Latest Achievements

Updates about the latest accomplishments—including latest research, publications, and awards—by students, faculty, and staff

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Isabel N. Contreras, Jenna Bader, Patricia DuRant, Lonny Grafman, Environmental Resources Engineering

Peer-reviewed journal article published in the International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering (Vol 13 No 2).

"An Analysis of Recycling High Density Polyethylene with Limited Resources"

https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/ijsle/article/view/11621

Arianna Thobaben, Su Karl, Learning Center

Presented at the National College Learning Center Association (NCLCA) Conference in October 2018. They presented "The Power of Professional Development: Using Make it Stick to Expand the Reach of Your Center" after using concepts in the book for a number of professional development events at HSU.

Brian Tissot, Biological Sciences

Brian was elected as the President of the Western Society of Naturalists for 2019.

http://www.wsn-online.org/about-wsn/governance/

Jared D. Larson, Politics

Via his position as research associate with the Instituto Galego de Análise e Documentación Internacional (www.igadi.org), based in Pontevedra (Galicia), Spain, Jared commented on the midterm election results in the U.S. live on Bos Días, a morning news program produced in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), Spain, on 7 November. His commentary begins at the 36:15 minute mark of this link:
http://www.crtvg.es/tvg/a-carta/bos-dias-8-00-3952659?t=2280&fbclid=IwA…

Maral N. Attallah, Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Maral N. Attallah, Lecturer in Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, presented research on “Armenian Genocide Denial and Resolution” at the Fifth International Conference on Genocide, held in Sacramento (November 1-3).

Buddhika Madurappeuma, Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Peer-reviewed article published in Remote Sensing Journal (IF 3.41). "Remote Sensing Approach to Detect Burn Severity Risk Zones in Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica"

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/9/1427

Jim Graham, Melissa Kimble, Environmental Science & Management

Natural Resources graduate student Melissa Kimble and advisor Jim Graham's peer-reviewed article, "Visualizing Uncertainty in Habitat Suitability Models with HEMI 2", accepted for publication.

Hunter Hawkins Fine, Communication

Book Announcement – Surfing, Street Skateboarding, Performance, and Space: On Board Motility

Description:

This book examines the cultural, political, and social implications of surfing and street skateboarding by drawing on critical cultural studies, political philosophy, postcolonial studies, urban sociology, and poststructuralist theory to analyze and render everyday performances as critical theoretical gestures.

Please visit https://Rowman.com/Lexington and hunterhawkinsfine.com for more information. For a 30% discount, order directly from Lexington Books using code LEX30AUTH18.

Monica Pina, Miles Ritch, Nic Anderson, Tiffany Perez, and Daniel Guzman., Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

"HSU Collegiate Soil Contest team placed 2nd in group judging (where all were in one pit) and 3rd in team judging (top four contestants overall).
The contest was held near CalPoly San Luis Obispo on Nov. 3. CalPoly SLO will host the national soil collegiate contest in April. HSU's team looks forward to competing in this national competition where 20 plus teams from across the United States will compete. The team improved from its first attempt at soil judging last year where it received two third place awards. Cal Poly leads the pack (and actually has the world's best soil judger on its team), but HSU outperformed Fresno State this year in the group event and was ahead of CSU Chico overall.

Kelly Pfeiler, Alexander Bippus, Ashley Kammet, Ashley Ortiz, Mihai Tomescu (with I.H. Escapa), Biological Sciences

Paper presented at 10th European Paleobotany-Palynology Conference in Dublin, Ireland: "Fossils and seed cone morphology in the resolution of phylogenetic relationships among basal Cupressaceae s.l."

