Latest Achievements

Students in Engineering lecturer Lonny Grafman's Practivistas Dominicana program recently returned from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where they worked with community members and local students to develop sustainable, appropriate technologies. Among the projects they completed this summer: designing and building a rural, public pharmacy from plastic bottles and blocks made from rice husks, rice husk ash, lime, cement and sand; redesigning and installing a rainwater catchment system to serve a grade school in the inner-city barrio of La Yuca; developing and constructing renewable energy systems for a local animal shelter. In 2014, students will return to La Yuca and in Las Malvinas, Dominican Republic.

Dr. Hunter H. Fine, a lecturer in the Department of Communication, has published a 20-page essay and 6-minute video on: “The Skateboard Dérive: A Poststructuralist Performance of Everyday Urban Motility.” The study appeared in _Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies_, Vol. 9, No. 3, June 2013. “Dérive” has been defined by Guy Debord as “a movement toward a new way of inhabiting space.”

HSU political science major Ninamarie Jeffrey of Hilo, HI wrapped up a year in Germany this summer as a participant in the U.S. Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX). She took part in the 29th CBYX program, which since 1984 has provided more than 1,700 Americans with the opportunity to gain cultural, theoretical and practical work experience in Germany. Jeffrey was one of 75 participants nationwide for the competitive government-sponsored fellowship for young professionals between the ages of 18 and 24. The program is designed primarily for young adults in business, vocational, engineering, technical and agricultural fields, though candidates in all career fields are encouraged to apply. The program is supported by Congress through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the State Department and by the German Bundestag or parliament.

Mujtaba Zaidi ('11) has launched the Discovering New Artists (DNA) organization, a program that aims to provide free education to underprivileged children in Pakistan. Mujtaba launched the program in 2011 with help from a Project Smile grant. He credits HSU's Youth Educational Services program for teaching him how to engage and lead volunteers.

Mujtaba studied at HSU through IREX, a U.S. non-profit that provides international education, professional training and technical assistance. Mujtaba participated in IREX' Global UGRAD – Pakistan, which builds the capacity of a diverse group of youth leaders from underserved populations across Pakistan.

Two HSU students in the Practivistas Dominicana Program worked with a team to design and build solar power cubes for a hard-to-adopt animal shelter in Dominican Republic. The student project upcycles intermediate bulk containers and uses photovoltaics to power vaccine refrigeration, kennel lighting, cell phones and laptops.

The animal shelter project named Ghetto2Garden is still under construction in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The students work is highlighted by Inhabitat at http://inhabitat.com/students-transform-liquid-shipping-containers-into-solar-lighting-cubes-for-dominican-animal-shelter/ and documented on Appropedia at http://www.appropedia.org/Ghetto2Garden_solar_power.

Jacquelyn Bolman has received a 2013 Professional Mentor Award from the Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) for her work as director of Humboldt State University’s Indian Natural Resource Science and Engineering Program (INRSEP). Bolman is one of five individuals from around the country who will be honored for her work on behalf of Hispanics and Native Americans in the sciences at SACNAS’s annual conference Oct. 3-6 in San Antonio, Texas.

Since 1997, the SACNAS Distinguished Awards program has honored over 80 scientists, educators, and program directors for their commitment to assisting Hispanic/Chicano and Native American scientists attain advanced degrees, careers, and positions of leadership in science. SACNAS is a Santa Cruz-based non-profit dedicated to fostering the success of Hispanic/Chicano and Native American college students and professionals in the sciences. For more information, visit sacnas.org.

Prof. Sam Sonntag co-organized a thematic section on "Governing Languages" at the French Political Science Association conference held at Sciences Po in Paris in July, at which she also presented a paper entitled "India's Linguistic Federalism as Language Policy." Also in July, she was invited to participate in a workshop on "The Economics of Language Policy" in Venice, sponsored by the Center for Economic Studies in Munich.

