Updates about the latest accomplishments—including latest research, publications, and awards—by students, faculty, and staff
With support from the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, Dr. Pedro Peloso (Biological Sciences) and Professor Brandice Guerra (Arts + Film) launched EXTINOS, a scientific illustration internship program highlighting endangered species, and welcomed Mexican illustrator Dani Cafaggi for a four-month internship focused on creating modern portraits of Brazil’s most threatened amphibians. Dani’s work, combined with pieces from past intern Jamie Hefley and selections from Dr. Peloso’s collection, will debut at Cal Poly Humboldt’s Reese Bullen Gallery in Fall 2025, after being showcased at Brazil’s XI Congress of Herpetology.
Karen Davy, lecturer in the Music Department, has been appointed Vice President of the Kató Havas Association for the New Approach (KHANA). Havas, a world-renowned violin pedagogue, was a trailblazer in identifying and offering solutions to the physical, mental, and emotional tensions that affect string players. KHANA's purpose is to keep Havas' Approach available for future players and teachers. Davy's article, The Legacy of Kató Havas, was published in the CAL ASTA (American String Teachers Association) newsletter last June.
Cal Poly Humboldt Business Professor Dr. Josh Zender has received a $25,000 Application Development Grant from PG&E’s Microgrid Incentive Program. In partnership with Syserco and supported by Dr. Pascal Biwole’s Energy Engineering students, Zender will lead a team developing a community microgrid proposal to serve Orick, CA. The grant supports technical development costs for the competitive application process. This project aims to enhance energy resilience for disadvantaged communities and is part of a broader initiative by PG&E to fund clean, locally controlled microgrids throughout California’s high-risk outage zones
Jeff Kane (Forestry, Fire, and Rangeland Management) and graduate student Jackson Carrasco (2024) published a research paper in the journal Forest Ecology and Management entitled "Tree and stand characteristics moderate wildfire severity and promote resilience in secondary coast redwood forests". The findings of the research indicate that redwoods are highly resilient to wildfire but can result in substantial changes to forest structure and composition. However, the magnitude of forest changes was associated with tree and stand conditions, suggesting that management actions in these forests can be used to limit impacts from wildfire.
Dr. Hale was invited to serve as a speaker and campus mentor for the 2025-2026 Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum with the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U). https://www.aacu.org/event/2025-26-institute-ai-pedagogy-curriculum
Dr. Laura Johnson was honored when her Old Town Eureka-based yoga studio, A Restful Space, won Best of Humboldt in the annual North Coast Journal contest. A Restful Space offers radical rest practice and communal grief tending with an emphasis on ecological, collective, and systemic grief. Over the summer, Laura also published a children's book with art from Pen+Pine called 'The Little Book of Rest.' You can find a copy at the North Coast Co-Op or Eureka Books, or reach out directly to Laura at laura.johnson@humboldt.edu. You can learn more about A Restful Space at www.arestfulspace.com
Kamila Larripa and collaborators Hwayeon Ryu, Susanna Roblitz and Anna-Simone Frank had their paper accepted to the journal Mathematical Biosciences. The paper is titled "Modeling Bistable Dynamics Arising from Macrophage-Tumor Interactions in the Tumor Microenvironment." The results demonstrate how a type of immune cell can either suppress or promote tumor growth and suggest avenues for treatment.
Dr. Frye has been contracted to provide evaluations for high-level foreign nationals seeking special work visas in the United States. These petitioners are seeking a National Interest Waiver for unique endeavors that require extraordinary ability and specialized skill sets not currently available within the US workforce. By vetting these individuals and writing technical expert letters of opinion to be included in their visa application to the US Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS), Dr. Frye is contributing to building a highly specialized, diverse, and inclusive cadre of innovative professionals working within the US to advance the national interest.
Graduate students Angelina Garcia and Adam Canter were selected for a competitive USDA-ARS NextGen Fellowship. Angelina will examine how rangeland invasive species management affects soil properties and plant traits. Adam will study how invasive species management and small-scale control burns can be used to restore species culturally in coastal prairies important to Wiyot people.
Logan Holey was awarded a competitive undergraduate research grant from the Northern California Botanists to conduct research on how air temperature and photosynthetically active radiation vary and potential effects on rangeland plant communities across microhabitats at local solar microgrids in Arcata, McKinleyville and Kneeland.
