Latest Achievements

Dr. Nievita Bueno Watts received a $120,000 grant from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to support the Natural Resource Career Development Program, an initiative that will help foster and cultivate Hispanic undergraduate and graduate students as future leaders interested in agricultural careers in public service. Students interested in learning more about agricultural careers in public service can contact Nievita.Bueno.Watts@humboldt.edu. Students from Hispanic/Latinx backgrounds majoring in Rangeland, Soils, Botany, Environmental Engineering and Environmental Science & Management are especially encouraged to apply.

Drs. Lisa Tremain and Beth Eschenbach received $98,000 from the National Science Foundation to support a new program that will develop, support and measure STEM instructor understanding and application of antiracist approaches to writing pedagogy and assessment in STEM disciplines. This project integrates cultural foundations to learning, antiracist writing assessment, and culturally sustaining pedagogies. Activities include a year-long Faculty Learning Community (FLC) of Engineering faculty and a spring semester series of workshops. The project will involve approximately 100 STEM faculty, and result in foundational data that will benchmark the impacts of the model on teacher learning and curricular designs.

Professor Emeritus Robert W. Zoellner and his former student, Tara S. Caso, have published a peer-reviewed article entitled "Thioacetone analogs of cyclic diacetone diperoxide (DADP), triacetone triperoxide (TATP), and tetraacetone tetraperoxide (4A4P):  Structures and properties from density functional calculations" in the Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry Research 2022, 21, 54-59.

On September 3, Humboldt County will finally have its first published anthology of painters, Looking for Beauty: Humboldt’s Plein Air Community Shows Why Art Matters, designed and compiled by former associate faculty of English, Cyndy Phillips. Phillips' indie press, SequoiaSong Publications, worked with Cal Poly Press as an advisor over the span of the three and a half year project and community minded art professor, James Woglom, wrote the foreword. The opening reception for this historic publication is at the Redwood Art Association (603 F St, Eureka), 6-9pm, where the remaining 80 limited edition hardbacks will be for sale.

Together with faculty members, a group of Cal Poly Humboldt Physics and Astronomy students (now all alumni) recently published a peer-reviewed article in the journal AIP Advances published by the American Institute of Physics. The work, titled "A modified Michelson interferometer to measure sub-milliradian changes in angle," that describes technical advances in measuring miniscule angular deflections for use in fundamental physics experiments, can be found in open-access format at the following link: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0100720

Professor C.D. Hoyle of the Department of Physics and Astronomy was awarded a National Science Foundation Collaborative Research Grant to continue the development of an experiment in conjunction with Professor Ricardo Decca of Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis (IUPUI) that seeks to perform the world's most precise measurement of Newton's gravitational constant, G. In addition to technical R&D, this 3-year grant in the amount of $127,923 will support Cal Poly Humboldt student involvement through summer research opportunities and funded conference travel.  https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2207801

Dr. Alison O’Dowd received a grant from the California Wildlife Conservation Board to support research into salmonid food webs in the Klamath River. The project seeks to understand the food webs dynamics associated with Klamath Dam removal by examining the water quality, salmonid food resources and diet in the mainstem Klamath River and associated tributaries before, during, and after Klamath dam removal. Findings will inform management of fisheries and fish food resources associated with future dam removal projects. It will also advance the field of disturbance ecology by documenting the effects of a large-scale ‘planned’ disturbance.

Dr. Robert Gearheart received a grant from the City of Arcata to continue the implementation of a wastewater engineering project. The project focuses on the ongoing effort to ensure that the upgrade of the City of Arcata’s Wastewater Treatment maintains the use of constructed wetland as the principle treatment process, supplies critical habitat for wildlife, and supports environmental education. Cal Poly Humboldt students from the Environmental Resources Engineering Department will get hands-on experience working with City staff at the Arcata Marsh Research Institute. Results from the studies will be shared with City staff and their consultants.

Mark Wicklund co-authored a paper recently published in English Language and Linguistics entitled, “Is there a new which in town?” The paper offers an exhaustive account of English speakers’ evolving use of which, positing that a syntactic reanalysis has occurred, resulting in a new, increasingly popular coordinating-conjunction use alongside its traditional relative-pronoun use. Dr. Sara S. Loss, Oklahoma State University, shares authorship.

Jeffrey Dunk received a continuing grant from the Teton Raptor Center to support a collaborative project with scientists from Teton Raptor Center, University of Wyoming, and a consulting firm. The project is focused on developing an eagle conservation prioritization tool for the entire state of Wyoming that integrates eagle habitat, risks, protected areas, and other species values. The end-product will be a web-based decision support tool for managers, industry, conservationists, and others.

