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Ecologists Document Utah’s Bee Species and Say Beehive State is Rich in Bee Diversity

As pollinators for native plants and food crops, bees play a pivotal role in our ecosystem, according to Utah State University ecologist Joseph Wilson. He and undergraduate researcher Anthony Hunsaker took on the herculean task of documenting Utah’s bee species using online occurrence records from the Symbiota Collection of Arthropods Network, along with specimen records housed at the USDA-ARS Pollinating Insect Research Unit located at USU’s Logan campus.

They discovered the nickname “Beehive State” aptly describes the western state’s bee diversity and published A Checklist of the Bees of Utah, with colleagues Terry Griswold of the USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects Research Unit and USU alum Olivia Messinger Carril (Biology ’00, M.S. ’06) of the Native Pollinator Project, in the March 14, 2025, issue of the peer-reviewed journal Diversity.

ACT Experts Awarded a $2.25M CDC Grant to Support the Mental Health of Veterinary Students

USU professors Michael Twohig and Michael Levin are co-investigators on a $2.25 million study to bring acceptance and commitment therapy training to students of veterinary medicine.

The four-year collaborative study is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and is led by professors at Kent State University.

ACT is a form of psychotherapy that uses acceptance, mindfulness, and values-based strategies to promote mental health and wellbeing. The study will repackage ACT tools into educational training.

Due in part to the high-stress and intense emotional environment in veterinary clinics and hospitals, suicide rates among veterinary professionals in the United States are three times the national average, and 66% report a history of depression.

Twohig and Levin, professors in the Combined Clinical/Counseling Specialization in the Department of Psychology at Utah State, are recognized world leaders in ACT and support its investigation in many areas, including chronic health conditions, obsessive compulsive disorder, trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling), and delivering ACT via technology.

Women’s Gymnastics Wins First-Ever Mountain West Championship

Utah State won its first-ever Mountain West Gymnastics Championship as the Aggies scored a 196.100 on March 22 at Provident Credit Union Event Center. Overall, it is USU’s seventh conference title in school history and first since winning the 2022 Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Championship.

The win set the Aggies up to compete in the Utah Regional for the 2025 National Championships, where they fell to BYU on April 2, 195,950-194.475.

During the Mountain West Championships, Utah State won one event title and posted two career highs and two more season best scores.

Graduate Brianna Brooks, who was named the Championship MVP, tied for first on bars with a season-high-tying 9.900 and tied for third on beam with a score of 9.850.

Utah State began the meet on the floor and scored 49.050, followed by 48.900 on vault, 49.200 on bars and 48.950 on beam. USU’s 196.100 is its third-highest score of the season and tied for its fourth highest in a conference championship meet in program history.

Rachel Walton, Professor and Leading Authority on Cold Cases, Dies At 77

Utah State University Professor of Criminal Justice Rachel Walton died on February 1 at the age of 77.

She was a pioneer in the field of unsolved homicide studies who authored the first text guiding this critical field, Cold Case Homicides: Practical Investigative Techniques. Among her career achievements, Walton successfully investigated the first posthumous pardon of its kind for a Native American man wrongfully convicted of rape and murder in California in the 1920s. She remained a staunch advocate for Native American rights and criminal justice throughout her career.

Prior to joining the USU Eastern faculty in 2007, Professor Walton was a career law enforcement officer serving as deputy sheriff and district attorney investigator for Humboldt County, California.

After joining the USU faculty, Walton initiated and led an assessment of unsolved homicides in Utah between 1965 and 2005. Her professional expertise was widely sought throughout the U.S. and Canada by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Institute of Justice, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Students Present Innovative Solutions at 2025 Intermountain Sustainability Summit

A group of Utah State University students shared their work to engage students in sustainability at the recent Intermountain Sustainability Summit held at Weber State University.

The summit focused on fostering collaboration and creating positive environmental, social, and economic change through sustainability practices. The Christensen Office of Service and Sustainability showcased its innovative initiatives, including a workshop and four student posters highlighting sustainability efforts.