Cheyenne Ty, Abigail Penland, John Gerving, Martin Mendoza-Ceja, Megan Pratt, and Kamila Larripa had their paper accepted for publication by the journal Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics. The paper is titled "Investigating Potential Alzheimer's Disease Therapies through an Agent-Based Model of Impaired Microglia Metabolism."
California’s hemp industry is struggling: just 19% of surveyed farmers made a profit in 2023, and many plan to exit. A new report from Cal Poly Humboldt researchers Gregg Gold, Erick Eschker, and Joshua Zender explains why: strict THC testing rules hinder market access, and most farmers lack processors for hemp grain, fiber, or CBD. Yet the industry has vast potential in textiles, bioplastics, and food, worth billions annually if developed. Farms fare better when they secure buyers early, diversify products, and work with mentors. The report also outlines policy recommendations to stabilize and grow the sector. Learn more here.
Dr. Villareal and colleagues published a study on Textbook Cost and Interactivity: Comparing Equity Outcomes and Student Perceptions in the Journal of Educational Research and Practice that investigated the impact of equitable access to course resources in the form of different e-textbooks in an introductory chemistry course. The purpose of the study was to determine if the use of a free textbook and/or the use of an interactive textbook enhances students’ academic performance, especially among students from marginalized backgrounds. Researchers analyzed equity data for 199 general chemistry students. Overall, the pattern of course equity gaps suggests there was a positive impact of implementing a free textbook on students’ grades, with the largest impact on racially minoritized students. However, there were no meaningful differences between interactive and noninteractive textbooks in grades. Further research is needed on equitable course resources and equity gaps in STEM.
Cal Poly Humboldt's Master of Business Administration recognized as "Top 10 Dark Horse High-Value MBAs" and "Most Affordable MBA Programs at California’s Public Universities".
Two graduate students from Dr. Sean Craig's lab in Biology have won awards at the International Bryozoology Association (IBA) meeting in Tokyo, Japan! Current student Dana Johnstun won an "outstanding presentation" award, while former student Ismael Chowdhury won a "travel award" to go to the meeting and give 2 presentations. Both students will publish their work in the Conference Proceedings (along with 1 additional former student from Sean Craig's lab, Sheena Stephens-Norton)
Dr. Armeda Reitzel, Professor Emeritus, delivered an invited presentation titled "The Triple A’s of Ancillaries: Advancing Academic Achievement" at the 2025 LIbreFest held in July. Her talk focused on the benefits of open pedagogy.
Kiera Sladen and Ruth Worthington (Politics) were selected for the Fall 2025 Youth Voice Youth Vote Student Fellowship through LEAD California for their project entitled, "Empowering Young Voters: A Civic Engagement Series for Underrepresented Communities in Humboldt County." The fellowship will be directed and supervised by Tani Sebro (Chair, Politics) and Emily Worm (Director of the Center for Community Based Learning). This project will empower young voters in Humboldt County through a series of Fall 2025 events at Cal Poly Humboldt, led by the Politics Club. Their campaign will focus on reducing barriers to voting in rural and tribal communities, educating student voters through a nonpartisan voter education workshop, and promoting awareness of voting rights for students who are formerly or currently incarcerated. Through strategic partnerships and community outreach, this project aims to build a stronger culture of civic engagement in historically underserved communities across the North Coast of California.
Kamila Larripa and collaborators from other institutions had their paper published by BIT Numerical Mathematics. This work introduces algorithms for factorized tensor regression, advancing scalable data science methods for high-dimensional structured data. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10543-025-01078-5
Congratulations to recent Fisheries Biology M.S. graduate Alex Juan (’24) on publishing his thesis research in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes! Co-authored with his advisor Dr. Andre Buchheister and two other Fisheries faculty (Drs. Darren Ward and Rafael Cuevas-Uribe), Alex studied the growth, maturity, and mortality of invasive Sacramento pikeminnow in the South Fork Eel River. His work provides the first documentation of sexual dimorphism in this species and offers critical life history insights that will support ongoing efforts to manage invasive pikeminnow and aid the recovery of threatened native fishes. Check out his first peer-reviewed paper here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10641-025-01734-3.
Justin Harden, a graduate student in the Chin Lab, has been named a USDA-ARS NextGen Fellow.
Enoch Hale, Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning at Cal Poly Humboldt, underscores the importance of identifying the thinking goals to design learning experiences. He works with faculty to clarify the type of thinking they wish students to engage in, and only then to use technology to support deep, reflective, and collaborative thought. By embracing small, intentional pedagogical shifts and aligning tools with educational purposes, Hale comments on the importance of cultivating environments where critical and integrative thinking thrive within and across disciplines.
