Washington State University Tri-Cities Cougar Tracks and the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce have partnered to launch the Resilient Business Builders Network, a new initiative��that will provide training, networking opportunities and professional development for entrepreneurs, small business owners and nonprofit leaders across the Tri-Cities.��

��The initiative is designed to help organizations adapt to changing workforce and economic conditions while strengthening the region’s long-term economic vitality.��

“Cougar Tracks exists to be the workforce training partner for this region — not just for one industry, one career stage or one kind of organization, but for all of us,”��said��Cougar Tracks Director Michelle��Hrycauk‑Nassif. “This��joint��undertaking��with the Tri-Cities Regional Chamber��is how we bring that commitment to life in a way that is collaborative and directly connected to the Tri-Cities community.”��

Under the partnership, Cougar Tracks will develop and deliver seasonal programming, while the Tri-City Regional Chamber will provide workforce and economic data and promote opportunities through its network of more than 900 member organizations.��

“Partnerships like the Resilient Business Builders Network are essential to the long-term economic vitality of the Tri-Cities,” said Austin Regimbal, vice president of the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce. “By joining forces with ���سԹ� Cougar Tracks, the Chamber is advancing our mission to support small business growth and ensuring that high-quality workforce training is accessible to organizations of all sizes across our region.”��

Workshops are expected to begin this fall and will center on planned topics such as practical AI adoption strategies for business and teams,��leadership��development��and��other workforce-related��skills. Cougar Tracks will also host networking events to��facilitate��connections between Tri-Cities professionals and the next generation of regional leaders.��

Community��feedback will shape programming��

To help��identify��emerging workforce needs, the network will gather input through a regional survey and a team of��volunteer��“Business Catalysts.”����

• Workforce needs survey: Tri-Cities business leaders, professionals and community members are invited to share their training needs and priorities. Survey responses will directly shape upcoming workshops. Participants who complete the workforce needs survey will be entered to win a $200 Cougar gear gift bag.

• Business Catalyst application: Business Catalysts are local professionals committed to supporting small business success. They help identify timely workshop topics and may serve as instructors, facilitators or panelists.

“Business Catalysts are the force behind the Resilient Business Builders Network experience,” Hrycauk‑Nassif��said. “They spark ideas, accelerate connections and help ensure our programming reflects the real needs of the Tri-Cities business community.”��

Community members interested in learning more about��Cougar Tracks and��the Resilient Business Builders Network can visit the Tri-City Regional Chamber’s Small Business Fair from 3 to 6 p.m.��on��June 9 at the Tri-Cities Business and Visitor Center, 7130 W.��Grandridge��Blvd., Kennewick.��

By Angela Sams

Beginning this fall, students can pursue an advanced degree in viticulture and enology at Washington State University.

Offered via the university’s��Tri-Cities campus, the new master’s degree helps solidify WSU as a global leader in graduate-level wine science research by preparing students for successful careers in an evolving industry.

“The wine industry increasingly recognizes the need for a workforce with deeper education, stronger scientific understanding, and the critical thinking skills required to address complex challenges, from climate change to shifting consumer preferences,” said Jean Dodson Peterson, founding chair of WSU’s��. “This is the right time for us to lean into that need. An advanced degree in viticulture and enology fills an important gap and will help strengthen the future of the industry.”

Previously, WSU V&E students could pursue a master’s degree in either food science or horticulture. While aspects of both disciplines are woven into the new degree, the curriculum takes a more targeted approach by focusing on Washington’s unique wine grape growing region and climate.

“Our team is excited to continue engaging as affiliate faculty in horticulture,” Dodson Peterson said. “This is not about creating a new silo. It is about strengthening our college by building on existing partnerships and creating new opportunities for collaboration.”

Dodson Peterson and a team of V&E faculty used survey results from current graduate students, recent alumni, and industry members to guide their curriculum development process. The result is a flexible degree that allows students to focus on enology, viticulture, or a mix of both.

WSU also partnered closely with the��, a government agency that supports and represents wineries and grape growers throughout the state.

“Building on the legacy of pioneers like Walt Clore and Chas Nagel, the Washington wine industry continues to advance through a commitment to research and education. This program represents an important step forward in that tradition,” said Kristina Kelley, the commission’s executive director. “The industry will benefit from a growing pool of highly trained professionals with specialized technical expertise who understand how to collect and analyze vineyard and winery data to support informed, fact-based decision-making.”

The new degree is designed to be completed in two years. Students will take a heavy courseload during their first year and work on their graduate research projects throughout both years.

“The viticulture and enology department’s dedication to the thoughtful development of this degree is commendable,” said Raj Khosla, Cashup Davis Family Endowed Dean of WSU’s��. “The degree’s combination of curriculum, research, and hands-on learning will ensure our students are competitive, knowledgeable, and career-ready in an industry that is undergoing significant change. I’m eager to witness the many new opportunities it will offer.”

Among the required core courses are a science writing workshop, a seminar focused on career development and current V&E topics, and a statistics class covering principles of experimental design, data analysis, and interpretation. Students can choose from more than a dozen viticulture- or enology-focused electives, depending on their individual research focus and interest.

With cross-institutional collaboration now becoming the norm, graduate students will be encouraged to work with their counterparts at other universities around the world, Dodson Peterson said.

“A graduate degree teaches students how to think critically and solve problems while instilling in them a passion for lifelong learning,” she added. “Our department focuses on conducting research in industry settings and establishing collaborative industry relationships. This approach helps students better understand industry challenges while showing them how to put innovative, data-driven solutions into practice.”

