Latest Achievements

Steve Ladwig has received a travel grant to participate in a national conference hosted by the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison in April 2026. During the convening, he will connect with national partners and present emerging findings from Cal Poly Humboldt’s prison education work. The trip will also include formerly incarcerated students who began their studies at Pelican Bay State Prison, while current Pelican Bay BA students will present via Zoom. The conference advances shared efforts to improve access, quality, and outcomes in higher education in prison.

Funding is provided by the Sunshine Lady Foundation.

On February 28, the Humboldt County Office of Education and the Cal Poly Humboldt History department ran the annual county-level History Day competition on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus. Well over 300 local school children, from 4th grade through high school seniors, present their History Day projects in numerous locations across the campus. The awards ceremony was held in Forbes Gym, where many of the projects were on exhibit for all to inspect. Cal Poly Humboldt has been hosting this event since the 1990s and is the only university that hosts a county-level event in the United States.  

Minding the Gender Gap: Working Toward Parity for Women in U.S. Academic Geography (Mossa, J., B. Dixon, S. Sultana, A. Rock, and B. Kar, 2026) has just been released in electronic format. The latest release from the Status of Women in Geography Project, this piece examines 50 years of gender composition of Geography departments in higher ed, finding that while parity has been reached at lower ranks, female full professors still lag behind, even when compared with other social sciences. A map by Dr. Rock related to this project is currently hanging in Founders Hall outside the Geography Department. (Full article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2026.2621345)

Benny Anjewierden and Dr. Amber Gaffney in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Alberta have a forthcoming book chapter, "Uncertainty and social identity", in K. Vail, D. Van Tongeren, B. Schlegel, J. Greenberg, L. King, & R. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of the Science of Existential Psychology.

In the fall 2025 semester, Dr. Walmsley was invited by the editor of Operants magazine to write a gerontology piece. The article is entitled "Using Behavior Analysis To Help Evaluate Social Outcomes in a Nutrition Program for Older Adults". It details some community-based ABA research conducted by Dr. Walmsley and his research lab in collaboration with a local agency providing services to older adults.

Povheng Yam (ADPI-MENA Center Coordinator), Paul Michael Leonardo Atienza (Assistant Professor, CRGS), Michelle Miyamoto (Associate Director, ODEI), and Ravin Craig (Dean of Students) represented Cal Poly Humboldt at the inaugural California AANHPI Student Achievement Program (CSU ASAP) Summit on February 23 at Sacramento State University. They created a poster presentation with Humboldt specific achievements and student resources developed through funds allocated from the California Education Budget. The legislation provides for $8 ​million in ongoing funding towards expanding student access, equity, and affordability, and to create pathways to high-demand career opportunities for under-served students. The California Community Colleges also received allocations.​

ADPI-MENA student staff Shaun Masuda, Rosalyn Luong, Senty Wu, and Nicolo Ponnekanti represented Cal Poly Humboldt during the inaugural California Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Student Achievement Program Summit on February 23 at Sacramento State University. The California State University Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Student Achievement Program (CSU ASAP) was authorized by the California Education Code Section 89297.1​ in 2022. The legislation provides for $8 ​million in ongoing funding for culturally responsive services to enhance student educational experiences and promote higher education success for low-income, underserved and first-generation AANHPI students and other underrepresented students. 

Devon Walker, Jonathan Juarez, Chase Loughmiller, Anthony Wolfe, Dennis Allen and Jacob Lewis competed in the 2026 Mathematical Contest in Modeling.  Working in teams of three, they have just four days to analyze and solve an open-ended, real-world problem and produce a detailed solution paper.  This year, both teams addressed a problem related to modeling battery drain in smartphones by using continuous time models.

Loren Cannon (Philosophy, Applied Humanities) was requested to present his work at the American Philosophical Association's Central Meeting, in Chicago, February 18-21. He presented his most recent essay, "Court of Supreme Contradictions: A Changing Legal Landscape for LGBTQ+ Americans," in the session on LGBTQ+ Philosophy of Law. His latest work explores the relationship between the pro-LGBTQ+ rights rulings in 2015 (Obergefell) and 2020 (Bostock) and how the arguments of several Supreme Court ruling since 2020 together present a much less optimistic picture, especially with regards to broad based social acceptance including the contexts of health care, education, and commerce. This changing legal climate has ramifications for LGBTQ+ persons and our intent to live flourishing lives as well as the stability of the Obergefell and Bostock rulings themselves. 

