Latest Achievements

Humboldt State recently made "Sierra" magazine's list of most environmentally responsible schools in the country. The eighth annual ranking, compiled by the Sierra Club's magazine, includes schools that lead the way in green programs and initiatives.

Wildlife faculty member Barbara Clucas has published a paper in the academic journal "Urban Ecosystems" titled "How much is that birdie in my backyard? A cross-continental economic valuation of native urban songbirds." The study presents the first attempt at estimating the economic value of enjoying common native urban songbirds in Seattle, Wash. and Berlin, Germany.

Former Humboldt State University President Rollin Richmond has received the title of President Emeritus by the California State University Board of Trustees. The designation, which commends Richmond’s years of distinguished service, came during the Trustee’s July 22 board meeting.

Text of the resolution is available at the California State University website: http://calstate.edu/bot/agendas/jul14/Plenary.pdf

Molly Shea ('16, Wildlife) recently represented HSU at the Collegiate Sports Sustainability Conference in Boulder, Colorado, where the Waste Reduction and Resource Awareness Program was presented with an award for its high diversion rate in the 2013 Game Day Challenge. The Game Day Challenge is a national competition to promote waste reduction at university and college football games. Shea is coordinator for R.O.S.E., the Reusable Office Supply Exchange on campus.

Professor William Wood was recently interviewed in an _Outside_ magazine article on skunk spray. Wood specializes in chemical ecology, or the way plants and animals use chemicals to convey messages in nature. He is an Emeritus Professor in Chemistry. For the full "article":http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/On-the-Very-Smell….

Psychology Professor William Reynolds has received a lifetime achievement award from the American Psychological Association. The award is granted to those who demonstrate a sustained program of scholarship of exceptional quality throughout their career. For the past 32 years, Reynolds' research has focused in part on developing methods and procedures to assist school psychologists in catching students before they fall in life-threatening ways.

Communication Professor Michael S. Bruner has been appointed to the Editorial Board of the journal, "Argumentation and Advocacy." Bruner joins a group of scholars from across the nation in support of one of the leading communication journals on advocacy, argumentation, debate, public discourse, and public deliberation.

Humberto Montano (Art) has been accepted to the summer 2014 Career Discovery Program at Harvard University, with a full tuition scholarship. His studies will focus on Urban Design. Students spend their time in a stimulating studio environment at the Harvard Graduate School of Design that mirrors a graduate level studio experience. They learn to analyze any challenge from multiple angles, pursuing new ways of thinking and seeking out creative solutions. Humberto will have a chance to work directly with faculty from Harvard's Graduate School of Design and the Rhode Island School of Design as well as notable professionals from the fields of urban design, architecture and planning.

Geology Professor Lori Dengler has been named Chair of the California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN) Advisory Committee. CISN is the system that integrates the data inputs from the USGS, California Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, Caltech Seismo Lab, and the California Geological Survey into a seamless interface for rapid dissemination of earthquake information to a broad spectrum of users. CISN software packages are designed for first responders, emergency managers, and critical lifeline organizations. In the next decade, CISN will be taking the lead in implementation of California's Earthquake Early Warning System. More information about CISN is at http://www.cisn.org/

On May 8th, the team received the Honorable Mention (2nd place) award for innovative system design and excellent analysis in the Hydrogen Education Foundation’s 2014 Hydrogen Student Design Contest. The team designed a modular, drop-in hydrogen fueling station that can be installed in under a 7 days, and dispense 5 kg of high pressure hydrogen fuel in under 5 minutes. See http://hydrogencontest.org/ for more details.

Sixteen geography students, along with two faculty members (Chris Haynes and Matthew Derrick), attended the 68th annual meeting of the California Geographical Society, held May 2-4 at Los Angeles City College. Eight of the HSU student geographers, along with Professor Derrick, presented research papers; another five students presented cartography projects or research posters. Marlyn Montgomery was awarded first place in the digital cartography competition for her project titled “Community Cartography in California,” and Will Firch was awarded third place in the research poster competition for his project titled “Urban Geography of a Gold Rush Town: Weaverville, California in 1860.”