Mihai Tomescu (with A. Elgorriaga, I.H. Escapa, G.W. Rothwell, N.R. Cuneo), Biological Sciences

Paper presented at 17th Simposio Argentino de Paleobotánica y Palinología, Paraná, Argentina: "Que es Equisetum? Estudio filogenético para el orden Equisetales"

p. 94 in http://www.palino.com.ar/alpp/BoletinesALPP/Programa_Resumenes_ONLINE_2018.pdf

Mihai Tomescu, Biological Sciences

Invited blog post on Botany One blog: "Exquisitely preserved tiny fossils are key for understanding moss evolution"

https://www.botany.one/2018/07/exquisitely-preserved-tiny-fossils-are-k…

Kerri J. Malloy, Native American Studies

Kerri J. Malloy, Lecturer in Native American Studies, presented his paper “From Intangible to Tangible: Touching the Legacy of Genocide Prevention” at the 5th International Conference on Genocide (November 1-3) at California State University, Sacramento.

Alison O'Dowd, Environmental Science & Management

ESM Professor Alison O'Dowd gave a presentation, "Freshwater Science in the CSU system" at the annual meeting of the California Chapter of the Society for Freshwater Science in Davis, CA on Oct 24, 2019.

Trinity Smith, Wildlife

Graduate student Trinity Smith (in Wildlife) won best student poster at the North American Society for Bat Research (NASBR) conference last week for her poster entitled:
“Patterns of western red bat occupancy across a disturbed landscape in California’s Central Valley”. The conference was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico October 24-27 (https://www.nasbr.org/annual-meetings).

Genevieve Marchand, School of Applied Health

Presented research at the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education Research Symposium in Snowbird, UT, research findings concerning place attachment, well being, and participation in the Outdoor Nation Campus Challenge

Beth Eschenbach, Environmental Resources Engineering

Served as Technical Program Chair for the 2018 Frontiers in Education conference in San Jose California. FIE is a premier international engineering education conference.

MS Student Katrina Smith (with D.C. Barton and D.A. Riggs), Wildlife

Presenting a paper "Site selection in a population monitoring program for Townsend’s big-eared bats: Does cave morphology predict abundance of hibernating bats?" at annual meeting of the North American Society for Bat Research, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

MS Student Justin Demianew (with A. D. Macedo, J. M. Garwood, and D. C. Barton), Wildlife

Presented an invited paper "The high life: Ecology and conservation of montane reptiles" at annual meeting of the Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology, Portland, OR

MS Student Alyssa Marquez (with L. Diller and D. C. Barton), Wildlife

Presented a paper "Response of headwater amphibians to logging impacts and assessment of restoration potential in Redwood National and State Parks." at annual meeting of the Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology, Portland, OR

Dan Barton (with P. Capitolo, R. Golightly, H. Carter, and G. McChesney), Wildlife

Presented a paper "Application of auto-regressive state-space models to estimate population trends and observation error from seabird colony counts" at Pacific Seabird Groups's annual conference in La Paz, BCS, Mexico

Shayda Abidi, Alexander Bippus, Mihai Tomescu, Biological Sciences

Paper presented at 10th European Paleobotany-Palynology Conference in Dublin, Ireland: "Early Cretaceous anatomically-preserved Marsileaceae from California (USA) and the evolution of sporocarp morphology"

Kelly Matsunaga, Mihai Tomescu, Biological Sciences

Invited chapter in edited volume ("Current Advances in Fern Research"/Springer): "Reciprocal illumination and fossils provide important perspectives in plant evo-devo: examples from auxin in seed-free plants"

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-75103-0_10

Kelly Pfeiler, Mihai Tomescu, Biological Sciences

Paper presented at 10th European Paleobotany-Palynology Conference in Dublin, Ireland: "Closing in on the origins of secondary growth in euphyllophytes: are the shared developmental pathways and Devonian record pointing to a single common origin?"

