UW Foundation directors of development work closely with individual donors and with the university to focus on the priorities of each, helping to guide the significant and thoughtful commitments that have a major impact on the future of Wyoming’s university.
A major gift from Mark Casey, an equity portfolio manager at Capital Group, establishes the new Bitcoin Research Institute at UW, which asks big questions about Bitcoin and money in general. It is the first university institute of its kind. The purpose of the institute is to create an international hub of philosophical, economic, and scientific thinking and research on Bitcoin and to increase the quality and impact of Bitcoin research in general. The institute’s inaugural director is Bradley Rettler, an associate professor in UW’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and a fellow at the nonprofit Bitcoin Policy Institute, a think tank studying the future of money.
A bequest from civil engineering alum Bryan Smith and his wife Wanda creates the
Bryan and Wanda Carlson Smith Scholarship and Student Enrichment Fund. This fund provides
generous support for juniors or seniors in civil engineering from Wyoming or Montana.
The fund can also be used for hands-on learning opportunities for students to gain
real-world work experience—for example, field trips to construction sites, steel bridge
and concrete canoe competitions, and surveying. Bryan is thankful for his UW education,
which taught him to be an effective engineer.
We pass along our good fortune to those who come after. Professor Dave Walrath and his wife Christel are passing along their good fortune by establishing the David and Christel Walrath Professorship in Mechanical Engineering. The fund supports faculty and programs in mechanical engineering, Dave’s UW department, with a focus on solids mechanics or materials. Dave earned his bachelor’s and master’s from UW and then a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware. He worked in industry on composite materials analysis before returning to UW to be a professor and to help Wyoming small businesses create companies with their product ideas.