Dr. Sara Sterner and Amy Conley received a grant from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to support a dyslexia awareness program. The program will provide professional development for literacy educators, program leads, and supervisors, and will shape curriculum/assignment redesign of literacy coursework in the School of Education to include: 1) Dyslexia awareness, 2) Research-based screening procedures, and 3) multisensory phonics instruction. The program will be implemented with the help of various School of Education faculty, program leads, and supervisors.

Robert Freiberger (HSU class '20) and Associate Professor Claire Till (Chemistry) are co-authors on a recent publication in the AGU journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles for their work measuring trace metal concentrations in the surface Pacific Ocean. Freiberger analyzed the samples as an undergraduate while doing summer research in the Till lab. The article is titled, "Does sea-spray aerosol contribute significantly to aerosol trace element loading? A case study from the U.S. GEOTRACES Pacific Meridional Transect (GP15)" and is available open access here: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2022GB007416.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Claire Till is a co-author on the recent article entitled "Diminished carbon and nitrate assimilation drive changes in diatom elemental stoichiometry independent of silicification in an iron-limited assemblage", which is published in the Springer Nature journal ISME communications. The open access article is available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43705-022-00136-1

Dr. Timothy Mulligan and Dr. Andre Buchheister received a $122,000 grant from the San Jose State University Moss Landing Marine Lab to continue an ongoing, collaborative off-shore reef monitoring program.The study collects data on the diversity, abundance, size structure, and movement of rocky reef fishes in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and associated reference sites. The project is part of the state-wide California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program (CCFRP), which is funded by the Ocean Protection Council. This program is evaluating the effectiveness of California MPAs and providing valuable data for the sustainable management of rockfish and other fish species.

Rose Francia (Director, TRIO Educational Talent Search) received a continuing grant from the Blue Lake Rancheria to support the TRIO Talent Search program. Funding will provide educational support to Hoopa Elementary and Hoopa High School students through group STEM activities, individual mentoring or tutoring based on students’ desire, need and efficacy levels, and classroom support.  With an additional award from Sponsored Programs Foundation to expand the 2022 CSU Summer Algebra Institute, twenty-five BIPOC youth who didn’t pass math have access to a math enrichment program, progressing towards graduation with confidence. Collaborators include the Hoopa and Round Valley summer school programs. 

The Cultural Resources Facility (CRF) received a $500,000 grant to survey and document historic and pre-contact resources within approximately 10,000 acres in the Six Rivers National Forest. The project will offer paid internships and student employment through CRF, and is therefore able to provide Cal Poly Humboldt and College of the Redwoods students with applied experience within the field of Anthropology, Geospatial, Geology, and other departments within the university. If a faculty member is interested in having their students participate in these surveys, or if students want to apply for a position, please email crf@humboldt.edu.

Frank Fogarty (Wildlife) and colleagues developed a novel community model to examine how habitat area and its fragmentation affect breeding bird communities in the Great Basin desert. Their work was publish in Ecological Applications and can be accessed with the following citation: Fogarty, Frank A., Yen, Jian D. L., Fleishman, Erica, Sollmann, Rahel, and Ke, Alison. 2022. “ Multiple-Region, N-Mixture Community Model to Assess Associations of Riparian Area, Fragmentation, and Species Richness.” Ecological Applications e2698. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2698

Matt Johnson, Amy Sprowles, Steven Margell, Kat Goldenberg, and Raven Palomera recently published a paper entitled, “Impact of a first‑year place‑based learning community on STEM students’ academic achievement in their second, third, and fourth years” in the journal Innovative Higher Education. The paper reports the effects of the first three cohorts of the Klamath Connection PBLC made possible by contributions from all across the university and funding from the campus’s HSI STEM grant from the US Dept of Education. 

Dr. Frank Fogarty and Dr. Ho Yi Wan received a $89,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to support research into the habitat requirements of Lewis’s Woodpecker, a woodpecker species that are the top priority Oregon Conservation Strategy species for the East Cascades. The project will examine the relationship of habitat variables, including wildfire and vegetation, on Lewis's Woodpecker populations in the Oregon East Cascades. Findings will help managers better understand the declining species, and inform efforts to maintain or restore suitable habitat. Collaborators will include ODFW biologist Kalysta Adkins and the East Cascades Audubon Society.

