A highlight of spring semester is honoring our faculty and staff, who contribute so much to Vandal excellence. Our faculty are teachers, mentors, scholars and leaders in their fields. Our staff members offer support and resources across our mission for students, scholarship and statewide engagement. Faculty and staff are the lynchpins of Vandal success. At this week’s University Awards for Excellence, three faculty members earned our highest honor for faculty, the designation of university distinguished professor. I encourage you to view the video testimonials from our distinguished professors below; I find them incredibly inspirational. James Alves-Foss is professor and director of the Center for Secure and Dependable Systems. Alves-Foss has been with U of I since 1991 and is an internationally recognized leader in computer security and software. He’s also a passionate teacher who helps students go on to successful careers in computer science. Bruce Haglund, professor of architecture and interior design, has been a faculty member at U of I since 1982. He is a leader in sustainable and regenerative architectural design and community development. He has emphasized bringing students into his work, from design and construction to presentations, helping develop a new generation of architects, engineers and designers. Mark McGuire, our third university distinguished professor designee, is a highly respected administrator, researcher, mentor and teacher. He is the associate dean of research and the director of the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station at our College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. With U of I since 1995, he’s a Fulbright scholar and an award-winning researcher who has earned more than $6 million in grants while helping students succeed. This week we also recognized the important contributions of our staff, who do so much, often behind the scenes, to keep our university running and support our educational and scholarly efforts. Among many awards to many deserving recipients, the Lawrence C. McBride Prize recognizes staff members who go above and beyond expectations. Shawna Lindquist, with our University of Idaho Foundation, is this year’s McBride Prize winner. She’s an invaluable contributor to a foundation team that makes sure each much-appreciated donation gets to where it needs to go to ensure impact for students, programs, facilities and more. James, Bruce, Mark and Shawna are just a few examples of Vandal excellence. I hope every reader – whether an alum, a student, an employee or a friend of the university – shares my pride in our people. They represent the commitment to high standards, passion and purpose you’ll find throughout the Vandal Family. | | Go Vandals! Chuck Staben President | | | | Hear from our university distinguished professor cadre about what motivates them in their teaching, scholarship and creative activity. | | Wagstaff Prepares Vandal Engineers of Tomorrow Wagstaff Inc. is a Spokane-based company globally recognized for quality equipment, expertise and leadership in direct-chill casting methods used by aluminum industry professionals. Wagstaff is also a dedicated partner with the University of Idaho College of Engineering. Most recently, Barbara Wagstaff Parkes, company president, as well as Jeff Smutny ’94, ’98, and Mike Thompson ’06, Wagstaff employees and College of Engineering alumni, generously reinvigorated the “lathe fund.” This fund helps purchase new lathes and equipment for the machine shop in the Gauss-Johnson Engineering Building. Wagstaff employees also contributed to the fund through a dollar-for-dollar match program. “We like the University of Idaho’s engineering programs, and we like the type of engineer they produce,” Wagstaff Parkes said. From the Engineering Design EXPO to the “lathe fund,” Wagstaff’s diversified and ongoing support of the college and the university provides engaging, hands-on experiences to students that prepares them for careers. For more information on Engineering Design EXPO or renovations of the engineering machine shop, contact Chloe Rambo at crambo@uidaho.edu or 208-885-7978. | | Three Students Awarded Prestigious Fellowships The University of Idaho College of Graduate Studies, along with the College of Science and the College of Natural Resources, is pleased to announce that three doctoral students have been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in the 2019 award cycle. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship is a prestigious and highly competitive award program, offering a three-year annual stipend to support students’ education and research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at accredited institutions of each student's choice. Clint Elg, a U.S. Army veteran and former airborne combat medic, studies “superbugs” – antibiotic-resistant bacteria – in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology lab. Neil Paprocki studies the causes of differential migration among raptors, focusing on the rough-legged hawk. Hallie "Reena" Walker’s graduate research focuses on the behavioral ecology of large mammals, specifically three species of African antelope in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. Read more about 2019 recipients, and visit the U of I Distinguished Awards page for a list of previous U of I awardees. | | Researchers Identify Seasonal Lakes at Titan's North Pole U of I doctoral graduate Shannon MacKenzie, Associate Professor Jason Barnes and Assistant Professor Matthew Hedman from the Department of Physics published in Nature Astronomy, a monthly, peer-reviewed journal for astronomy-relevant disciplines. Using Cassini spacecraft observations, the team identified three north pole lakes that seem to disappear between winter and summer on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Their findings likely provide regional evidence for seasonal changes in evaporation and precipitation and may have implications for sediment processing and habitability. | | | | |