and Infiltration device
// Repeat: Second consecutive AFRL University Design Challenge win for Utah State MAE students [see 2012 GREATS: PVAC aka "wall-crawler"]

USU's Aggie Bus Receives Energy Technology of the Year Award

// The Reason: The Aggie Bus is the first wirelessly powered electric bus developed and designed in North America
// Presented at: Utah Governor's Energy Development Summit by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Sen. Orrin Hatch

Dipeese? PLEASE!

Grad Students Ying Lu, Abdulla Khan, Xiaoxi Wang and Undergraduate Jonathon Soloria: First place: national product-development competition

// The Competition? BYU, Cornell, other top-tier research institutions
// The Product? Dipeese: low-fat, low-calorie, low-sodium, high-protein, dairy-based fresh dip

// Air Force Research Award
Jake Singleton (Senior, ENGR, Cadet Colonel, USU AFROTC Cadet Wing, Detachment 860) National Cadet Research Award. Only one national award given yearly. Singleton crafted a cube satellite featuring new control mechanisms.
// Ceramics head John Neely is USU's 2013 D Wynne Thorne Career Research Award recipient, the first creative artist to win the award. "As he's poured history, chemistry and engineering into his art, he's put USU on the map as a place of innovation and exploration." — USU President Stan Albrecht
// Four Aggies Named 2013 NSF Graduate Research Fellows: Kendall Becker and Kate Mendaesna Galbreath, both master's students in Ecology, and Aleshka Carrion-Matta, master's student in Watershed Sciences, and Michael Ray Negale, doctoral student in Physics. Honored in the renowned competition that rewards academic excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
// Two Miniature Orbital Temperature Reference instruments — MOTRs — built by USURF's Space Dynamics Laboratory were launched in November and are heading to the International Space Station.
// Fossil Hunter & Innovator. Kenneth Carpenter, Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum director and curator of paleontology, has discovered a new genus and species of marine reptile, the Megacephalosaurus eulerti.

PASSION

Truman Scholarship

Briana Bowen (Junior, Political Science)

//First USU student awarded the Truman Scholarship since 1984, first woman in school's history
// Application for award included a proposal addressing health care policy
// Has already been a public policy intern with the Healthcare Leadership Council in Washington, D.C.
// Interest in health care stems from being diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age 1

Quinney College of Natural Resources Undergraduates Help Business Save

// Rachelle Messner, Nikol Larsen and Jacoby Knight teamed with a Logan-area restaurateur and the city's environmental services department to develop an efficient and cost-effective recycling program.
// The business will save $2,500 per year and will keep more than 16,000 cubic feet of garbage out of the landfill

Endowed Chair Karl White, Early Childhood Education

The Right Person for the Job:

// Pioneered infant hearing screening
// Founding director: National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management
// Cofounder: Sound Beginnings Preschool Program
// Former Program chair of the Research and Evaluation Methodology Program

// Danielle Howa Pendergrass, USU Eastern faculty member, won the 2013 Utah Nurse Practitioners State Award for Excellence in Leadership for her role in helping to change Medicaid policy in Utah. The real prize, though, goes to those on the receiving end of additional medical care as a result of the policy change that Pendergrass helped to navigate through committees.
// Dean Craig Jessop (Caine College of the Arts) received the 2013 Madeleine Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts and Humanities, presented annually to people who have made comprehensive and long-term contributions to the arts and humanities in Utah.
// USU took first place in the University Division of the National Bike Challenge and 7th overall out of more than 7,000 workplaces. (Spearheaded by the Sustainability Council, Aggie Blue Bikes and the Employee Wellness Program)
// Padmashri Suresh (PhD Student, Electrical & Computer Engineering) will spend 12 weeks in Washington, D.C., with the world's foremost scientists and engineers as a National Academies Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow.
// Script by Liz Gabbitas (Senior, Theater Arts), Vision, Trust & Horticulture, was selected for production by the Northwest Playwrights Alliance.
// The Little Blue Goes Greenhouse at Edith Bowen Laboratory Elementary School was started by USU students after receiving a Blue Goes Green grant that allowed them to build a raised-bed garden and greenhouse. The greenhouse is a place where children can learn about food, health, sustainability and stewardship.