James Floss, Lecturer Emeritus of the Communication Department, recently gave a workshop, “More Than Words” in Tlacochahuaya, Mexico to future teachers focusing on vocality and physicality to enliven read-alouds. The conference, hosted by Escuela Normal Bilingüe e Intercultural de Oaxaca was for indigenous teachers from throughout Oaxaca promoting instruction in their native languages. He was assisted by his wife, Annie Bolick-Floss, former director of Service Learning and Academic Internships.

James Floss, Lecturer Emeritus of the Communication Department, recently gave a workshop, “More Than Words,” in Tlacochahuaya, Mexico to future teachers focusing on vocality and physicality to enliven read-alouds. The conference, hosted by Escuela Normal Bilingüe e Intercultural de Oaxaca was for indigenous teachers from throughout Oaxaca promoting instruction in their native languages. He was assisted by his wife, Annie Bolick-Floss, former director of Service Learning and Academic Internships.

Dr. Jim Graham received continued funding from California Trout (CalTrout) that will pay for a graduate student to perform GIS habitat modeling in the Eel River Watershed, and develop a subsequent Riparian Climate Refugia (RCR) data set. The data will provide information on where riparian corridors (vegetation growing near natural bodies of water) contain remaining climate refugia on the CA North Coast. Climate refugia are landscape features that provide environmental protection and can allow species to persist through climate change effects. The data will be particularly useful to land managers, who can use it to make more informed restoration and conservation decisions.

On February 17, 2026, Enoch Hale, Ph.D., facilitated a national webinar for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) titled “Scaling Faculty Development for AI: Aligning Pedagogy, Technology, and Learning Outcomes.” The session focused on scalable strategies to support faculty in integrating AI into their teaching while maintaining strong alignment with pedagogy and student learning outcomes. Dr. Hale emphasized ethical, outcomes-driven implementation and shared practical professional development models institutions can adopt. More than 170 higher education professionals from across the country attended, highlighting significant national interest in effective AI integration.

Gabriel Abundis, Sage Brislen, Trinity Edwards, Bailey Glashan, Logan Holey, Lee Minicuci (graduate student) are all independent student researchers in the Rangeland Resource Science Program that were able to share their research from Cal Poly Humboldt through poster presentations at the Annual Society for Range Management in Monterey, California.

Sean Dillon, Marina Dunlop, Tristan Fritsch, J. J. Madrigal Garcia, Bree Gentil-Guijosa, Logan Holey, Noah-Charlie Regan, Jennifer Salguero, Derek Tremaine, Nicholas Verhey, and Kai Zerbo competed at the Annual Society for Range Management in Monterey, California with their coach, Todd Golder. This year they ranked nationally in the rangeland plant identification competition, with Cal Poly Humboldt ranked 2nd place nationally in the U.S and 5th place globally with other universities from Canada and Mexico.

Humnath Panta, faculty at the School of Business, co-authored the article “ESG Ratings in Motion: The Global Market Response to Upgrades and Downgrades,” published in the Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment (Taylor & Francis, January 7, 2026). The study analyzes 2,841 MSCI-rated global stocks (2017–2021) using a calendar-time portfolio approach and finds that ESG rating upgrades (downgrades) generate statistically and economically significant abnormal returns of about +1% (–1%) per month. The effects are robust across models, holding periods, sectors, and regions, with stronger impacts for large and growth firms and in low power-distance countries, and increased synchronization post-COVID-19. The findings advance understanding of ESG information efficiency and its implications for global asset pricing and investment strategy.