Adolfina Savoretti (visiting student from Argentina), Alexander Bippus, Mihai Tomescu (with B. Bomfleur), Biological Sciences

Invited chapter in edited volume ("Transformative Paleobotany"/Elsevier): "Why Are Bryophytes So Rare in the Fossil Record? A Spotlight on Taphonomy and Fossil Preservation"

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128130124000164

Mihai Tomescu (with G.W. Rothwell and I.H. Escapa), Biological Sciences

Peer-reviewed article in American Journal of Botany: "Tree of death: The role of fossils in resolving the overall pattern of plant phylogeny"

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajb2.1138

Kerry Byrne, Environmental Science & Management

Kerry Byrne was awarded a research grant of $45,982 from the US Dept of Fish and Wildlife to study Applegat's milkvetch.

Kerry Byrne, Environmental Science & Management

Kerry Byrne was awarded funding by the RSCA program for her research project entitled "Experimental Restoration Method for Novel Nitrogen-Enriched Plant Communities at Lanphere Dunes, Arcata, CA."

Bill Trush, Environmental Science & Management

Bill Trush presented a talk entitled "Developing Ecological Flow Criteria for the South Fork Eel River" at the annual meeting of the California Chapter of the Society for Freshwater Science in Davis, CA on Oct 24th.

Emily Cooper, Environmental Science & Management

Emily Cooper (HSU River Institute Research Scientist) presented a talk entitled "Quantifying Ecological Risk in the South Fork Eel River" at the annual meeting of the California Chapter of the Society for Freshwater Science in Davis, CA on Oct 24th.

Alison Holmes, International Studies

Alison Holmes, International Studies Program Leader, presented a conference paper at the New Diplomatic History Network conference at the Roosevelt Institute of American Studies in the Netherlands entitled 'Nested sovereignties - networked diplomacies: UK-US business negotiating the global state'.

Angelo DiMario, Jeff Kane, Erik Jules, Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Forestry student, Angelo DiMario (2018) lead authored an article in the journal Northwest Science from research conducted while he was an undergraduate student. This research characterized fuel loading around large sugar pine in the Klamath Mountains and was supported by the Research, Creative Activies, and Scholarship fund. Faculty members Jeff Kane (Forestry) and Erik Jules (Biology) were co-authors on the paper.

Gilbert Trejo, Brian Murphy, Melissa Collin, Josh Shindelbower, Quint Migliardi, Sam Wood, Kathleen Johnston, and Evan Dowdakin, Geography

Presented original cartographic research and design at the North American Cartographic Information Society Annual Meeting in Norfolk, VA, continuing Humboldt State's reputation as one of the leading universities for cartography in the United States. HSU took home the prize for top student research poster, making it the 3rd consecutive year HSU has won the student competition.

Brian Murphy, Environmental Science & Management

Won first place in student research at the North American Cartographic Research Society Annual Conference in Norfolk, VA with his map about the growth of the Hobet coal mine in West Virginia over 40 years, illustrating how the practice of mountaintop removal and valley fills creates unmitigable impacts to nearly all aspects of the geography, from geology and hydrology, to human health and economic development.

Harry Liddic, Dance, Music & Theatre

Harry Liddic received a certificate of honor and 5th Place Short Screenplay in the CSU Media Arts Festival for The Battle of Tewkesbury. This script was developed in FILM 350 Writing for Film with Prof. David Scheerer. Harry is in the over 60s program at HSU.

Courtney Otto, Biological Sciences

Won the 2017/18 HSU Distinguished Faculty Award of Excellence in Teaching - Lecturer.

Robert Zoellner, Chemistry

Won the HSU Distinguished Faculty Award of Outstanding Professor. Dr. Zoellner will be giving a free lecture on Nov. 8, 2018 at 5:00pm in KBR.

https://aavp.humboldt.edu/current-faculty-award-recipients

Karsten Hayes, Schatz Energy Research Center

Developed an initial cost model (using Python and R) for north coast California offshore wind energy. The model includes associated storage needs, and integrates high-resolution offshore wind resource data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with load data for Humboldt County and California, drawn from Pacific Gas & Electric and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO).

