UW in the News

May 16, 2022

State, national and international media frequently feature the University of Wyoming and members of its community in stories. Here is a summary of some of the recent coverage:

The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources’ official website published UW College of Law Professor Sam Kalen’s coal mining testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources of the House Natural Resources Committee. Kalen is UW’s William T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law and associate dean of the College of Law. E&E News published an article on last week’s hearing on mining reform legislation.

UW employees making less than $150,000 annually will receive base pay raises of $1,400 or $1,900, along with additional increases based upon merit, market and compression issues, in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Wyoming News Now published UW’s announcement. The Casper Star-Tribune published a similar article.

The Journal of Petroleum Technology reported that two UW teams were among semifinalists advancing to Phase 2 of a $4 million competition to develop direct lithium extraction technologies for application to geothermal brines in California. The selected teams will receive $40,000 each and will advance their proposals to demonstrate their design abilities. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office funds the competition.

Scott Beaulier is the new UW College of Business dean. Since 2016, he held the same position at North Dakota State University’s College of Business, according to AM 1100 The Flag and WDAY radio stations, both in Fargo, N.D.

WHYY, a Philadelphia PBS station, interviewed Christelle Khalaf, associate director of UW’s Center for Business and Economic Analysis, about a program that trains young Philadelphians to install solar panels. Khalaf studies the economic development potential of renewable energy.

The Wyoming Innovation Partnership, which encourages collaboration among UW, community colleges, state agencies and economic development groups to support the economy and workforce, was mentioned in a Hechinger Report article. The article detailed how some states are turning to higher education institutes to help educate the workforce sector.

UW anthropology Professor Todd Surovell was interviewed for an episode of the podcast “A Life in Ruins.” Surovell discussed how he became interested in anthropology and detailed some of his research work.

A $500,000 gift from the Joe and Arlene Watt Foundation will support a UW program that provides collaborative applied and fundamental research to combat invasive grass species and restore healthy Wyoming landscapes. The Sheridan Press published UW’s release.

CoinTrust and First Strike published UW’s release noting that Ripple, a leading provider of enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, will establish a Ripple Blockchain Collaboratory at UW. The gift will help to foster innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency and cybersecurity to help transform the finance and technology industries.

UW’s graduation last Saturday was featured in The Laramie Boomerang. Nearly 1,500 undergraduate students, 418 graduate students, 65 College of Law students and 43 School of Pharmacy students were awarded degrees during various ceremonies.

The Boomerang also published UW’s releases announcing that UW students Wendy Luna Garcia, Connor Rindler and Hannah Rhymes were the recipients of the Tobin Memorial and Rosemarie Martha Spitaleri Outstanding Undergraduate Award as this year’s outstanding graduating students.

The Cody Enterprise reported that the community’s Forward Cody program is collaborating with UW on an entrepreneurial education program by placing a full-time business development specialist in the office to help expand the university’s entrepreneurship program in the area.

UW Libraries and Montana State University (MSU) Library are co-hosting the “Conversations on Collecting Yellowstone” conference June 5-8 on the MSU campus. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle noted that the conference will explore collecting and preserving materials that document the history of Yellowstone National Park, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

Wyoming Public Radio (WPR) received three prestigious regional Edward R. Murrow awards in the Hard News, Excellence in Sound and News Documentary categories. Since 2005, WPR, located at UW, has won a combination of 30 regional and national Murrow awards.

A grape growing workshop, hosted by UW Extension, is scheduled in Lander this weekend. The Western Farmer-Stockman published UW’s release on the schedule.

Wyoming News Now published UW’s release noting that UW graduate student Matt Bisk created phenomenon-based lessons that use the resources of the Rocky Mountain Herbarium. The lessons are available to K-12 educators and students in Wyoming.

Tiffany Hunt, a UW associate lecturer, and Andey Robins, a graduate student from Laramie, published a new Amazon Alexa skill designed specifically to support the professional development of educators to better understand dyslexia. Wyoming News Now published UW’s release.