1888

Utah's Land-Grant College is approved for placement in Cache County

 

1890

Classes begin at the Agricultural College with 139 students (coed) with a curriculum that emphasized practical education as well as the classics and literature

 

1893

The Agricultural College of Utah wins a bronze medal for its exhibits on field research at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago's World Fair

 

1896

Cazier Act passed to fund Agriculture Experiment Station to hold an Extension Service begins

 

1903

State authorizes establishment of six branch arid farms throughout the state to perfect dry-farm agriculture

 

President Kerr advocates awarding of graduate research degrees

 

1904

"Lecture train" featured whistle-stop teaching in Utah and Idaho with exhibits from the Experiment Station

 

The Agricultural College wins a gold medal for its research exhibits at the World's Fair in St. Louis

 

1906

Extension department established

 

1908

First scientific studies to measure the application of water to crops and vegetables at Greenville Farm in North Logan

 

1909

Ground-breaking research on spread of plant disease by insects

 

1910

Dry Farming, by John A. Widstoe, an agricultural classic, published

 

1911

First County Agent in Utah and in the West-Luther M. Winsor-placed in Vernal

 

1913

Branch agricultural college established at Cedar City Normal School

 

1914

First master's degree graduate

 

1920's

Farmers and homemakers encampment -"Tent City"-on the Quad every summer

 

1923

First winter snow surveys used to predict irrigation water supplies

 

1924

National Summer School established, featuring distinguished scholars

 

1926

Department of Rural Sociology founded to study community life and rural home conditions

 

1929

Agricultural College of Utah becomes Utah State Agricultural College

 

1931

First new plant variety developed specifically for Utah farmers: "Relief" winter wheat

 

1934

Intermountain Herbarium established

 

May Swenson, noted poet, graduates from USAC

 

1936

Forestry Camp established in Logan Canyon to serve as off-campus laboratory

 

1938

Natural History Field Expedition to conduct studies in southern Utah

 

1939

Utah State faculty advise Iran on water, soils, and crop management

 

1947

Research Foundation established; Graduate School founded

 

1949

Utah State faculty increases international involvement, administering President Truman's Point IV programs in Iran and participating in Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon

 

1950

First Ph.D. candidate graduates

 

1951

Branch agricultural college established at Snow College in Ephraim (until 1966)

 

1954

Utah Botanical Center established to demonstrate and practice sustainable principles to reduce impact on the land and its valuable resources

 

1955

Division of Research is created; headed by D. Wynne Thorne, also Director of the Agriculture Experiment Station

 

1957

The Utah State Agricultural College granted university status

 

1959

Electro-Dynamics Lab established

 

1960's

Development of Trackmaster Snowcats and spin-off of Logan Manufacturing Company; commercialization of Wescor for soil sciences applications and medical devices for blood serum testing

 

1965

President Glen L. Taggart establishes office of Vice President for Research, filled by D. Wynne Thorne

 

Utah Water Research Lab established-one of the largest hydraulic research laboratories of its kind in the U.S.

 

1967

Continuing Education Center established at Uintah Basin

 

Ecology Center established; studies include brine shrimp, Antarctic ozone hole effect on plant DNA, mountain lion and Grizzly Bear populations and habitat

 

Influential Economics of Range Improvements published

 

1969

Space Science laboratory and Center for Research in Aeronomy established?now called The Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences (CASS)

 

1970

Space Measurements Laboratory established

 

1972

Center for Persons with Disabilities established

 

1975

SKI*HI Institute established to help children with sensory impairments

 

1976

USU begins work on NASA Get-Away Special (GAS) and becomes the #1 University with GAS payloads

 

1979

Rick Bass, noted nature writer, graduates from USU

 

1982

First student-generated space project from USU and the world orbited on the Space Shuttle

 

Early Intervention Research Institute established in College of Education

 

Space Dynamics Laboratory evolves from earlier aeronautical labs founded in 1959; more than 400 research payloads in a 40-year history; a world leader in sensor systems

 

1985

USU alumna Dr. Mary Cleave, a Shuttle crew member, carries onboard a USU Centennial Banner

 

1986

Research and Technology Park established

 

Biotechnology Center established

 

USU hosts its first annual Small Satellite Conference, which continues in 2000

 

1987

Utah State University ranks first on a per-capita basis for its work in international development

 

1988

Western Dairy Center-a consortium of researchers and universities dedicated to understanding the complexities of milk and to developing new technologies and products from milk-established

 

1989

The Huntsman Environmental Research Center established to engage in research in the key areas of recycling, degradability, improvement of air and water quality and conservation of trees

