EVERETT, Wash. – Nov. 4, 2016 – In June, WSU North Puget Sound at Everett engineering students earned second-place in the University Rover Challenge, an international Mars rover competition. Phil Engel, a mechanical engineering student on that team, demonstrated an incredible achievement, earning the only individual science award in the competition. This week, Engel received his award.

“This is quite an honor for Phil and the WSU Everett Mars rover team,” Dr. Xiaopeng Bi said.

Engel was recognized for his outstanding performance being the science sub-team lead for WSU. The award recognized his extensive knowledge on Mars-related geology, as well as his excellent display of teamwork, leadership and respect to the judges and other teams. He stood out from all competitors at the University Rover Challenge based on the presentation and Q&A on implementation of soil sample scientific analysis.

“This award means the world to me,” Engel said. “I already have plans on framing it and showing it to my kids when I have them.”

Engel prepared for this part of the competition since the beginning of the year.

“I needed to find out how I could determine if life would be able to survive in a barren environment at the competition in Utah and if we were on Mars,” Engel explained. “I talked to a geotechnical engineer on recommendations for soil tests I could perform as well as doing lots of online research on soil geology both on Mars and on Earth.”

Read more about the success of the WSU Everett Mars rover team here.

 

Dr. Ciera Graham, associate director of Student Services at WSU North Puget Sound at Everett, received a Young Alumni Award from University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences, where she earned her PhD in sociology in 2015.

While at UC, she was a McNair Scholar and received the Kunz Center Graduate Research Award, a Taft Graduate Enrichment Award and a Yates Fellowship. She not only taught sociology courses, she coordinated the department’s internship program.

“Ciera was highly involved during her collegiate years,” nominator Isatu Bah, a current student in the College of Allied Health Sciences, said.

Graham supported her fellow students both in and out of the classroom, as a teacher and as a leader. She served in numerous professional sociological organizations and as vice president of the Black Graduate Student Association. After her dissertation, she was selected to represent UC in a national social sciences dissertation competition.

 

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University today received preliminary accreditation—a major milestone that keeps the college on track to enroll its inaugural class of students in August 2017.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting agency for MD-granting medical schools in the United States and Canada, communicated news of the preliminary accreditation to Dr. John Tomkowiak, M.D., MOL, the founding dean of the Floyd College of Medicine, earlier today.

“This is a significant moment in Washington State University’s 126-year history,” said WSU President Kirk Schulz. “It puts us one step closer to educating physicians who will practice in Washington’s underserved communities and furthers the university’s land-grant mission to serve the needs of the state.”

The accreditation comes 19 months after Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill that changed state law to allow WSU to offer medical education. The Floyd College of Medicine is the second public medical school in the state—the first to be added in 70 years. Pacific Northwest University is a private medical school located in Yakima.

STATEWIDE PARTNERSHIPS KEY TO SUCCESS

“We are deeply grateful for the ongoing support of the health care community, our legislators, and community leaders in Spokane, the Tri-Cities, Vancouver, and Everett,” President Schulz added. “We wouldn’t have reached this milestone without these partnerships.” The president also credited the late WSU President Elson S. Floyd, the medical college’s namesake, for the vision necessary to create a medical school, and Chancellor Lisa Brown, for the efforts to gain approval legislation and initial funding.

“We’re absolutely ecstatic,” Tomkowiak said. “My team has worked so hard to get us to this point. Now we can move ahead with our work to begin recruiting medical students and preparing doctors to meet the state’s health care needs.”

The dean noted that the medical school will recruit talented students from rural and medically underserved communities, first-generation professional students, and those with a passion to serve and lead in medical care. These students will have the opportunity to train in varying clinical settings in communities across the state, increasing the likelihood that they will remain there to practice medicine.

“This is a momentous occasion,” said Lura J. Powell, chair of the WSU Board of Regents. “WSU’s mission is rooted in accessibility and service to diverse communities across the state. By training doctors to practice in Washington’s medically underserved communities, the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine embodies the university’s mission—and will improve countless lives.”

FOCUS ON HEALTH CARE GAPS IN RURAL AND MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED AREAS

Students will receive medical education across four of the WSU campuses—Everett, Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver—and will help fill critical health care gaps in rural and medically underserved areas of Washington state. The Floyd College of Medicine also makes a medical education more accessible to Washingtonians. Currently, about two-thirds of aspiring medical students from Washington must leave the state to go to medical school.