Dr. Armeda Reitzel, professor of Communication, will present her paper "Connections in the Co-creation of Identity in Internationally Adopted Youth" at the International Communication Association conference in Seattle, WA May 22-26, 2014. This paper combines Dr. Reitzel's research areas of intercultural communication and adolescent communication.

Bruce A. O'Gara, Professor of Zoology and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, was recently profiled in the Member Spotlight section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) website. Read the full text here: "http://membercentral.aaas.org/blogs/member-spotlight/bruce-o-gara-teach…":http://membercentral.aaas.org/blogs/member-spotlight/bruce-o-gara-teach….

The AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the prestigious scientific journal, Science. The profile entitled "Bruce O’Gara teaches his students how to find an answer" details how Prof. O'Gara works with students in his research laboratory to provide practical training to help them advance in their scientific careers. Featured in the profile is the research of senior Cellular and Molecular Biology major Araik Sinanyan on the endocrine disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) and its effects on the regeneration of lost body parts of an annelid worm. Also featured in the profile are quotes from HSU graduate Michael Smeaton, who attributes his experiences in O'Gara's laboratory as being an important factor in giving him the confidence to earn a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and perform postdoctoral work at Cal-Tech and Stanford.

Reggie Blackwell ('14) has landed an NSF Graduate Fellowship to pursue a PhD at Scripps Institute beginning in fall 2014. His project is titled "Invasions within Humboldt Bay California by cryptic species of bryozoans (watersipora spp.) spatial and temporal dominance by three clades."

Holly Leopardi ('14, Physics) recently took second place in the Physical and Mathematical Sciences Division at the CSU Research Competition May 2 and 3 at CSU East Bay. Leopardi's project was titled "Tests of Gravity Below Fifty Microns." Her faculty advisor was C.D. Hoyle, Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy.

Leopardi was recently named 2013-14 Outstanding Student of the Year for Outstanding Co-Curricular Contributions. She plans to enter the University of Colorado, Boulder's Ph.D. program in Physics this fall.

Three HSU student teams advised by Kamila Larripa were honored for their performance in the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications Annual Mathematical Contest in Modeling.
More information can be found here: http://www.comap.com/undergraduate/contests/mcm/.

Communication Lecturer James Floss brought the acclaimed novella "Fup" by Jim Dodge to stage in a word-for-word production over the last two weekends. The current Book of the Year adaptation featured alumni of the Chamber Readers and was presented in classic readers theatre style.

Wildlife Professor Tim Bean has received $15 thousand from Save the Redwoods League to develop a landscape-level map of habitat suitability for white-footed voles. His research wil provide an understanding of the white-footed vole habitat requirements in redwood systems at the landscape and home range scale and knowledge of occupied areas to aid further research.

Psychology Professor Tasha Howe recently received a 2014-15 Fulbright scholarship to Croatia. Her project is titled "Child Abuse Prevention in Post-Conflict Communities."

This is Howe's second Fulbright award. In 2008, she worked on domestic violence in Cyprus, another post-conflict country.

Sam Sonntag has a forthcoming article entitled “Depoliticizing Hindi in India,” in a volume edited by Dr. Agnieszka Kuczkiewicz-Fras of Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland and Dr. Rahul Peter Das from the Martin-Luther University in Halle, Germany. The title of the volume is Defining the Indefinable: Delimiting Hindi, to be published by Peter Lang.

Joanna Murphy was recently selected as one of the recipients of the 2014 North American Membrane Society (NAMS) Elias Klein Travel Supplement. At the NAMS meeting, she will present her and her co-author's paper "A Two-Dimensional Modeling of Direct Contact Membrane Distillation with Bench Scale Experimental Validation."

Jennifer Warmack has been selected to receive a 2014 CSUPERB Presidents’ Commission Scholar Award in the amount of $8,000 to fund the project titled “Preventing Psedo-Nitzschia Blooms through Forward Osmosis Treatment of Wastwater." She will conduct her summer research project in the laboratory of ERE Assistant Professor Andrea Achilli.

