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For a couple days in May, Element 8 members traveled to eastern Washington to meet with entrepreneurs and researchers from Washington State University (WSU). The trip began on Monday in Spokane where members received an overview of WSU’s research and commercialization efforts from Anson Fatland, WSU’s Associate VP of Economic Development, and WSU Spokane Chancellor Dr. Lisa Brown. Guests then had the opportunity to tour the WSU Applied Science Laboratory.
After traveling to Pullman, home of WSU’s main campus, members toured one of the world’s largest grid scale battery systems at Schweitzer Engineering. The incredible technology was developed by UniEnergy Technologies and the project was sponsored by AVISTA utilities. Monday’s events were capped by reception and dinner overlooking the incredible WSU Ridge golf course.
The second day of the trip was full of opportunities for Element 8 members to learn about the incredible sustainability research being conducted at the University and speak with the researchers to learn about commercialization potential. Over the course of the morning, attendees visited the Composite Materials Engineering Center, Phytelligence Labs, Hydrogen Properties for Energy Research (HYPER) Lab and learned about research being conducted in drought tolerant wheat varieties.
After a quick lunch, the learning continued as members toured the construction site of the PACCAR Environmental Technology Building and visited the nuclear reactor at the WSU radiation center. After a quick stop at Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe, members continued learning about phenotype sensing technology research and anaerobic digesters.
For the members that were able to stay in Pullman one more day, the trip was finished with 18 holes of golf at the beautiful WSU Palouse Ridge Golf Club.