Several Cal Poly Humboldt students were recognized at the annual conference for the American Society of Ichthyologists & Herpetologists. Biology Graduate Student Melody Tew received the Raney and Hubbs awards and presented her research on the developmental origins of White Sturgeon scales. Biology Graduate Student Nicole Rahman-Garnier received the Cashner and Raney awards and presented her research on the olfactory (scent-sensing) anatomy of local Rainbow Trout. Recent Marine Biology graduate Jordyn Neal received the Clark Hubbs award and presented her research on the comparative anatomy of the skulls and inner ears of sharks, using high-resolution CT scanning.

Dr. Andre Buchheister and Dr. Rafael Cuevas Uribe have been awarded a $150,000 grant from CalTrout to support their research on Sacramento Pikeminnow, an invasive fish species in the Eel River. The project will assess how a novel method (the Trojan Y Chromosome Strategy) could be used to eradicate the species, because pikeminnow are hindering recovery of several threatened salmonid species. Insights from the study will provide fisheries managers and scientists with innovative, tactical advice on how to regulate invasive Pikeminnow to enhance recovery of threatened California salmonids. Project collaborators include Stillwater Sciences, the Wiyot Tribe, and agency scientists.

Jen Dyke (Director, TRiO Upward Bound) received a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to continue Cal Poly Humboldt’s TRiO Upward Bound program, a college preparatory program designed to generate the skills and motivation necessary for post-secondary educational success among income eligible high school students whose parents have not attained a four-year college degree. Funding will allow the program to increase educational attainment and college entry of students in regional secondary schools in Humboldt and Trinity Counties.

Nick Angeloff and Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon received a grant from the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (GRCD) that will allow the Cultural Resources Facility (CRF) to conduct a cultural resources and botanical investigation for the GRCD’s Iron Horse Fish Screen Project (IHFSP), a stream remediation project that will remove barriers to Salmonid migration along a creek. CRF’s investigation will identify known or unknown cultural resources within the project location, and ensure that no historic resources will be impacted by the project. 

Dr. C.D. Hoyle received a continuing grant from the National Science Foundation to support an ongoing collaborative project with Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The project, which is physically based at IUPUI, is dedicated to developing an apparatus to measure the gravitational constant, G, with unprecedented precision. This constant is the least-well-known fundamental constant in nature, and its precise determination is of broad interest to a wide variety of disciplines from precision measurement to cosmology. The project will provide the opportunity for Cal Poly Humboldt students to be involved through summer research and conference presentations.

Kimberly N. White, Kimberly Vincent-Layton, Brandilynn Villarreal, Frank Cappuccio, and Chris Harmon received a Student Success Network Equity in Action grant ($14,984) for their project, "Does the Use of an Interactive General Chemistry Textbook Improve Student Perceptions of and Use of the Textbook and Increase Equitable Outcomes?" This project seeks to understand the impact of interactive web-based learning on equity outcomes.

Professor Joshua R. Zender was featured in WalletHub's piece about Balance Transfer Credit Cards. Read the piece here: https://wallethub.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer/#expert=Joshua_R._Zender  

Nick Angeloff and Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon received a grant from the Save the Redwoods League (SRL) to support a Cultural Resources Facility (CRF) archaeological survey on SRL land. The survey will cover an area of land where a cultural artifact was found during construction of a new trail on the SRL’s Shady Dell property. CRF’s investigation will be conducted to assist the SRL in their obligation to comply with California historic resource regulations, and continue a relationship between SRL and CRF to protect both the environment and historic resources.

Chris Aberson published “BetterReg: An R Package for Useful Regression Statistics” in the Journal of Open Source Software (https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.04280). The article reports on a freely available tool for calculating a number of common statistical values that were not previously available for the R software platform.  The work stems from materials develop in Dr. Aberson’s Regression and Multivariate Statistics course, highlighting how teaching can also serve as scholarship that benefits other instructors.

Muma, R.; Webb, L.W.; Zald, H.S.J.; Boston, K.; Dagley, C.M.; Berrill, J-P. 2022. Dynamics of stump sprout regeneration after transformation to multiaged management in coast redwood forests. Forest Ecology and Management 120236.

Professors Erin Kelly and Jeff Kane (Forestry) and Benjamin Graham (Psychology) received a US Departments of Interior & Agriculture Joint Fire Science Program grant to study post-wildfire recovery in communities of California and Oregon. They will be working with graduate students and community partners to implement this project.