John Gerving won the Janet L. Andersen Award for Undergraduate Research in Mathematical or Computational Biology at the Mathematical Association of America's MathFest Conference in August 2025. John's poster was "Automated Microglial Phenotype Classification: A Comparison of Transformer-Based and Convolution Vision Models." He was advised by Kamila Larripa and supported by the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Shi Feng’s research explored the instructional strategies, key applications, and implementation challenges of teaching sustainability and resilience in engineering education. Using semi-structured interviews with engineering faculty, the study found that instructors commonly used strategies such as general discussions, project-based learning, and guest lectures.
Faculty identified practicality, the triple bottom line principle (people, planet, profit), and liability and environmental issues as the most important aspects of sustainability. For resilience, they emphasized resiliency itself and rapidity—the speed of recovery after a disruption—as the top priorities.
The most common challenge cited was time constraints. Despite this, students demonstrated improved knowledge and more positive attitudes toward sustainability and resilience after these approaches were implemented.
Dr. Shi Feng co-authored this study which investigated the intersection of these two phenomena: the role of mind wandering while listening to familiar/unfamiliar musical excerpts, and its effects on concurrent linguistic processing. Participants performed a lexical-semantic congruency task while listening to familiar or unfamiliar orchestral pieces, or a non-music sound clip. Mind wandering episodes were probed intermittently. We found that listening to familiar music, relative to unfamiliar music or environmental noise, was associated with faster lexical-semantic decisions and a lower incidence of mind wandering. We infer that familiar music increases task enjoyment, reduces mind wandering, and promotes more rapid lexical access during concurrent lexical processing.
Dr. Regina Jorgenson is helping lead an astronomical study investigating Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs)- powerful flashes of radio waves from deep space whose origins are of great interest to astronomers, yet not well understood. The project will support a post-baccalaureate fellow who will use some of the largest telescopes in the world to study the host galaxies of FRBs to better understand both the sources of these cosmic explosions, as well as the intergalactic matter through which the FRB signal travels – essentially giving us a new way to detect and measure previously unseen matter in the universe. Project funding comes from the National Science Foundation.
Vincent Biondo served as Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies for Trinity Term, 2025, and presented new research on the history of waqf, or charitable trusts, and the implications for Christian-Muslim relations, Church-State relations, and Moral Economy.
Biological Sciences faculty Dr. Pedro Peloso was a senior author on a new paper addressing long-standing confusion in the naming of a group of South American tree frogs (genus Boana, family Hylidae). The study was led by Gisele Cassundé, one of Peloso’s former students from Brazil. Using a combination of genetic and anatomical data, along with an extensive review of literature spanning two centuries, the authors resolved a complex taxonomic puzzle—clarifying species identities and providing a foundation for the description of several new species. The paper was published in the journal Zootaxa.
Reference: Cassundé, G. F., M. J. Sturaro, A. O. Maciel, G. R. Lima-Filho, M. L. Lyra, M. T. Rodrigues, C. F. B. Haddad, A. Aleixo, and P. Peloso. (2005) "Neotype Designations for Hyla geographica Spix, 1824 and Hyla geographica var. sive semilineata Spix, 1824, and Comments on the Phylogeny, Taxonomy, and Diversity of the Boana semilineata Species Group (Anura: Hylidae)." Zootaxa 5660, pp. 505–528. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5660.4.3.
"Experiences of Women AAG Presidents: Leading Through Diverse Voices" (Li, Mossa, Dixon, Oberhauser, Rock, Sultana, and Mukherjee, 2025) has just been released in electronic format (https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2025.2500588). The first in a series of articles on the status of women in Geography, this article focuses on the experience of women presidents of the American Association of Geographers, specifically the challenges they faced and the changes they brought to the organization and the discipline. This article will be bundled into a special issue of the Professional Geographer, encapsulating two years of research by the team.
For at least 25 years, students from the School of Engineering have successfully participated in the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) annual Mathematical Modeling Contest (MCM) and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM). The contest begins on a Thursday afternoon and ends on the following Monday evening. This year the competition started on January 23, 2025 and over 27,000 teams of up to three students from thousands of universities around the world produced a report summarizing their solution to one of six possible problems.
This year, two Environmental Resources Engineering (ERE) student teams of two students each from the Cal Poly Humboldt School of Engineering entered in the competition. Both teams selected an ICM problem focused on constructing a model to track habitat change from forest-to-farm over time as the ecosystem evolves along with accompanying agricultural choices. The analysis was required to include both natural processes as well as human decisions.