Watching the degree come to fruition has been both fulfilling and exciting for Dodson Peterson, who is especially grateful for the encouragement of WSU leadership.

“As a team, we felt truly supported throughout this process,” she said. “I hope the changes we are making, from integrated learning opportunities and more industry-connected conversations to expanded research capacity, will have a lasting impact on the economic sustainability of the wine and grape industry in Washington and beyond.”

By Flynn Espe

The Washington State University Tri-Cities campus was buzzing with youthful energy and excitement as more than 170 visiting students from Finley Elementary School took part in a special STEM Discovery Day event on May 14. Throughout the morning, groups of students in grades three through five cycled through various labs and classroom spaces, each set up with a hands-on activity led by university faculty and staff.

Groups of third-graders rotated through five activities involving rockets, perception, sensory play, decoder wheels, and the human heart. Students in grades four and five, meanwhile, explored 3D pens, robotics, electrical circuits, electronic music, and aerodynamics. Through it all, instructors prompted students to consider how science and technology play a key role in shaping the world around them.

Outside, in the campus amphitheater, Sara Egbert introduced a group of third-graders to rocket building by referencing NASA’s recent Artemis II mission, which sent four U.S. astronauts on a 10-day, 700,000-mile voyage around the far side of the moon and back.

“This rocket has to have super amazing fuel,” Egbert, a ���سԹ� instruction and classroom support technician, said. “So there are engineers who make fuel that’s super-efficient and lightweight and won’t run out, because if you’re in space and your gas runs out, you’re in big trouble!”

Students then got to create their own miniature rockets with the help of a basic chemistry experiment: mixing water and Alka-Seltzer tablets to create carbon dioxide. By combining the ingredients in a sealed plastic film container, students stood back and watched as the pressure build-up caused their makeshift rockets to launch into the air with a satisfying pop. Egbert concluded by asking students what they might try in a future experiment to make their rockets fly even further.

“We need young scientists to come and help solve the problems in the world and to ask the good questions,” Egbert said. “So I hope you all go into science.”

Over in the Floyd building, Tyler Hansen, assistant professor of teaching and learning, taught a classroom of fifth-graders how to build electrical circuits using paper, copper tape, LED lights, and batteries.

“Circuits are how we carry electricity from one place to the other,” Hansen said. “They go only one direction, and specifically, it always goes from positive to negative.”

Student Alex Vasquez later cited Hansen’s activity as his favorite activity of the day, saying he enjoyed getting to see his experiment succeed after applying multiple red lights to the paper circuit.

“We got to turn on the lights without using switches,” Vasquez said.

Fifth-graders Tegan Bennett and Jace Gutzmer both enjoyed the music lab and 3D pen activity stations, where they combined STEM learning with creative expression to make beats and 3D-printed drawings.

“It was pretty fun,” Bennett said.

As the day’s events wrapped up, students gathered around the outdoor basketball court for one last demonstration led by Professor Joseph Iannelli from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, who quizzed the group on the difference between science and engineering.

“Science is about learning how nature works. Engineering is to take that knowledge and build items,” he said.

To illustrate his point, he produced a small remote-controlled drone as an engineered application of wind and force. Finley Students then got to watch as he and two university students flew drones around the space — cheering on as Iannelli carefully maneuvered his blue quadcopter through a basketball hoop.

The half-day event was made possible thanks to a generous grant from Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities (WHWF-TC), a nonprofit aimed at empowering women and children in the Tri-Cities region. The goal of the event was simple: Introduce young learners to the joys of STEM subjects in the hopes that some will go on to pursue science and technology professions later in life.

“You want kids to understand what the possibilities are for their future,” said Alysia Johnson, WHWF-TC executive director, who came to observe the opening and closing sessions. “This could help solidify what they want to do when they grow up, so these experiences are important.”

James Kindle, career connected learning coordinator for Educational Service District 123, agreed. As one of the outside organizers behind the event, he said the choice to target rural elementary school students was deliberate, noting that most STEM programs tend to focus on the high school age.

“And sometimes that’s more reactive than proactive, so with something like this this we’re planting the seed,” Kindle said. “We know that STEM is very important, especially for future jobs coming down the pipeline, and the more we can expose students to these types of activities the better. Because now they’ll go home and they’ll talk to their parents about the cool things that they got to do today.”

By Flynn Espe

Washington State University Tri-Cities graduate Rachel Holland spends a lot of her time��thinking about the��little��things��—��specifically,��insects.��She also��enjoys��sharing her fascination for these six-legged��invertebrates��and��their��remarkable��biodiversity��with��others.��

“There are parasitoids who lay their eggs in other insects, bees that sneak their eggs into other bees’ nests,” Holland says. “There are ants which wage wars with termites, sneaky beetles who find ways around their rivals for mates, and bees that turn rotting flesh into honey. I��don’t��think��I’ll��ever learn everything about them, which is exciting.”��

That��chitinous��curiosity is��shaping her next big step.��Having just completed her��bachelor’s��degree in��environmental and ecosystems sciences,��she’ll��be��continuing��this fall��as a��WSU��graduate student��in��the��Master of Science in Entomology program,��conducting��research on native bees��through��the����in Prosser.������

“My specific research will be on alfalfa fields,” she says.��“I’ll be going to Walla Walla half the time and then to Prosser��to see if the pesticide that they’re using is harmful at a greater rate than another pesticide they’re using on the leafcutter bees and the alkali bees.”��

Her path to this moment has been a rewarding, if��not quite typical, one. As a nontraditional, first-generation college student, Holland’s first attempt at college ended on a sour note. After graduating from high school in 2007, she went straight into taking classes at Columbia Basin College, but with little motivation or direction, her grades suffered and she dropped out shortly thereafter.��

