Humboldt State Now
Latest Achievements
Updates about the latest publications and other achievements by our faculty, staff and students
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- Week of: Apr 07, 2013
Student Forestry students, Forestry & Wildland Resources Permalink
The Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources presented 22 of its students with nearly $28,000 in scholarships at its 15th annual Spring Awards banquet in April. Three graduating seniors were recognized at the ceremony: Zachary Carter, Academic Excellence Award; Noah Coonen, Professional Promise Award, and Celina Weeg, Most Outstanding Student Award in Rangeland Resources and Wildland Soils. Department Chair Kenneth (K.O.) Fulgham reported that faculty have gained more than $1.37 million in grant research awards in the past 18 months. He recognized retiring Professor John Stuart for his 30 years of service to the department. For the third year running, Stuart was voted “Outstanding Professor of the Year” by the department’s students.
Student Rachael Olliff, Biological Sciences Permalink
Biology graduate student Rachael Olliff recently received a 2013 conservation grant from the Sequoia Park Zoo of Eureka. Olliff will use the grant to monitor the relationship between the native but seldom-studied dune silver bee and flowering plants on the North Spit of Humboldt Bay and publish informational pamphlets.
Faculty Christine Cass, Biological Sciences Permalink
Oceanography faculty member Christine Cass recently received a 2013-14 California Sea Grant Focus Award. Cass will spend 18 months studying seasonal changes in the fat and protein content of zooplankton in northern California and southern Oregon. California Sea Grant is funded by the National Sea Grant College Program, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Faculty Noah Zerbe, Politics Permalink
Noah Zerbe, Chair of the Department of Politics, presented a paper entitled “Engaging Students and Promoting Learning through Semester-long Simulations in International Relations” at the International Studies Association. The paper, which followed the implementation of a simulation in his Introduction to International Relations course, demonstrated that active learning strategies can have different but lasting impacts on student retention and engagement.
- Week of: Mar 31, 2013
Student Isral Konopa and Britany MacFarlane, Environmental Resources Engineering Permalink
Isral Konopa, Environmental Resources Engineering undergraduate student, and Britany MacFarlane, Environmental Resources Engineering graduate student, have each received a 2013/14 scholarship from the California branch of the American Council of Engineering Companies.
ACEC invited scholarship applications from full-time students enrolled in California colleges and universities with an ABET-approved engineering program. From all the pplicants, only 5 undergraduate students and 3 graduate students were chosen to receive scholarships.
Staff Peter Lehman, Environmental Resources Engineering Permalink
The Schatz Energy Research Center conference room has been named after SERC founding director Peter Lehman. A professor of environmental resources engineering, Lehman served as SERC’s director from 1989 to 2012 and as faculty advisor to the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology from 1979 to 2000. The newly-dedicated room will also include a portrait of Lehman.
Faculty Edward Nuhfer, Academic Programs Permalink
Edward Nuhfer, director of Educational Effectiveness at Humboldt State, in collaboration with emeritus professor of economics Dennis Muraoka (CSU Channel Islands), are founding editors of the newly announced peer-reviewed open access journal Student Learning through Mentored Scholarship (SLMS), produced by SAGE Publications of Thousand Oaks, Calif.
The journal disseminates research on the successful experiences of higher-education faculty in support of innovative research and scholarship with peers and students.
Nuhfer and Muraoka collaborated for two years with support from SAGE in constructing concept documents, designing reviewers’ rubrics and assembling a diverse and well-qualified national inaugural board of reviewers.
Campuses of the California State University are especially well known for supporting undergraduate research, civic engagement, and service learning done both through formal classes and through co-curricular projects in student academic clubs. These require a substantial investment of faculty time in one-on-one mentoring that is not widely recognized for its true value. Muraoka notes: “SLMS provides a much needed vehicle that will allow educators to convey mentoring ideas and models to other educators.”
SAGE’S international reputation as a publisher of high quality journals provides a tremendous opportunity for collaborating mentors to co-author with one another and with their students on the exceptional kinds of learning experiences that are signature to campuses known for providing top-notch undergraduate education.
Faculty Penelope Shaw and Alison Holmes, Joint Center for International Programs and Politics Permalink
Penelope Shaw, study abroad coordinator, and Alison Holmes, International Studies program leader, presented a paper: “Developing International Studies on the Lost Coast” to the International Studies Association Annual Conference in San Francisco in April.
Student John M. Mola, Rachael L. Olliff, Christopher M. Steenbock, Biological Sciences Permalink
Biology graduate students John Mola and Rachael Olliff and Botany/Biology-Ecology undergraduate student Christopher Steenbock received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship on March 29th.
- Week of: Mar 24, 2013
Faculty Amy Sprowles, Biological Sciences Permalink
Biological sciences professor Amy Sprowles recently won an elevator pitch contest summarizing her research on stem cells. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s Elevator Pitch Challenge asked scientific researchers to explain what they do, why it’s important and why the public should care in 30 seconds or less. Sprowles and her students are studying how cancer genes may turn on stem cell like properties in normal adult cells. Their research is supported by CIRM’s Bridges to Stem Cell Research Awards program. You can see the speeches on YouTube at #SciencePitch.
Faculty Marshelle Thobaben, Nursing Permalink
Nursing professor Marshelle Thobaben recently published an article and textbook chapter. The article, “Psychiatric Home Health Skilled Nursing Services,” was published in the February 2013 issue of Home Health Care Management & Practice Journal: Vol. 25, Issue 1, February 2013, Pg. 32-34.
The textbook chapter, titled “People of Turkish Heritage” was published in Transcultural Health Care: A Culturally Competent Approach, 4th ed. Editor: Larry D. Purnell; 2013; F.A. Davis Publisher.
Faculty Sing C. Chew, Sociology Permalink
Professor Sing C. Chew was recently invited to an international conference in Singapore, “Plural Coexistence and Sustainability: Asian Experiences in Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” sponsored by Nanyang Technological University and Kyoto University, Japan. He presented a paper entitled: Socioeconomic Structural Transformations, Climate, Ecological Changes, and Mobilizations in an Era of Global Crisis.
