UW in the News

State, national and international media frequently feature the University of Wyoming and members of its community in stories. Here is a summary of some of the recent coverage:

UW history Professor Emeritus Phil Roberts was quoted in a Washington Post article titled “The ‘Cowboy Cocktail’: How Wyoming became one of the world’s top tax havens.” A dozen international clients who created Wyoming trusts were identified in the Pandora Papers, a trove of more than 11.9 million records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that expose the movement of wealth around the world. The ICIJ also published The Post article on its website.

Wyoming News Now reported that U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney introduced a bill called the PILLR (Payment in Lieu of Lost Revenues) Act. The bill -- that outlines money given to energy states, based on a 10-year average rate that would help support and recover lost revenue with federal funds -- was drafted with the assistance of Tim Considine, a UW School of Energy Resources (SER) professor. MSN Money carried the Wyoming News Now story.

Gov. Mark Gordon and Wyoming’s federal delegation reacted to the news that no Wyoming coal communities were finalists for the Economic Development Administration’s $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge. UW was one of four entities that submitted proposals, according to The Casper Star-Tribune (CS-T), WyoFile, Wyoming Public Radio and SweetwaterNOW.

Wyoming Public Radio and The CS-T reported that the UW Board of Trustees voted last week to extend the university’s mask policy until mid-February. Masks are required in UW buildings where 6-foot social distancing is not possible. WyoFile published a related article, and Buckrail, Sheridan Media, Hits 106 and Wyoming News Now published UW’s announcement.

The U.S. Department of Energy will award $644,000 to UW’s SER to study the economic impacts of the fossil fuel industry and the need for clean hydrogen technologies. The CS-T reported on the award last week in an article titled “State, federal leaders seek common ground on coal.”

Wyoming Public Radio covered a meeting last week in which UW President Ed Seidel and Wyoming community college officials urged the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee to support the governor’s request for pay hikes and also to consider other budget increases.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation provided $180,000 to UW to help continue critical elk migration corridor mapping across the West. The Outdoor Wire and the Montana Outdoor Radio Show reported that the grant to UW assists West-wide corridor mapping work that is conducted collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey and wildlife agencies of Western states. To read UW’s release, click here.

Columbia Climate School’s State of the Planet noted that newly discovered evidence from the bottom of a lake in the remote North Atlantic Faroe Islands indicates that an unknown band of humans settled there around 500 A.D. -- about 350 years before the Vikings, who were originally believed to be the first human inhabitants. Lorelei Curtin, now a UW postdoctoral research associate, was part of the Columbia University team that had its findings published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. Gizmodo Australia published a similar article.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide noted that UW Associate Professor Kevin Monteith is among scientists studying the health of bighorn sheep in the area. Researchers are worried that the sheep populations could be approaching another pneumonia-driven die-off such as the one that killed 40 percent of the herd in 2012.

UW Associate Professor Gang Tan is part of an international research team that has developed a material that, when coated on a glass window panel, can effectively self-adapt to heat or cool rooms across different climate zones in the world, helping to cut energy usage, according to Eurasia Review and Nanowerk. The findings were first published in the journal Science.

Live Science and The Hans India were among many national and international media outlets noting that Vincent van Gogh’s painting “The Starry Night” was unexpectedly recreated by mutant bacteria. UW microbiology Professor Dan Wall said he and his colleagues demonstrated how a social bacterium, which is well known for producing therapeutic natural compounds, may be used to examine emergent behaviors that also are artistically pleasing.

Bryan Shuman, director of the UW-National Park Service Research Station in Grand Teton National Park, was interviewed by WyoFile on snowpack predictions this winter for the greater Yellowstone area. The article was an overall assessment of the state’s drought conditions.

High Country News interviewed Scott Quillinan, senior director of research in UW’s SER, for an article focusing on a proposed nuclear power plant in Kemmerer.

UW’s School of Pharmacy and CaaMTech are collaborating to study psychedelics as treatments for addiction. TruHavn noted that CaaMTech is a company that engineers psychedelic drugs.

UW soon will begin a nationwide search for a vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion. K2 Radio published UW’s release on the announcement.

The Wyoming State Library published UW’s release noting that Coe Library is home to the new Student Learning Commons, a centralized, one-stop academic support network for the university’s students.

Wyoming-WWAMI Medical Education Program students recently presented their research projects at the UW College of Health Sciences’ third annual research symposium. The Cody Enterprise and Powell Tribune both published UW’s release.

Wyoming News Now published UW’s release noting that the Division of Kinesiology and Health recently received a grant to increase cultural diversity.

Sublette County School District 1 will use grant money to obtain literacy materials and fund professional development through several literacy programs, including one offered by UW. The Pinedale Roundup noted the funds will come from the Wyoming Department of Education.