Life moved on.��Holland got married and��soon��focused on raising a family. While her husband went to trade school and into the��workforce, Holland��worked as a stay-at-home mom and��embroidery artist,��selling intricate��craft��pieces��both locally and online.��Eventually,��Holland��decided she was ready to��pursue��a college��education��—��and hopefully find her��career��passion��—��once again.����

Although the plan was always to start at CBC and finish her bachelor’s degree at ���سԹ�, she didn’t begin with environmental studies in mind.��

“I originally was going to do elementary education with a history minor,” Holland says.��

Her��academic focus��began to��shift��when she found herself��unexpectedly enjoying��two lab classes��during her final CBC quarter.��One was��an environmental science lab that involved growing wheat under various conditions. The other was an entomology lab, which��included a final assignment that��had students catching insects in the wild��and pinning them for identification.��

“As soon as I had that net in my hand, I was ready to go,” Holland says. “The hands-on��part of it really transformed how I saw the world, and I thought, ‘I can��actually��do science.’”����

Not content simply to��pass her��classes,��Holland��succeeded in��graduating��from CBC��with honors��— no easy task, considering she��was still carrying her 2.0 GPA from years earlier.��

“I had to drag that 2.0 out of the mud,”��Holland says.��

Arriving��at ���سԹ�,��her��momentum��continued.��Having��switched��majors,��Holland��found��that environmental and ecosystem sciences offered��a satisfying blend of��physical science��with coursework��exploring��the��delicate interplay��between��manmade��and natural systems.��

“It covers so many bases but includes the human aspect of it, which is what I really like,” Holland says.��

Outside of class,��she��began��building friendships and community��wherever she went.��She��got involved in campus clubs,��serving in leadership roles such as��Environmental Club event coordinator and co-president for the��Women in STEM Club.����

As a senior, she��also��served as the Associated Students of ���سԹ� senator��for the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences,��advocating for students on a��range of��issues like campus recycling��and��a native plant garden for hands-on learning.��

One of��Holland’s��proudest accomplishments��involved joining up with��friend and classmate Evalena Dalsbo��to launch and��nurture��a brand-new campus Craft Club, where��they and others could share��and spread��their love for the crafting arts. The club grew in popularity as��students of all��backgrounds��met up��for��sewing,��sculpting, embroidery, and��other seasonal craft projects.��Their team��went��on��to win the��“Student Organization��of the Year”��award at the 2025 Student Excellence Awards.��

“That club is really fun because everybody can come in there��— engineers, psychology majors, English majors, people I would not meet in classes,”��Holland says.��

Alongside her club involvement,��Holland gained��additional��experience��as��a��lab teaching��assistant��and��student intern��for the Institute for Northwest Energy Futures’��Energy Ambassadors Network.��It all added up��to��Holland��being honored last month as one of three recipients of the 2026 ���سԹ���Award for Distinguished Career in Leadership.����

If it all sounds like a lot to juggle,��it was. Fortunately, Holland says, she had��a strong support��network��— including her husband and��two��kids,��now in the fourth and sixth grades.��

“It’s definitely been a group effort,” she says.��

She��also credits��the��helpful guidance she received from the�����سԹ� TRIO��Student Support Services team.����

Case in point,��Holland��says she still recalls the stress��and uncertainty��she felt at the beginning of her junior year,��when an overpacked course load had her questioning her degree path.��“I was taking an ecology��lab, statistics��lab, and organic chemistry lab — and then another class that did not have a lab attached to it,” Holland says. “That was, on paper, only 15 credits.”��

Not knowing if��she’d��made a��poor scheduling��decision or��simply needed to��push��through, Holland��says��a��drop-in��meeting��to the��TRIO��office��brought her clarity��and relief.��TRIO��staff��confirmed��she’d��taken on an unusually��heavy course��load��and��walked��her through the steps of how to��revise��her schedule.��

“I��couldn’t��have made that decision without TRIO being like, ‘You’re��not insane.��This is��actually really��hard what you decided to do,’” Holland says.��

TRIO staff came through again this past year��when��she��was��still considering��grad��school.��By talking through the process��and working with staff on a step-by-step��plan, Holland felt��better��prepared to��ask her professors the right questions��and��ultimately apply.��

Now,��as a graduate student,��Holland says��she’s��looking forward to��doing more of what she loves — exploring the vast world of insects and��engaging with other scientists in a laboratory setting.��She’s��also excited to be working at the intersection of ecology and agriculture.��

“A major component of agriculture is insects, whether that is beneficial or pest,” she says. “I can see myself continuing to do research and make changes at the government level like in��the��Washington State Department of Agriculture��or through education.”��

When asked about advice she has for��others��starting their own college��journey, Holland��encourages students to��seek out��professors��for academic and career��advice��and��to take advantage of new opportunities.��

“Go to meetings that you��probably don’t��think you belong in. Go to an engineering meeting even if��you’re��not an engineer,” she says.��“If you see an opportunity and you think,��‘I might want to do that,’ just do it.��What’s��the worst��that can happen?”

Washington State University Tri-Cities has received a $20,000 gift from the Kennewick Public Hospital District to establish scholarships for students pursuing careers in social work.

The funding supports ���سԹ�’ development of a new Bachelor of Social Work program, which aims to address the region’s growing need for qualified social work professionals. Social workers play a vital role in advocating for individuals and families across healthcare, education, and other public institutions, often serving people from historically underserved communities.

