Spring20 vol19no2 Navigation tools MAGAZINE COVER / BACK PAGE ENLARGE QUADRANT RETURN TO SPREAD VIEW PREVIOUS / NEXT PAGE IN THIS ISSUE CLICK ON PAGE # TO GO TO STORY SCROLL PAGE ( IN ENLARGED VIEW ) T H E WEB LINKS GREEN URLS IN TEXT & ADS CLICKABLE ISSUE 8 CLICK HERE TO EXIT Cannabis in OR USE ctrl/cmd-Q Washington state 24 The new era of green reconstruction Spring20 vol19no2 Features As buildings go up, so does construction waste. By finding ways to recycle that waste, our researchers hope to usher in an “era of reconstruction.” 24 What keeps women from entering and remaining in science, technology, engineering, and math? It’s not new. 30 UPfront Washington blazed new trails with the legalization of recreational cannabis. There were many unanswered questions but also new insights 8 found en route. WSU by the numbers 15 Dreaming of when clean energy is not a rarity. 16 Discovering the undiscovered. Meet a scholar who digs it. 17 Something has been zapping Washington’s tax revenue system. 19 It was a spiritual and inspirational time and place for multiple generations 20 COVER: MALE CANNABIS PLANT (PHOTO DAVID GOODMAN) LEFT: PUFFIN FARM IN KITTITAS COUNTY (PHOTO CLIFF GOODMAN) connecting you to WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY the STATE the WORLD From java, no jive Clothing and gear from cofee grounds and other recycled waste UPFRONT 18 COURTESY FIVE12 Departments Thematics 5 Not so easy being green FIRST WORDS GREEN LEAVES: CANNABIS 21 The soccer squad kicks it SIDELINES IN WASHINGTON STATE 8 22 Wild things IN SEASON The sky isn’t falling 10 37 Rockin’ the stars 38 Five Cougar generations 39 A moving 11 Cannabis and mental tribute 40 In the right place 41 New chapter ALUMNI PROFILES health: the peril and 43 Mao’s Kisses: A novel of June 4, 1989; To Think Like a promise Mountain: Environmental challenges in the American West; Private Support Helps 12 Washington’s Bread Lab!; Volume 2 NEW MEDIA cannabis consumers 45 CLASS NOTES 46 Majestic Storm ’18 Veteran Realize Dreams 13 Hemp on the horizon 46 IN MEMORIAM While serving as a medic in the U.S. Army, Benji Stander completed many successful 50 Helping Cougs excel in life after college ALUMNI NEWS combat missions, including two life-changing tours in Afghanistan. Initially, he thought 52 Solar energy really gets rolling LAST WORDS he’d become a career soldier but was so intrigued by medicine, he decided to pursue Washington State Magazine is published quarterly by Washington State University. Editorial ofce: IT Building 2013, 670 NE Wilson Road, Pullman, Washington. 509-335-2388 another dream. He received the Hix Family Endowed Scholarship, designated for Mailing address: PO Box 641227, Pullman, WA 99164-1227. Printed in the USA. © 2020 Washington State University Board of Regents. All rights reserved. Views expressed in Washington State Magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect ofcial policy of Washington State University. non-traditional students, including veterans. Benji said, “Private support makes seeking Washington State Magazine is distributed free to alumni, friends, faculty, and staf. Others can subscribe or gift the magazine for $15 yearly (magazine.wsu.edu/subscribe). a degree much easier and less stressful.” Benji majors in biology at WSU Vancouver and Change of address: Biographical and Records Team, PO Box 641927, Pullman, WA 99164-1927; [email protected]; 800-448-2978. plans to seek a career in the medical field. Washington State University is an equal-opportunity, afrmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication is available online as text-only and in other accessible formats upon request: [email protected]; 509-335-2388; 509-335-8734 (fax). Students like Benji are changing the world because of private support. Learn how you can make a difference at WSU: foundation.wsu.edu/scholarships. 2 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SPRING 2020 FIRSTwords Ever a green state There’s nothing new about being green. Two millennia ago, Chinese Minister for Agriculture Tsai Lun in the first-century Han dynasty called for subjects of the emperor to boil old linen rags for papermaking. Professional recyclers in medieval England collected dust and ash left from fireplaces, then sold it to brick manufacturers as an inexpensive base material. More recently, World War II saw an uptick in recycling, with many common household items like clothes, scrap metal, and tires turned into new products for the war effort. The same spirit of innovative recycling inspired Washington State University’s Taiji Miyasaka and David Drake to invent a construction block from gypsum drywall waste. Similar to a cinder block, the low-cost building material has insulating properties and great potential. Another area of sustainable exploration at WSU, and one with some urgency, is finding replacements for rare earth elements and metals, such as cobalt and lithium, used in most of