Professor Emeritus Robert W. Zoellner and his two former students, Lowen M. Hobbs and Hanna D. (Phillips) Hobbs (both now in the U. S. Coast Guard), have published their second peer-reviewed article together, entitled “The limits of low-spin zinc oxidation states from density functional theory computations:  Fluoro-zinc complexes, [ZnFn]x, where n = 1 through 6 and x = 2+ through 3-, including complexes Ccontaining the η1-F2-, 1-η1-F3-, and 1,3-η2-F3-ligands”: L. M. Hobbs, H. D. Hobbs, R. W. Zoellner, Computational and Theoretical Chemistry 2026, 1258, 115701 (12 pp.).

Cal Poly Humboldt’s Debate Club marked a major milestone with its first full squad trip since before the pandemic, competing at Las Positas College against teams from 33 institutions. Five debate pairs participated, most at their first collegiate tournament. Sylvia Seay and Oz Kimbell advanced to quarterfinals, the program’s first elimination round appearance in six years, earning top‑eight finishes and speaker awards. Arcata High student Gamma Caruso also excelled, placing 2nd in Novice Debate. The successful weekend was supported by staff, student organizers, and Debate Coach Dr. Aaron Donaldson, signaling renewed momentum for Humboldt’s speech and debate program. 

Go Jacks!

Former Geography faculty (1998-2001) and Potawatomi Nation tribal member Margaret Wickens Pearce was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for her “Foregrounding Indigenous understandings of land and place in maps that visualize Native Peoples’ knowledge, history, and stories.” The Fellowship is an $800,000, no-strings-attached grant for individuals who demonstrate exceptional creativity in their work and the promise to do more. This follows multiple NSF grants and a 2023 Guggenheim award. While at Humboldt, Margaret and Mary Beth Cunha established the Kosmos Lab from which students then and now have won an avalanche of state and national awards for their innovative cartography. 

Dan Mar received a $65,000 grant from the Resources Legacy Fund to support initiatives within the Cannabis Studies Program, including the 2026 Cannabis and Environmental Stewardship Symposium on  April 17, 2026, and student-led podcast production through the Cannabis Studies Lab. Funding will provide paid opportunities for undergraduate students in event planning, research, and media creation, and allow the purchase of podcast equipment. Through the podcast, students will explore cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions of cannabis. The all-day symposium will feature moderated panel discussions on sustainable cultivation, environmental restoration, and cannabis research. Together, these initiatives will expand hands-on learning opportunities and strengthen the Cannabis Studies Program.

Dr. Eileen Cashman received a grant to lead a sea level rise planning and economic study for the Murray Field Airport in Eureka. The airport provides critical services to Humboldt County, including air freight, postal delivery, air ambulance, and Coast Guard operations, but faces growing vulnerability to sea level rise, making this study essential to inform long-term planning decisions for its future. The study will assess sea level rise impacts and develop conceptual designs for possible adaptation options. Evaluation will include flood prevention strategies, economic impacts, and alignment with community goals. 

Funding is provided by the California State Coastal Conservancy.

Cal Poly Humboldt students from the Environmental Science & Management (ESM) major Mary Mangubat, Erik Meusborn, and Andrew Todd are co-authors on a recent publication in the Journal Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. The publication is titled Fisheries of the middle: building collaborations between seafood and agriculture to revitalize and enhance mid-scale food production. The research began as an undergraduate research project in the ESM Planning & Policy capstone class where students were exploring common challenges among the seafood and agriculture systems in our local region -- working for community clients Ashley Vellis (Ashely's Seafood) and Megan Kenney (North Coast Growers' Association). It then evolved to include the ideas and voices of many other scholars and practitioners working in seafood and ag systems. The piece argues for the development and sustenance of "middle scale" seafood systems in addition to those focused on smaller-scale or direct-marketing strategies.

Dr. Sherrene Bogle received a travel award to attend the NSF ACCESS Regional AI Workshop on January 22, 2026 at University of Southern California. She presented a poster on "ACOSUS - An AI-driven Counseling System for Transfer Students". The NSF funded ACOSUS, on which Dr. Bogle is a co PI, is designed to complement existing advising by providing personalized readiness assessments, success predictions, and actionable recommendations for computing transfer students.