The HSU Children's Center's accreditation was recently renewed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, a nationally recognized professional organization for high quality early education programs. The accreditation runs through May 1, 2019. The Children's Center currently serve almost 150 toddlers and preschool aged children on campus and at the 10th Street Preschool.

Armeda Reitzel, professor of Communication, presented her paper on "The colorful trends of tie-dye as fashion, subcultural artifact, and metaphor" at the Popular Culture Association Conference in Chicago, IL on April 18, 2014. Her paper was part of a panel session on "Fashion, Style, Appearance, Consumption and Design I: Global Subcultural Style."

Three graduate students from Professor Monica Stephens’ advanced cartography class earned the “Most Unique Poster honor for their service learning presentation at the California Geographic Society’s (CalGIS) Conference in Monterey, Calif. on April 14-16.

Marlyn Montgomery, Erin Degenstein and Conor Morison earned the award for a poster illustrating the value of data mapping for visualization of vital community information.

Their poster represents a project that is a cooperative effort between Humboldt State’s California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP) and advanced cartography students at HSU. The project demonstrates the value of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to increase accessibility to data that will enhance community understanding of wellbeing and health of the community.

Business student B.J. Malekzadeh recently took second place in the Business Future Four Regional Competition in Chico, Calif. April 11. The other schools competing were Chico State, Sonoma State and Sacramento State. Malekzadeh from won for his innovative idea that proposes a better tourniquet than what is currently available for civilian and military use. He got this idea while serving in the military.

Geology Professor Lori Dengler will present the Berkeley Lawson Lecture at the University of California, Wednesday April 16 5:30 p.m. in the Banatao Auditorium of Sutardja Dai Hall (CITRIS). More information at
https://seismo.berkeley.edu/news/lawson_lecture.html

Jesse Hoskins and Jennifer Alejo were named the first- and second-place recipients, respectively, of the Kalb-Haston Awards, whose cash prizes totaled $1,250. These awards are funded by HSU alumnus David Kalb and Bruce Haston, a former HSU political science professor. They recognize students who have demonstrated personal commitment and leadership by taking an active role in student government, particularly through the Office of Associated Students.

History major Stephanie Buck is the 2014 recipient of the $500 William R. Tanner History Scholarship. 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 and author of “A View from the Hill,” a history of Humboldt State University.

History major Sydney Hinton was selected by History Department faculty as the 2014 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 and Echo Aloe were awarded first and second place, respectively, in the 2014 Charles R. Barnum History Contest, with their combined cash prizes totaling $1,750. 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 major Garrett Highland is the 2014 recipient of the $1,000 Johnston-Aronoff History Scholarship, which is awarded to a History major with an emphasis in the study of California and/or the western United States. 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.

Cheryl Bondi, former HSU Biology grad student (Advisor, Dr. Sharyn Marks, HSU Zoology) just won the Best Student Paper recently won an award for her thesis research in the 2013 volume of Copeia. The paper is titled "Differences in flow regime influence the seasonal migrations, body size, and body condition of Western Pond Turtles (Actinemys marmorata) that inhabit perennial and intermittent riverine sites in northern California." Copeia 2013:142-153.

The Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) just announced the results from the 2014 Mathematical Modeling Contest. Once again, two student teams from the HSU Environmental Resources Engineering (ERE) department participated in this four day long contest. Competing against thousands of universities, each team produced a report summarizing their solution to one of three possible problems.

The team consisting of Brian Wallace, Tyler Martin, and Aaron Perez selected a problem that required they build and analyze a mathematical model to analyze the performance of the "Keep-To-The-Right-Except-To-Pass" rule in light and heavy traffic. The team's report was awarded the score of Meritorious. Only 25 (0.4 percent) of the 6,755 teams working on this problem scored higher, and 90 percent of the teams received lower scores.

The team consisting of Ryan P. Dunne, Nicholas A. Campbell, and Zachary Ruiz selected a problem that required building a network model for determining influence in a large co-author network and measuring impact within a set of foundational papers in network science. This problem required teams to mine a large data set and understand concepts from the informational sciences to build an effective model for these complex phenomena. The team's report was also awarded the score of Meritorious. Only 11 (1%) of the 1,028 teams working on this problem scored higher, and 86% of the teams received lower scores.