Faith Neff ('15, Environmental Resources Engineering) was one of 26 students from around the country to participate in the 2013 Harvard Forest Summer Research Program, an 11-week program in ecological research for undergraduate and graduate students.

Neff was part of a two-person team that created and designed an aerial tram under the supervision of Paul Siquiera, an engineering professor at the University of Massachusetts and Mark Van Scoy, a Harvard Forest research assistant. Neff will present their study, “Monitoring ecosystem physiology and vegetation structure in recent clearings," at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union Dec. 9-13 in San Francisco.

The annual Harvard Forest Summer Research Program runs May to August in the Harvard Forest located in Petersham, Mass. Students conduct paid, supervised research focusing on the effects of natural and human disturbances on forest ecosystems, including global climate change, hurricanes, forest harvest, changing wildlife dynamics, and invasive species. The program is funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA and several U.S. universities.

Five Humboldt State University students passed the rigorous “Fundamentals of Soil Science” exam offered on April 15, 2013, becoming Associate Professional Soil Scientists, according to test results from the Council of Soil Science Examiners. Zoe Merrill, Kyle Garvey and Braden Pitcher graduated with degrees in Wildland Soils in the Rangeland Resource Science major. Stephanie Winters graduated with the Rangeland Resources option and completed sufficient soils courses to be a federal Soil Scientist. Rachelle Dilley graduated with a degree in Botany.

The national pass rate for the spring 2013 exam was 63%. Those who pass the fundamentals exam will be eligible to take the Professional Practice exam after five years of professional experience, an additional step in becoming a Certified Professional Soil Scientist. Recent Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) discussions about program self-certification have included the fundamentals exam as one indicator of program quality. Humboldt State University Wildland Soils students (an option under the Rangeland Resource Science major) spend more than 200 hours in field or laboratory learning experiences, honing hands-on skills and field judgment of soil properties, limitations, and capabilities.

Harvey Kelsey, a research associate in the Geology Department, has been named a fellow of the Geological Society of America. Honorees are nominated by existing GSA Fellows for their contributions to the geosciences. Contributions may include publications, applied research, teaching, administration of geological programs, public education, editorial, bibliographic and library responsibilities.

Kelsey was honored for using field investigations of coastal environments to make important contributions to our understanding of the history and processes of great subduction zone earthquakes and tsunamis in Cascadia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Japan.

Sociology lecturer Anthony Silvaggio was recently mentioned in a New York Times article examining the environmental impacts of marijuana production. Silvaggio created a Google Earth video showing the environmental damage caused by industrial pot farms.The video was later enhanced by Mother Jones: http://bit.ly/VDoT01.

Environmental resources engineering student Monica Napoles was recently selected for the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis' (NIMBioS) highly competitive Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK).

The 2013 NIMBioS REU program runs for eight weeks, from June 10 – Aug. 2, and includes 19 undergraduates from universities across the United States. Participants live on campus and work in teams with NIMBioS postdoctoral researchers and UTK faculty on research at the interface of mathematics and biology. The research projects for the 2013 program are mathematical modeling of fetal electrocardiograms; modeling animal disease from coronavirus; automatic detection of rare birds from audio recording; modeling the environmental transmission of E-coli in cattle; modeling protein translation and genome evolution; and modeling animal social network dynamics. More information about the REU program can be found at "nibios.org/reu":http://www.nimbios.org/reu/.

NIMBioS is a National Science Foundation-sponsored initiative to foster interdisciplinary research at the interface between mathematical and biological sciences. Additional NIMBioS sponsors include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Department of Mathematics recently named several scholarship recipients for the 2012-13 academic year. They are:

Mathematics students Natalya Jackson and Wilson Jarrell; winners of the Harry S. Kieval Scholarship, awarded to junior-level students.

Melanie Kaitlyn Weaver; winner of the Mathematics Department's Harry S. Kieval Transfer Scholarship for outstanding performance in college level courses at a two year college in preparation for a mathematics major.