“We envision that our effort will significantly change the face of health care in Washington,” President Schulz said. In addition to the benefits to patients and aspiring medical students, he noted the medical school will create new research funding opportunities, provide economic stimulus, and boost the university’s overall reputation.

Over the next week, the University will be working to achieve membership to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which will provide access to the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). Upon gaining membership, the College of Medicine will begin accepting applications in early November.

Bothell, Wash. – Every Monday after school, Washington State University student Brandon Clark finishes his electrical engineering classes at the University’s campus in Everett and drives to Fernwood Elementary in the Northshore School District. Standing before a group of 35 children from ages five to 11, he transforms from a student into a teacher.

Clark, who lives in Bothell, is a volunteer teacher for a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program though the YMCA called Kids University.

“It’s a true thrill to see science come alive for these young kids and for them to have fun with it,” Clark said. “I hope that this and other exposures to STEM will help ignite a curiosity which can help them into high school and beyond.”

Students in the 12-week course meet to explore STEM learning by planning, designing and building a number of projects. Subjects include exploring density, building bridges and exploring electricity. The final project is a two-liter bottle rocket launch powered by water and air.

“In two- or three-week increments, we spend a class exploring a scientific subject to influence a project and design it. The following week we build and test those designs,” Clark said.

The first major project was designing and building a bridge with popsicle sticks. In groups of five, the children came up with unique ideas about what would work best. Some were clearly based on bridges they had seen. Some designs came only from their imagination.

Now Clark is looking for a couple more WSU Everett students willing to volunteer to keep the program growing.

“I really feel a need to give back. There are so many people that have helped and been a role model for me in my life. I want to pass it on to the next generation,” Clark said. “I look at this class like I looked at my time with Cub Scouts: fun with a purpose. The more fun we have, the more fun the kids have. The other important aspect is to give them an opportunity to learn something.”

Before studying at WSU in Everett, Clark was a commercial diver. “I loved it, but it was dangerous and took me away from home for most of the year which was hard with a young family,” Clark said. He says he chose to study electrical engineering because, “I wanted a secure future for my family, for my kids to know that they can do hard things, and I want to make the world a better place than I found it. Engineers have the training to tackle problems and do exactly that.” He chose to focus on electrical engineering thanks to the job outlook in the region and because he was fascinated by the subject matter.

Families can sign up for Kids University programs through the YMCA. Students who are interested in volunteering should contact Clark at brandon.s.clark@wsu.edu.

EVERETT, Wash. – October 5, 2016 – This week, Washington State University’s (WSU) newest campus in Everett hosted a symposium for the Joint Center for the Deployment and Research of Earth-Abundant Materials (JCDREAM).

The symposium focused on the future of using earth abundant materials instead of rare earth elements, precious metals and so-called ‘conflict minerals,’ which are essential to nearly all of the electronic devices people use each day. That includes your car, computer and all of your lights.

“One of the reasons the colors are so bright on your computer screen is because of rare earths — Europium in particular,” said Chris Keane, vice president of research at WSU.

According to Dr. Alex King of the Critical Materials Institute, who was the symposium’s keynote speaker, modern mobile phones contain about 75 elements alone. That’s up from 30 when the first mobile phones reached consumers. That trend will continue and demand will increase for limited rare earth resources, according to King, especially as the world’s population sees greater economic prosperity and more people have the financial capacity to buy such devices.

The Daily Herald reported that 90 percent of rare earth production in the world is controlled by China. “One of the impacts of JCDREAM could be to make that statistic irrelevant,” said Dr. Dave Field, associate dean for research in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, who serves as the acting director of the center. “The center’s research will focus on alternatives to various rare earth elements and better methods of recycling them from common electronic devices.”

The center, headquartered at WSU North Puget Sound at Everett, was funded by legislation championed by Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton. Kicking off the symposium, Smith said, “I’m so excited to learn how we can partner with you to propel these issues forward. If we harness the intellectual horsepower at our research institutions, and we help to educate a generation of young men and women who long to create economies that are sustainable, then we can lead this nation.”

Smith added, “The second part is to be able build it here, to deploy it here, to raise up jobs that have the opportunity of not only being a benefit to our economy, but to the world.”

Research will be a collaborative effort led by WSU, the University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL). Community colleges will also become partners, as well as several local industry leaders.