Max Blasdel, Schatz Energy Research Center

Continued his ongoing work for the California Biopower Impacts Project. Max is characterizing the field decomposition of woody biomass residues left behind by forestry operations. His efforts comprise a key component of the business-as-usual case used to evaluate the net climate impacts of biomass removal for electricity generation. Max’s project research will form the basis for his master’s thesis in the Natural Resources program here at Humboldt State.

Sabrinna Rios Romero, Schatz Energy Research Center

Quantified decay rates for the post-harvest residues of seven agricultural crops: corn, wheat, rice, cotton, almond, walnut and grape. These decay rates will allow us to better assess the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission implications of leaving residues in field versus converting them into electricity. This fall, Sabrinna is surveying state foresters to clarify the fate of forest residues — i.e. whether they are piled, burned, or scattered in the field — information which will allow us to more accurately assess emissions following forest harvest. She has also been analyzing biomass samples using a bomb calorimeter and a thermogravimetric analyzer, to measure the performance of a gasifier system

Dr. Loren Cannon, Philosophy

Dr. Loren Cannon, Department of Philosophy, presented his paper "Trans Scapegoating" at the Conference "Thinking Trans and Trans Thinking Conference" in Washington DC, Oct 5 - 6th. The conference was part of the National Trans Philosophy Project with which Dr. Cannon has been a part. He also sat on two panel discussions.

https://www.american.edu/cas/philrel/trans/schedule-2018.cfm

Dylan Neely, Matthew Marshall, Dawn Blake, Wildlife

Presented posters (Dylan & Matthew) and an oral presentation (Blake) of their wildlife research at the 2018 American Indian Science & Engineering Society annual conference in Oklahoma City.

Craig Benson, Environmental Science & Management

Keynote Speaker presented "Saving Soil, Saving Culture" at AUSIECA/NZHIT Conference in Christchurch, NZ

Angelo DiMario, Jeffrey Kane, Erik Jules, Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Angelo DiMario (2017) published a paper in Northwest Science from work he conducted as an undergraduate student that characterized fuel build-up around large sugar pines in the Klamath Mountains.

rroulou'sik REU and UC Davis UG Student Jade Little (with D.C Barton, S. Brinkman, and HSU MS student C. Nasr), Wildlife

Won best student poster for "Pelagic Cormorant Nesting Success and Oceanic Conditions in Northern California", presented at American Indian Science and Engineering Society annual conference, Oklahoma City, OK

Dan Barton, Wildlife

Named a "National Academies Undergraduate Education Mentor in the Life Sciences" for work with the Northwest Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching (2018-2019)

https://www.summerinstitutes.org/

Dan Barton, Wildlife

Presented a paper "Comparative analysis of parental effects on the evolution of developmental period length in Anseriform birds" at The Wildlife Society's annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio

Adolfina Savoretti (visiting student from Argentina), Alexander Bippus, Mihai Tomescu (with D. Guido, J.L. Garcia Massini), Biological Sciences

Paper presented at 17th Simposio Argentino de Paleobotánica y Palinología, Paraná, Argentina: "Briofitas anatómicamente preservadas en el Jurásico de Santa Cruz y su relevancia en el contexto evolutivo"

p. 97-98 in http://www.palino.com.ar/alpp/BoletinesALPP/Programa_Resumenes_ONLINE_2018.pdf

Mihai Tomescu (with G.W. Rothwell), Biological Sciences

Invited chapter in edited volume ("Evolutionary Developmental Biology - A Reference Guide"/Springer): "Structural fingerprints of development at the intersection of evolutionary developmental biology and the fossil record"

https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-33038-9_…

Selin Toledo, Alexander Bippus, Mihai Tomescu, Biological Sciences

Peer-reviewed article in American Journal of Botany: "Buried deep beyond the veil of extinction: Euphyllophyte relationships at the base of the spermatophyte clade"

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajb2.1102