In the News

• Cache Valley Daily Friday, Apr. 21, 2023

  New building to be added to USU's Huntsman School of Business complex

  LOGAN – Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business will soon have a home on campus for its experiential learning offerings with the announcement Friday of a new building coming to the Huntsman School of Business complex at USU.

  The new building will honor prominent business leaders and philanthropists Kem and Carolyn Gardner.

  The Huntsman School has become a premier hands-on learning center, with the continuing development of experiential learning, or learning by doing.

• KSL Friday, Apr. 21, 2023

  USU professor trying to solve wild horse overpopulation problem

  HENEFER, Summit County — Horses are long considered a symbol of the American West. There are well over 80 thousand wild horses and burros across the western U.S. and they're a constant concern for both wildlife managers and animal activists.

  Utah State University professor Terry Messmer called it a problem that his generation created.

  "The 1971 act said horses are important, they're valuable, they need to be part of the landscape," Messmer said.

  He pointed out that the animals are not native and they're exhausting the resources for other animals and themselves.

• Utah Public Radio Wednesday, Apr. 19, 2023

  USU landscape arch. students 'All Hands on Deck' to save Great Salt Lake

  On Friday, USU’s landscape architecture seniors are presenting their capstone projects under the theme of “All Hands on Deck,” an effort aimed at saving the Great Salt Lake. The students have formulated and developed landscape architecture initiatives for five locations related to Great Salt Lake.

  The five projects include a proposal for the establishment of responsible development on the eastern shoreline, preservation and design of a landscape commemorating the Bear River Massacre site, plans for a saline lake research center on Antelope Island, a proposal for an ecologically-focused regional park in Salt Lake City, and the creation of a toolkit for designers, planners, and citizens to help guide policy and design approaches intended to return water to the lake.

• KSL Tuesday, Apr. 18, 2023

  Snow cover allows vole populations to thrive in Cache Valley

  CACHE VALLEY — Voles are tearing up yards, and in some cases, wreaking havoc on lawns in Cache Valley.

  Every several years, the populations explode, and some of the experts say the cover from the snow this year is helping keep them hidden from predators.

  It's not exactly what Austell Cowley expected to catch on his wildlife camera.

  "I thought I'd show her all the birds that came to feed in her feeder," he said.

• Popular Science Monday, Apr. 17, 2023

  Blue carbon is a natural climate solution with big potential

  To curb climate change, governments across the globe have set goals to achieve “net zero emissions.” This means that for every unit of greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere, the same amount is removed through a nature-based solution—like forest protection—or artificial ones like carbon capture technology. 

  In an effort to reach net zero by 2050, the Biden administration is investing in a promising strategy: blue carbon.

• Cache Valley Daily Sunday, Apr. 16, 2023

  USU Extension and College of Ag honored with seven Best of State awards

  Four Utah State University Extension programs and three College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences (CAAS) programs are recipients of the 2023 Best of State Awards.

  Utah’s Best of State Awards recognize organizations and businesses in Utah that are outstanding in their area of work. Applicants are required to write about achievements in their field of endeavor, including innovation or creativity in their approaches, techniques, methods or processes, and the contribution their business makes to the quality of life in Utah. Over 100 judges review each nomination before casting their votes, and applications with the highest number of votes win a Best of State medal.

• Cache Valley Daily Thursday, Apr. 13, 2023

  USU receives $1 million grant to optimize AG water use

  LOGAN – A recent million dollar grant to Utah State University is designed to fight drought and conserve water in the Colorado River Basin.

  The funds will be used to invest in what is called Ag-DRIP, or the Ag Water Demonstration, Research and Implementation Program.

  Dr. Burdette Barker, an Irrigation Specialist with USU’s College of Engineering and USU Extension, said this project will help farmers make the best of what water they have.

• Deseret News Monday, Apr. 10, 2023

  Danny Sprinkle introduced as Utah State basketball coach

  Utah State basketball head coach Danny Sprinkle was introduced on Monday, making his first impression on Aggie fans.

  In a press conference in Logan, Sprinkle said he was honored to be chosen as Utah State’s 29th men’s basketball head coach.

  “I’m honored and humbled to represent you guys, to be chosen as the head coach of your men’s basketball program,” Sprinkle said.

• Cache Valley Daily Saturday, Apr. 01, 2023

  USU gymnasts end 2023 season with solid showing at NCAA Regionals

  PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Utah State’s two gymnasts had solid outings Friday in Session I of the second round of the Pittsburgh Regional.

  The two Aggies – junior Brianna Brooks and senior Sofi Sullivan – both hit on their respective routines as Utah State officially closed out its 2023 campaign at Petersen Events Center.

