In the News

• NPR Monday, Sep. 30, 2024

  Why the most climate-resistant glaciers are hiding in plain sight

  In the Wasatch mountains near Salt Lake City, Utah, a popular hiking trail winds up through aspen and spruce trees to reach White Pine Lake.

  Scott Hotaling is marching up this familiar path, but passes by the lake. He continues uphill and, after crossing a mossy stream, starts picking his way through a field of boulders.

  His goal is looming above: a steep, 80-foot-tall wall of what looks like loose rock.

  This is the source of the lake’s water, a so-called rock glacier.

  While the word “glacier” may conjure up images of white slopes and snowy expanses, rock glaciers are big masses of flowing ice that are covered up by, well, rocks. 

• KSL Monday, Sep. 23, 2024

  Utah State expected to accept an invitation to join the Pac-12

  LOGAN — Utah State is reportedly headed to the Pac-12.

  After a dizzying day of statements, reports and speculation, the Aggies accepted an invitation to join a reconstituted version of the Pac-12, according to multiple reports.

  The news was first reported by ESPN.

  The development came as the Pac-12 moved from a trio of expansion targets in the American Athletic Conference, doubled back to a group in the Mountain West that included UNLV, and landed on the Aggies as the Rebels — along with Air Force and others from the Mountain West — recommit to the 25-year-old conference to keep the league intact. News of the pivot was initially reported Saturday by The Action Network's Brett McMurphy.

• KSL Thursday, Sep. 19, 2024

  USU student wins bronze at the WorldSkills competition in Lyon, France

  SALT LAKE CITY — Over the weekend, Utah State University Eastern student Wyatt Hansen earned a bronze medal in welding at the WorldSkills competition in Lyon, France. This comes just after he took first place at the National SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta, Georgia in March.

  “The cool thing about doing really good and being successful is that it makes people more aware,” Hansen said. “A lot of people… I don’t think they really have an idea what I’m actually doing.”

  Hansen said when he got to France, he only had a few hours to get used to their equipment.

  “The welder is different. The gas, everything is slightly different. It could be the same machine and allegedly the same gas and whatnot, but it’s not ever really going to be the same as it would be here in Utah.”

• Cache Valley Daily Monday, Sep. 16, 2024

  USU opens Dementia Caregiver Clinic

  LOGAN - With much of Utah’s population living along the Wasatch Front there are more supportive services there to help people living with memory impairment.

  Recently Utah State University started a new Dementia Caregiver Clinic for Utahns in Northern Utah who care for people with dementia. The services are free of charge.

  With a grant from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, USU’s new Dementia Caregiver Clinic is available to residents of Cache, Rich and Box Elder counties.

• Cache Valley Daily Friday, Sep. 13, 2024

  USU surpasses fundraising goals

  LOGAN - From the time Utah State University launched the “Create Your Aggie Impact” campaign in the fall of 2022, significant donor contributions have led to an increase of $10.9 million from the prior year in addition to over $44.7 million for “Building a University of Distinction.”

  The school reached an important fundraising milestone from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024 when nearly 26,000 contributions secured $63 million. It marked a significant rise in donations since 2018.

  This year USU welcomed 40 first-time endowment donors and 57 new endowed scholarships were created which allowed distribution of $5.5 million to assist more than 2,000 students.

• Cache Valley Daily Monday, Sep. 09, 2024

  USU Broadcast Journalism students win Murrow award

  LOGAN - The efforts of a group of 10 Utah State University journalism and communication graduates were recognized recently when they won a national Edward R. Murrow Award for a half-hour program they produced examining Cache Valley’s environmental challenges.

  “Cache Rendezvous: Better Than We Found It” includes in-depth conversations about water, land and air issues in the valley.

  Working in pairs, students were in a JCOM class taught by Brian Champagne and Chris Garff, who said the class culture became one of challenging each other to do better.

• UPR Friday, Sep. 06, 2024

  USU looks to improve early identification of autism in children

  Utah lags behind the national average of identifying children for autism.

