Updates about the latest accomplishments—including latest research, publications, and awards—by students, faculty, and staff
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.
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, 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
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.
Keynote Speaker presented "Saving Soil, Saving Culture" at AUSIECA/NZHIT Conference in Christchurch, NZ
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.
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
Named a "National Academies Undergraduate Education Mentor in the Life Sciences" for work with the Northwest Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching (2018-2019)
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
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
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_…
Peer-reviewed article in American Journal of Botany: "Buried deep beyond the veil of extinction: Euphyllophyte relationships at the base of the spermatophyte clade"
Peer-reviewed article in American Journal of Botany: "Wanted dead or alive (probably dead): Stem group Polytrichaceae"
Rachael Heller will be presenting her research on Blizzard's World of Warcraft this November at the American Anthropological Association annual conference in San Jose as part of a poster session the importance of undergraduate student research. Her work examines identity formation, investment, and social structure of an in-game guild. To learn more, visit any Anthropology Community event, or email her at rmh92@humboldt.edu.
Kerri J. Malloy, (CAHSS Student Learning Coordinator/Native American Studies) was appointed to the leadership team of the California Learning Communities Consortium at their LCP Coordinators’ and Leaders’ Meeting at the University of La Verne in La Verne, California on October 19, 2018. The California Learning Communities Consortium (CLCC) is the collaborative project of California 2 and 4-year colleges committed to improving the quality of student education through collaborative learning.
Named "Range Manager of the Year" by the California-Pacific Section of the Society for Range Management. Awarded during HSU's 50th Anniversar Celebration. Class of 1968 Alum William Lauenroth (currently at Yale University) attended the celebration as a special speaker.
Presented an invited symposium paper "Incorporating Inclusive Pedagogy in Field Classes" at The Wildlife Society's annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio, and was an invited expert panelist on inclusive teaching in wildlife biology
http://twsconference.org/sessions/inclusive-pedagogy-creating-inclusive…
Won 25th International Wildlife Quiz Bowl at The Wildlife Society's annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio, beating out 22 other teams from research universities and teaching colleges around North America. This is HSU's 12th win of this event.
http://wildlife.org/humboldt-state-university-brings-back-quiz-bowl-cha…
Madelinn Schriver (MS 2015, Forestry and Wildland Resources), Rosemary Sherriff, and US Forest Service and UC Cooperative Extension collaborators published an article on oak woodlands along a gradient of conifer encroachment in northwestern California in the journal Ecosphere. The study highlights (1) the process and severity of encroachment is consistent across the region, resulting in substantial oak habitat loss and a shift toward conifer dominance in formerly diverse woodlands of northwestern California; and (2) oak woodlands require concerted management effort to ensure their future persistence. Article weblink: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2446
Micah Wright and Rosemary Sherriff published a new article on climate change impacts in forests in Southwest Alaska with National Park Service collaborators in the open-access journal Ecosphere. Results suggest that historically productive forests in Southwest Alaska are showing declines in growth under warmer conditions, with important implications for future forest conditions and productivity. Our results corroborate climate change model forecasts for the region. Article weblink: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2462
Andre and colleagues obtained a research grant from the Lenfest Ocean Program (a grantmaking program managed by The Pew Charitable Trusts) to study fisheries management options for an important fish species (Atlantic Menahaden) along the US East coast. Atlantic Menhaden (a fish in the herring family) supports the largest fishery on the east coast, but it is also a key prey for numerous species in the ecosystem. The study involves using an ecosystem model to evaluate the impact that Atlantic menhaden fisheries can have on the broader ecosystem, including predators like other fishes, marine mammals, and seabirds. The research grant is supporting an HSU Masters student, Max Grezlik.
Organized a colloquium at the national meeting of the Botanical Society of America in Rochester, Minnesota: "Fossil plants at the intersection of evo-devo and phylogeny: celebrating the contributions of Gar W. Rothwell to biodiversity and evolution"
Dr. Smith received a Fulbright Scholar Award and an American-Scandinavian Award to study triplet ground state Baird aromatic compounds in Uppsala, Sweden during the 2018-19 AY.
Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in STEM grant awarded to the CSU system wide from NSF and Chancellor's office. HSU's award for 2018/2019 is $40,000 primarily for student support.