Kyle Steslicki; winner of both the Orval M. Klose Scholarship and the Robert S. Chambers Scholarship for full-time undergraduate mathematics majors.

Anne Adams and Elizabeth Bell; winners of the Travis Jepsen Memorial Scholarship for full-time mathematics majors.

Austin LaComb; winner of the Michael Tucker Scholarship for outstanding junior or senior mathematics major, and

Valerie Yellam; winner of the awarded the Elmo Moore Memorial Mathematics Scholarship for mathematics or mathematics education majors.

Kendall Lewis was named Outstanding Student of the Year '12-13 for the Department of Computer Science.

Oceanography professor Christine Cass was recently named one of the top 20 women professors in California by statestats.org and partner website onlineschoolssalifornia.com. The two sites set out to find post-secondary educators who had been recognized recently for excellence in the classroom, on campus and in the community.

Cass joins professors from Stanford, UC Berkeley and Loyola Marymount in earning the distinction. Cass has served as an assistant professor in the Department of Oceanography since 2011. Her research focuses on changes in West Coast zooplankton brought about by seasonal variations.

Geology student Bobby Voeks was recently accepted into the U.S. Geological Survey/National Association of Geoscience Teachers Cooperative Field Training Program. The USGS/NAGT program is the longest continuously running internship program in the earth sciences. Bobby will work as a hydrologic technician measuring sediment inputs into the Chesapeake Bay. He will be based at USGS headquarters in Reston, VA.

Geology student Claudia Velasco recently accepted a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) Summer Internship studying glacial sedimentology in Brazil and surficial geology in west central, Minnesota for Native American women. Claudia will help an active research project on the origin and history of surficial deposits in west central Minnesota and the late Paleozoic glacial units of Brazil (the Itarare subgroup). Her research will focus on the influence of climate on ice stream movement, the significance of marine interaction and ice sheet grounding, and the nature of ice stream flow (sliding vs. deformation).

Geology student Michelle Robinson was recently accepted into the U.S. Geological Survey/National Association of Geoscience Teachers Cooperative Field Training Program. The USGS/NAGT program is the longest continuously running internship program in the earth sciences. Michelle will be based in Portland, OR working with USGS scientists on water-quality conditions in the Columbia River Basin. He work will focus on "toxics," including anthropogenic-indicator compounds, pharmaceuticals, PBDEs, pesticides and legacy compounds.

Erin Quinn recently accepted a Smithsonian Graduate Student Fellowship at the National Museum of Natural History. Erin will conduct high-temperature, high-pressure experiments on rocks from Chaos Crags, Lassen Volcanic National Park. Erin’s work will be the first experimental phase equilibrium study on Chaos Crags and will provide important constraints on magma storage conditions at Chaos Crags. This is important for better understanding the volcanic hazards within Lassen Park.

Geology student Kelly Morgan will serve as seasonal hydrologic technician with the Rocky Mountain Research Station for summer 2013. Kelly will conduct surveys of geomorphic features in the Upper East Fork Weiser River in central Idaho using GPS and other methods. She will use the Geomorphic Road Assessment and Inventory Package (GRAIP), a process and set of tools for analyzing the impacts of roads on forested watersheds. GRAIP combines a detailed road inventory with a powerful GIS analysis tool set to predict road sediment production and delivery, mass wasting risk from gullies and landslides, and road hydrologic connectivity.

Geology student Joe Camacho Jr. received the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) Summer Internship. Joe will use surface observations to search for blind (subsurface) faults in the North American platform in central Tennessee. He will present his summer research at the fall meeting of the Geological Society of America in Vancouver, BC.

Ryland Karlovich, Talisa Rodriquez, Miles Ross, Matthew Eiben, and Amelia Egle and Dept. of Geography Faculty Members

In May, Geography students and faculty returned triumphant from the 67th California Geographical Society Meeting at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Over 400 academic, NGO, agency, and private sector geographers attended.

The ever-popular student research competition included students from four states and 31 institutions (including 13 CSU and 5 UC campuses).