“It was critical to launch our research with strong partnerships from local industry. We had a tremendous reception from leaders from Modumetal, PACCAR, The Boeing Company, EnerG2, Kaiser Aluminum, and so many more,” said Field. “This symposium brought the right people together and clarified our purpose. It was exactly how we wanted to move this research forward.”

“We are thrilled to be launching JCDREAM as our first research initiative at our campus in Everett,” WSU Everett chancellor Paul Pitre said. “Community leaders in the North Puget Sound region are looking for growth in research from WSU and opportunities for that research to seed a series of new companies in the region. This is where that begins.”

Looking to the future of the burgeoning research, Smith said, “Let’s take this toddler and do something with the amazing potential of JCDREAM. I know each and every year it’s going to be so exciting to see it grow and flourish. With your help we will indeed help lead this nation and lead this world.”

Contact: Dave Field

EVERETT, Wash. – A $250,000 gift from the Boeing Company means Washington State University’s new building in Everett will be equipped with state-of-the art technology when it opens its doors next fall.

In recognition of the generous gift and the Boeing Company’s long-standing support for the university, WSU President Kirk Schulz said the university will designate the Fabrication Lab on the first floor of the new 95,000-square-foot building in Everett as the Boeing Innovation Studio.

The Boeing gift will allow the 900-square-foot lab space to contain an array of state-of-the-art equipment, including a 3D printer and scanner, concept CNC mill, laser cutter and more, providing students with the opportunity to learn and create using the very tools that they will work with when they enter the workforce in Washington’s aerospace and other cutting-edge industries.

“Boeing will be a significant jobs provider in Washington for decades to come. Our hope and goal is that those future jobs will continue to be filled by kids who grow up right here in the state,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner. “We are working hard today to give Washington students opportunities for employment within aerospace, manufacturing and other STEM-related fields when they graduate. Despite the always dynamic aerospace industry, Boeing remains consistent in its investment in our future here in Washington.”

“WSU established a presence in North Puget Sound to be able to deliver ready-to-work employees directly to the aerospace industry and other advanced manufacturing industries in our region,” said Schulz. “This generous gift from The Boeing Company will allow us to equip our new building in Everett with the type of sophisticated technologies our students will be working with once they enter the workforce.”

The new building will house existing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering and Data Analytics, as well as Integrated Strategic Communication and Hospitality Business Management. All of the building’s lab spaces, including the Boeing Innovation Studio, are designed to showcase innovation at its finest, as the engineering students work on challenging capstone projects, club projects, and hands-on coursework. The spaces will serve to bring together students from multiple disciplines as they tackle open-ended, challenging problems.

”The curricula offered and student activity in the building will be enhanced by such unique infrastructure, as a wind tunnel, devices such as a robotic arm, as well as all the basic equipment necessary to teach the fundamentals of mechanical, electrical and software engineering,” said Paul Pitre, chancellor of the WSU North Puget Sound at Everett campus.

More broadly, the engineering labs serve to fulfill three of WSU’s strategic plan goals of providing a transformative student experience (with emphasis in improving retention through an enriched set of student experiences), building a stronger support structure to recruit and retain transfer students, and facilitating student engagement in high-impact learning experiences.

WSU’s newest campus in Everett uniquely serves the local population by providing a seamless pathway for transfer students as well as maintaining a strong collaboration with community colleges in the region, including Everett Community College, Edmonds Community College and Skagit Valley College. WSU North Puget Sound at Everett has also participated in the WSU Boeing Mentorship program for several years, received Boeing scholarship support, and will be participating with its first interdisciplinary Boeing Scholars cohort this coming year.

Media contact:

Robert Strenge, WSU News, 509-335-3583, rstrenge@wsu.edu

WSU Everett chancellor Paul Pitre has named North Puget Sound entrepreneur Tom Hoban and Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center Director Maggie Bagwell to the campus advisory council.

“Tom and Maggie have both made important, entrepreneurial contributions to the North Puget Sound region in business and education,” Pitre said. “Their voices and ideas will be a boon for our growing Washington State University campus in Everett.”

Hoban is co-founder for Coast/Sperry Van Ness, a multispecialty brokerage and leasing firm linked to the Coast Group of Companies, and serves as a Managing Director in Washington state. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business finance in 1984 from the University of Notre Dame, and spent three years in banking before starting the first of the Coast Group of Companies.