Received travel awards from the Botanical Society of America to attend and present research at the 10th European Paleobotany-Palynology Conference in Dublin (Ireland), Aug 2018
Dr. Tomescu Co-edited a special issue of American Journal of Botany: "Tree of Death: The Role of Fossils in Resolving the Overall Pattern of Plant Phylogeny" (with G.W. Rothwell and I.H. Escapa). You can see the full article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15372197/2018/105/8
Green Chemistry (4th year in a row) and Honorable Mention student chapter award for 2017-2018 AY from the American Chemical Society (ACS)
As part of a collaboration with GE & Southern California Edison, Anh Bui developed an algorithm using Python code for estimating the tension between shifting a customer load to benefit the grid versus shifting a load to reduce their bill. Anh also helped with the installation of our new Schatz Solar Array in September.
Craig provided construction observation at the Solar+ installation, tracking the canopy weight in real-time and serving as an onsite liaison between contractors and the Schatz microgrid team. As part of his observation, Craig recorded the installation’s actual daily labor and equipment requirements, to better define the needs for similar projects in the future.
These students have been developing a model to assess the current and future costs of building microgrids that integrate solar, battery storage, and fast EV charging. This model will help define which sites are good candidates for investment, and identify future research and development opportunities.
Carly Marino was invited by the California State Archivist to join the California Historical Records Advisory Board (CHRAB) as the College and University Archives Representative. The CHRAB serves as a central advisory body within California for historic records planning and coordination and reviews the National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant applications.
Dr. Joshua Frye, Communication, recently published an article entitled “Teaching future doctors to communicate: a communication intervention for medical students in their clinical year” in the Journal of Communication in Healthcare. Frye was a member of a communication consulting and research team alongside his colleague Dr. Joshua Hammonds from Rollins College that worked with Columbia University Medical School and Bassett Healthcare to develop a communication curriculum for third-year medical students during clinical training. The communication intervention was successful in improving the students’ communication skills, especially information giving, which is critical to enabling patients to make informed decisions in shared decision-making.
Kinesiology & Recreation Administration instructor and boating safety officer Steve Monk received the 2018 Outstanding Service Award from the National Association of Underwater Instructors. A recreational dive certification and membership organization, the association provide international diver standards and education programs. It promotes “Dive Safety Through Education” and its members are known and respected all across the industry for the quality of their teaching, concern for the individual student, and safety awareness.
Forestry Graduate Student, Alexis Bernal submitted a grant proposal to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and was awarded a research grant of $24,460 for studying the effect of variable density thinning and burning treatments on the spatial patterns of drought-related tree mortality.
Peter Lehman was awarded $120,000 from the Humboldt Transit Authority for HTA Long-Term Energy Planning.
Darren Ward was awarded $75,000 from UCSD for Freshwater Ecology Research Collaboration.
Dr. Tim Bean was awarded $118,000 from the Karuk Tribe for Marble Mountain Elk Ecology Collaborative Research.
Geography professors Matthew Derrick and Rosemary Sherriff co-edited the 2018 issue of The California Geographer, the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the California Geographical Society. The volume—weighing in at more than 270 pages the largest in journal’s nearly six-decade history—features articles from HSU Geography faculty, including Derrick Nicholas Perdue, and former students, including Nathaniel Douglass and Eric Fowler, as well as academic geographers from throughout the state. The 2018 issue marks the second year of Derrick and Sherriff editing the journal; it can be accessed at the following link: http://scholarworks.csun.edu/handle/10211.3/203086
Former graduate student Matt Delheimer published his thesis in the September issue of the Wildlife Society Bulletin, along with co-authors Keith Slauson, Micaela Gunther, and Bill Zielinski. His work documented the Use of Artificial Cavities by Humboldt marten, recently listed as an endangered species in California.
Alison Holmes, International Studies, attended the Global Action Summit in San Francisco as an accredited journalist for The American of London (where she has had a column for over 15 years). Her blog can be found at: http://www.theamerican.co.uk/pr/GCAS2018_index.php
Alison Holmes, International Studies, presented on two roundtables at the International Studies Association - West conference in Pasadena. "Academia in Contentious Times" discussing the research and practical concerns of the current political climate and as an invited panelist for the "Pay it Forward" mentoring program for young faculty. She also finished her term on the ISA-West Executive.