1st Place
In the student research competition, senior Ryland Karlovich’s gained some identity by analyzing how England's Historic Counties are Losing Identity. Ryland continues this effort as a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh next fall.

Talisa Rodriquez’ year-long effort documenting Primary Succession and Edge Effects in a Northcoast Coastal Dune Habitat took home the Geosystems Award for the best undergraduate physical geography paper.

Miles Ross, Matthew Eiben, and Amelia Egle captured second place in Digital Mapping for their effort on The Geography of Hate: Placing Racist, Sexist and Homophobic Sentiment in Online Social Media. Their effort, prepared under the direction of Professor Monica Stephens, was published May 10th in The Guardian, one of the UK’s leading periodicals.

Eight other students presented a paper, poster or cartographic effort. Faculty members Matt Derrick (who presented a paper) and Stephen Cunha accompanied the students.

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Matthew Lutwen and Ellyn Henderson were recently selected as the 2013 David Kalb Award recipient and runner-up, respectively. Matthew was the recipient of a $1,000 award and Ellyn received a $250 award. This award was established by David Kalb, an alumnus of Humboldt State University. He was a political science major and served as president of the Associated Students. The award is open to any student who has demonstrated personal commitment and leadership by taking an active role in student government.

Senior Holly Leopardi was presented the award for "Exceptional Scholarly Achievement" in the Department of Physics & Astronomy. The annual award honors outstanding Physics & Astronomy Majors at the junior or senior level. The award includes a commemorative hardcover edition of "The Feynman Lectures on Physics."

Bill Reynolds, Professor of Psychology recently published two journal articles. One article, co-authored with colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Ohio State Medical School titled: “Suicide risk in youth with intellectual disability: The challenge of screening” appeared in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Along with Jessica Black (MA, HSU), their research paper on “Examining the relationship of perfectionism, depression, and optimism: Testing for mediation and moderation" was published recently in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

In addition to these journal articles, the second edition of Bill’s book, the Handbook of Psychology, Volume 7: Educational Psychology, which he co-edited with Dr. Gloria Miller of the University of Denver was published in January by John Wiley & Sons. In addition to coediting the book, Bill also contributed two chapters to this 600 page volume. In collaboration with A. Bӑlaj, Bill recently published the Scala de evaluare a tulburӑrilor din adolescentӑ – Forma scurtӑ. APS-SF Manual pentru specialist. Adaptarea si standizarea APS-SF pe populatia din Romania, a Romanian edition of his Adolescent Psychopathology Scale that was standardized and validated with adolescents in Romania. Recently, Bill along with coauthors Kenneth Kobak and Daniel David published the book: HDI Hamilton Depression Inventory inventarul de depresie Hamilton: Manual tehnic si interpretative. In April, Bill presented two papers at the national conference of the Society for Personality Assessment in San Diego. One of these papers described 25 years of international research with the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale.

Also in April, Bill along with undergraduate and graduate research assistants (including Molly Blahausz, Rebekah Becker, Carlos Gonzalez, Esperanza Alcazar, Erin Harris, Melissa Nielsen, Sarah Murphy, Terri McCaben, and Jessica Kirby) presented five research papers at the annual Western Psychological Association conference in Reno, NV. Later this month, Bill and Jessica Black with present a research paper at the Association for Psychological Science meeting in Washington, DC on the assessment of moral identity.

Joshua Peterson received the Mathematics Department Outstanding Teaching Award for AY 2012-13 for teaching lower division courses while completing his master's degree.

Sondra Schwetman has a piece accepted into the Marin Museum of Contemporary Arts' Summer National Juried Exhibition. The show runs June 1 to July 14th.

Kori Sabalow, who is studying International Studies with an emphasis in Globalization, was selected by World Languages & Cultures faculty as the 2013-2014 recipient of the Benavides-Garb Family International Travel Award, which honors a student accepted to participate in an HSU-approved study abroad program.

