Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164 USA
Laboratory for Atmospheric Research
The Laboratory for Atmospheric Research provides a recognized center of atmospheric studies at Washington State University. The laboratory, which is administered through the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, provides students with graduate training in the atmospheric sciences. Students are encouraged to participate in the various grant-supported research projects of the laboratory. Since atmospheric research requires an interdisciplinary approach, both the faculty within the laboratory and those who work cooperatively on joint research programs have diverse disciplinary backgrounds. Research areas include those of interest to the citizens and industries of the state, the nation, and the world. Thus, the laboratory is engaged in research aspects of meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, pollution abatement, global climate issues, and effects of atmospheric pollutants. Much of the research involves field measurement programs which have taken the faculty, staff, and students to such diverse places as China, the Antarctic Continent, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Ocean as well as numerous sites in the United States. Sampling platforms used include mobile trailers, towers, aircraft, and ships. Analytical technique development in the laboratory and computerized data interpretation including atmospheric modeling round out the laboratory research.
Laboratory for Biotechnology and Bioanalysis
The Laboratory for Biotechnology and Bioanalysis (LBB) is a campus-wide research service center that provides a number of important analyses including: DNA and protein sequencing. The goal of the LBB is to provide equipment and expertise for support of research that utilizes costly and state-of-the-art equipment in the disciplines of biology and chemistry. In LBB-1, equipment and trained personnel are available for DNA array construction and analysis while LBB-2 is primarily set up for analysis of small molecules. Mass spectrometry for biological or synthetic agents is available through LBB-2. LBB is located in several rooms in Fulmer Hall.
Biomolecular X-ray Crystallography (BXC) Center
The Biomolecular X-ray Crystallography (BXC) Center is a research and training facility for the study of macromolecules. This Washington State University facility is the only macromolecular X-ray facility in eastern Washington and northern Idaho. The BXC Center serves three colleges: the College of Sciences, the College of Agriculture, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, and the College of Veterinary Medicine. The X-ray laboratory is used for teaching, training, classroom instruction, and laboratory experiments at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The BXC Center is equipped with two RIGAKU rotating anode generators: an RU200H with osmium optics and a MicroMax007 blue confocal Max-Flux. It also houses four detection devices of RAXIS II and IV++ imaging plates, a Saturn 92 CCD and AFC6R diffractometer, several SGI FUELs and OCTANEs, two ACTA FPLCs, several HPLC systems, and gas- and liquid-nitrogen generators.
The center has skilled scientists who assist in various research projects and provide project consultation. Faculty and students are welcome to visit the BXC Center, located on the B5 level of Fulmer Hall. For more information, call: (509) 335-1409.
Franceschi Microscopy and Imaging Center
The Electron Microscopy Center (EMC) is a research and training facility for the study of biological and non-biological materials. The EMC provides electron microscopy and light microscopy equipment for observation and analysis of a diverse array of specimens. Students, faculty and staff can access the EMC for formal and informal training, and for conducting research through flexible conditions designed to ensure success in acquiring and analyzing specimen images. The center offers courses in electron microscopy for graduate and undergraduate students each semester.
The EMC maintains aTEM, a STEM, a SEM, a confocal microscope and various light microscopes. Three of the electron microscopes also have EDX analyzers for elemental analysis. All necessary ancillary equipment, computers for image processing and analysis, and three photographic darkrooms are also maintained for student and faculty use. The center provides project consultation and has a skilled staff capable of assisting students and faculty in a wide range of research projects. Faculty and students are welcome to visit the EMC located on the ground floor of Science Hall. Inquiries about services and courses offered or class tours of the facilities can be made by calling (509) 335-3025.
Environmental Research Center
The Environmental Research Center is an all-university research unit. The center is the focal point for university development of interdisciplinary research on problems related to the environment. It provides an organizational and administrative structure to accommodate interdisciplinary environmental research projects which cut across departmental and college boundaries.
The center is closely integrated with the academic Program in Environmental Science and Regional Planning, and students are encouraged to participate in the research projects carried out through it. In order to stimulate an awareness of environmental problems and contributions the university can make in solving them, the center acts as an information source for faculty and students of the university and for citizens of the state. It also assists in securing financial support for research projects involving faculty and students and acts as a liaison unit for inter-university and other cooperative activities dealing with environmental matters.
The center provides some direct support for graduate students and has sponsored a number of conferences and seminars on regional environmental problems.