Dr. Frye has published the Citizenship+ Communication Action Guide with the upcoming nationally convened Civic Learning Week, March 19-23, 2026. The Citizenship+ Communication Action Guide is an open source educational resource developed by Dr. Joshua Frye and Dr. Steve Goldzwig (Marquette University) to accompany their 2024 book, Rhetoric and Democracy in a Post-Truth Era.  The OER includes several applied learning activities to advance ethical and effective citizenship+ communication. It also includes a series of topically organized quotations to help inspire democratic attitudes and practices.

Jeff Crane, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences recently published the opinion article "Come to the Dark Side: The Dangers of Pathologizing Administration in Higher Ed" with co-author Lee Bebout (Arizona State University) for Inside Higher Ed. 
 

Sara Hart and the Center for Community Based Learning received renewed funding from the Governor’s California Volunteers Office to continue and expand Cal Poly Humboldt’s College Corps program, a service fellowship providing students $10,000 toward their education for 450 hours of service in the community. Fellows partner with local organizations to meet local needs while developing future-ready skills of service leadership. New pilot programming includes Youth Mental Health Corps training opportunities, as well as increased collaboration with existing academic internships. 

Learn more at the link: https://www.humboldt.edu/ccbl/college-corps

Scholarly Communications Librarian Kyle Morgan published the article “Employment of Students in a University Library’s Publishing Unit: A Case Study” in The George Washington University Journal of Ethics in Publishing 4(1). The article expands upon the presentations "Using Student-Based Operations to Run a Full-Service Press" at the 2024 Digital Repositories Meeting and "Top 10 Reasons For and Against Student-Based Press Operations" at the 2024 Library Publishing Forum. Together, the article and presentations describe the library's unique student-based publishing program and its outsized impact on the educational experience and professional development of Cal Poly Humboldt students.

Journalism chair Deidre Pike contributed an article “Bringing Back Birds From the Brink of Extinction” to Paris, France-based educational website News Decoder. The article, published Jan. 16, looks at the hopeful work of the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project in saving Hawai’ian birds from extinction. The Maui organization’s project manager is Humboldt State University alumna Hanna Mounce (‘03, Wildlife). News Decoder is an educational publication edited by Cal Poly Humboldt emeritus journalism professor Marcy Burstiner.

Dr. Sara K. Sterner authored a chapter titled Latherian Theorizing: A Post-Intentional Phenomenological Analytic Process Inspired by Getting Lost with Patti Lather in the recently published volume Methodology and Praxis: Thinking with Patti Lather, edited by Gabriel Huddleston and Robert J. Helfenbein (Meyer Education Press, 2025). The book examines the influence of Patti Lather’s work across curriculum theory, cultural studies, and critical qualitative research, engaging her ideas and methods in innovative ways. Read more about the book here.

Professor Josh Meisel (Sociology) was quoted in a MJ Biz Daily news story about the implications for cannabis research of the Trump administration's recent Executive Order calling for the rescheduling of cannabis to a less restrictive category. 

Sociology M.A. student Yaneyry Delfin Martinez received an Alpha Kappa Delta Social Justice Award of $1,500, addressing food insecurity among undocumented students with support from Sociology Professor Stefanie Israel de Souza. 

Sociology M.A. student Yaneyry Delfin Martinez received a McCrone Award for his work: Living in Liminality: Navigating Academic Barriers and Building Support For and By Undocumented Students and Sociology Professor Caglar Dolek received the same award for his work: Police Power and Popular Resistance: Tales from the Margin. 

Scholarly Communications Librarian Kyle Morgan published the article “Using AI to Auto-Tag Graduate Theses” in Information Technology and Libraries, 44(4), https://doi.org/10.5860/ital.v44i4.1738. The article coincides with his presentation "Implementing UN SDG Auto-Tagging: A Practical Guide for Librarians" at the 2025 Open Repositories Conference. The article presents a practical approach to using artificial intelligence (AI) for tagging graduate theses in an institutional repository with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Computer science students Courtney Rowe, Hayden Weber, Marceline Vazquez Rios, and Nick Michel recently advanced the project in Dr. Bogle's CS Software Engineering course, expanding the capabilities and improving the results.