Anthony Lucero won the Geosystems Award which is the top prize for undergraduate geospatial research for his paper titled “Drone Photogrammetry: Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to Represent the Underrepresented.” Otto Schmitt earned the second-place Joe Beaton Professional Poster Award for his research poster titled “The Effects of Rising Sea Levels in Humboldt County on FedEx Ground.” Angela Valladares placed first in the Professional Digital Cartographic Award for her entry titled “The Great Earthquakes of September 19th.” Yuichi Ambiru took the first-place Professional Paper Cartographic Award for his map titled “Iceland, the Island of Volcano and Glacier.”      

Josh Zender recently published a case study titled "Exploiting the Unemployment Insurance Program: A Role Play of the Actions of State Officials at the Height of the Coronavirus Pandemic" in Sage Publications.  This case positions the reader to consider the ethical pathways confronting budget planners of a state unemployment compensation system at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jacky Baughman and Melanie Michalak, professors in the Geology Department, received a one year grant from the Geological Society of America AGeS-DiG (Awards for Geochronology Student Research- Diversity in Geochronology) program of $14,975 to support a cohort of six undergraduate students in the 22-23 academic year to undertake original research using geochronologic methods. The support includes a stipend, cost of analyses, and travel to a Spring conference to present their work. 

Jacky Baughman and Melanie Michalak, professors in the Geology Department, received a one year grant from the Geological Society of America AGeS-DiG (Awards for Geochronology Student Research- Diversity in Geochronology) program of $14,975 to support a cohort of six undergraduate students in the 22-23 academic year to undertake original research using geochronologic methods. The support includes a stipend, cost of analyses, and travel to a Spring conference to present their work. 

A subset of members from the Ecological Reference Points (ERP) Team were recognized for their ERP Stock Assessment for Atlantic Menhaden. This team of scientists helped to significantly advance the understanding of menhaden and its role as an important forage fish, providing the Commission with the tools needed to manage menhaden in an ecologically sustainable way. Of special note are Dr. David Chagaris and Dr. Andre Buchheister, experts in the field of fisheries resources, predator-prey interactions, and ecosystem-based fisheries management and models, for their work on the development of the ERP model which is currently being used in management.

Chris Aberson and Amber Gaffney served as co-chairs of the Western Psychological Association’s (WPA) 2022 Conference. The conference theme was Diversity, Equity, and Sustainability. At WPA, seven faculty and 37 students authored presentations. Chris Aberson gave the WPA Outstanding Teaching Award Address and Academic Research M.A. student Joseph Pang won the American Psychological Association Division for International Psychology’s student poster contest.

PreMed and PreVet Society students organized an event called Intro To Suturing Workshop on April 25. They invited Dr. Bret Gorham from Providence St. Joseph Hospital and Dr. Ellie Carrier from North Coast Veterinary Hospital. The workshop lasted 2 hours long (much longer than the scheduled one hour) and provided hands-on training to ~25 students on suturing skills. The workshop encourages interest in pursuing healthcare careers.

Mike Fisher (Associate Vice President, Facilities Management) received a grant from the Second Nature Foundation to support The Sustainability Office’s Climate Resilient Landscaping Demonstration Project. The project will replace a landscaped area on campus with climate-resilient native plants, and will be a model for landscape planning, a source of pollen and nectar for native pollinators, and serve as a living lab that provides students with experience in environmental resilience research and development. The Sustainability Office’s Morgan King (Climate Action Analyst) will provide leadership and expertise throughout the project’s implementation.

Humboldt Professor of History Rob Cliver was recently interviewed for the New Books Network Economic and Business History podcast about his 2020 publication, Red Silk: Class, Gender, and Revolution in China's Yangzi Delta Silk Industry (Harvard University Asia Center). Listen to the interview here: https://newbooksnetwork.com/red-silk. 

Three Cal Poly Humboldt students presented research at the 2022 April Meeting of the American Physical Society that was held April 9-12 in New York City. Physics and Astronomy majors Claire Rogers ('23) and Jesse Mendez ('22) presented work related to research being done in the Gravitational Research Laboratory, while Ana Sammel ('22 Applied Mathematics major, Physics minor) presented work done in conjunction with Vanderbilt University. 

Chris Aberson, along with Psychology Academic Research M.A. alums Josue Rodriguez (′19) and Danielle Siegel (′21) recently published an article titled Power Analysis for Regression Coefficients: The Role of Multiple Predictors and Power to Detect all Coefficients Simultaneously in The Quantitative Methods for Psychology. The work provides researchers tools to improve sample size planning for complex research designs. Both Mr. Rodriquez and Ms. Siegel are currently enrolled in U. C. Davis’ Quantitative Psychology Ph.D. program.