COLLABORATION

European Union Discusses Cloning at USU

International group of European Union policy makers

Department of Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences (ADVS)

Hosted discussions on animal cloning, animal biotechnologies and global livestock trade

// Pictured: International group of European Union policy makers from seven countries

Groundbreaking Alzheimer's Research

Research from the Colleges of Education and Human Services, and Agriculture and Applied Sciences: Collaboration with colleagues at Johns Hopkins, Duke, Utah, BYU, Gothenburg (Sweden) and Washington

// Major Findings: 1st published academic research showing environmental factors — aspects of the care environment — could slow progression of Alzheimer's

Undergraduate Research Helps NASA Project

Kelby Peterson (Junior, Watershed Sciences and Physics major): Part of a NASA study Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE)

// The Research: Analyzing material samples that flew on the International Space Station
// The Goal: Finding material suitable for crafting future space vehicles and instruments

// Utah State University students in Beta Alpha Psi international honorary accounting organization worked with USU Extension agents to make volunteer income tax assistance more available to rural Utahns. Through a new process called Virtual VITA, rural taxpayers were connected with certified volunteer student tax preparers at USU through the Internet.
// USU's biofuel dragster set a new land-speed record at the Southern California Timing Association's 65th Anniversary Speed Week at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Researchers and students from USU's Colleges of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, Science and Engineering collaborated on the dragster that uses USU-crafted, completely renewable biodiesel.
// USU Extension Community Development Specialist Steve Daniels went to Africa and worked with colleagues from the University of Copenhagen and Oregon State University to create asset-based community development strategies for two communities in Ghana.
// USU and Salt Lake Community College established a strategic partnership that provides coursework to SLCC students enabling them to seamlessly transfer to USU and complete USU's bachelor's degree requirements. Coursework is delivered via USU's Regional Campus and Distance Education interactive video conferencing system to the SLCC campus.
// Environment and Society faculty member Claudia Radel is part of a six-member delegation led by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Forest Service International Programs office to Southeast Asia to assist universities with curricula development.

EMPOWERMENT

Huntsman Hall Groundbreaking and Clark Center Named

State-of-the-Art $42 Million Business Building

// Completion: Fall 2015
2/3 funding from private donors
1/3 funding from State of Utah sources
// The Jeffrey D. Clark Center for Entrepreneurship will reside in the soon-to-be-built Huntsman Hall
// Possible because a $6 million donation from alum Jeffrey Clark and his wife, Bonnie
// Will fund programs fostering entrepreneurial success among Utah State students everywhere, as well as among the communities in the state

Athletics Strength and Conditioning Center Opens

Made possible by the largest single gift in the history of Aggie Athletics from an anonymous donor

Groundbreaking for Wayne Estes Center

32,000 squarefoot basketball practice facility and volleyball competition venue. Doors open in spring 2014

Two Huntsman Graduates in the Top 1% in the Nation

// 92,000 took the CPA exam, 39 received the Elijah Watt Sells Award for the top score
// Two were Aggies, Jill Aoki and Anthony Lemon

// New Deans in Two Colleges
Kenneth L. White: Agriculture and Applied Sciences
Christine Hailey: College of Engineering
// Aviation Technology — new CRJ700 Flight Simulator ensures practice with larger aircraft. Joined the SkyWest Cadet Program, allowing students to become SkyWest first officers and benefit from mentorship by SkyWest captains.
// With student input, the division of Student Services finished design and programming phases of the Student Recreation and Wellness Center; opening to students fall 2015.
// Watershed Sciences Department Head Chuck Hawkins was named to the Freshwater Ecosystems Indicators Technical Team of the National Climate Assessment's U.S. Global Change Research Program.
// Dan C. and Manon Caine Russell Resident Quartet Endowment will allow Fry Street Quartet members to build and strengthen a string program, considered one of the best in the nation. (USU Music Department)

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Greats 2013: The Power to Change for Good