Honors College hosts regional conference
PULLMAN – WSU students and faculty will present some of their finest work this week in Spokane as the WSU Honors College hosts the Western Regional Honors Council (WRHC) Conference at the Davenport Hotel March 5-7.
Eleven Honors College students are among the undergraduates selected to showcase their research, scholarship and creative work at the event through presentations and poster sessions.
M. Grant Norton, associate dean for research and graduate programs in WSU’s College of Engineering and Architecture, will give the keynote address on Saturday, March 7. It is titled, “Nanotechnology: Fueling an Energy Revolution.” Norton is a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.
“WSU is the host university for this year’s conference, so we are especially pleased that many of our outstanding students will be there to present their work,” said Libby Walker, Honors dean. “There will be faculty and staff from 30 colleges and universities in attendance, and more than 160 students and faculty will give presentations.”
“Pathways to Preservation, Sustainability, and Renewal” is the theme chosen for the conference.
Walker commends the Davenport Hotel for its “historically green” commitment to environmental protection and sustainability for more than 90 years, and noted that several of the WRHC conference presentations will be on the categories of environment and sustainability. Others include race and gender, art and literature, honors and teaching, science and technology, and leadership and training.
WSU Honors students making presentations, showing posters and serving as moderators at the conference include Brian Carlton, “Ocean Energy Technology and its Applications in China;” Alan Emanuel, “The Ablation of Hindbrain Catecholamine Neurons Innervating Medial Hypothalamic Nuclei Abolishes Glucoprivic Feeding but not Ghrelin-induced Feeding;” Laurissa Hale, “Is Sustainable Urbanism a Viable Solution to Suburban Sprawl? A Critique of Douglas Farr’s Sustainable Urbanism;” Brittany Navarre, “Sucrose Preference as a Measure of Anhedonia in Postpartum Rats;” Julian Reyes, “An Odyssey through Germany: Research, Culture, and the Environment;” Gianne Souza, “Mapping Regions of Env Important in the Neutralization of Equine Infectious Anemia;” Amy Van Nortwick, “Investigating Neurovascular Coupling Under High Stimulation;” Renee Walker, “Educational Process and Politics: Implementing HB 1495 (2005);” and Lauren Young, “Easter Island: Degradation of Soil and Society.” Ainsley Nix and Leah Rosenkranz will be moderators and will receive cash awards for winning submissions to “Scribendi,” the literary magazine of the WRHC.