 

1990

U.S. Department of Defense lists USU as 6th largest university contractor; National Science Foundation ranks USU 61st among all universities for grants

 

Engineering Education journal lists USU as #1 in the nation for research funds generated per faculty member

 

Great and Peculiar Beauty: A Utah Reader, centennial anthology by editor Tom Lyon and Terry Tempest Williams

 

1991

Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory established for application development and research

 

1993

National Institute of Health study on environmental and genetic determinants of dementia, especially Alzheimer's disease

 

1994

Oxford History of the American West, edited by Clyde Milner, II and Carol O'Connor, wins the Western Heritage Award from the Cowboy Hall of Fame

 

1995

The National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management is established at USU to oversee universal testing of newborns

 

Social scientists Susan Dawson and Gary Madsen publish groundbreaking work on the effects of uranium mining on Navajo families in the Four Corners Area

 

Pathway to the Arts, an outdoor sculpture program, established

 

1996

Affiliated Research Center established with eight other universities in the United States to perform state-of-the-art work in Remote Sensing, GIS and GPS area

 

1997

Region VIII Head Start Disability Services Quality Improvement Center established

 

National Institutes of Health grant allows USU to conduct statewide study of genetic and nutrition factors affecting hip fractures

 

Applications of geographic information systems (GIS) flourish in natural resources management and farming

 

1998

Emma Eccles Jones Early Childhood Center established

 

1999

Spider lamb Syndrome on the road to elimination due to research by Noelle Cockett

 

NASA names its first extension specialist-Phil Rasmussen-to help farmers and ranchers use satellite images to minimize environmental impacts while maximizing production

 

2000

USU's Space Dynamics Lab maps global weather patterns, improving forecasts and tracking potentially deadly storms, through its new satellite-born sensor

 

2001

The tradition of research at Utah State University continues: monitoring global climate change, developing interactive software for on-line courses, developing turf grasses that require 50% less water, making marginal saline land productive, using waste water from electrical engineering plants to irrigate alfalfa, developing antiviral research to combat West Nile Virus, educating the public about food safety, storing milk for a shelf life of a year or more to combat hunger in third-world countries, developing a Manual of Grasses for North America North of Mexico

 

USU Research and Technology Park becomes "Innovation Campus"

 

Jeanne Thomas and her students in the Folklore Program requested by the Library of Congress to collect and make sound recordings of Americans' accounts of and reactions to the terrorist attacks of September 11

 

2002

A team of Utah State University undergraduates unveil their re-creation of the original Wright flyer made with modern materials

 

Utah State's new Biotechnology and Genomic Research Center is established, bolstering Utah State's worldwide reputation in agricultural biotechnology, natural populations, and microbial genomics

 

In November 2002, President Hall deliveres a charge to create a multidisciplinary water initiative that will address water concerns in Utah and create a world-renowned graduate program in this field

 

2003

A Utah State University-University of Idaho research team is first in the world to clone a member of the horse family, a mule, which was named "Idaho Gem." After Idaho Gem's May 4 birth, the team also clones Utah Pioneer, born June 9, and Idaho Star, born on July 27. The project may provide new understanding of genetically-related problems for humans

 

The Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory conducts all veterinary-related testing for West Nile virus and detects the first Utah occurrences in both birds and horses

 

Researchers at USU's Institue for Antiviral Research search for drugs to control severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

 

2004

Gary Merkley's team provides irrigation management for the Dominican Republic.

 

Jim McMahon is part of NEON, a team that received $6 million to address issues of bioiversity, climate change, and others

 

Maria Norton and JoAnn Tschanz study the epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease in a Cache Valley family-based cohort.

 

Christine Hailey's team receive more than $10 million to improve technology education in Utah's K-12 schools

 

2005

 

The USU Computer Science Assistive Technology Laboratory (CSATL) researched and developed assisted navigation systems that enable visually impaired individuals to navigate dynamic and complex indoor and outdoor environments with comfort and ease—a robotic guide dog.

 

2006

The Utah legislature passed the USTAR initiative, a $220 million investment in university research-based economic development. USTAR funds research teams and facilities at Utah State University and the Universtiy of Utah who implement scientific research and technological advancement.

The UWRL celebrated its 40th birthday. The UWRL has nearly 250 water- related projects a year, and has projects in all of Utah’s 29 counties and more than 40 countries.

 

Officials from USU traveled to the People’s Republic of China to sign two agreements fostering collaborative research and exchange in biotechnology.

 

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