Dr. Eugene Novotney, Professor of Music, had eight new steelband arrangements published over summer 2018 by MauMau Music, the premier publisher of steelband music worldwide. Three of these publications are arrangements of compositions by Trinidadian artist, Ray Holman, who performed at HSU with the Calypso Band in Spring 2018, and two others are by Trinidadian legend, Clifford Alexis, who performed at HSU with the Calypso Band in Spring 2016. The other three publications are steelband arrangements of classic Trinidadian calypso and soca compositions by David Rudder, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe, and Clive Bradley of the Desperadoes Steelband.
Amy Beltrán (Theatre major), Sammi Stowe (Theatre major), and Dr. Troy Lescher (TFD) researched, edited, and published the "Doctoral Projects in Progress in Theatre Arts, 2018" report in the June 2018 edition of Theatre Journal [Association of Theatre in Higher Education].
Dan Aldag has had two of his arrangements for jazz band published by Really Good Music. The arrangements are "Shimmer", composed by Allison Miller, and "Smack Dab", composed by Bobby Previte. Both compositions were originally written for small jazz groups and have been arranged for big band by Aldag.
Mark Colwell and Lizzie Feucht published a paper (Aug 2018) in Wader Study, an international journal dedicated to the ecology and conservation of shorebirds. Their work shows that Humboldt Bay hosts half a million shorebirds during spring migration alone! This information will be used to increase recognition of the bay under the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.
Dr. Alstone presented the results of a multi-year study of grid flexibility to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy "Summer Study 2018" conference in Pacific Grove, California.
The conference paper is titled, "Integrating Demand Response and Distributed Resources in Planning for Large-scale Renewable Energy Integration."
You can download the paper at: http://aceee.org/files/proceedings/2018/
Jared D. Larson has just returned from the 40th Annual Conference of the Association for Contemporary Studies, of which he was co-organizer of the tri-lingual academic program, held at the School of Law of the University of Barcelona (5-7 Sept). Jared was the sole presenter of a co-authored paper (with Dr. Juliette Tolay of Penn State-Harrisburg) entitled "The Comparative Politics of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment: The Curious Cases of Spain, Portugal and Turkey."
Physics & Astronomy alumni published a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Excellence entitled "Experimental Progress Towards Testing the Behavior of Gravity at the 20-micron Distance Scale." The work, whose primary author is Michael Ross ('15), focuses on research activities carried out in the HSU Gravitational Physics Laboratory primarily during the 2014-16 time frame. The article can be found here:
http://www.jurpress.org/s/J733FA17_Final_v4.pdf
Kamila Larripa's multiple myeloma research group had a paper accepted to the Journal for Theoretical Biology. A link to the paper is here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022519318304259
This fall, HSU journalism students will be able to take an in-depth reporting class from someone who wrote the book on investigative reporting – Professor Marcy Burstiner.
Burstiner’s second edition of “Investigative Reporting: From Premise to Publication” was published by Routledge in July. For this updated version of a text first published in 2009, Burstiner includes tips from not only veteran investigative reporters but also college students who had carried out successful investigations for their campus news organizations. The new edition includes extensive discussion of data reporting and analysis for investigative stories. It also directs readers to free, collaborative tools for collecting, organizing and analyzing information, and it guides readers through the process of public records requests, as well.
"So many guides to investigative reporting are geared to experienced journalists and scare away students," Burstiner said. "I felt it important to show students that they can do investigations themselves right out of beginning reporting, by introducing them to their own peers who have done just that."
This semester, Burstiner is teaching an investigative reporting course, during which students will look at housing issues for renters in Humboldt County.
“The need to train journalists to do accurate in-depth reporting on complex topics is fast becoming one of the most important tasks of our era," said JMC chair Deidre Pike. "We're fortunate to have a national leader like Marcy teaching this class."
HSU journalism alumnus Matt Drange, a reporter at The Information, calls the book “illuminating” and “accessible.”
“This book provides the building blocks for students to conduct and publish their own investigative reporting with or without the support of a traditional classroom environment,” Drange wrote. “The bullet-proof methodology and straightforward approach Burstiner outlines provide guidance for first-year reporters and veteran journalists alike.”
Humboldt County residents may best know Burstiner from her long-running Media Maven column in the North Coast Journal.
Before coming to HSU, Burstiner worked as a reporter and editor for a series of publications including the San Francisco Business Times, thestreet.com and The Deal financial magazine and website.
Here’s a link to the book’s page on Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/Investigative-Reporting-From-Premise-to-Publication-2nd-Edition/Burstiner/p/book/9781138572164