Today I returned to Pullman and my research laboratory for the first time since August 11th 2021, after over 8 months on the road for professional leave. While this leave doesn’t end until May 15th, it’s time for reflection. Faculty are typically granted professional leave once every six years (synonymous with the sabbath, or sabbatical). This was my first professional leave (I became eligible in 2017). I’m returning fundamentally changed. This post defines professional leave as nearly nobody understands it, describes some of the experiences that changed me with the hope that it inspires others to pursue new perspectives, and to convince those in … » More …

The entirety of our beautiful universe is underpinned by physical law.

Only one of those laws places limits on the possible: the second law of thermodynamics — the entropy, or disorder of the universe, must increase.

That’s it.

That’s the only universal regulator.

I’m here today to teach you how little is really impossible.

To ask you to turn off the opinions, the haters, the pundits, the gatekeepers.

To remind you that we are nowhere close to having it all figured out.

To demand you keep asking questions until you no longer find answers.

To keep you looking until you find how no one else … » More …

“I am a Hyperian. I am independent yet collaborative. I am fearless yet calculated. I seek to teach humanity new bounds of possible.”

Shuffling into TFRB on an early Sunday morning starting dead week, introductions were made. A safety briefing was conducted and forming a line, a slip of paper was handed to each person. Utilizing the principles from HYPER’s “Learn One, Do One, Teach One,” mantra, the first person learned how to measure the part on their slip of paper. After they measured their part, they went on to teach the next person to measure the part on their slip. Down the … » More …

Introduction

So you found yourself with extra time—maybe your team is waiting on a part, or you’re just looking to log more hours this week—and you’re not sure what to work on. I have an idea for you… help us finish the big push on cleaning up the media library!

The media library is the thorn in everyone’s side when it comes to making changes to the website. Since we don’t like thorns here at HYPER, it’s time to do some spring cleaning (or whatever season it might be when you read this). Assigning titles and categories to all the images/videos in the media library … » More …

Introduction

After a year of COVID, most of our research took place at home and online. This stressed the importance of presenting our findings in an organized online matter to attract other talent and encourage hydrogen research around the globe. After joining the CORE team in early September 2020, it became our job to seek out the lab’s research and post it online, whether that was a YouTube video, Instagram post, or blog post. As the months went on, we developed a system to create consistency between the different types of content and link them together for more information. It also became apparent that … » More …

Last week I had the pleasure of talking with Jenna Kriebel and AnneMarie Hunter from the WSU Foundation about the impact of alumni donations and philanthropy for the HYPER laboratory (and my career). Throughout my collegiate experience, first as a student athlete and now faculty, I’ve benefited from the generous donations of Land-Grant alumni. Yes, the Land-Grant institutions are public and state supported, but that public support is often literally the general minimum, which sometimes just isn’t enough. Although I’ve written about the many moments that alumni support was perfectly timed to make a difference in keeping us afloat, the conversation with Jenna and … » More …