“We are very thankful to the Kennewick Public Hospital District for entrusting us with this generous gift,” said RoseAnne Droesch, director of the Bachelor of Social Work program. “These scholarship funds will help remove financial barriers for future ���سԹ� students who are committed to helping people across the region. This support reflects our mission to expand access to social work education, strengthen the workforce in Washington state, and prepare graduates who will address critical unmet needs. It sends a powerful message that their work matters and that our community stands behind them as they step forward on this educational path.”

The donation is made possible thanks to the Paul G. and Mabel Richmond Endowment Fund, which the hospital district oversees. The Richmond family was deeply committed to strengthening healthcare services in the Tri-Cities and supporting students entering health-related professions. Income generated by the fund allows the KPHD to continue investing in critical fields such as social work and the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at ���سԹ�.

“We hope our $20,000 contribution eases the educational path for students in WSU’s first-ever social service program — allowing them to focus on their mission of providing care for those in need without worrying about how their bills will be paid,” said Wanda Briggs, longtime KPHD board member. “We strongly support higher education because it’s an ideal collaboration with partners throughout the Tri-Cities who strive daily to improve healthcare and access for everyone.”

By Flynn Espe

Washington State University Tri-Cities student Eric Mayo-Gutierrez had a busy semester last fall. In addition to his regular coursework as a third-year mechanical engineering major, he was also juggling multiple campus jobs as a peer mentor, laboratory assistant, and undergraduate research assistant. That was on top of an engineering internship with the Grant County Public Utility District that lasted from June to February.

When he’s not occupied with work or study, you might find him enjoying a friendly game of pool in the Student Union Building, one of his go-to hangout spots on campus. He’s also currently gearing up for his next big adventure as an engineering intern in Tokyo, Japan, later this summer — an opportunity made possible after receiving the Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship.

“Would I have it any other way? Probably not,” Mayo-Gutierrez said. “I kind of enjoyed putting myself through it.”

While he’s certainly making the most of his time as a Coug, Mayo-Gutierrez says it took him a few starts and attempts, including prior semesters spent at two other WSU campuses, to find his stride. As the first person in his family to attend college, he’s thankful for the opportunities and support that have helped him along the way.

From aptitude test to college application

Looking back, Mayo-Gutierrez says he was in middle school when he began to think seriously about his future. That was when a career pathways test revealed he might be well-suited for an engineering profession. As to what kind of engineering profession he should pursue — the test didn’t say.

After briefly looking into electrical engineering during high school, he quickly ruled out that branch of the field. ��“I kind of made the same mistake everyone else does early on and confused electrical engineering with being an electrician,” he says with a laugh.

Eventually, a different pathway emerged when he inherited a hand-me-down vehicle from a late relative. “It had a bad end motor — things that weren’t in tip-top shape and some rust,” Mayo-Gutierrez says. Wanting to restore some of the car’s deteriorated components, he started learning how to weld using some tools from his uncle, who he was living with at the time. That interest led him to an associate’s degree and welding certificate from Big Bend Community College, as well as his first full-time job as a weld specialist at Genie.

Although he enjoyed the work, Mayo-Gutierrez quickly started to have doubts about the longevity of his newfound profession.

“Welding came with health risks that I started picking up on,” Mayo-Gutierrez says. “I had eye-health concerns with the smoke and the different chemicals.”

With the support of his family, Mayo-Gutierrez decided to further his education at WSU Vancouver, choosing mechanical engineering as the best major for pursuing his interest in robotics, while still building upon his welding foundation. Upon completing his first semester there, Mayo-Gutierrez decided he was ready to experience the full breadth of what university life had to offer, and he transferred to WSU Pullman the following spring.

“I dived into some clubs,” Mayo-Gutierrez says, “I met some great people and learned a lot about how to work in a group engineering setting.”

The perfect break

Despite the many positives, however, life in Pullman didn’t fully click.

“I’d been living in small towns before, and I kind of wanted to branch out,” Mayo-Gutierrez says. “I love Pullman, but for me, it just didn’t work out.”

He decided to change campuses once more, this time settling closer to home at ���سԹ� for the fall 2024 semester. It was here that he finally found the winning combination of expanded extracurricular opportunities and a bigger-city environment that felt right for him.

Still, he says, his overall student experience didn’t magically transform overnight, and he soon realized it would take more than a change of zip code to get the most out of his education.

“First semester, I was not as active in the campus as I am now,” Mayo-Gutierrez said. “I was one of the students that just came to campus, went to classes, went back home. That was the daily cycle.”

All of that began to change one day during the spring 2025 semester, when Mayo-Gutierrez asked a classmate if he wanted to check out the pool table in the Student Union Building after class. Neither of them knew how to play well, he says, but they were willing to give it a shot. It soon became his favorite campus activity, but that’s not all.

“Just asking a simple question started rolling the ball for me. I started meeting new people, and from meeting new people I started making new connections,” he says. “I met so many great people that motivated me to keep going forward — convinced me I could do more.”

Mayo-Gutierrez used that momentum to continue pursuing even more extracurricular activities and experiences. For his spring break, instead of sleeping in or going on a trip, he took part in WSU’s Power Practicum, which involved a weeklong series of on-site visits to nearby power and engineering companies.

“You learn what the company stands for, what they plan on doing, and how they’re going to help shape the power industry in the United States,” Mayo-Gutierrez said. “It’s just a good overview of what the company does and what to expect if you were to work there.”

The professional connections he made during the Power Practicum helped him land an engineering internship with Grant County P.U.D. But he didn’t stop there. By the time his fall 2025 semester began, Mayo-Gutierrez had also lined up each of his other aforementioned campus jobs.

