In the News

• Navajo-Hopi Observer Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024

  USU breaks ground on Monument Valley academic center

  MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah — Representatives of Utah State University (USU) and the Navajo Nation broke ground for a long-awaited academic building in a ceremony on the morning of Aug. 2. The education building, which will be located just northwest of Monument Valley High School, will serve students and community members of the Navajo Nation.

  “The new USU Monument Valley Education Building strengthens the commitment to higher education and opportunities to rural and Indigenous communities,” said Kristian Olsen, senior associate vice president for USU Blanding.

  The education building will include modern classrooms, computer labs, a nursing and CNA lab, a career and technical education lab, a small business development space, a welding lab, spaces for adult education and more.

• UPR Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024

  USU rolls out new engineering tech degree

  Utah State University approved a new engineering technology degree, in hopes of giving students more opportunities.

  The degree is intended to bridge the gap between academia and industry. The program was designed with input from both areas to give students more knowledge and experiences.

  Richard Hawkes is the director of programs at Northrop Grumman and was vital in the conception and development of this new degree.

• Salt Lake Tribune Saturday, Jul. 27, 2024

  A look into Utah's favorite ice cream brand

  After witnessing all the steps taken to create one of Utah’s favorite ice cream brands, Cache Valley resident Savanna Mccay learned an important lesson.

  “Cows,” Mccay said, “are the best things on earth.”

  Earlier this month, Utah State University held its annual “Cow to Cone” event, where community members had the chance to peek into the entire process behind the delectable taste of Aggie Ice Cream, deemed by many (aside from the devotees of BYU Creamery) as Utah’s most mouth-watering campus confection.

• The Seattle Times Thursday, Jul. 25, 2024

  The Great Salt Lake isn't just drying out. It's warming the planet.

  Like some dystopian astronaut, Melissa Cobo would hike the searing flats of the dried-out Great Salt Lake every couple of weeks, hauling a heavy backpack attached by a hose to what looked like the lid of a cake dome. What remained of the lake often seemed out of reach as she struggled through hot mud, clay and a weird crystalline layer that broke with her footsteps onto a greenish muck.

  “You see the water, but you never actually get to it, no matter how many hours you walk,” Cobo said.

  Through these grueling treks, Cobo, then a Utah State University graduate student, and her adviser, Soren Brothers, discovered more disturbing evidence that dried-out lakes are a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions — one that has not been included in the official accounting of how much carbon the world is releasing into the warming atmosphere.

• The Herald Journal Tuesday, Jul. 16, 2024

  USU researchers work with UDOT to develop vertiports

  A group at Utah State University is working with the Utah Department of Transportation to bring air transportation to an urban level using vertiports.

  Associate professor Brent Chamberlain and some of his students are working with UDOT Aeronautics Division to identify possible locations for these ‘vertical airports’ in the Wasatch Front.

  The ongoing project is part of UDOT’s efforts to integrate air travel into urban transportation. Vertiports are centers for safe takeoffs and landings and provide maintenance or repairs to unmanned or electric aircraft within a community.

• MSN Wednesday, Jul. 10, 2024

  USU to open center for digital accessibility within education

  A new center coming to Utah State University this fall will provide accessible digital materials to students with disabilities.

  Cynthia Curry, director of the National Center on Accessible Digital Educational Materials and Instruction, or NCADEMI, said the facility will address, what she calls, the "longstanding and historical issues" around access to educational materials for students with disabilities. She added the role of NCADEMI is to help ensure those with disabilities receive digital educational materials in a way that they can use them.

  "The standard way that a lot of educational materials are produced and provided to students, inherently have those barriers to students with sensory disabilities, physical disabilities and learning disabilities. NCADEMI is a technical assistance center that sets out to provide support and services specifically to educational agencies," she explained.

• Deseret News Thursday, Jul. 04, 2024

  Space: How Utah's decades of technology expertise is paying off

  Houston, Cape Canaveral and ... Dugway?

  Yes, one of these is most assuredly not like the others and some folks may not even know that the Defense Department’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah’s west desert has become a prime landing location for returning space missions. But the places that have become synonymous with U.S. space flight and exploration may be quietly acquiring a new sibling as Utah parlays its decades of space-related activities into a more starring role in the burgeoning cosmos business.

  As it turns out, there’s a whole lot of technology, components and know-how with Utah roots that have ventured, or will venture, beyond the boundaries of our home planet.

• Cache Valley Daily Wednesday, Jul. 03, 2024

  Five USU faculty receive Fulbright awards

  LOGAN - Every year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program more than 800 scholars, students, teachers and professionals of all backgrounds teach or conduct research.

  Among those receiving Fulbright Scholar Program awards for the 2024-25 academic year are four Utah State University professors who will teach or conduct research abroad.

  The group includes Ryan Berke, from the College of Engineering, who will travel to the United Kingdom; Brent Chamberlain, College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences who is traveling to Portugal; David Feldon, who in early 2025 will travel to Australia; and, Kimberly Hageman, College of Science who will travel to Italy.

