Washington State Magazine

At some point near the start of his mechanical engineering design course, Gaurav Ameta hands his students four sheets of paper and six paperclips. He gives the class a simple goal: Build something that can hold a coffee cup as high as it can, with the ability to hold as much as weight as possible. Everything else is left to the students. “Some of the smarter ones ask what type of coffee cup. But it’s up to them to ask questions,” says the assistant professor. “In this class, there is ...
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The Riverpoint Campus in Spokane has become a lively urban setting for hundreds of pharmacy, nursing, and medical students to its classrooms, laboratories, and library....
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For nearly 40 years Inga Kromann taught literature to teachers in training at WSU’s College of Education. In fact, she led the charge in expanding the children’s book offerings from “a two foot shelf in Holland Library” of “50 shabby, outdated books” as she describes it, to a serious collection now housed in Owen Library and filled with children’s and young adult literature. She also helped expand education courses to include permanent classes in teaching folk literature, poetry, ...
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Some are in roadside ditches. Some have been overgrown with brush. Some have been painstakingly restored and now proudly rest in prominent community parks. Altogether, there are more than two dozen monuments marking the course of John Mullan’s 625-mile highway. Aside from Civil War battlefields, few American people or events are more thoroughly memorialized. ~~~~~ John Mullan, wearing buckskin, rides a dark horse, sitting tall above a couple dozen people standing below. It is an odd ass...
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Architect Robert Grossman tells the story of how the Washington State University's Lewis Alumni Centre was transformed from a barn to home-away-from-home for Cougs....
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Tim Hills, historian for McMenamins, wrote The Many Lives of the Crystal Ballroom to chronicle the transformation of the dance hall and performance venue to its restoration by McMenamins.This excerpt (PDF) has the timeline, introduction, and Psychedelic Crystal chapter.Read the ...
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A life-long Seattle resident, Tom Norwalk has seen the city grow and change over the decades. Now as the head of Visit Seattle, he occupies himself with what out-of-towners – from as far away as China and Australia, and sometimes as close as California and Spokane might experience. While everyone may have taken a ride in the Space Needle at some point in their lives, he can think of a few things the locals might be missing. Here are a few of his favorites: 1. The Olympic Sculpture Park For ...
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Read more about Bruce Lee as a pioneer of martial arts and strong Asian physicality in “Consider the Dragon.”...
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The Focus Microscope Camera, created by Jeff Stewart ’01 and Michael Baum, can record videos from an iPad connected to any microscope. It can also produce timelapse videos and capture magnified images. Watch videos of the Focus Camera at work below, courtesy of Exo Labs. Read more in “Machine in the Classroom”....
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Winthrop to Marblemount–North Cascades Highway—87.4 miles I was running late, headed for Marblemount over Washington Pass. As it grew darker, I drove through thick, swirling clouds. The clouds would part, revealing a jagged peak, then close quickly, then reveal another. It was dizzying and magical, the road before me disappearing and reappearing. It was only in 1972 that State Route 20 made the 87-mile drive from Winthrop to Marblemount possible. The highway passes through extra...
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