As a research assistant, he gained experience testing various materials for 3D printing and manufacturing. In his role as the biology and chemistry laboratory prep assistant, he connected with students and faculty from the other scientific disciplines on campus.

“It went from no jobs, no research, straight to a full workload,” he says. “I feel like that gave me a small glimpse of what I can do later on.”

Paying it forward

Perhaps his most meaningful campus job experience was becoming a mentor in the brand-new Student Success Peer Mentors program. Through that role, Mayo-Gutierrez helped close to 30 new incoming ���سԹ� students navigate their own first semester on campus by encouraging them to get involved.

“That was my main inspiration to become a peer mentor, just to be able to show students what they can become,” Mayo-Gutierrez said. “You don’t know until you try.”

For now, he’s still taking advantage of new opportunities as they arise. In March, for example, Mayo-Gutierrez presented a research paper titled “Performance Evaluation of a Quadruped Robotic Platform” at the 2026 Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities at WSU Pullman, taking home a Novice award in the Engineering & Physical Sciences category.

Mayo-Gutierrez says his new career objective is to work internationally on biomedical devices, creating more affordable healthcare options through technological and mechanical engineering innovation. He also hopes his story and example will encourage other first-generation college students to think beyond their current circumstances and dream big.

“I want to help show that even though we don’t come from a lot, we can still do so much,” he says.

By Flynn Espe

More than 120 Washington State University Tri-Cities students presented their academic projects Wednesday at the annual Showcase for Research and Creative Activities. This year’s event brought together more than 65 solo and group projects spanning multiple majors and disciplines.

Across three campus buildings, students set up scientific posters and, in some cases, hands-on demonstrations of their work as they chatted and mingled with other students, faculty, and community guests.

Read or click here to jump to the end to view the winners and honorable mentions.

Solving energy problems near and far

Presenting from the first floor in Collaboration Hall, Hasan Cruz, student intern for ���سԹ�’ , presented his research involving pumped storage hydropower as a partial solution to the problem of peak power grid demand.

“It’s a huge water battery that stores long-duration potential energy and then releases it when it is needed the most during peak hours of the grid,” Cruz said. “So the grid gets stressed and we need to meet demand, because people seem to forget that electricity is something that we need absolutely every second.”

He conducted his research under the mentorship of ���سԹ� alumnae Danielle Young (’19 BS Civ Eng, ’21 MS Civ Eng), a project manager at Battelle. As a civil engineering major, Cruz says he was thrilled to discover the strong connection between his field of study and the energy industry.

“When I started my civil engineering major, I thought it was only construction,” Cruz said. “It turns out there’s so much more, and energy is one of those fields that I never thought would be possible.”

A few spots over, fellow INEF intern and biology major Zoe Pfeifer summarized her research into fusion technology. She noted that Washington state is a major hub for companies at the forefront of fusion machine design and development, and breakthrough discoveries may be closer than we think.

“We already have a lot of policy in place to help entice companies to come here,” Pfeifer said. “Even globally, there are 160 fusion facilities being worked on right now worldwide.”

In a separate showcase room, a group of students had a plastic model showing their proposed designs for a much different kind of energy problem: how to deal with heat waste from a small modular reactor on the surface of the moon. Those students — Kaamel Ahmed Sidiqi, Minh Vu, Sam Arthur, Jon-Luc Ritchie, Peyton Viera, and Stephanie Volatile — presented their mechanical engineering senior capstone project, in which they worked under the guidance of an industry sponsor at Framatome.

“As we’re getting closer to interplanetary travel, we’re looking into building habitats elsewhere in the solar system, specifically the moon or Mars, currently. They’re planning on using small modular reactors — around 100 kilowatts thermal, or so — to power these habitats,” Viera said. “The issue with that is you can only utilize so much energy from these reactors before it just becomes a byproduct.”

With a specific target in mind — safely dispersing 74 kilowatts of wasted heat into the moon’s vacuum-like environment — the group did a deep dive into whatever research they could find that would help get them started.

“Our sponsor had us look into NASA research papers, private industry papers, and university papers,” Volatile said. “I personally used a lot of the library sources that WSU gave us to point us into the private industries and try to get as much as we could.”

Eventually, the team settled on a folding-aluminum-panel radiator design that fit within the specifications for being deployed and assembled on the lunar surface.

“Same type of thing for a car — it has a radiator,” Ritchie said. “This is just a radiator for a nuclear reactor.”

Protecting online systems and spaces

Meanwhile, multiple students and teams were showcasing their research into methods and ideas for improving or addressing threats to online and computer systems.

Computer science majors Jaydon Larios and Tyler Jase Schab walked visitors through their development of a web platform that evaluates the vulnerability of a user’s password by simulating multiple cracking methods.

“The system processes each password through different hashing algorithms,” Larios said. “It estimates the actual time it would take to crack these passwords.”

It turns out, short and common passwords really do take mere seconds for would-be attackers to crack.

Nearby, Yozelyn Chavez and Luckie Devers talked about their approach to preventing leakage of personally identifiable information in large language models, or LLMs for short. They represented half of their capstone project team, which also included Gabriela Nicacio and Alan Valencia who were studying abroad in Sweden.

“Basically, if you’ve ever entered in your information, even just your first and last name, to an LLM, it can remember that,” Devers said, adding that anyone who has sent their resume to an AI chat bot will have likely used their email and phone number as well. “We want to remove that in the end, so nobody else can attack the LLM and get your information.”