Competing against over 6,000 teams that selected this problem, the ERE team of Sayra Montesinos and Sean Ruzicka was awarded the score of Honorable Mention, with less than 10% of the 6,000 teams receiving a higher score. The ERE team of Roland Carter and Zander Leigh was awarded the score of Finalist, with less than 1% of the 6000 teams earning a higher score. Congratulations to Sayra, Sean, Roland and Zander for their achievement in this extremely competitive event. We appreciate your efforts which bring recognition to the School of Engineering at Cal Poly Humboldt!
Mailani Souza, Specialized Funding Analyst in the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs Foundation, received the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) Emerging Excellence in Research Administration Award. This prestigious honor recognizes outstanding contributions by early-career professionals who demonstrate exceptional promise and innovation in research administration. It celebrates emerging leaders who have already made a significant impact and are poised to shape the future of the field. The award aims to inspire continued excellence and innovation, encouraging recipients to push boundaries and advance the profession and the broader research enterprise.
Outstanding Service Award: Dr. Dale Oliver, Professor of Mathematics
Dr. Dale Oliver, Professor of Mathematics and Interim Chair of the Department of Computer Science, is the recipient of Cal Poly Humboldt’s 2024-25 Outstanding Service Award. Since joining the university in 1991, Dr. Oliver has demonstrated sustained, impactful service at the campus, state, and national levels. His contributions include mentoring K–12 teachers through 14 grant-funded programs, serving on prestigious education panels, and holding numerous leadership roles at Humboldt, including Dean, Department Chair, Ombuds, and committee leader. Known for his service leadership philosophy, Dr. Oliver is widely respected for his integrity, compassion, and focus on student and faculty success. Colleagues praise his calm, effective leadership and his lasting positive influence on educational communities. Congratulations, Dr. Oliver!
In April, Cal Poly Humboldt undergrad philosophy students were invited to Pacific University of Oregon to their 27th Philosophy Conference to discuss their authored essays. Esmeralda Macias, Aldina Kelecija, Peter Biren, and Viacheslav Kozlov discussed topics like the ethics of pornography, philosophical intuitions surrounding AI, and positivism in the Latinamerican canon.
Geography major Samantha Ramos won second place for student paper at the California Geographical Society annual conference for her research on the spatial patterns of migrant deaths at the Arizona border.
Geospatial Science and Technology major Andre Oliva won first place in the digital map competition at the California Geographical Society annual conference for his research looking at the accessibility of veteran services in the state of California
Geography major Frank Cortes won first place in the student map design competition at the California Geographical Society annual conference for his map showing Indigenous languages in Mexico.
Award Winner: Lily Yassemi
Co-Curricular: Outstanding Student of the Year
Lily Yassemi was nominated by Michelle Gledhill and Victoria Petrillo for the Outstanding Student of the Year award in the co-curricular category.
Lily is the Founder and President of the Society of Women in STEM Humboldt organization and has been the President of the Computer Science Club at Cal Poly Humboldt. Lily is a trailblazer at Cal Poly Humboldt, demonstrating an exceptional balance between academic excellence, leadership, and extracurricular involvement.
It both clubs she raises funds through grassroots efforts and has produced rapid growth in club membership. In Society of Women in STEM club Lily has built a supportive community with resources and networking. For Computer Science club, Lily has organized industry talks, developed and led technical workshops, and facilitated networking opportunities that have helped students round out their education and build professional connections. She also brings an exciting and engaging mix of activities to the club’s meetings like workshops where students learn how to make their own apps.
She led the club’s participation in the prestigious International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), a globally recognized competition, where Cal Poly Humboldt achieved a top-10 placement—the first time the university has appeared on the ICPC global leaderboard. Lily also spearheaded the development of Hackathon for Social Good, an ambitious event that will bring students together to solve real-world challenges proposed by local non-profits.
Lily pours an extraordinary amount of time and energy into her work. Between leading two STEM-focused academic organizations, organizing high-impact events, and ensuring meaningful opportunities for students, she has made a lasting impact on both the campus and the broader community.
Congratulations Lily!
Award Winner: Cheyenne Ty
Academics & Research: Outstanding Student of the Year
Cheyenne Ty was nominated by Sharon Tuttle and Kamila Larripa for the Outstanding Student of the Year award in the academics & research category.