Congratulations to the members of both teams for their high achievement in this event.

Sam Sonntag recently signed a book contract with McGill-Queen’s University Press for a forthcoming volume entitled "State Traditions and Language Regimes" that she has co-edited with Linda Cardinal of the University of Ottawa. In addition to the co-editing, Sonntag and Cardinal co-authored the introductory chapter situating language policy studies in the discipline of political science. Sonntag also contributed a chapter entitled “State Tradition and Language Regime in the United States: Time for Change?” based on her experience serving as a member of the Group of Advisors for the U.S. Government’s National Security Education Program from 2006 to 2009.

Music professor Paul Cummings presented a clinic to the San Francisco State University Wind Ensemble April 3 on the SFSU campus. Responding to an invitation from the group's director, Dr. Martin Seggelski, Cummings gave a 90-minute clinic in which he illustrated concepts of phrasing, balance, and awareness of musical roles while he conducted Alfred Reed's composition "Second Suite for Band."

The Alliance to Save Energy's PowerSave Campus Program Wins CIWEA Employer of the Year Award. The Alliance to Save Energy initiative is recognized for its' exemplary internship program on April 4, 2014. PowerSave Campus is a student-driven energy efficiency education program that employs over 100 interns each year on 16 college campuses, including Humboldt State University. Students in the program collaborate with faculty, staff and administrators to work on campus projects ranging from energy audits and energy saving competitions to green career fairs and outreach events. In 2013 alone, the PowerSave Campus Program saved over 160,000,000 kWh's.

Michael S. Bruner, Laura K. Hahn and Nicole B. Sheldon had their essay, “The Petition Clause and Food Advocacy" published in First Amendment Studies, Vol. 8, Issue 1 (2014): 61-76. The essay explores California Proposition 37 (for labeling GM food), presents a model of "petition" and breaks new ground by expanding First Amendment studies beyond "freedom of speech."

Eric Rechhia ('14, Economics & Sustainable Development) joined several other CSU students to speakCSU Board of Trustees meeting March 26 in Long Beach, Calif.the California State University Board of Trustees will gather to discuss a proposed CSU-system-wide sustainability policy guaranteeing 20% 'real food' purchasing. Students from 10 CSU campuses have endorsed the policy and have already gathered 1,200 petition signatures in support. They plan to travel to Long Beach, CA to give testimony at the upcoming Board of Trustees meetings.

Drs. Steve Railsback (Mathematics) and Matt Johnson (Wildlife) collaborated on a paper recently accepted for publication in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." The paper presents a mathematical model on the controversial trade-off between allocating land for crop production versus conservation of biodiversity. Their model shows that, for coffee farmers, growing trees to attract birds not only benefits biodiversity, it also boosts net crop production because birds help control insect pests. The paper will be published next week.

David Ellerd and Peggy Kirkpatrick delivered a presentation on “Rural Partnerships: Special Education Teacher Preparation in Humboldt County.” This invited presentation was delivered to a special delegation of physicians and teachers from Siberia, Russia. The focus was to provide information about state and local requirements for Special Education teacher credentialing to educate children and young adults with disabilities. The event was sponsored by Humboldt County of Education (HCOE) on April 1, 2014.

Journalism professor emeritus Mark Larson’s photography exhibit, “60 and Older….Working Out” will be on display at HealthSport in Arcata throughout April. Portraits of people aged 60 and older exercising represent the first phase of a project Larson hopes to expand into an in-depth photo essay.

“As a Baby Boomer myself now at age 66, I’ve been inspired by and enjoyed interacting with many 60-and-older persons working out at HealthSPORT over the past 15 years,” Larson said. “Listening to their stories has led me to want to explore common issues and experiences related to aging.”

Larson taught a variety of classes, including photojournalism, at HSU from 1975-2013. He also served a stint as chair of the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication.