The USU students engaged with fellow sustainability professionals, presented their work, and participated in meaningful conversations aimed at advancing sustainable practices across Utah and the broader Intermountain West region. Altogether more than 400 professionals, graduate students, and emerging leaders from the sustainability sector were in attendance. 

“It’s inspiring to see how the students’ work at USU is contributing to the larger sustainability conversation,” says R. Giselle Bandley, service and sustainability coordinator. “At the summit, we not only presented our initiatives but also learned from others who share the same passion for making positive environmental and social impacts.”

Ecologists Lead AI-Based Effort to Identify Disease Vectors

Identifying species is challenging — even with large animals and plants, says Utah State University ecologist Norah Saarman. Yet accurate identification is crucial in attempts to identify disease vectors and how to control their spread.

To this end, Saarman, assistant professor in the Department of Biology and USU Ecology Center, was awarded a $54,000 grant from the American Mosquito Association Research Fund toward her efforts to develop tools for efficient, low-cost, and accurate identification of Culex mosquito vectors of West Nile Virus using computer vision-based AI technology.

Utah isn’t among the worst U.S. states for mosquitoes, yet varied species make themselves at home in the Beehive state. Among these pesky fliers is the Northern House Mosquito, Culex pipiens, which can spread West Nile Virus and St. Louis encephalitis in humans, as well as avian malaria in birds and heartworm disease in dogs.

Newer to northern Utah is the Southern House Mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, also known as “Quinx,” which is very similar to Culex pipiens, which is a vector for many of the same diseases and is better at spreading West Nile Virus. Quinx was first identified in southern Utah in the 1950s but has made its way to the Salt Lake City area in recent years.

“We need better identification tools to monitor populations of these insects, along with hybrid populations resulting from interbreeding,” Saarman says.

President’s Forum Holds Discourse on Political Polarization, Unity

On March 25, Utah State University welcomed the Honorable Judge Thomas B. Griffith as keynote speaker at the second annual President’s Forum on Conflict & Conflict Transformation. Judge Griffith discussed the current climate of political polarization in the U.S., as well as the erosion of trust within our democracy.

The forum also featured a panel discussion, where Griffith was joined by USU professors Lord Michael Hastings and Jeannie L. Johnson, furthering the discourse. The discussion was moderated by Joseph Ward, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Beginning the keynote address, Griffith spoke on the existential crisis of political polarization, which scholars agree is the highest since the Civil War. Yet, Griffith describes the country being polarized in ways it never has been before, in what political scientists call “affective polarization.” Griffith shared his definition of this phenomena.

“Your hatred for the other side is what really animates your political involvement,” he said. “It’s not just that you think that the other side has bad policies, but you actually hate them. That level of contempt in our American politics is new.”

Griffith went on to say that disagreement is not a bad thing. In fact, he stated that the American Constitution was a product of disagreement and compromise. However, he said the way disagreement is happening today is new and that this contempt is a cancer to politics that is eroding the people’s trust in democracy.

WebAIM Celebrates 25 Years of Improving Access to Information

This year, the Institute for Disability Research, Policy & Practice’s WebAIM celebrates 25 years of improving web accessibility.

It’s been an exciting two and a half decades.

Jared Smith, the current WebAIM director, has been with the organization for 24 of its 25 years. In that time, he has seen awareness of accessibility take off. “One of WebAIM’s primary missions has always been to increase awareness, and we’ve seen that. We see jobs in web accessibility. There are dedicated professionals. Hundreds of companies out there are doing web accessibility. So we’ve seen this tremendous growth.”

Over the past quarter-century, WebAIM has provided the free WAVE tool for evaluating accessibility; offered training to web designers in business, government and education; launched a discussion list; and run numerous surveys to ensure the advice they were giving was in line with the needs of users with disabilities.

Web accessibility is less understood by the masses, says WebAIM founder Cyndi Rowland, Ph.D, and it’s important to close that information gap. 

“Here is an encouraging thing,” Rowland said. “More people are aware of web accessibility now than ever before. … What we have is a few people that know a lot about accessibility. What we need [next] are a lot of people that know a little about accessibility.”

