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Office of Corporate Engagement 2017 Winners
Congratulations to our 2017 Alaska Airlines Travel Award winners.

The Grantees

Thanks to the generosity of Alaska Airlines, 50 WSU faculty and graduate students can engage in learning and outreach activities related to key sustainability research areas: the food-energy-water nexus, built environment, biofuels, and aerospace. The 2017 grant winners and the activities they will engage in are below.

Itron Food, Energy, Water

Poonam Bajaj, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting

Stephen Bollens, professor
Department: School of the Environment
Traveling to: International Conference on Aquatic Invasive Species

Tara Lewis, graduate student
Department: Crop and Soil Sciences
Traveling to: National Association of Plant Breeders Annual Meeting

Ryan Christian, graduate student
Department: Horticulture
Traveling to: American Society of Plant Biologists

Candis Claiborn, professor
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Internal event: Dr. Claiborn is bringing a speaker to WSU Pullman for an interdisciplinary seminar

Greg Collinge, graduate student
Department: Chemical Engineering
Traveling to: North American Catalysis Meeting

John Harrison, associate professor
Department: School of the Environment
Traveling to: Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Limnology and Oceanography

Zachariah Heiden, assistant professor
Department: Chemistry
Traveling to: Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms Gordon Research Conference

Shashika Hewavitharanan, graduate student
Department: Plant Pathology
Traveling to: 63rd Annual Conference on Soil-borne Plant Pathogens

Seanna Hewitt, graduate student
Department: Molecular Plant Sciences
Traveling to: American Society of Plant Biologists 2017 Meeting

Joanna Kelly, assistant professor
Department: Biological Sciences
Traveling to: Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution

Rabia Khan, graduate student
Department: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Traveling to: IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting 2017

Erika Kruse, graduate student
Department: Crop and Soil Sciences
Traveling to: National Association of Plant Breeders Annual Meeting

Pavitra Kumar, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting

Noelle Lebow, graduate student
Department: Food Science
Traveling to: Pacific Fisheries Technologists Conference

Ali Mehrizi-Sani, assistant professor
Department: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Traveling to: Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences

Mailea Miller-Pierce, graduate student
Department: Biological Sciences
Traveling to: 2017 Pacific Water Conference

Jose Orenday-Ortiz, graduate student
Department: Food Science
Traveling to: American Association of Cereal Chemists International

John Petrie, assistant professor
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Internal Event: Dr. Petrie is bringing six speakers to WSU Pullman for the New Trends in Sediment Transport Research Seminar

Prashant Pokhrel, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo 2017

Stephen Powers, postdoctoral research associate
Department: Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach
Traveling to: Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Limnology and Oceanography

Ayca Seker, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: 253rd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition

Kiwamu Tanaka, assistant professor
Department: Plant Pathology
Traveling to: Phenome 2017

Stephen Taylor, graduate student
Department: Crop and Soil Sciences
Traveling to: Soil Science Society of America International Conference

Jeremy Thompson, graduate student
Department: Crop and Soil Sciences
Traveling to: 2017 Irrigation Show and Educational Conference

Lydia Tymon, postdoctoral research associate
Department: Plant Pathology
Traveling to: American Phytopathological Society National Meeting

Jungang Wang, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: 2017 Institutes of Food Technologists Annual Meeting

Bruce Williamson, graduate student
Department: Horticulture
Traveling to: American Society of Plant Biologists Annual Meeting

Boeing Aerospace

Aniruddha Dive, graduate student
Department: Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Traveling to: Materials Research Society, Spring Meeting

Xiangyu Gu, graduate student
Department: Chemical Engineering
Traveling to: 2017 AIChE Annual Meeting

Huan Hu, graduate student
Department: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Traveling to: International Solid-State Circuits Conference

Arya Rahimi, graduate student
Department: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Traveling to: International Solid-State Circuits Conference

McKinstry Built Environment

Zhao Chen, graduate student
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Traveling to: American Concrete Institute Convention Spring 2017

Hooman Ghaffarzadeh, graduate student 
Department: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Traveling to: 2017 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting

Somayeh Nassiri, assistant professor
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Traveling to: Transportation Research Board Meeting

Milena Rangelov, graduate student
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Traveling to: American Concrete Institute Convention Spring 2017

WSU Solar Decathlon Team, application submitted by Camren Richards, undergraduate student
Department: Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
Traveling to: 2017 Solar Decathlon

Hope Rising, assistant professor + her student team
Department: Landscape Architecture
Traveling to: Chinatown Ecodistrict Presentation to San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

Harry Rodin III, graduate student
Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Traveling to: Driving Concrete Technology Meeting

Mohammad Taufique, graduate student
Department: Materials Science and Engineering
Traveling to: Materials Research Society Conference

Biofuels

Ali Abghari, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: 39th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuel and Chemicals

Thiel Lehman, graduate student
Department: Crop and Soil Sciences
Traveling to: American Society of Plant Biology

Xiaolu Li, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: 39th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuel and Chemicals

Jean-Sabin McEwen, assistant professor
Department: Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering
Traveling to: 253rd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition

Na Pang, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: 7th International Conference on Algal Biomass, Biofuels and Bioproducts

Waled Suliman, postdoctoral research associate
Department: Composite Materials and Engineering Center
Traveling to: 21st Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference

Evan Terrell, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: ASME Power and Energy Conference and Exhibition

Patricia Townsend, regional extension specialist
Department: WSU Extension
Internal Event: Bringing a speaker to the Poplar Ecosystem Services and Biofuels Workshop

Lei Zhu, graduate student
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: International Biomass Conference and Expo

Tao Zhu, postdoctoral research associate
Department: Biological Systems Engineering
Traveling to: ASM Microbe 2017