A Message From Provost Carman

FROM THE PROVOST

I’m pleased to present the 2021-22 edition of Innovations. This year the primary focus of Innovations is the extraordinary and diverse research and entrepreneurial activity conducted by UW faculty, students, staff, and the citizens of Wyoming to help address the challenges of navigating the COVID pandemic.

When Laramie healthcare workers were short of PPE at the beginning of the pandemic, student volunteers stepped up and designed and produced 100’s of face coverings with UW 3D printers in the Innovation Wyrkshop maker space. Inspired by the example of our students, many members of the community made their 3D printers available to expand capacity.

WWAMI Director and Assoc. Prof. Brandt Schumaker leveraged his expertise in infectious disease and worked with the Wyoming Department of Health to organize and expand COVID testing capacity. He recruited a team of undergraduate students to work in the lab and meet the dramatic increase in testing capacity that was needed. The students, in turn, gained unique experience in epidemiology.

Faculty and students in the Dept. of Economics mobilized quickly and conducted two major research projects that shed light on strategies for managing the pandemic. Assoc. Prof. Linda Thunstrom and a team of faculty and graduate students examined financial tradeoffs of lockdowns versus the projected loss of life that would occur in the absence of lockdowns. Graduate student Madison Ashworth and her colleagues gained international attention for their study of the most effective messaging for encouraging individuals to get vaccinated. Intriguingly, their study revealed effective messaging for most people around the world was not convincing to the citizens of Wyoming.

Petroleum Engineering Asst. Prof. Pejamn Tahmasebi applied his knowledge of managing large data sets to COVID by capturing and analyzing the huge volume of pandemic data that was suddenly being generated. His work provided important early evidence that individuals 65 and older, as well those with diabetes, were disproportionately at risk of death if infected by COVID. Statistics Prof. Tim Robinson and his students also helped distill huge amounts of data by developing a data dashboard for the Wyoming Department of Health.

Archivists Sara Davis and Rachel Gattermeyer at UW’s American Heritage Center took the initiative to begin collecting and archiving artifacts related to the pandemic. In the future, such artifacts will no doubt be studied by historians to understand the context of the global pandemic that still rages on.

As impressive and important as these examples of UW’s contributions to COVID research are for the world, the nation, and the state, it is also important to remember that faculty and students remain actively engaged in their fundamental scholarly activities. For example, Molecular Biology Prof. David Fay and his research team study the genetics of nematode worms, extremely important but tiny little critters that are found everywhere on earth from the highest mountains to the deepest ocean trenches. And Zoology & Physiology Ph.D. student Christy Bell is conducting critically needed research on bumblebee species in Wyoming and the Mountain West. Dubbed the “bee queen” by her colleagues, Christy’s work is documenting the troubling decline in bumblebee populations in the west and may lay the groundwork for their ultimate protection through the US Endangered Species Act.

As UW pursues its goal of being recognized as a Carnegie R1 research university research and scholarly and creative activity—especially by graduate students—will become increasingly prominent and critical to our mission. As an important step in this direction, later this year UW will formally establish a Graduate School and move to its newly renovated offices in Knight Hall. Graduate student enrollment—and particularly Ph.D. enrollment is on a very positive trajectory at UW. With the launching of the new School of Computing and coming grand opening of the spectacular Science Initiative Building, many exciting new research opportunities are on the horizon! – Kevin Carman, Provost and Executive Vice President

SPOTLIGHTING FACULTY AND STUDENT RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING Winter 2022, Volume 1, Number 1

Office of Academic Affairs 1000 E. University Ave. Dept. 3302 Laramie, WY 82071-2000

Provost and Executive

Vice President Kevin Carman

Senior Vice Provost

Tami Benham-Deal

Vice Provost, Graduate Education

Jim Ahern

Vice Provost, Strategic Planning and

Initiatives, Anne Alexander

Vice Provost, Undergraduate

Education, Steven Barrett

Interim Vice Provost, Digital, Distance and Online Education

Benjamin Cook

Vice Provost Global Engagement,

Isadora Helfgott

Vice Provost Enrollment

Management Kyle Moore

Editor Julie Sheldon Contributing Writer Taryn Bradley Graphic Design Michelle Eberle, Emily Edgar, Brittny Wroblewski and Hallie Davis Photography All photos by Ted Brummond and Kyle Spradley unless otherwise noted.

Innovations Magazine is published by the Office of Academic Affairs for alumni, friends and constituents.

Mailing addresses are provided by the University of Wyoming Foundation. To change your mailing address and/ or contact information, please send email to foundation@uwyo.edu.

The university is committed to equal opportunity for all persons in all facets of the university’s operations. All qualified applicants for employment and educational programs, benefits and services will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law and university policy.