• Cache Valley Daily Tuesday, Jul. 02, 2024

  USU scientists join national project on heat resilience

  LOGAN - Extreme heat is one of the deadliest climate risks in the United States. It kills more people on average than any other kind of extreme weather.

  In an effort to promote community heat resilience across the country, the National Integrated Heat Information System (NIHHS) has funded two virtual centers of excellence, one of which includes researchers at Utah State University.

  Dr. Wei Zhang and other USU climate scientists are part of the Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring in Durham, North Carolina. They will provide technical support in the $2.3 million program for collaborating science museums in Arizona, Oregon and Massachusetts.

• KUTV Tuesday, Jul. 02, 2024

  USU study highlights gender disparity in unpaid care work

  SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A study by the Utah Women and Leadership Project at Utah State University shed light on the gender disparity in unpaid caregiving work in Utah.

  The research found that when it comes to doing unpaid work like childcare, eldercare and household chores, women carry most of the burden — doing over four hours of unpaid care work daily compared to over two hours for men.

  Nationally, the dollar value of women's unpaid work is $10.8 trillion each year.

• Associated Press Tuesday, Jul. 02, 2024

  Utah Professor's Coast to Coast Bike Ride Fundraiser

  SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, UNITED STATES, July 2, 2024 / EINPresswire.com / -- It began on Monday June 3, 2024, Utah State University Professor Mike Glauser and 5 of his colleagues will began a grueling cross-country journey from Florence, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia in hopes of helping to end world poverty.

  Glauser, the Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, Jon M. Huntsman School of Business for the past thirteen years, along with his team, which includes a documentary film crew, will follow the TransAmerica Trail reaching Yorktown Virginia on July 20th. This cross-country journey, Pedaling to End Poverty, is an effort towards raising scholarship money for a special program the school offers. Glauser is a man on a mission, with stops at dozens of small towns and hamlets in between, a crusade that’s sure to draw attention all along his route, and one everyone can easily be a part of.

• Cache Valley Daily Monday, Jul. 01, 2024

  David Jones named new Dean of USU College of Engineering

  LOGAN - The new dean of Utah State University’s College of Engineering — David Jones — plans to assume his new position Oct. 1, leaving the University of Nebraska where he directed the Biological Systems Engineering Department for six years.

  He succeeds Jagath Kaluarachchi who announced his retirement last November, effective June 30 of this year. The outgoing dean said in his final months he would work to expand the Utah Earthquake Engineering Center into a custom-built headquarters that would accommodate a state-of-the-art research operation with large shaker tables for simulating seismic loads.

• The Herald Journal Monday, Jun. 24, 2024

  Hundreds of people participate in USU Juneteenth celebrations

  State and local government offices were closed last week in celebration of Juneteenth, also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day.

  Hundreds of people participated in Utah State University events to celebrate the holiday including a concert, 5K run, barbeque and musical workshop.

  Director of Inclusive Excellence Isaiah Jones said he felt like the activities all went well.

• Cache Valley Daily Monday, Jun. 17, 2024

  Juneteenth celebrations underway at Utah State University

  LOGAN - Utah State University’s three days of events celebrating Juneteenth continue Wednesday, commemorating the end of slavery in America.

  USU’s fourth annual Juneteenth observance started with a performance on the Quad by the USU Alumni Band Sunday night, June 16.

  Wednesday begins with an 8 a.m. Fun Run followed by the annual 5K at 8:30. Most of the proceeds from those two events will go to a memorial on the USU campus honoring Mignon Barker Richmond, the first African-American student to graduate from a university in Utah. Everyone is invited to the Juneteenth Community BBQ at Bridger Park in Logan with activities for families and children. Food is served at 6 p.m. and it is free.

• UPR Tuesday, Jun. 11, 2024

  USU unveils 'state-of-the-art' nursing education suite, doubles capacity

  When Father Rick Lawson, a contributor to the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, first visited the underutilized locker space in Utah State University's recreation building in 2022 — which would later become the new Emma Eccles Jones Advanced Nursing Education Suite — he was skeptical about its transformation.

  But when he attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the space along with more than 100 community members and faculty of Utah State University on Monday, he quickly changed his mind.

  “Today when I walked in, I was just absolutely overwhelmed,” Lawson said. “It’s fantastic, beautiful, state-of-the-art, and will be such a great facility for the students to really learn their skills.”

• Deseret News Friday, Jun. 07, 2024

  How Utah's $300M endowment helps students experiencing FAFSA rollout delays

  As financial aid offices at Utah’s colleges and universities toil to overcome delays in the federal financial aid award notifications, the Utah Board of Higher Education has approved a policy intended to provide funding to certain state student aid initiatives.

  The funding will come from proceeds of the $300 million Higher Education Student Success Endowment created in 2022 under SB172 after Utah exited the student loan processing business and higher education authorities approved the sale of the $1.2 billion loan portfolio that had been administered by the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority.

  Earlier this week, the Utah Board of Higher Education approved a policy that authorizes spending a portion of the endowment proceeds for board initiatives and allocations to degree-granting colleges and universities as well as technical colleges to supplement four state aid programs tied to financial aid, workforce development and “high impact service.”