Their solution was to train an LLC on a five-step prompt sanitization procedure meant to spot each instance of identifiable information included in a prompt and replace it with a fake substitute, while still preserving the quality of the LLM’s response. The LLM would then go through a background process of gradually unlearning the personally identifiable information completely, to protect against any future attacks.

“LLMs are getting super advanced, and AI is getting super advanced,” Devers said. “We need to eventually come up with these ideas that defend against it and help protect the consumers.”

Advancing the humanities, social sciences, and environment

Over in the Learning Commons area of the Consolidated Information Center, even more students presented on their research posters, including several projects in the humanities and social sciences. One recurring theme involved psychological studies on evolving attitudes toward artificial intelligence. Other groups presented on historical examinations of ethnic migration, the Hanford Site cleanup and its legacy, environmental science experiments, and much more.

Students Clarissa Garcia Arroyo, Grady Grasseth, Carola Garcia Mendez, Zachary Shortt, Jairo Villasenor, and Lori Wollerman Nelson reported on the results of their study on what birds are eating in local vineyards — and whether these winged neighbors are friends or foes to wine growers?

“It’s a little of both,” Villasenor, an environmental and ecosystem sciences major, concluded.

For his team’s five-week experiment, the group created fake grapes and worms from plasticine clay, which they distributed throughout the ���سԹ� research vineyard. At the end of each week, from October to November, the group collected the scattered items and assessed each item for damage to determine if a bird had tried to eat it before repeating the process.

“We had clusters of grapes alone. We had clusters of grapes and worms together. And we also had worms just by themselves,” Villasenor said. “Birds ultimately preferred grapes by themselves, and they also preferred worms by themselves. They did not prefer when they were together.”

While the birds showed a stronger preference for grapes than worms in general, Villasenor said it might be because the quantity of plasticine grapes was also significantly higher.

Hydrogen Hogwash takes over East Building stairwell

Tucked away in a different corner of campus, an artist collective comprising 12 digital technology and culture (DTC) majors transformed a ground-level East Building stairwell area into a warm and vibing 24-hour pop-up exhibition dubbed “Ctrl + Alt + Create.” Each of the 12 artists, who went by the name Hydrogen Hogwash, contributed to the space with an interactive multimedia experience.

Sophia Valdez enticed visitors to sit and relax with a turntable, headphones, and selection of vinyl records. Claire Giles projected an animated vignette she’d pieced together from marked-up video taken during a spring break road trip.

Jo Pickard mounted his artwork to three panels of a makeshift wall set up at the base of the stairwell. His pieces included a framed collage of famous pop-culture heroes and a full-length mirror partially adorned with two emblematic superhero symbols — giving viewers a chance to see and reflect on their own inner hero. He also incorporated a scannable Spotify playlist of heroic tunes to set the mood.

“It’s really easy to be heroic when you’re a superhero,” Pickard said. “But being heroic is whatever you think. It’s like waving at somebody when they’re having a bad day, being nice to someone, helping where you don’t have to.”

The exhibit served as the DTC majors’ capstone project, which also involved the creation of a Hydrogen Hogwash zine featuring humorous and imaginative depictions of animals being transformed by radiation exposure. Copies of the zine were available to view at the exhibit as well.

“I have always been an artist to some degree my entire life, and just getting the chance to work with a team and put this together has been really gratifying,” Pickard said. “I feel like I’ve really come into my own since being here these last couple years.”

Awards and honors

The showcase concluded with a brief presentation of awards, voted on by a handful of faculty and industry guest judges.

Associate professor of mathematics and event organizer Ryan Learn stressed the importance of honoring the impressive scope and caliber of students’ scientific and artistic achievements.

“This is an opportunity to recognize all of the really great work that students are doing beyond the curriculum,” Learn said. “Some of these people are answering questions that have never been answered before, solving problems that have never been solved before.”

Prior to the main showcase poster presentations, event organizers welcomed a group of juniors from Delta High School who participated in some interactive activities. Many of the same student groups from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences also presented their senior caps during a separate SEAS Design EXPO event on Friday.

The showcase received funding from Battelle Foundation and Washington Research Foundation.

Here are the award winners by category.

Best Capstone in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science

Digital Control Educational Projects (DCEP)

Landon Johnson, Isaac Rheinschmidt, Jose Cisneros, David Hysjulien

Honorable Mentions:

Sustainable Aviation Fuel Analyzer, Daniel Chavez Edwin Quinonez Hunter Ufford Armando Becerra

A Holistic Approach to Protecting Personally Identifiable Information from Leakage in LLMs, Gabriela Nicacio, Luckie Devers, Alan Valencia, Yozelyn Chavez

Best Capstone in Mechanical or Civil Engineering

Design Improvements to Nuclear Pellet Sheet

Serena Posada, Kolby Tucker, Dean Macduff, Marvin Mendoza, Elysia Howlett, Melissa Vaca Ixta

Honorable Mention:

Preliminary Evaluation of Artificial Ground Freezing: Excavation & Shoring Multi-Criteria Alternative Analysis for Bechtel’s Waste Treatment Plant Site, Aliyana Avalos, Angel Cerna, Cynthia Carmona, Daniela Gonzalez-Sepulveda, Corben Kane, Kayla Konahap, Roy Leal, Abi Macduff, Juan Mendoza, Razan Osman, Luiz Saldana, Joseph Salim, Brianne Zehnder, Marina Zolotnyuk

Best Graduate Student Research Project

Drought Evolution in the Nile Basin: Characterizing Development and Recovery Phases and their Meteorological Drivers