Kami invited Cheyenne in Fall 2023 to join her National Science Foundation-funded project using mathematical models to investigate the impact of dysfunctional immune cells in the brain. A colleague gave her a very high recommendation after she took a mathematical proofs course with him.
Cheyenne has been the most outstanding undergraduate researcher I have worked with. She quickly came up to speed, devouring large volumes of peer-reviewed biological papers without a background in biology, learned a new coding language and became the expert coder in the group, and contributed a great deal to writing a manuscript, making figures, and overall project management in the first year together. She represented our group by presenting our project at the CSU Research Competition in April 2024. We published a paper from this work, and Cheyenne was with me every step of the way in terms of contributions, writing, revising and organizing supplemental material to be in line with best practices in reproducible research. She is the first author on this paper due to her excellent work.
We are in our second year together of the same project, and have welcomed three new students into the lab group. Cheyenne has stepped into a mentorship role, and continues to push the project ahead with her independence and self-motivation. She is able to explain the necessary biology to our new lab members as well as I can. We are now adding metabolic pathways to our model, and Cheyenne again is delving into the biology and translating mechanisms into code and running simulations. She is a wonderful role model for more junior lab members, and someone I can absolutely count on to contribute to the project with both her work ethic and scientific insights.
Cheyenne has two peer-reviewed publications (one as a first author) and has presented at multiple scientific conferences. This level of activity is quite extraordinary for an undergraduate student.
Her contribution to research projects in the areas of literature review, machine learning experiments, statistical and computational analysis, and programming has been exceptional. As a diligent student with a passion for both mathematics and computer science, her professionalism that surpasses her peers.
Congratulations Cheyenne!!
Dr. Barbara Clucas and graduate student Stephanie Stragier were awarded a grant from the Sequoia Park Zoo to support a study investigating habitat quality of the Western snowy plover, a threatened coastal bird species. In Humboldt County, some chicks are hatching at smaller body sizes, which may be linked to habitat degradation or climate change. This project will analyze chick measurements and habitat quality during the 2024–2025 breeding seasons to identify potential causes, ultimately aiming to inform conservation strategies for the species’ recovery and improve monitoring methods. This work will also provide research experience for Humboldt wildlife undergraduate students.
Alyssa Semerdjian received a Ranges Imaging Mini-Award for a project that will use 3D models generated from MicroCT scans to study nasal turbinates - tiny bones inside the noses of mammals that help them maintain body temperatures and conserve water. The study will focus on rodents from the family Heteromyidae. Members of this family can be found across North and Central American from extremely dry deserts to wet tropical forests. This work will provide new insights into the adaptive significance of nasal turbinates, and how morphology and physiology can vary in closely related small mammal species that occupy different habitats.
Dr. Sean Craig received grant funding to hire undergraduate assistants in a study aimed at protecting and restoring kelp forests. Students will conduct fieldwork, including SCUBA diving in areas with dense sea urchin populations to assist with removal. Urchin overabundance can destroy kelp forests, creating “urchin barrens”- barren sea floors that are devoid of marine biodiversity and lacking in ecosystem health. The project will test different urchin removal frequencies and investigate environmental and ecological factors that support natural kelp recovery. Results will provide valuable insights to guide future kelp management and restoration.
Povheng Yam (MA student in Psychology), Alyssa Huynh (BS student in Biology), and Moriah Climaco (BA student in Art), with volunteer faculty advisor Dr. Paul Michael L. Atienza, successfully gave a presentation at the 2025 Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education National Conference. Titled "Leadership in Action: Lessons from ADPI-MENA on Building and Sustaining Cultural Spaces," the group shared the years of advocacy by students, staff, and faculty at Cal Poly Humboldt toward implementing an academic excellence center for Asian, Desi, Pacific Islander, Southwest Asian, and North African students. Follow ADPI-MENA on Instagram @humboldt.adpic
The Cal Poly Humboldt team representing South Sudan (Amber Rae Alvarez, Madison Henderson, Cruz Lopez, Lana Murillo, Veronica Patton, John Rutter, Kiera Sladen, and Ruth Worthington) at the National Model United Nations conference in New York took home an honorable mention award for their excellent work. Despite its name, the National Model United Nations conference draws 5,000+ students from more than 90 countries around the world. The recognition placed Cal Poly Humboldt in the top quarter of all schools competing at the international conference.
Model United Nations (PSCI 377) is taught every spring by Prof. Noah Zerbe and is open to any interested student.