  “Our staff is so incredibly proud of Brianna and Sofi’s performance today,” Utah State head coach Kristin White said. “They both came in and rocked their final routines of the season and made Utah State very proud.”

  Sullivan capped her stellar Aggie career by recording a 9.875 on beam, placing seventh out of 27 competitors in Session I.

• KSL Thursday, Mar. 30, 2023

  Aggie Chocolate Factory first in US to make rare 'albino' chocolate bars

  LOGAN — Utah State University is working on research of the utmost importance — producing some rare chocolate that is not made anywhere else in the U.S.

  It comes from an albino cacao bean, which is not so easy to get here in Utah

  The Aggie Chocolate Factory specializes in making 70% dark chocolate. The albino chocolate will be that same higher concentration but will bring a much different taste, and it's all being done in the name of research.

  Turning beans into chocolate takes hours of work: the roasting, grinding, smoothing and molding. But to make the super-rare stuff takes sourcing, and in this case, Luciana Monteiro is the key. She's a Fulbright scholar from Brazil.

• CNN Wednesday, Mar. 29, 2023

  This lizard species stress-eats to cope with noisy US Army aircraft

  Living in a neighborhood with lots of noise can make you jittery, especially if you’re a lizard that’s just a few inches long.

  It’s no wonder that lizards exposed to noise pollution from low-flying fighter jets have resorted to stress-eating.

  Colorado checkered whiptails (Aspidoscelis neotesselatus) — striped and patterned lizards that live only in southeastern Colorado — are an all-female species that reproduce asexually. They also endure considerable noise from US Army flyovers.

  When researchers recently examined blood samples from these lizards, they detected elevated stress levels from the din. The lizards also had a coping strategy: They moved less, and they ate more.

• The Herald Journal Tuesday, Mar. 28, 2023

  USU students work with local greenhouse on rain harvesting system

  Utah State University students are currently working with The Green House Nursery Inc. in Logan to install a rain tank as part of a community outreach portion of a class.

  The students — Ellie Fillimoehala, Joshua Taylor and Ryan Kunz — issued a press release detailing the project.

  “A summer rainstorm at the GreenHouse looks a little counterintuitive,” the release states. “Torrential rain falls on greenhouses full of plants, runs off the roof, and disappears down a drain.”

  Simultaneously, according to the release, “drip lines pull water from the city to continuously water these same plants.”

• Cache Valley Daily Monday, Mar. 27, 2023

  USU researchers are receiving $350,000 for Alzheimer's research

  LOGAN – Several Utah State University researchers studying Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia are receiving a total of $350,000 from USU’s Alzheimers Disease and Dementia Research Center (ADRC).

  Beth Fauth, who is ADRC director, said the center’s mission is to promote Alzheimers research in the state.

  “This last legislative session we received funding to support this work. So, in this first year, we put out requests for proposals from USU faculty,” Fauth explained. “By next year we will be including other research institutions.

  “What we’re doing is asking for requests for what they need, whether it’s equipment or student support or funding for participants so they can bring people in to do studies with live individuals.”

  The center is new, opening last July, and is housed within the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. Utah legislator Dan Johnson, representing Utah House District 3, sponsored the concept of the center and funding was approved in March, 2022.

• Salt Lake Tribune Monday, Mar. 20, 2023

  Why does Logan have 'the worst wintertime air' on the Wasatch Front?

  Logan • Utahns are no strangers to bad air quality, and this year’s cold winter has caused plenty of days with terrible air. But in the winter months, the air quality in Cache Valley is particularly bad, even though it has a fraction of the population of other counties along the Wasatch Front.

  So why does the county have worse winter air than elsewhere in Utah?

  There are a few factors, according to Randy Martin, an associate research professor at Utah State University’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering.

• Deseret News Saturday, Mar. 18, 2023

  3 years after Magna quake, here's how Utah's preparing for bigger one

  Brady Cox's career in civil engineering and earthquake engineering has taken him all over the world in the past 20 years. He's traveled from Utah to places like New Zealand, Turkey, Peru, Japan and Haiti studying earthquake damage and doing earthquake reconnaissance.

  "(I) Always kind of had that thought that I would like to return to Utah and try and do more for the citizens of Utah — for my home state — to encourage better earthquake preparedness in terms of engineering design and construction," said Cox.

  Two and a half years ago, Cox returned to his home state, where he now works as a professor of civil engineering at Utah State University and serves as a leading earthquake expert.

• Yahoo Friday, Mar. 17, 2023

  NASA Announces Future Launch for USU-Led Space Weather Mission

  Logan, Utah, March 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NASA announced that the launch of the Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory and College of Science-led Atmospheric Waves Experiment, or AWE, is scheduled for December 2023. The NASA-funded instrument will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to the International Space Station.

