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:

National Geographic interviewed UW engineering Assistant Professor Erica Belmont about scientists who now say using technology and nature to remove carbon from the atmosphere is not only possible but a must to help curb climate change.

UW College of Law Dean Klint Alexander is quoted in a Wall Street Journal story about an American Bar Association proposal to require a 75 bar pass rate for law schools to be accredited. At least 90 percent of UW law graduates from 2015, 2016 and 2017 have passed the bar within two years.

UW economist Rob Godby commented to North American Wind Power that a proposed wind tax currently on the Wyoming Legislature’s docket is just over one-tenth of 1 percent of the total state revenues Wyoming collects, making the fiscal deficit argument “a weak one.”

Outdoor magazine posted a video on its website profiling the Wyoming Migration Initiative’s research on mule deer migration in Wyoming. Wyoming Migration Initiative Director Matt Kauffman and UW Ph.D. student Anna Ortega were featured in the video.

UW economist Chuck Mason told The Casper Star-Tribune that the drop in crude oil price that occurred over the last few months may have overcorrected, and the price might swing back up modestly.

Sheridan Media reported that Gov. Mark Gordon requested $10 million for UW’s School of Energy Resources as part of his $21 million supplemental budget request to the Joint Appropriations Committee. The $10 million would fund a pilot program to build a 5-megawatt coal power plant that would be capable of capturing at least 75 percent of carbon emissions, according to an Associated Press story posted on KGAB Radio’s website. The Jackson Hole News and Guide carried a similar story. 

UW President Laurie Nichols opposes a bill to allow community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees, reported KGWN TV.

The Laramie Boomerang reported that UW’s Biodiversity Institute is expected to stay “intact” through at least the 2020 fiscal year under a plan that Ed Synakowski, UW vice president for research and economic development, will present to the UW Board of Trustees this week.

The Wyoming Arts Council has issued a call for public art for UW’s Science Initiative building, The Boomerang reported. The newspaper interviewed Ricki Klages, head of UW’s Department of Visual Arts and a member of the Wyoming Art Council’s art selection committee for the Science Initiative building, about the public art call.

The Fence Post published UW Extension’s release on the first UW wool judging team in 18 years. The team competed at the National Western Stock Show in Denver last week.

High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal noted that UW student Laurel Rigby, of Ronan, Mont., was overall individual champion in wool judging, and UW’s team won the competition at the National Western Stock Show in Denver.

Ryan Winchell, a UW student in the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) Medical Education Program, discussed with Wyoming Public Media a program that trains more lay people in rural areas help control life-threatening blood loss.

The UW Board of Trustees will be asked to use a construction reserve account for $1.2 million to help replace a $2 million donation pledged by a Casper businessman convicted of third-degree sexual assault in November, reported The Boomerang.

Laramie Live published UW’s release announcing that license plates honoring the two Wind River Indian Reservation tribes are now available for purchase. Part of the proceeds will go toward scholarships for Native students.

UW student Jelard Aquino, from Cheyenne, received a paid three-month internship with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to study in Panama, reported The Boomerang.

KOWB Radio published an article on Martin Luther King Jr. Day detailing the life of UW graduate Harriet Elizabeth “Liz” Byrd, Wyoming’s first black female legislator.

Former UW Professor Charles Ksir and UW graduate student Carl Hart penned an article, titled “Does Marijuana Use Really Cause Psychotic Disorders?,” published on the 420 Magazine website.

Black News and Information published an Associated Press article quoting UW law Professor Darrell Jackson, who weighed in on a University of Colorado student’s controversial art exhibition featuring a noose.

UW graduate Caitlin Long, a member of the Wyoming blockchain coalition and former managing director at Morgan Stanley, was interviewed by Forbes to discuss if bitcoin and other crypto assets can become widely adopted.

KGAB Radio posted, on its website, a Wyoming Business Council video that featured Yi-Yi Chou, a Taiwanese Fulbright Scholar who is studying at UW. She described her experiences living in Laramie.

UW physics and astronomy Associate Professor Michael Pierce was interviewed by The Boomerang about the best way to view last weekend’s super wolf blood moon.