WYOMING

The governor’s economic diversification committee ENDOW recommends the creation of a need-based state financial aid program.

How do you ease the growing congestion in Yellowstone National Park? Perhaps by encouraging the millions of annual tourists to visit Cody, Bighorn Canyon and other areas outside the park.

Last year, Gov. Matt Mead asked me to do a difficult thing — join the Economically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming initiative executive council. He charged the council with bringing bold, game-changing ideas to the table that would help diversify Wyoming’s economy for the long term.

"It’s screwed us up," said Faculty Senate chair-elect Donal O’Toole, who teaches in the Veterinary Sciences Department. "If you want a technical answer, it screwed us up. Real bad."

"The colleges just didn’t have the passion for it that I have," he said. "So I had this epiphany that, if I can’t work with them, I might as well build my own. I have taught a number of professional pilots, and many former students are flying for military services."

He likened the maker space to "a gym for people that like to build things with robots and lasers."

The Cowboy State has now legalized many applications of blockchain technology, from trading virtual currency to storing corporate records, making Wyoming one of the first states to welcome the new digital frontier with open, deregulated arms.