Owen Krebs, who is studying International Studies with an emphasis in Globalization, was selected by World Languages and Cultures faculty as the 2013-2014 recipient of the Frank B. Wood Scholarship, awarded for academic excellence in language study.

Communication majors Nicole Sheldon and Hayley Connors-Keith contributed to a conference paper, "Prop 37 and the Debate Over 'Natural' Foodways," presented at the "Traditions and Transformations: Interdisciplinary Food Studies Conference" at CSU Fullerton, April 19-21, 2013. Sheldon was a presenter and one of the authors, along with Communication professors Michael Bruner and Laura Hahn. Connors-Keith created the graphics and the slides for the presentation. This project illustrates how faculty and undergraduate students can collaborate on research and is part of the wide range of work on Food Studies being carried out in the College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences.

Alison Holmes, leader of the International Studies Program, was awarded a summer fellowship at the University of London where she will be conducting archival research for 'Global Diplomacy,' a textbook for Westview Press.

Three HSU faculty members recently received 2012/13 CSU Quality Online Teaching & Learning (QOLT) awards for creating exemplary hybrid/online courses. Anthropology faculty members Mary Scoggin & Rebecca Robertson were awarded for their online course "Introduction to Cultural Anthropology." Communication faculty member Tasha Souza was awarded for her hybrid course "Intercultural Communication."

The CSU QOLT program was developed to assist faculty, faculty developers, and instructional designers to more effectively design hybrid and online courses.

History majors James Garrison and Sydney Hinton are the 2013 recipients of two $750 William R. Tanner History Scholarships. The scholarship was established in memory of William R. Tanner, professor of history at Humboldt State University from 1970 to 1999; founder of History Day at the university; and author of “A View from the Hill,” a history of Humboldt State University.

History major Adam Hioki was selected by History Department faculty as the 2013 recipient of the Dr. John Hennessey Award, which honors a graduating history major who has demonstrated academic excellence in the study of history. The award was established in memory of Dr. John Hennessey, a professor of History and department chair at Humboldt State University who, after his retirement from the History Department, provided many years of service to the university.

History majors James Garrison, Sean Mitchell, and Nicholas Gunvaldson were awarded first, second and third place, respectively, in the Charles R. Barnum History Contest, with their combined cash prizes totaling $2,500. The Barnum History Awards celebrate original historical research of Humboldt County. The awards were established in 1952 by a grant from Charles Barnum, a realtor and insurance broker in Eureka who was a member of the Humboldt State College Advisory Board from 1946 to his death in 1953.

History-Social Science Education major Victoria Munguia was selected by History Department faculty to receive the 2013 Johnston-Aronoff Award, which is given each year to an outstanding student pursuing a career in teaching history at the K-12 level. The award was established by Guy Aronoff, a lecturer in the HSU History Department, and his wife, Judy Johnston, in memory of Guy’s father, David Aronoff, and Judy’s mother, Aldy Johnston.

Assistant politics professor Stephanie Burkhalter, and politics major Jaycob Bytel presented "Going Public in Advice and Consent" at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 11-14, in Chicago.

HSU graduate student Leslie Scopes Anderson and Ken Burton have just completed a bird guide entitled "Common Birds of Northwest California – Humboldt, Del Notre & Trinity Counties." Over a year in production, the book is 176 pages and contains over 500 photos, (most by Leslie) as well as habitat charts and informative text about the birds. The guide is published by Redwood Region Audubon Society and will soon be available in local book stores.

Graduate student Leslie Anderson recorded a first-ever sighting of a rare Red-bellied Woodpecker in the state of Nevada. It is also the second western-most sighting in the US of the bird, bested only by one in Idaho in 2003. Leslie noticed the woodpecker in June near the historic Bressman cabin at Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge and documented it with high-quality photographs. The first-sighting was later confirmed by local bird expert Ken Burton and the Nevada Bird Records Committee. An article about the find will appear in the April-May issue of Western Birds.