“One of our founding values at WSU Everett is entrepreneurship. Tom has lived that value and I’m excited to bring his wealth of business experience to bare for Washington State University’s newest campus,” Pitre said.

Bagwell, of Mt. Vernon, is Director of the Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center, a public school that prepares high school students to be successful in a high-tech work force and go on to further education and training. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology and Agriculture Education and master’s degree in Education Administration from Western Washington University.

“Maggie’s insight working with students from the region and preparing them to further their educations to enter our growing, high-tech workforce is perfectly aligned with our industry-focused position,” Pitre said.

They join a roster of more than a dozen regional business, education and elected leaders serving the Everett campus.

PULLMAN, Wash.—Paul Pitre, who has guided Washington State University North Puget Sound at Everett as dean since 2014, was named chancellor of the Everett campus, effective Sept. 1.

“Paul has demonstrated outstanding leadership skills as dean,” said WSU President Kirk Schulz in announcing Pitre’s promotion. “Enrollment is growing, and we are building thriving relationships with our partners in education and industry in the north Puget Sound region.”

WSU North Puget Sound at Everett has experienced rapid growth under Pitre’s leadership, from one cohort of 23 mechanical engineering students in 2012 to nearly 200 students in five programs today.  Pitre also manages the Everett University Center on behalf of the seven, higher education consortium partners, which includes each public university from the state of Washington.

All undergraduate programs provided at the Everett University Center are transfer-programs, meaning students fulfill their first two years at any community college before finishing their degree by enrolling with a four-year university in Everett for their junior and senior years. This innovative model makes getting a four-year degree more affordable and available to place-bound students. There are currently nearly 600 students at the Everett University Center.

Pitre continues to oversee the construction of a state-of-the-art, four-story WSU building that is being built across the street from the Center’s current location at Everett Community College. On track to open in the fall of 2017, the building will be the new home for all programs offered through WSU North Puget Sound at Everett and the Everett University Center.

Expanding access to degrees in STEM fields

WSU North Puget Sound at Everett is charged with expanding access to high-quality baccalaureate and graduate degree offerings, with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. WSU currently offers undergraduate programs in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering, hospitality business management and integrated strategic communication. Data Analytics and organic agriculture systems programs will start soon.

“We’re working hard to provide students with local access to industry-aligned, four-year degree programs in the north Puget Sound region,” Pitre said. “Employers in this region are importing the skilled workforce they need, particularly in STEM fields. We’re here to provide students with access to the education, knowledge and skills they’ll need so those employers can find that talent in our community, giving both the opportunity to succeed in a local economy that operates on a global scale. We are developing the north Puget Sound region’s future leadership and I am excited about the opportunities that future will bring.”

About 33 percent of WSU North Puget Sound at Everett students are the first in their family to attend college, 10 percent are veterans, and 27 percent are ethnic minorities. Some 46 percent of students are 25 years or older.

Spurring economic growth

North Puget Sound community leaders are also looking for growth in research from WSU, and opportunities for that research to seed a series of new companies in the region. The first initiative is the Joint Center for Deployment and Research of Earth-Abundant Materials (JCDREAM), a research collaborative between WSU, the University of Washington and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to accelerate the development of next generation clean energy and transportation technologies, replacing reliance on precious metals with Earth-abundant materials. The legislature established JCDREAM in 2015.

WSU North Puget Sound at Everett will also be home to third- and fourth-year medical students from the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine as soon as 2019, just like the Vancouver, Tri-Cities and Spokane campuses. Those medical students will get their classroom training in Spokane before getting their clinical training locally with partners like Providence Regional Medical Center and The Everett Clinic.

Understanding the region’s needs

“The Everett operation is in the very capable hands of my good friend and colleague Paul Pitre,” said Bob Drewel, who served as interim chancellor in Everett in 2014-2015 while Pitre was dean. “Paul played a key role establishing WSU’s presence in Everett several years ago. He has proven himself to be a trusted and effective leader who understands the region’s needs and can work with partners in education and industry.”

Pitre earned a doctorate in educational policy and leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park. He completed a master’s degree in higher education administration at New York University and an undergraduate degree in communication at Western Washington University.

He taught for six years at WSU and three years at Auburn University in Alabama before being appointed in 2011 as special assistant to lead program development at the then University Center of North Puget Sound. He was named dean of WSU North Puget Sound at Everett in January 2014.