  AWE Principal Investigator Dr. Michael Taylor from USU’s College of Science leads a team of scientists that will provide new details about how the weather on Earth interacts with, and affects, space weather. To do that, the AWE instrument, measuring about 54 centimeters by one meter and weighing less than 57 kilograms, will peer into Earth’s upper atmosphere from an orbit of about 400 kilometers above to provide unprecedented images of Earth’s gravity waves as they rise through the mesopause, the mesosphere’s upper boundary, and into other parts of the ionosphere.

• Cache Valley Daily Tuesday, Mar. 14, 2023

  Honorary degree recipients named for USU Commencement

  He was an accomplished wide receiver and kick return specialist for Aggie football teams of the 1980s and later, with two degrees from Utah State University, Paul Jones launched a 37-year career in higher education.

  On Thursday, May 4, he will receive an honorary doctorate degree and serve as commencement speaker for the 136th Utah State University graduation ceremony on campus.

  Dr. Paul Anthony Jones is currently serving as the 10th president at Fort Valley State, a fellow land-grant university in Georgia that signed a five-year partnership with USU last year to collaborate on activities of mutual interest.

• Salt Lake Tribune Tuesday, Mar. 07, 2023

  How USU is using data to improve its policing

  Utah State University’s new “predictive policing” model might at first sound like the plot of “Minority Report.”

  But the school says it’s far less dystopian than the 2002 sci-fi thriller, and much more about predicting needs like which football games might require more officers on patrol or figuring out where students are reporting the highest levels of concerns and why.

  “It’s been phenomenal,” said Blair Barfuss, the recent police chief at USU. “We started having answers that I never anticipated seeing. And it’s all data-driven.”

• The New York Times Saturday, Mar. 04, 2023

  Are Butterflies Wildlife? Depends Where You Live.

  It’s tough being an insect. They get swatted, stomped and sprayed without a thought. Their mere presence can provoke irrational panic. Even everyday language disparages them: “Stop bugging me,” we say.

  To make matters worse for insects, they have also been sidelined legally in some states, with unintended but serious repercussions. The reason? According to many state statutes, insects are not considered wildlife.

• Cache Valley Daily Wednesday, Mar. 01, 2023

  USU announces 2023 commencement dates

  LOGAN – Utah State University is preparing for the school’s 136th Commencement since its founding in 1888 and beginning April 20 the school will hold seven ceremonies across campuses in the state through the end of the month.

  Commencement on the USU main campus in Logan will be May 4. That will include the awarding of honorary degrees, announcement of university-wide faculty awards, and Commencement speeches.

• KSLtv.com Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023

  USU Study: population growth causing wild weather patterns

  LOGAN, Utah — From extreme drought to heavy snow, some researchers at Utah State University are tying to get to the bottom of Utah’s rollercoaster weather patterns.

  A new study shows that it may be all our fault and that it’s not going away anytime soon. The two professors on this study say population growth, and the things we all do are adding to the wild swings in weather. While we should work to fix it, they say we’re also going to need to learn how to live with it.

  Most people don’t have these kind of resources to deal with winter.

• Forbes Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023

  Research Explains How Our Teenage 'Templates' Of Love Affect Us As Adults

  A new study published in the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy explains how teenagers can form healthy or unhealthy ‘templates’ of romantic relationships that can perpetuate as they grow up.

  The researchers, led by Kay Bradford and Brian Higginbotham of Utah State University and Jacqueline Miller of the University of New Mexico, believe that relationship education, much like sexual education, may be the key to helping adolescents build healthier current and future romantic relationships.

• The Mercury News Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023

  What creates a huge earthquake? Scientists investigate phenomenon

  TORONTO — Scientists have made further strides toward identifying the key circumstances for catastrophic earthquakes, according to researchers.

  What separates a region prone to mild earthquakes compared to those that could see earth-shattering quakes in the future could come down to a principle of friction, according to a new study published last week in the peer-reviewed journal Science.

  Friction describes the force of resistance when two materials are sliding against each other. One specific frictional phenomenon that dictates how quickly faults heal after an earthquake may also be key to identifying if they will be at risk of a greater earthquake in the future, according to researchers.

• KSL Monday, Feb. 20, 2023

  Stadler Rail, USU to begin work on battery-powered passenger trains

  SALT LAKE CITY — Stadler Rail is partnering with Utah State University to engineer battery-powered passenger trains in North America, as a potential zero-emission solution in rail travel.

  The Swiss-based company with a U.S. facility in Salt Lake City announced Wednesday that it will work with USU's Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification Research Center to develop and test a battery version of its FLIRT model passenger trains, which primarily run on diesel.

  "With little to no electrified routes in the North American public rail transit system, a battery train is a great zero-emission alternative to diesel-powered vehicles," said Stadler U.S. CEO Martin Ritter in a statement.