Two teams of Environmental Resources Engineering students recently took high honors in the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications Mathematical Modeling Contest Jan. 31 to Feb. 4. Both teams worked on the same problem, which required building a mathematical model for an effective, cost-efficient water strategy to meet the United States' projected water needs in 2025. In particular, the model was required to address water storage and movement, desalinization and conservation.

The first team--consisting of Lianna Winkler-Prins, James Courtney and Ryan P. Dunne--earned an honorable mention ranking. The second team--consisting of Kevin Kipp, Britlandt Abney and Andrew Preiksa--was awarded a meritorious ranking. Each team prepared a detailed report that included one of three possible modeling problems.

The manuscript "Medical device compendium for the developing world: a new approach in project and service-based learning for engineering graduate students" by Kathleen Sienko and Amir Sabet Sarvestani of University of Michigan and Lonny Grafman of HSU was published in the Global Journal of Engineering Education.

The manuscript documents the work establishing the Global Health Medical Devices Compendium, a new open-source platform for presenting available medical devices designed for, or implemented in, the developing world at http://www.appropedia.org/Portal:Medical_Devices.

Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence awarded to _The Lumberjack_, _Osprey_ and KRFH Radio News

At a 4-state journalism contest April 13 in Las Vegas, Journalism Major Colleen Chalmers won First Place for Non-Fiction Magazine Articles for “Hazing Kills A Soccer Season.” Journalism Majors Connor Jepson, Lashay Wesley, Karel Vega & Xavion Bond won second place for Best Radio News Reporting for KRFH’s coverage of the California elections. _The Lumberjack_, _Osprey_ and KRFH Radio News walked away with second place awards for Best All-Around Non Daily Student Newspaper; Best Student Magazine; and Best All-Around Radio Newscast.

The Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources presented 22 of its students with nearly $28,000 in scholarships at its 15th annual Spring Awards banquet in April. Three graduating seniors were recognized at the ceremony: Zachary Carter, Academic Excellence Award; Noah Coonen, Professional Promise Award, and Celina Weeg, Most Outstanding Student Award in Rangeland Resources and Wildland Soils. Department Chair Kenneth (K.O.) Fulgham reported that faculty have gained more than $1.37 million in grant research awards in the past 18 months. He recognized retiring Professor John Stuart for his 30 years of service to the department. For the third year running, Stuart was voted “Outstanding Professor of the Year” by the department’s students.

Biology graduate student Rachael Olliff recently received a 2013 conservation grant from the Sequoia Park Zoo of Eureka. Olliff will use the grant to monitor the relationship between the native but seldom-studied dune silver bee and flowering plants on the North Spit of Humboldt Bay and publish informational pamphlets.

Oceanography faculty member Christine Cass recently received a 2013-14 California Sea Grant Focus Award. Cass will spend 18 months studying seasonal changes in the fat and protein content of zooplankton in northern California and southern Oregon. California Sea Grant is funded by the National Sea Grant College Program, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Noah Zerbe, Chair of the Department of Politics, presented a paper entitled "Engaging Students and Promoting Learning through Semester-long Simulations in International Relations" at the International Studies Association. The paper, which followed the implementation of a simulation in his Introduction to International Relations course, demonstrated that active learning strategies can have different but lasting impacts on student retention and engagement.

Isral Konopa, Environmental Resources Engineering undergraduate student, and Britany MacFarlane, Environmental Resources Engineering graduate student, have each received a 2013/14 scholarship from the California branch of the American Council of Engineering Companies.

ACEC invited scholarship applications from full-time students enrolled in California colleges and universities with an ABET-approved engineering program. From all the pplicants, only 5 undergraduate students and 3 graduate students were chosen to receive scholarships.

The Schatz Energy Research Center conference room has been named after SERC founding director Peter Lehman. A professor of environmental resources engineering, Lehman served as SERC's director from 1989 to 2012 and as faculty advisor to the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology from 1979 to 2000. The newly-dedicated room will also include a portrait of Lehman.