Alumnus Named 2025 Federal Engineer of the Year

Utah State University alumnus Major Brigham Moore, a deputy squadron commander in the U.S. Air Force, was named the 2025 Federal Engineer of the Year by the National Society of Professional Engineers. Moore was recognized at an awards luncheon on Feb. 21 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Throughout his 15-year career, Moore has filled several important roles, including civil engineer, chief of programs, chief of operations engineering and currently deputy commander of the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron. Moore holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from USU, a master’s in civil engineering from the University of Alaska Anchorage, and a doctorate in systems engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

He has led multiple high-impact projects and teams, including overseeing military construction projects and developing innovative solutions to improve military readiness. Moore’s efforts in optimizing airfield recovery, mitigating explosive hazards and enhancing engineering operations have significantly advanced U.S. defense capabilities. He has also contributed to community service and STEM education.

Athletics Announces 2025 Hall of Fame Class

The Utah State University Athletics Department will honor seven outstanding individuals when it inducts its 2025 Hall of Fame Class in September. The induction ceremony for the Hall of Fame’s 22nd class is scheduled for 7 p.m., on Friday, September 12, 2025, on the USU campus. Location and ticket information   for the event will be announced at a later date.

The seven inductees into the 2025 class include former head football coach Gary Andersen, Devyn Christensen (women’s basketball), Shawn Daniels (men’s basketball), Tyler Larsen (football), Jessica Parenti Otte (gymnastics), Amanda Orgill-Nielson (volleyball) and Taryn Rose (soccer).

Since its inception in 1993, nearly 150 student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors, along with three teams, have been inducted into the Utah State Athletics Hall of Fame.

Computer Scientists Develop Models to Predict Extreme Solar Phenomena

During this past fall, the sun emitted several strong solar flares — sudden, powerful bursts of radiation from its surface. Each of these, on Sept. 14, Oct. 31 and Nov. 6, were classified as intense flares capable of affecting earthly activities.

Previous solar storms occurred in 1859, 1972, 1989, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2022, pelting the Earth in varying degrees and reminding earthlings of the sun’s intense power and potential for disruption. Communications systems, ranging from telegraph networks in 1859 to Starlink satellites in 2022, were among critical equipment bearing the brunt of the sun’s wrath in each episode.

“Solar activity can cause disruptions, ranging from minor inconveniences to dangerous outages on Earth,” says Utah State University computer scientist Soukaina Filali Boubrahimi.

Her USU colleague Shah Muhammad Hamdi says such activity also poses hazards to humans.

“We need the ability to better predict solar activity and prepare for these potentially harmful conditions,” says Hamdi, also an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science.

To that end, Filali Boubrahimi and Hamdi are leading efforts to develop     novel machine learning models to better predict solar flares and thereby enable Earth’s inhabitants and space travelers to better prepare for the sun’s stormy behavior. In 2023, Filali Boubrahimi was awarded a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development CAREER award to pursue this challenge. A sole principal investigator, Filali Boubrahimi is the recipient of a five-year, $691,972 CAREER grant to support her project, End-to-End Active Region-based Heliospheric Forecasting System using Multi-spacecraft Data and Machine Learning.

Engineering Undergraduate Receives Astronaut Scholarship

Mechanical engineering student Ryan Lewis is one of 71 people around the country — and the only student from Utah — to receive a major scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

The scholarship was awarded by NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley at a special presentation in January.

“I am extremely honored and grateful for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation community who have been supportive and eager to see me succeed,” Lewis says. “I am also deeply grateful for my peers and the faculty here at USU who played a pivotal role in helping me reach this point. I encourage others to seek out support in our wonderful engineering community as they diligently pursue their dreams.”

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to aiding the United States in retaining its world leadership in technology and innovation. The program was founded by the original Mercury 7 astronauts with a mission to support university students in STEM fields. USU is the first university in Utah to be a part of this scholarship program and the 45th university overall to receive this honor. Lewis is the third student at USU and in the state of Utah to receive the scholarship.

In addition to financial support, recipients also receive a mentor, access to a wide network of aerospace experts and the chance to attend the foundation’s Innovators Gala in Orlando.