Dr. Laura Johnson has joined the Embodied Philosophy teaching community to offer a transformative course, Yoga for Ecological Grief. Blending yin and restorative yoga, meditation, pranayama, poetry, and socio-ecological awareness, this course invites you to stay present with the realities of our time rather than turn away. This self-paced, pre-recorded offering provides accessible movement, guided meditations, mudras, reflections, and curated resources to help you engage ecological grief as a pathway toward connection, resilience, and meaningful action. Learn more about the course and about Dr. Johnson's offerings at A Restful Space.

Dr. Sarah Jaquette Ray interviewed Alexander Menrisky, author of a new book called Everyday Ecofascism, about the violent side of environmental politics for the University of Wisconsin web-magazine and podcast, Edge Effects.  You can find the interview and more about the book here: https://edgeeffects.net/alexander-menrisky/

California’s old-growth coast redwoods hold record-breaking biomass (organic material in wood, bark, and leaves) and provide vital habitats for tree-dwelling plants, animals, and fungi. Over 95% of redwood forests have been logged at least once, leaving regenerating landscapes with lower biomass and poor habitat value. A recent study by Cal Poly Humboldt professor Stephen Sillett, research associates Allyson Carroll and Marie Antoine, and other team members explores “exceptional trees” in managed forests. Selecting a small subset of the most vigorous, fast-growing trees for permanent retention can enhance carbon storage, forest resilience, and biodiversity while maintaining timber production. Learn more here. 

I have been invited by the United States Geological Survey to speak at their annual Northern California Earthquake Hazards Workshop (February, 2026) to discuss a recent paper of which I was lead author. The paper is entitled "Large Repeating Gorda Intraplate Earthquakes Occurring Along an Inherited Weak Zone near the Mendocino Triple Junction" and summarizes a new way to look at offshore earthquake hazards.  It was published in the Seismological Research Letters journal (DOI: 10.1785/0220250005).

Benny Anjewierden and Amber Gaffney co-Chaired a symposium with Professor Dominic Abrams at the Society of Experimental Social Psychology in Lisbon, Portugal (Praise some, punish others: When and why deviance is embraced or erased within groups). They then presented at the University of Porto, Portugal, for invited talks. Anjewierden presented some of their joint work on the polarizing nature of criticizing political leaders. Gaffney presented some of their work detailing how motives for social identity can differentially predict political extremism.

Former wildlife graduate student Erika Anderson published her thesis research on state-endangered Humboldt martens in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation. This research is published open access and aims to establish a baseline for an endangered population that will inform future monitoring to estimate apparent survival and recruitment, additional relationships to environmental conditions and change, and demographic trends over time. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03980

Mini-Grant Award — Empowering Seniors in Humboldt County

Cal Poly Humboldt Leadership Studies student Tammy Farmer has been awarded a $700 mini-grant from the Institute for Historical Study (IHS) in Berkeley, California to support her IRB-approved pilot project, Empowering Seniors in Humboldt County.

The project preserves and amplifies the voices of local elders through in-depth oral-history interviews exploring aging, caregiving, and community life. Using ethical storytelling and informed consent practices, Farmer’s work documents the lived experiences of Humboldt County seniors while building a model for community-centered oral history.

Approved under IRB #24-078 through March 2026, the project’s interviews will be archived in the Cal Poly Humboldt Digital Commons Capstone Archives, ensuring long-term accessibility and public benefit.

Farmer expressed gratitude to the Institute for Historical Study and for the continued mentorship of Cal Poly Humboldt faculty and staff who are helping to shape this model of ethical storytelling and community leadership.

Mini-Grant Award — Empowering Seniors in Humboldt County

Cal Poly Humboldt Leadership Studies student,  Tammy Farmer has been awarded a $700 mini-grant from the Institute for Historical Study (IHS) in Berkeley, California to support her IRB-approved pilot project, Empowering Seniors in Humboldt County.

The project preserves and amplifies the voices of local elders through in-depth oral-history interviews exploring aging, caregiving, and community life. Using ethical storytelling and informed consent practices, Farmer’s work documents the lived experiences of Humboldt County seniors while building a model for community-centered oral history.

Approved under IRB #24-078 through March 2026, the project’s interviews will be archived in the Cal Poly Humboldt Digital Commons Capstone Archives, ensuring long-term accessibility and public benefit.