“I plan to photograph more persons at different times of the day doing different activities at a variety of venues,” he said. “I also plan to begin collecting stories from members of the “Silver Tsunami” about why they work out.”

Annie Bolick-Floss, Director for the Center for Service Learning & Academic Internships along with Dr. Eliane Ikeda, Executive Director of California Campus Compact will present a workshop on "How to Market and Support Your Programs," at the 15th Annual "Continuums of the Service" Conference April 2-4 in Honolulu, HI.

Vice President of University Advancement Craig C. Wruck will present a daylong lecture on the basics of planned giving at Harvard Law School. The April 30 lecture is sponsored by the Planned Giving Group of New England. More information is available at "http://www.pggne.org/index.php/menuprograms/planned-giving-fundamentals…":http://www.pggne.org/index.php/menuprograms/planned-giving-fundamentals….

Wruck is the 1999 recipient of the PGGNE's David M. Donaldson Distinguished Service Award.

Music Faculty Daniela Mineva recently performed solo piano recital at the University of North Texas on their concert series "Distinguished alumni from UNT." She also presented piano and contemporary music master classes and concerts at the University of Arlington, Texas and University of North Texas. As part of her Texas music tour, Dr. Mineva judged the International Concerto Piano Competition in Lewisville, TX.

Recently, she has also judged and conducted workshops at the Northern California CMEA Choral Festival in Arcata, CA.

Five HSU students have been selected to participate with students around the state in the California State University's 28th Annual Student Research Competition. The following students will represent HSU at CSU East Bay on May 2nd and 3rd.

James Bodnar, Microbiology, “Biochemical Characterization of the Folate Biosynthetic Pathway in a Rickettsial Endosymbiont of Ixodes pacificus”; faculty advisor – Jianmin Zhong, Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Matt Brush and Shayne Holler, Environmental Science, “Salt Marsh Carbon Sequestration: a Baseline Study, City of Arcata, California”; faculty advisor – Kevin Fingerman, Assistant Professor, Environmental Science and Management

Jozlyn Jareunpoon, Kinesiology, “Acute Effects of Bikram Yoga on Ambulatory Blood Pressure”; faculty advisor, Tina Manos, Associate Professor, Kinesiology & Recreation

Holly Leopardi, Physics, “Tests of Gravity Below Fifty Microns”; faculty advisor – C.D. Hoyle, Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy

The students will serve as exemplars of how student research is produced, supported, and promoted at HSU and compete based on their written summaries and oral presentations of their research.

David Ellerd delivered a presentation on “Rural Partnerships in Teacher Preparation: The Development of a Reading Clinic to add Consistency in Fieldwork Instructional Experiences.” This peer-reviewed presentation was delivered at the 33rd annual conference of the American Council on Rural Special Education, held in Tucson, Arizona, March 19-22, 2014. The focus of this national conference was on developing partnerships to meet individual needs across rural and urban cultural contexts.

Social Work Faculty Marissa O'Neill and Jamie Jensen will have their article "Comparison of Student Outcomes in a Campus and a Distributed Learning Class" published in the forthcoming edition of the Journal of Technology in Human Services. With the current expansion of online course offerings at HSU and elsewhere, studies like this are essential for documenting achievement of student learning outcomes in on campus and online environments.

Theatre, Film & Dance faculty member Rae Robison is the featured "Artist of the Month" in the inaugural Small Town Big Art Calendar available in retail outlets all over Humboldt. Alongside artists like Peggy Louden, Laurel Skye, and Duane Flatmo, Rae showcases her costume designs from last year's production of "Hater" directed by Michael Fields. Proceeds from the calendar sales benefit local arts organizations.

Three HSU Service Learning interns and staff provided four workshop sessions at the annual Northcoast Youth Summit, held at College of the Redwoods, March 15, 2014. The conference focused on inspiring youth and adults to become confident leaders. The HSU team provided workshops on: Having Fun and Getting it Done- meeting facilitation skills, Creative Community Leadership- leadership skill development, Let's Plan a Service Event- event planning and implementation, and Social Media- best practices in using social media. The conference was attended by over 350 teens and adults from Northern California.