The Cal Poly Humboldt Model United Nations program had a very successful year. At the regional Model United Nations of the Far West conference, the Humboldt delegation competed against more than 400 students from across the Western United States. The team representing Egypt (Emma Feige, Kiera Sladen, Blake Benbow, Daniel Levine, Amanda Cawthorn, and Florencia Munoz) won an outstanding delegation award. In addition, Amanda Cawthorn was the lead author in the best resolution at the conference, and Kiera Sladen was chosen as the best delegate in her committee.
Model United Nations is offered as a course (PSCI 377) every spring.
The Theatre program's performance of Clue: On Stage was evaluated by a respondent representing the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Region 7. Eight students in the production received awards for KCACTF. Willow Augilar and Ali Laith have been nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting award, which provides them with special training opportunities at next year's KCACTF conference. In addition, 6 students won Meritorious Achievement Awards - Jayden Rocha for Sound Design, Mackenzie Wray for Stage Management, Abby Wetmore for Stage Management, Cora Shimetz for Properties Design, Amanda Coorey for Scenic Design, ande Steven Nicholos for Sound Design.
Our Cal Poly Humboldt engineering team won first place in the Water Treatment Competition this weekend at the annual American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Mid-Pacific Conference, hosted by UC Berkeley!
The Water Treatment Competition challenges students to design a sustainable and effective filter for treating simulated wastewater.
Our students spent two semesters building and improving their filter, and all that hard work paid off. The judges were impressed by their teamwork, school spirit, and ability to effectively communicate technical content.
We’re incredibly proud of their achievement and the way they represented Cal Poly Humboldt on a regional stage. Go Lumberjacks!
This year’s winning team included:
Elijah Harnar, Roland Carter, Zander Leigh, Shea Ciuca Duffy, Erika Ospenson, Nicholas Weiser, Kyle Ellis, Andrew Bricken, Sean Ruzicka, Kyle Amann, Jason Dyck, Felix Canari, Leonardo Castro, Eden Hill, Celeste Joyner, Erick Herrera, Teophil Edward, Hector Manuel, and Micah Matias.
Undergraduate alumna Jordyn Neal (now an M.S. candidate at CSU Fullerton) & Assistant Professor Allison Bronson had their recent publication in the Anatomical Record featured as the journal's "Editor's Choice" article for May 2025. The publication described inner ear shape in four species of sharks, part of a team effort including undergraduate alumna Samantha Rodrigues and data scientist John Denton. The Editor's Choice interview with Neal & Bronson is available through the American Association for Anatomy website.
Chemistry & Biochemistry faculty Joshua Smith is a co-author on a paper with an international team working on using triplet state Baird-aromaticity in photosensitive processes. In this study triplet state Baird-aromaticity is used to stabilize the quencher molecules used in fluorescence imaging. The paper was published in the Royal Chemical Society's open access journal, Chemical Science.
Bakouri, O. E.; Johnson, M. A.; Smith, J. R.; Pati, A. K.; Martin, M. I.; Blanchard, S. C.; Ottosson, H. Search of Improved Triplet-State Quenchers for Fluorescence Imaging: A Computational Framework Incorporating Excited-State Baird-Aromaticity. Chem. Sci. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC01131K.
Dr. Justin Luong received CSU Agricultural Research Institute funding to assess how solar micro grids affect coastal prairie plant communities and soil properties. The study aims to determine land use strategies that maximize ecosystem services for native plant biodiversity, sheep forage, and solar energy. The project involves mentorship and training for undergraduate (Gabriel Abundis, Claudia Alfaro-Hernandez, Logan Holey) students and a graduate student (Angelina Garcia) to improve retention of diverse natural resource managers and scientists in rangeland sciences. Results of this study will inform California policy related to rangeland management and solar energy, as well as natural resource management.
Dr. Cynthia LeDoux-Bloom received a $145,000 grant from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board to develop a monitoring strategy for improving the effectiveness of water quality, sediment, and flow monitoring efforts throughout the Elk River (Humboldt Co.) watershed. The monitoring strategy will be developed in conjunction with the Science and Coordinated Monitoring Workgroup composed of government agencies, non-profit agencies, and landowners. Findings shall serve as the basis for a monitoring plan.
John Meyer, with co-author Sherilyn MacGregor of the University of Manchester, recently published an open-access article titled “How (Not) to Politicize the Climate Crisis: Beyond the Antipopulist Imaginary.” The article is part of a special issue on “The Antipopulist Moment” published by Politische Vierteljahresschrift, the German Political Science Quarterly.