App State alumnus Danny Combs ’03, a senior airman in the United States Air Force Reserve, is the founder of Teaching the Autism Community Trades (TACT) based in Colorado. Combs created this nonprofit organization after his son was diagnosed with autism. In this interview with Colorado Public Radio, Combs explains the importance of the TACT mission to help young adults on the spectrum gain skills and find employment in trade fields such as carpentry, auto-repair, landscaping and more.

Two years after the world’s highest altitude weather station atop Mount Everest was destroyed, a team of Sherpa and scientists risked their lives to replace it with a new and improved one. Dr. Baker Perry, professor in App State’s Department of Geography and Planning, was a co-leader of the project, helping to spearhead the construction of a redesigned weather station that could withstand the extreme weather conditions on top of the mountain. The project was part of National Geographic and Rolex’s Return to Everest Expedition in May 2022.

Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, toured the Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center, headquartered at N.C. State, in February 2023. App State is one of nine institutions across the U.S. that are partners in the center, which aims to facilitate a 25% reduction in human dependence on mined phosphates and a 25% reduction in phosphorus losses to soils and water resources within 25 years.