our tech devices. Not only are those materials expensive and difficult to extract, they’re often mined by children or gathered in exploitative situations. WSU’s JCDREAM seeks earth-abundant replacements for substances such as cobalt. Of course, Washington is known for its green fields, and that includes the latest cash crop, cannabis. After recreational cannabis was legalized by an initiative in 2012, it opened the gates to sorely needed research into all aspects of the drug and related hemp. Almost 100 researchers at WSU are working to clear up misconceptions in this billion-dollar industry. That’s a lot of money, and when you have greenbacks from sales, you have taxes. The Hoops Institute of Taxation and Research Policy in the WSU Carson College of Business keeps abreast of the latest issues, including illegal “tax zapper” software used to hide retail sales. The institute works with the state to identify and educate users about this method to cheat on taxes. There are some evergreen problems that keep cropping up, such as the ongoing need for more women in engineering, mathemat- ics, and other scientific fields. Thanks to work by WSU alumni and faculty, we might bring more girls and women into those areas, which we really need because, as Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture Dean Emeritus Candis Claiborn says, “the more people who look at a problem, the better the solutions.” EDITOR: Larry Clark ’94 ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Adriana Janovich ART DIRECTOR: John Paxson STAFF WRITERS: Rebecca E. Phillips ’76, ’81 DVM, Brian Charles Clark Create a Coug Legacy CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Tina Hilding, Becky Kramer, Vonnai Phair ’20, Wenda Reed ’76, Siddharth Vodnala ’19 MS PHOTOGRAPHERS: Benjamin Benschneider, Laura Dutelle, Clif Goodman, David Goodman, In 1928, Wenatchee tree-fruit entrepreneur Today, WSU Pullman sophomore Hannah Shelly Hanks, Robert Hubner, Cori Kogan, James Ransom ILLUSTRATORS: Rachel Ignotofsky, Margaret Kimball Grady Auvil began his mission to revolutionize Goodspeed is carrying on that legacy. As a Latinx the industry. His out-of-the-box thinking won woman in civil engineering, she is a 2019-2020 WSU PRESIDENT: Kirk H. Schulz him countless awards, including the Auvil Fellow who conducts life-changing VICE PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS: Phil Weiler Washington State Medal of Merit. Before Grady research and promotes equality for women and ADVERTISING: Contact Lowell Ganin, 206-717-5808 or [email protected] Advertising guide is online at magazine.wsu.edu/advertising. and his wife Lillie passed, they established the minorities in STEM. “The fellowship assures me Washington State Magazine is pleased to acknowledge the generous support of alumni and friends of WSU, Auvil Fellowship at WSU through their estate. that I am capable,” Hannah said. “And that I including a major gift from Phillip M. ’40 and June Lighty. The couple wanted to sustain innovative belong in engineering. Private support gives me Washington State Magazine is printed at a facility (FSC® C006571 [Forest Stewardship Council®]) and on paper that is FSC® certified, using soy-blended inks on 100% post-consumer-waste recycled paper. It is processed chlorine free. The paper is milled at a facility using thinking through undergraduate research. confidence and motivates me to stay in STEM.” 93% recovered biogas (remainder hydroelectricity) — using approximately 60% less water than the North American average. It has the lowest carbon footprint per metric ton in North America (no ofsets used), and is UL certified for reduced environmental impact. Learn more about how you can create a legacy at WSU: foundation.wsu.edu/estate 10 0 % post-consumer WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SPRING 2020 5 This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens. We’re looking for memories and photos of that fateful time in 1980 and how it TALKback affected you. Please email your stories to [email protected] or send a snail mail. Change your world Making much of good medicine Our group arrived as students to WSU and together and remain close friends. Some of Neill Hall in different ways. Most of us came us only see each others once a year. Some I write to compliment the superb feature to WSU intentionally, but a few enrolled of us only see other every few years. Here’s Yoni Rodriguez saw environmental problems “Good medicine” by Brian Charles Clark. thinking they would be attending school in the great thing . it doesn’t matter. When we different parts of the country. One thought he come together, it’s family. We fall together up close when he was exposed to pesticides Thank you for choosing the topic, one that was going to a school in the Washington, D.C. like we were never apart. as a teenager. deserves attention, but receives little in my area, and you can imagine his surprise when experience.