• Cache Valley Daily Friday, Jun. 07, 2024

  USU professor awarded $900K for engineering education research

  LOGAN - For several years the need to diversify the engineering workforce has received significant attention. People with disabilities have these skills but are not adequately represented in the STEM fields.

  About 25 percent of US adults have a disability but just eight percent of scientists and engineers belong to this group.

  New research at Utah State University seeks to change the ways students with disabilities are supported in engineering.

• The Herald Journal Tuesday, Jun. 04, 2024

  USU scientists study how climate change could affect where plants get water

  Andrew Kulmatiski is an associate professor in Wildland Resources at USU. One of the topics he and his team study is something seemingly basic, but actually quite complex.

  “We're examining where plants get their water from. It's a surprisingly simple question, but really hard to figure out," Kulmatiski said. "We really don't know what's going on underground, because when you dig a hole, you've killed everything you want to look at. “

  A researcher, Andrew Kulmatiski, in field gear stands in the field holding the drill that is similar to large power drill with a very long bit that he and his team use to drill holes into the soil around target plants

• Popular Science Friday, May. 24, 2024

  Chance or pattern? Stick insects show repeatable evolution in action

  Stick insects have more going on the surface of their skinny bodies than meets the eye. Some species of these bugs can blend in with plants to avoid predators. How they evolved this camouflage is part of an evolutionary mystery: do specific physical traits evolve by chance or if they follow a predictable pattern? After combing through 30 years of data, a team of scientists may have found evidence of repeatable evolution in stick insects. The findings are described in a study published May 24 in the journal Science Advances.

  An evolutionary do-over?

  There are still numerous unanswered questions in evolution, particularly how it unfolds. Does evolution happen in an easily observed sequence or does it depend on chance events? Late evolutionary scientist Stephen Jay Gould described this phenomenon as “replaying the tape of life.” This metaphor in his 1989 nonfiction book Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History asks a deep question: If given the chance to evolve again, would life on Earth look like something similar to what we know now, or would it look incredibly different?

  “If you frame it as an either/or question, it’s too simplistic,” study co-author and Utah State University evolutionary biologist Zachariah Gompert said in a statement. “The answer isn’t ‘completely random’ or ‘completely deterministic and predictable.’ And yet, examining short time scales, we can find predictable, repeatable evolutionary patterns.”

• The Herald Journal Monday, May. 13, 2024

  USU Police Dept. makes great efforts to connect with students, community

  The Utah State University Police Department is a full-service department that also provides community engagement, education and more to USU students and campus. The department’s close connection to students makes it a very unique police department.

  The USU Police Department has 15 full-time officers working for the department as well as five part time. The department serves USU’s campus in Logan, which has between 3,500 and 4,000 students living on it during the school year.

  According to Lieutenant Shane Nebeker, on any given day there can be approximately 20,000 to 25,000 people on campus. That number can be even higher during events such as sports games.

• Cache Valley Daily Monday, May. 13, 2024

  USU scientists share information about Avian flu in birds and cows

  LOGAN - Avian Influenza, or bird flu, is deadly in chickens and some other birds but according to the latest news from Utah State University, the same is not true in cows.

  Tom Baldwin, Director of USU’s Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, said the virus does not kill dairy cows and is not an infectious disease that would force the USDA to direct mandatory slaughter. Pasteurized milk and properly cooked meat are also safe.

  Cows that contract bird flu have a sharp drop in milk production. Dairies that suspect their cows have the virus should move the sick cows to a hospital pen, then call a veterinarian.

• Cache Valley Daily Tuesday, May. 07, 2024

  USU recently hosted water research summit

  LOGAN - Utah State University has created a series of Research Summits as a way to promote interactions between researchers on topics of current interest, spanning multiple colleges.

  Each summit includes a panel discussion with experts from USU, and from outside USU, sharing ideas drawn from current research. Spring semester’s first summit dealt with energy, followed by a second summit on artificial intelligence.

  Most recently, USU’s Office of Research organized a water summit on April 23.

• Deseret News Thursday, May. 02, 2024

  Gail Miller tells USU graduates to 'lead with love'

  Gail Miller related a recent back surgery to the importance of flexibility and moderation while moving through life during Utah State University’s graduation ceremony Thursday.

  "Be willing to bend, but be reasonable when you bend," Miller, the owner of the Larry H. Miller Company, told the 4,510 students receiving degrees at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on the Logan campus.

  According to the university, 7,471 degrees will be conferred to 6,897 students in the system statewide. The youngest graduate in the class of 2024 is 17 years old, according to Provost Laurens H. Smith, and the oldest is 73.

• KSL Saturday, Apr. 27, 2024

  NASA looking to researchers at USU to problem-solve farming on Mars

  LOGAN — A group of researchers at Utah State University has been experimenting with farming methods to help NASA learn how to survive on Mars.

  Professor Bruce Bugbee and doctoral candidate Noah Langenfeld are part of the group conducting this research in a greenhouse that allows each element to be controlled.

  "They can't waste anything," Bugbee said. "Every speck, every drop of water has to be recycled."

  In this greenhouse, they are meticulous about every drop of water while growing lettuce while wasting very little.