Meklit Berihun Melesse

Best Undergraduate Research Project

Swelling behvior of NBR O-rings in neat hydrocarbons relevant to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)

Kaamel Ahmed Sidiqi

Best Course-Based Project in the Sciences

Ashen soils affect growth but not germination in Bluebunch Wheatgrass

Skylar Brustad, Caleb Deines, Carlos Renteria, Mark Tabangcura, Zachary Shortt, Lori Wollerman Nelson

Honorable Mentions:

Birds in Vineyards: Friends or Foes? Jairo Villasenor, Grady Grasseth, Carola Garcia Mendez, Clarissa Garcia Arroyo, Zachary Shortt, Lori Wollerman Nelson

Spider Size and Web Size in Orb Weaver Spiders, Justine Gutierrez, Camden Seavoy, Zachary Shortt, Lori Wollerman Nelson

Targeted Keylogging Through HID-Based Bas USB Attacks, Sebastian Gonzalez

Best Course-Based Project in Liberal Arts or Psychology

Behind the Silence: Oral Histories of Migration, Labor, Injustice, and Family Sacrifice

Belinda Contreras-Barajas, Litzy Renteria, Andre Mayoral

Best Institute for Northwest Energy Futures Project

Evaluating the Future of Nuclear Energy Through Small Modular Reactors in the Pacific Northwest

Parjot Pawar

Honorable Mention:

Benton County and the Tri-Cities Power Production and Industrial Expansions, Timothy Poole

Washington State University Tri-Cities will honor more than 330 graduating students this year, including graduates from the fall 2025 and spring 2026 terms.

Executive Vice President for WSU Statewide Campuses Sandra Haynes will deliver opening remarks, followed by WSU President Elizabeth Cantwell, special guest Rep. Dan Newhouse, and a keynote address from WSU alumna Rachel Ruggeri, former executive vice president and chief financial officer for Starbucks.

The two-hour ���سԹ� commencement ceremony begins at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 10, at the Toyota Center, 7016 W. Grandridge Blvd., in Kennewick. No tickets are required. Parking is free. Doors open at noon. The Toyota Center enforces entry requirements, including a clear bag policy.

Background on the graduates

The 2025–26 graduating class includes 15 doctoral candidates in biological and agricultural engineering, chemical engineering, food science, math and science education, nursing practice, and special education.

Twenty-six master’s candidates will receive degrees in computer science, educational leadership, electrical engineering, elementary or secondary education, engineering and technology management, horticulture, language, literacy and technology education, and mechanical engineering.

More than 280 bachelor’s candidates will receive degrees in biology, business administration, civil engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, digital technology and culture, earth and environmental science, education, electrical engineering, English, history, humanities, mechanical engineering, nursing, psychology, science, social sciences, and viticulture and enology.

Keynote speaker

Rachel Ruggeri is a seasoned finance executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience across public, nonprofit and global organizations. She spent more than two decades at Starbucks Coffee Company, where she held senior finance and enterprise leadership roles during a period of significant global expansion.

From 2021 to 2025, she served as executive vice president and chief financial officer—the first woman to hold the role—and later as interim chief executive officer, helping guide the company through a major leadership transition.

Known for her people-centered leadership style, Ruggeri is passionate about mentoring, talent development and building strong organizations. Her professional journey reflects adaptability, purpose and a deep commitment to developing future leaders.

By Flynn Espe

What do electronic quilts, fake sculpted dishes, and dried citrus fruits representing fractional math problems have in common? They’re all among the classroom-created works featured in a new Washington State University Tri-Cities art exhibit, one that explores an innovative teaching approach blending creative expression with traditional science and math curriculum — often referred to as STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) education.

The exhibit, “Art(Math + Science) = Creative Intersections,” opened April 15 at the Art Center gallery in the Consolidated Information Center. It showcases works by ���سԹ� education majors and local middle school students.

Yichien Cooper, assistant professor of teaching and learning for the ���سԹ� College of Education, Sport, and Human Sciences and the exhibit’s lead curator, has incorporated STEAM practices into her teaching and research for more than a decade. She also .

With the exhibit, supported by the WSU Fall 2025 Arts & Humanities Process Grant, Cooper hopes to demonstrate how creativity and critical inquiry can help students connect more deeply with science-based subjects — and sometimes reconsider topics they may have written off.

“We all bump into students who are hesitant to embrace art because they don’t think they are good at art, or students who are hesitant about math because math just doesn’t speak to them,” Cooper said.

Many of the pieces originated from Cooper’s “Integrating Fine Arts into K-8 Curriculum” course, where students complete a series of reflective art projects grounded in research and data. In one displayed assignment on food and consumption, students researched a dish, recreated it in sculptured form using homemade dough, and designed a nutrition label based on their findings, with a breakdown of ingredients and a short description.

The description for a piece titled “Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps: Lettuce Turn Over a New Leaf,” by students Allie Ledezma and Taylor West, touts the benefits of using locally grown ingredients, which reduces carbon emissions resulting from long-distance transport. Another piece, titled “Killer Dog: The Dawg That Bites Back” by students Scotty Hunt and Ryan Jundt, recasts the traditional hot dog in vivid and unsettling form. Their description highlights several unsavory nutrition details, including a well-known study linking hot dog consumption to shortened lifespan.

“Each dish tells some sort of environmental awareness story that the student maybe never thought about before,” Cooper said. “And that’s what art is about. Art is making you think.”

Cooper is joined in the exhibit by colleagues Tyler Hansen, assistant professor of teaching and learning, and Ethan Smith, assistant professor of mathematics — both of whom incorporate elements of STEAM education into their teaching.

