Message from the Director | Fall 2018

Patrick A. Carter.

Dear Alumni and Friends:

Amid the excitement of another busy and successful semester in the School of Biological Sciences, we want to share with you some highlights from the 2017-18 academic year, which was filled with accomplishments for the students, faculty, and staff of SBS. Our alumni are very important to us, and we want you to know about some of the many ways your support made a positive impact on the education and research mission of the SBS Community.

Following are just a few examples of the outstanding work happening every day in SBS. You can find additional highlights from the past year’s accomplishments in the navigation at left. Please enjoy exploring the broader SBS website as well, to learn more about the people and activities in our school.

  • Dr. Mechthild Tegeder received grant funding from USDA to study the role of ureide partitioning in the physiology and productivity of nitrogen-fixing soybeans.
  • Dr. Stephanie Porter received funding from the National Science Foundation to study the genetic and ecological drivers of adaptation of microbes to high-nickel serpentine soils.
  • Dr. Paul Verrell received a Faculty Appreciation Award from the Associated Students of WSU for his use of open educational resources in his classes.
  • Research on the genomics of transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils led to Dr. Andrew Storfer’s winning a grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Science Foundation’s Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program.
  • Drs. Jesse Brunner and Erica Crespi received funding from the National Science Foundation to examine the linkage of environmental stressors to the likelihood and severity of epidemics.

SBS and WSU are in the business of transforming families, one student at a time. The careers our students embark upon after completing their degrees have become increasingly complex and global. Our teaching and research efforts must follow suit, along with the scholarship support, to ensure the success of our students. I deeply appreciate the alumni and friends who have donated to these efforts. Your generosity is crucial for achieving our mission. All of our alumni and friends are very important to the future of our students and program.

We look forward to connecting with you and hope that, whenever you plan to visit campus, you’ll please let us know by email to sbs@wsu.edu.

Sincerely,
Patrick A. Carter, PhD
Professor and Director
School of Biological Sciences