Students in the Model United Nations program won several team awards at the Model United Nations of the Far West conference. Sawyer Chrisman, Levi Huser, Cruz Lopez, Johnny Mendoza, Ana Zamarano (representing France), Malluli Cuellar, Philip Mochel, Alida Nicklaus and Kim Willard-Mack (representing Malaysia), and Michael Coyne, Amber Rae Dennis, and Edwin Rosales (representing Ukraine) all won recognition for outstanding team performance at conference. In addition, Amber Rae Dennis was selected as one of four plenary speakers. Humboldt was one of the top performing schools at the conference, which draws hundreds of students from across the Pacific Rim. 

Prof Alison Holmes will be going to Europe—at last!—on a faculty award from the International Team in the Chancellor's Office. The trip—originally scheduled two years ago but canceled due to COVID—will take a group from across the CSU system to five different German universities. If all goes according to plan this time, they will spend a week visiting our partners and learning about their programs. 

Brandon Browne and colleagues from the U.S. Geological Survey published a professional report with the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys detailing their comprehensive study on the ~400 yr BP eruption of Half Cone, a post-caldera composite cone in Aniakchak National Park and Preserve in Alaska. As one of the largest eruptions from a volcano on the Alaska peninsula over the past 3,000 years, it blanketed hundreds of miles with thick ash and produced an important stratigraphic marker used by geologists and archeologists working to understand the geological and human history of the region.          

Dr. Matthew Johnson received a grant from the CSU Agricultural Research Institute to support a study on whether the criteria for Wildlife Conscious Certification (WCC), a new eco-label being developed for cannabis farms, truly benefit wildlife. Dr. Johnson’s project will implement WCC-recommended habitat enhancements on cannabis farms, and examine their impact via wildlife surveys. Project collaborators include Jackee Riccio (Executive Director, Cannabis for Conservation) and Wildlife Associate Professor, Dr. Barbara Clucas.

Chris Aberson recently published two papers as part of a multinational team including over 400 researchers. The first article, titled A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic appeared in Nature Human Behaviour (NHB). A second article, In COVID-19 health messaging, loss framing increases anxiety with little-to-no concomitant benefits: Experimental evidence from 84 countries, is in press at Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). PNAS and NHB are highly influential outlets, boasting huge impact factors over 12.0. The team presently has an additional manuscript under review and another in preparation.

  Julie Slater-North,  Lecturer/PPSC-SSW Program Coordinator along with colleague Michelle Rainer, Lecturer/Pathway/SERVE Project Coordinator and both from the Department of Social Work, recently published a chapter in the book, School Social Work: Engaging Social Justice and Racial Equity from Practitioners’ Perspectives The chapter, titled Rural Indigenous School Social Work as Best Practice School Social Work. This text is a collection of writings regarding serving diverse youth in California schools, written by both school-based practitioners and university-level educators.

Meenal Rana will be representing the department of Child Development on April 19th, 2022, as a keynote speaker for the 2022 Higher Colleges of Technology Education Student Research Virtual Conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE (Conference theme: "Educating the Whole Child in a Post-Pandemic World"). Rana presents her keynote on "Importance of Trauma-Informed Teaching in Post-Pandemic Classrooms".

On March 5, Cultural Resources Facility Co-Directors Nick Angeloff and Mark Castro hosted a symposium at the Society for California Archaeology meeting in Visalia, California. Staff members Cydney Lanthier, Daniel Busch, Saige Heuer, Jason Laugesen, and Curtis Rogers presented their efforts and findings from archaeological reconnaissance of understudied areas within Humboldt and Trinity Counties in 2020 and 2021. The August Complex of Fires of 2020 revealed areas that were previously covered by heavy vegetation. Cannabis legalization in California also allowed cultural resource studies on private properties. The team's survey and research in these areas provided further insights into California's prehistory.  

Dr. Kathy Thornhill and the Center for Community Based Learning have been awarded a two-year grant from the California Volunteers, Office of the Governor to implement a fellowship program that will support one-hundred Cal Poly Humboldt undergraduate students, including AB540 Dreamers. The Fellows’ time and talent will help revitalize and energize local community-based organizations and advance campus strategic priorities. Fellows will serve 450 hours in one of three focus areas: Climate Change, K-12 Education, and Food Insecurity.