For his portion of the exhibit, Hansen included an electronic textile quilt created in his “Science Teaching Methods” course. For that project, each student contributed a square representing a significant moment or life experience. In addition to felt designs, students incorporated colored blinking lights, hand coded to a microcontroller device.

“In order to make any of this work, you have to know how circuits work and how to make a complete circuit,” Hansen said. “We used conductive thread, so it actually carries a current to all of these lights.”

Smith, meanwhile, showcased a classroom project in which he prompted students to rethink basic math concepts using pattern block cutouts, giving them creative license to create new shapes and visual imagery from a “budget” of 12 triangle pieces.

“If a triangle is worth one and you have 12 dollars, or units, to spend, can you make a shape that’s worth $12 overall?” Smith said. “You see lots of different ideas and explanations of their strategies. Some students like to start with just the big hexagon and get six out of the way. Others want to have lots of little shapes.”

Like his faculty colleagues, Smith said he hopes to inspire future teachers to find similar ways of injecting creativity into their K-12 classrooms.

“I think there are a lot of great teachers out there who are doing this,” Smith said.

Destiny Kuespert, a former student of both Cooper and Smith who graduated from ���سԹ� with her elementary education degree last December, is one teacher who’s taking those lessons and ideas to heart. She contributed to the exhibit with a display of pieces made by sixth grade students at Richland’s Carmichael Middle School, where she taught during her practicum experience last fall. Those pieces were previously featured in two separate STEAM exhibitions at the and Richland Public Library.

For her classroom project, Kuespert’s students applied beads, dried fruits, and other crafting items to canvas as visual representations of fractional division. Kuespert said the students were free to decide the complexity of the math problem they wanted to solve, as long as they used one of two mathematical models to do it. Students who picked the number line method used sticks, strings, and beads, whereas students who chose the area or shape model used dried fruits to represent whole and fractional numbers. They also had to show their work in written form and reflect on their three-day project experience.

“You can read from some of their reflections how they felt. Some of them were saying, ‘This made me happy. I love doing art and math. Writing it out helped me understand it more,’” Kuespert said. “There were some that expressed, ‘I don’t like doing art,’ which is fine too. I was excited just to read all of their opinions.”

While traditional math and science curriculum exists for a reason, Cooper and her colleagues see art as an equally valid teaching method that can help preserve a student’s sense of wonder and curiosity.

“When I think back to early elementary school and math, I remember that being fun, joyful — creative activities. When I think towards middle and high school, math becomes more abstract. It becomes more pencil and paper,” Smith said. “I appreciated a lot of aspects of that, which makes sense where I ended up. But there’s no reason why that joy can’t sustain itself all the way through school.”

Kuespert echoed similar thoughts in describing the motivations behind her art-infused teaching projects.

“I wanted them to feel interested, because you see the worksheet so many times, it’s not interesting at all. You’re just thinking, ‘How fast can I get through it?’” Kuespert said. “I wanted them to see everything and feel intrigued. I think that’s the base of learning is you first have to be curious.”

Visitors to the exhibit can contribute to the gallery space as well through a series of self-guided creative math activities, also designed by the four collaborators and set up at multiple stations. The exhibit will be on display through the rest of 2026.

By Flynn Espe

Washington State University Tri-Cities students and staff��recently��celebrated the grand opening of��the Crimson Career Closet��—��a new campus resource��aimed at helping students look their best for their next professional opportunity.��Jimena Delgado,��Associated Students of�����سԹ���senator for the Carson College of Business,��along with a small delegation of campus representatives,��commemorated the occasion��during an official ribbon-cutting event on April 15.

The��Crimson Career Closet, which is currently housed within the ���سԹ� Career Center in the Consolidated Information Center,��contains��multiple racks of��donated��business attire��—��including��dress��shirts, blouses,��pants,��shoes,��and more.��The clothing items��are��free to take for��any current ���سԹ� student who��might��need��them��for an upcoming job interview, presentation,��networking event, or other professional occasion.

Delgado, who spearheaded the��months-long��effort to��create��the��Crimson Career Closet,��says the��idea for the new resource��stemmed from the��fact that��many ���سԹ� students are first-generation students with limited��means��and wardrobe options.

“Some people have clothing that their moms or their sisters let them borrow, but when you’re the first person to go to college, that’s something you��might not��have access to,” Delgado said.��“Part of student government is expanding that equal access to students.”

Finding a��suitable��permanent��location for��the closet��presented��one��early��challenge, Delgado��says, but when the��Career Center��hallway��was presented as��an option, it seemed like a clear match.

“People��come in��here for resume and interview advice, and we thought it would be fitting to have this resource as another part of their��professional development,” Delgado said.

Having��enough��clothing items��to launch��the space��was another challenge. Fortunately,��a��large��drop-off donation��from��members of the��H2Crew��volunteer group,��which is��associated with Hanford Tank Operations & Closure (H2C),��provided a huge boost.

“We actually had to order more racks for it, because it didn’t��all fit, which is amazing,” Delgado said.

Any student who wishes to��check out��what’s��available in��the Crimson Career Closet is free to stop by��the Career Center��anytime during normal business hours — no appointment necessary. If��students��see anything they like,��it’s��theirs to��take and��keep.

“They get to keep it,” Delgado says. “Of course, they can donate it again if they don’t want it in the future.”

Though the closet had only just opened, Delgado could already count herself among its first beneficiaries��—��sporting a��donated item��for the ribbon-cutting��ceremony.

“I couldn’t find anything to wear today, so��this��shirt that I’m wearing right now is from the closet,” she said.