  In an effort to improve the state's standing, the Institute for Disability, Research, Policy and Practice at Utah State University will offer free, remote early identification of autism training for Utah service providers.

  Janel Preston, special educator at the university, said when early identification is missed, children and families are not getting critical services to increase overall quality of life.

  "It is really important for providers, as well as just the general public, to have a better understanding of what autism is," Preston urged. "And how we can help support and increase that awareness, acceptance."

• KSL Wednesday, Sep. 04, 2024

  Utah State hosts artepaño art exhibit rooted in the Latino prison experience

  LOGAN — What began as a form of expression for Latinos caught up in the U.S. prison system is the focus of a new art exhibit at Utah State University.

  "We collect different art and try to highlight stories of people who are generally underrepresented at art museums," said Shaylee Briones, who handles marketing for the museum.

  "Artepaño: Chicano Prisoner Kerchief Art" has been on display since Aug. 4, but a formal opening and program on the exhibit at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art is scheduled for Saturday from 5-8 p.m. at 650 N. 1100 East in Logan.

• The Herald Journal Tuesday, Sep. 03, 2024

  USU hosting art therapy event for dementia patients and their caregivers

  USU’s “Museum and Memory” will allow dementia patients and their caregivers to create art and explore their memories,  from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m Friday. at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Building.

  The university is hosting the event in conjunction with the museum itself and the Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Research Center.

  Beth Fauth, the director of the Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Research Center, says the organization is excited to partner with the museum.

• The Herald Journal Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024

  USU Day on the Quad connects students and the community

  Utah State University’s annual Day on the Quad went from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, giving new and returning students a chance to explore ways to get involved on campus and in the community.

  It also provided a respite from the stress of the first week of school.

  Three days into the semester, freshman Trinity Hale said things are going well, just really busy.
  “Seventeen credits is a lot more than I thought it was going to be,” Hale said.

  Hale was exploring the Quad with her friend, Indi Bangerter, a fellow freshman and mechanical engineering student.

  
   

• National Geographic Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024

  Wildfire smoke threatens lakes, too. How will it impact Lake Tahoe's future?

  California’s many mountain lakes, which are typically low in nutrients, may be especially vulnerable to large influxes of nutrient-rich ash. “Any addition can mean a doubling or tripling of the amount of nutrients [in mountain lakes], and that can really shift these fragile ecosystems,” says Janice Brahney, an environmental biogeochemist at Utah State University in Logan.

• Cache Valley Daily Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024

  Utah State wins new dairy product competition two consecutive years

  SUN VALLEY - A team of food science students from Utah State University won the 2024 Idaho Milk Processors Association’s new product competition, held last week. USU’s Cache Cookies with a dairy dip earned them bragging rights and $10,000. Their product was introduced at IMPA’s annual meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho.

  The contest was sponsored by Dairy West and judged by leading dairy farmers and industry experts. The annual contest challenges universities with strong nutrition and food science programs to create the most promising new food product containing at least 50 percent dairy ingredients.

• Salt Lake Tribune Monday, Aug. 19, 2024

  Cache Valley to the cosmos: Satellite that mapped the universe powers down

  NASA’s universe-mapping and asteroid-hunting satellite — assembled in Logan nearly 15 years ago — has officially been powered down, leaving a piece of Cache Valley among the stars.

  Until, of course, it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere later this year.

  The final command to shut off the satellite’s transmitter was sent this month, marking the end of a mission that exceeded expectations, according to a NASA news release.

• KSL Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024

  Researchers study the toxicity and airborne spread of algal blooms

  PROVO — University students are investigating whether algal blooms in Utah Lake could be airborne in a study that started this week.

  Utah State University students will repeatedly send a drone boat into the lake's water during the week. This is not only safer for students when the water is rough but might also be healthier for them as they study the algal blooms.

  "The thing is, if, let's say, the boat tips over or they get to come in contact with it, they do get sick. You don't want that to happen," said Dylan McPeake, a Master's student in civil and environmental engineering at USU.

• 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.