GeoAnalytical Laboratory
The GeoAnalytical Laboratory is a Service Center within the Geology Department which provides analytical services, primarily for geological research, but also for research in inorganic chemistry and applications of many fields in material and environmental sciences. The laboratory comprises an automated Cameca electron microprobe for quantitative elemental micro-analysis and element mapping, a Siemens X-ray powder diffractometer for phase identification; an automated Rigaku X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and HP inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) for major, trace and rare earth elemental analysis; and a Finnigan-MAT gas source mass spectrometer for oxygen, carbon and hydrogen isotope ratio determinations. Recent additions include a high resolution Thermo-Finnigan ICP-MS for ultra low trace element analysis, a multicollector Thermo-Finnigan ICP-MS for radiogenic and stable isotope ratios and a clean room for sample preparation. Most of our services and equipment are available to other departments and other institutions for a reasonable fee. For more information visit our Web site, or call (509) 335-1626.
Information Technology
Information Technology (IT) is a central organization that provides services and professional expertise in support of computing, networking, voice, data and video communications at WSU. Many of these services are a crucial part of WSU’s research infrastructure. IT provides administrative, academic, and general purpose computing services on several platforms:
• Administrative computing services are primarily on an IBM OS/390 platform. Several UNIX and Intel-based NT Server platforms are used for data warehouse and client/server applications, as well as for Web, authentication, and other network services in support of administrative computing applications.
• Academic computing services, general purpose computing services, and standard network services are on several UNIX and NT Server platforms. Electronic mail, calendar, network fax, USENET news, time, mailing lists, domain name server, Web servers, authentication servers, and some software distribution services are on Digital UNIX, HP-UX, and IBM AIX versions of UNIX or on NT Server platforms.
IT implements and operates campus data networks and wide-area networks that tie WSU sites together:
• IT supports connections to external networks such as the Internet, Internet2 and the Washington State K-20 Educational Telecommunications Network. Continuing efforts include enhancing the capabilities of Washington State University networks through the use of new networking technologies and increasing network capacity to meet growing demands.
• The distributed digital telephone switch network provides telephone and voice mail services for telephones on WSU’s four campuses and the Intercollegiate College for Nursing in Spokane.
• A video distribution and switching network provides for advanced multimedia capability in general university classrooms.
For more information about IT, visit us on the web.
The IMPACT Center
IMPACT is the acronym for the International Marketing Program for Agricultural Commodities and Trade established in the College of Agriculture and Home Economics in June 1985.
The IMPACT Center funds interdisciplinary research, extension and teaching to assist the state in exporting its agricultural products. Its major thrusts are in uncovering marketing opportunities, developing strategies to exploit those opportunities, solving economic and technical impediments to current agricultural exports, and finding alternative products or processes with export market potential.
The IMPACT Center receives its funding from state, federal and private sources. Its programs are closely integrated with those of the Department of Agriculture and of WSU’s College of Agriculture and Home Economics. In carrying out its mission, the IMPACT Center funds faculty and staff for both long- and short-term assignments. Personnel are housed in the appropriate academic department or outlying station. While the IMPACT Center gives assistance to departments in providing graduate-level courses in international agricultural marketing, it does not offer graduate programs. For more information, visit our Web site.
Nuclear Radiation Center
The Nuclear Radiation Center (NRC) is an education, research and service facility supporting the entire university. The center has a one-megawatt TRIGA reactor, a cobalt-60 irradiation unit, and numerous state-of-the-art radiation detectors and counting systems.
The center supports undergraduate and graduate education, with both facilities and instruction. Graduate students in engineering, physics, chemistry, geology, anthropology, food science, animal science, veterinary science and other fields may conduct their thesis research at the NRC.
Trace element analysis using neutron activation analysis (NAA) is routinely available at the center. This technique is applicable to analytical chemistry, geology, material science, biomedical research, environmental science, physics and other areas. Consultation is available to investigators with elemental analysis needs.
Radiation detection and analysis is practical for many radionuclides. Gamma ray spectroscopy, using Ge(Li), LEP or NaI(Tl) detector systems, and isotopic identification are available. Liquid scintillation and alpha-beta counting equipment is available also.
Neutron irradiation service is provided by the NRC’s one-megawatt fission reactor. The reactor also supports other research projects. Gamma irradiation services are offered on the cobalt-60 unit.
The NRC provides laboratory space for radiochemistry researchers and other projects and programs. A wide range of services and capabilities make the Nuclear Radiation Center ideally suited to support elemental analysis or radiation-related studies at Washington State University. Tours of the reactor facility can be arranged by calling (509) 335-7592.