Farmer expressed gratitude to the Institute for Historical Study and for the continued mentorship of Cal Poly Humboldt faculty and staff who are helping to shape this model of ethical storytelling and community leadership.

Stephanie Murillo was selected from a group of undergraduate students to participate in the Summer Research Immersion Program at the University of Guanajuato in summer of 2025. The program provided academic training, professional development, and mentorship in scientific and social research while simultaneously adapting cultural immersion. The objectives of this program were to advance research skills by conducting an eight-week project, produce scholarly work, engage in international collaboration, develop cultural and social insight, and integrate research into career goals. This published work is the result of Stephanie Murillo's time abroad and we are happy to share her published work with the University. 

Captive Bodies: Overmedication as Structural Violence Against Women by Stephanie Murillo

Dr. Josh Meisel co-authored, "Global cannabis cultivation as a gendered activity: Findings from the 2020 International Cannabis Cultivation Questionnaire" in the International Journal of Drug Policy. With co-authors from the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium they examined the extent to which women's participation in cannabis cultivation may have changed across varied global legal contexts. They found that policy shifts towards legalization are related to further reducing overall gender disparities in cannabis cultivation, yet differences remain in earnings, motivations for growing, and experiences with the criminal justice system. 

Dr. Gabi Kirk published an essay with Jewish Currents, "In California, Jewish Groups’ Win Is Students’ Loss." It is a critical analysis of California's recent bill, AB 715, which aims to combat antisemitism in K-12 education but may threaten free speech and academic freedom, especially on the topic of Palestine-Israel in the classroom. 

Aubrey Cooper and Kaden Smith, mechanical engineering undergraduates and co-owners of Change LLC, showcased an impressive pitch for their innovative Sodium Ion-powered motorcycle at Grow Tech Fest 2025! Their efforts earned them 1st place accompanied by a cash prize!

Dr. Peter Goetz' article titled "Some Artin-Schelter Regular Algebras From Dual Reflection Groups And Their Geometry" has been accepted for publication and will appear in the prestigious Journal of Noncommutative Geometry, a publication of the European Mathematical Society. The work, joint with colleagues at Wake Forest University and UCLA, introduces new tools for studying regular algebras which are graded by finite groups. The article also studies new and novel examples of four-dimensional quadratic Artin-Schelter regular algebras, proving algebraic and homological properties, and determining their noncommutative geometry.

Students Jonathan Juarez and John Gerving and faculty member Kamila Larripa were guests on the Data Science Education Podcast.  They had a chance to discuss their research projects and Data for Good at Cal Poly Humboldt.  The episode is available here: https://datascienceeducation.substack.com/p/faculty-and-student-voices-….

Presented research entitled “Evaluating the Effectiveness of the UCLA Pre-Med Enrichment Program,” and “Lessons Learned on UCLA UIM-COE Clinical Clerkship Psychology of Bias” at the November 13, 2025, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Medical Education Day conference. Co-authors included UCLA Medical School Faculty, Staff, and recent Cal Poly Humboldt psychology graduate Gianna Giacomotto. 

Dr. Amy Rock presented "Minding the Gender Gap: Working toward parity for women in U.S. academic geography", as part of the Stories and Status of Women in Geography session at the Race, Ethnicity, and Place Conference in Albuquerque, NM, on November 6-7, 2025.  This research tracks the gender (im)balance in Geography programs in the US, which carries implications for retention and mentoring of both students and faculty.  The full paper (authors Mossa, Dixon, Sultana, Rock, and Kar) has been accepted for publication in The Professional Geographer and will be available soon. 

Dr. Cinthya Ammerman Muñoz and Dr. Paul Michael L. Atienza co-edited Issue 47 of The Humboldt Journal of Social Relations on “Place-Based Digital Inquiry.” The issue explores how digital tools intersect with relational and situated research, offering innovative ways to document and share local histories, ecologies, and knowledges. Featuring research essays, creative writing, autoethnography, and digital media, it advances critical, place-based approaches to digital engagement. Contributors include students, staff, faculty, and community members. Download at digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/HJSR. A release event will be held Wednesday, November 19, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., in Library 302.