Media contact:

Randy Bolerjack, Communications and Public Relations, WSU North Puget Sound at Everett

(Reposted from The Daily Evergreen)

Welcome to the 2016-17 school year, I am looking forward to a great first year as WSU president – and want this school year to be the best one for each and every one of you.

Noel and I arrived in Pullman on June 1, along with Cayenne (Welsh Corgi), two cats (Amber and Onyx), and a pick-up truck. Over the past few months we have enjoyed dining out in the Pullman-Moscow area and participating in some of the fun outdoor activities in the Palouse.

What advice would I offer as we start the semester? There are 5 things I would suggest to help ensure you have a great year:

    First – go to class. It is important that you attend class on a regular basis – not just when assignments are due or you have tests.

    Second – ask your instructor for help. We have exceptional faculty at WSU who want to help you learn. If you don’t understand something, please ask them for help.

    Third – be involved on campus. In order for you to have the most fulfilling WSU experience, be involved in one of the more than 300 student organizations.

    Fourth – all things in moderation. If you elect to drink alcohol while here at WSU, learn to be responsible and stop before becoming intoxicated.

    Fifth – cheer on the Cougs. We have 15 different varsity teams who all need your support. Put on some crimson and cheer our WSU student-athletes to victory.

I hope you all have a great year. Please feel free to reach out to me at any time during the school year via email at kirk.schulz@wsu.edu or on Twitter @wsu_cougar_pres if I can be of assistance. If you see me walking around campus, shopping at Walmart, or eating out – please come over and introduce yourself. Have a great year.

Go Cougs!

-WSU President Kirk Schulz

The transformative power of WSU is sometimes tough to encapsulate, but it lies at the heart of WSU’s land grant mission.

Money Magazine captured some of WSU’s transformative value in its list of “Best Colleges” earlier this month. WSU ranked No. 4 on Money’s list of “The 50 Colleges that Add the Most Value,” and is the highest ranked public institution on the list.

Overall, WSU ranked No. 37 on Money’s “Best Colleges” list, among roughly 2,000 four-year U.S. colleges and universities. To compile its rankings, the magazine used 24 factors in the categories of educational quality, affordability and alumni success. For the “Colleges that Add the Most Value” list, consideration included graduation rates and feedback from alumni surveys.

“What’s impressive is when a college helps students do far better than would be expected from their academic and economic backgrounds (something we measure with what we call a comparative-value grade),” the introduction to the list reads. “For this list, we ranked colleges based on comparative value grades for graduation rates, earnings, and student loan repayment, eliminating schools with any negative grades or a graduate rate below 50%.”

The rankings reflect WSU’s Strategic Plan goals of providing a truly transformative experience for our students. Numerous departments, programs and groups lead the way to add value to the WSU experience through academic and co-curricular opportunities.

“We have a set of programs that engage students as partners, to serve other students,” says J. Manuel Acevedo, who heads our Office of Multicultural Student Services. “As we engage those students, we operate in a direction that is really professional training. We work with 120-140 students every year and those students are challenged to grow and really be professionals in training.”

The award-winning Team Mentoring Program is making a difference for students in STEM fields.

“Those that engage in the Team Mentoring Program are staying in school at much higher rates,” Acevedo says. “Many are doing undergraduate research. The mentors help mentees identify research projects, and get into labs. They’re providing a truly transformative experience.”

The North Puget Sound at Everett campus is growing at a rapid pace as students discover the vast opportunities available, both while they’re in school and post-graduation.

“WSU North Puget Sound at Everett is student and community-centered,” Chancellor Paul Pitre says. “Our programs are aligned to the economic demands of the state and region, meaning our graduates are well-positioned to find employment and excel in high-paying careers.”

WSU continues to climb in several national rankings reflecting the student experience. Diverse Magazine ranked WSU No. 26 for graduating minority students. U.S. News & World Reportconsistently names WSU’s Writing Program one of the Top 20 in the nation, and MSN considers Pullman a “Top 10 College Town.”

The scope of the categories and criteria for these rankings show that WSU’s dedication to the transformative student experience pays dividends for our students inside and outside the classroom. As faculty, staff and the University community align to set students up for rewarding careers after graduation, our alumni are reaping the value of the WSU experience.

“I am appreciative of the dedication and skill of our faculty and staff,” says Provost Dan Bernardo. “Like our students, our faculty and staff choose to be here at WSU, and they do so largely because they care about the whole package of research excellence and instructional excellence. In short, they are here for our students, and it shows.”