Social and Economic Sciences Research Center (SESRC)
The Social and Economic Sciences Research Center (SESRC) provides high quality social, economic, and behavioral science research services to the students, faculty, and administration at WSU, and the citizens and agencies of the state. The SESRC has three main goals: (1) to conduct research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences that is responsive to the needs and concerns of the state, region, and local communities; (2) to provide telephone, mail, internet, and face-to-face survey capabilities to university faculty for conducting research; and (3) to provide research training for both undergraduate and graduate students in the social sciences.
The SESRC research facilities include a networked telephone interviewing laboratory of 60 computers with modems, interview stations with telephone headsets, a computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) software, and printers, scanners, and other mail questionnaire and data entry processing equipment. This facility is located at the WSU Research Park and is staffed by over 150 students and non-student interviewers, several supervisors, research managers, and programmers. Another 20 interview stations are located in Wilson Hall and are used for cognitive interviewing, development of internet questionnaires, and other research activities.
The SESRC professional staff provide assistance in all phases of survey research, and have experience and capabilities for conducting telephone, mail, e-mail, Internet, and face-to-face interview surveys, focus groups, data entry of written questionnaires, statistical analysis of survey data, and preparation of research proposals and project reports. Faculty and students from WSU's social, behavioral, economic, and educational disciplines participate in SESRC projects. Collaboration with other research centers and departments at WSU lends a strong interdisciplinary emphasis to the work of the SESRC.
For further information about SESRC, contact us by calling (509) 335-1511, sending an email to sesrc@wsu.edu or by visiting our Web site.
State of Washington Water Research Center
Federal legislation establishing the State of Washington Water Research Center, along with the 54 other water research centers and institutes throughout the United States and territories, outlines three major directives:
(1) support of research in multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary water-related studies;
(2) assistance in the education and training of undergraduate and graduate students toward degrees in water-related professions through active participation in research projects; and
(3) dissemination of results of research and other current information on water-related issues through the distribution of technical and popular publications and through the sponsorship of conferences, seminars, workshops, and other outreach activities.
The State of Washington Water Research Center was established in 1964 as a joint agency of Washington State University and the University of Washington with the directorate located in Pullman, at the land-grant university. Programs and policies of the center are determined by the director with the assistance of Program Directors and the Joint Scientific Committee, composed of faculty members from the state’s universities and representatives from state and federal agencies. Washington State University, the University of Washington, The Evergreen State College, and the three regional universities have all participated in the center’s program through specific research projects, making the center a truly statewide activity.
The center has fostered extensive research on Washington state’s water-related problems. Much of this research is also of regional and/or national significance. To date, nearly 450 projects have been funded through the center and completed with technical reports and journal articles distributed to the professional community and appropriate agencies. Over 1000 undergraduate and graduate students have been assisted in meeting their educational goals through their work on these projects to become the water scientists and engineers of today and tomorrow.
The research projects in the center, supported by the federal cooperative program and other grants, may be basic or applied in nature, depending upon the interests of the sponsor. The center does not maintain a regular scientific or engineering staff, but instead coordinates team activities and provides funds to individual investigators through departments and research units of the state’s universities.
Further information regarding the program may be obtained by writing the Director, State of Washington Water Research Center, Washington State University, P.O. Box 643002, Pullman, WA 99164-3002, or by calling (509) 335-5531.
WSU Center for NMR Spectroscopy
The WSU Center for NMR Spectroscopy is a central University facility, currently with four NMR spectrometers: a Varian Mercury 300 routine liquids NMR spectrometer; a Bruker Avance DRX-400 solid-state NMR spectrometer, a Varian Inova gradient liquids NMR spectrometer, and a Bruker Avance DRX-600 liquid-state and solid-state NMR spectrometer. The Center is managed by a PhD-level Facility Manager, whose specialist knowledge is in liquids NMR, and an Assistant Manager, whose specialist knowledge is in solids NMR. Electronics support is provided by the College of Sciences Technical Services. Also the NMR Center houses an IBM SP2 16-processor parallel computer, with 2.4 Gb RAM and 40 Gb disk. This machine has parallel and serial versions of CHARMM, XPLOR and the Biosym/MSI suite of programs, and is used solely by the structural biology groups at WSU. The Center also has several Silicon Graphics, Sun, and Linux workstations for off-line data analysis.
--From the 2003-04 WSU Catalog
Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164 USA
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