Research

Arcata – Community-based research by Humboldt State University faculty and students is helping to curb pesticide exposure in the Central and Salinas Valleys and ease the health threat to farm workers and school children.

Following an evening of intense competition against teams from throughout the U.S. and Canada, the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (APCG) team took top honors at this year’s World Geography Bowl Competition in Las Vegas on March 24. Humboldt State University was well-represented in the competition, as the team included three alumni and one current faculty member.

HSU Geography major Ted Bliss was elected Secretary General of the 2010 Model Arab League. Bliss joined a delegation of 30 students from Dr. Paul Blank's Geography of the Middle East class and the Arabic Peace and Culture Club.

Arcata – Humboldt State University graduating senior Ranjan Hatch, a Biology major, has won a scholarship to serve as a university English teaching assistant in Malaysia through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Humboldt State journalism students collaborated this semester with the Student Press Law Center, a national legal assistance agency that supports high school and college press freedom, on records requests that tested the responsiveness of more than 100 colleges and universities. HSU was one of three schools—the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and the University of North Texas were the others—that sent letters to 95 public and 20 private institutions seeking documents on student disciplinary complaints and cases.

Your cup of coffee probably seems rather banal. Grind the beans, add some water, apply heat and, presto, ready-to-drink stimulant. But there’s a lot more to the ubiquitous beverage. As two Humboldt State professors and their students are discovering, it all comes back to the birds and the bees.

Jennifer Wheeler, botanist with the BLM's Arcata Field Office, has received the Karl Urban Celebrating Wildflowers Award, a national honor recognizing her exemplary work conserving native plants through creativity, community involvement, volunteer programs and educational efforts. (text continues below)

Humboldt State University’s Logging Sports Club racked up eight victories, four second places and seven third places in contests at the 2009 Association of Western Forestry Clubs Conclave, which was held for the first time in tandem with the Redwood Region Logging Conference, March 19-21, at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. Part of the action was captured by a crew from ESPN U. You can check out a slide show at "ESPN's Timbersports site":http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/timbersports/gallery?page=index_2009….

Cheri Anchondo, who is a double major in Dance (Interdisciplinary Studies) and Geography, had her dance selected as one of the top 10 dances (out of 66 dances) in the Northwest Region. Anchondo’s dance was featured in a Gala concert that closed the conference activities.

Arcata - The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has approved $17.5 million in funding for training in stem cell research at universities and research institutions across the state, with an anticipated $1.6 million slated for Humboldt State University.

Arcata – Youth Educational Services (Y.E.S.), the student-run volunteer organization at Humboldt State University, is partnering with Eureka’s Alice Birney Elementary School for its spring Serve-a-Thon and work on Cesar Chavez Day.

Victoria Sama, an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, produced a natural sound video of the recent seventh annual Humboldt Aleutian Geese 'Fly-Off' that was broadcast on CNN.

Arcata - Dr. Ray Wang, Director of Humboldt State’s Chinese Studies program and Dean of the University Library, has been named by the Carter Center in Atlanta to a fact-finding mission to China, March 30 to April 6.

Judith Little, Professor Emeritus with the Department of Sociology, was honored by the Association on Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS). Beginning Fall 2009, the student team winning an applied sociology competition will be recognized with the “Judith Little Student Award.”

"When I came to Humboldt people kept saying, 'You'll like our fire table.' I was thinking, 'What the heck is the fire table?' says Professor Morgan Varner, a fire scientist at HSU. "So, when I came into the Wildland Fire Lab and they lowered the hood I thought, 'Oh, wow, this is perfect!'"

Lisa Perry, the Recruiter for the College of Natural Resources and Sciences was awarded the Roy Derek Berridge Memorial Award by the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference (SCLC) in Redding on Feb. 12, 2008.

The Sierra cascade Logging Conference hosted their annual Logging Sports Competition and Demonstration, which included Humboldt State, Cal poly, Cal Berkley, Modesto Junior College, and Central Oregon Community College.

Arcata – Humboldt State University Geology Professor Lori Dengler, an international authority on tsunami and earthquake mitigation, has won the 2009 Alfred E. Alquist Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Earthquake Safety.

William Shubert, a Geography major at Humboldt State, was recently awarded an internship with National Geographic in Washington D.C. The internship will begin in the fall of 2009.

Arcata - Humboldt State University ranks 14th, up from 20th last year, among all medium-size colleges and universities contributing Peace Corps Volunteers, according to the organization’s Top Colleges list for 2009.

Arcata – Arcata High School junior Lilian Medford has won the inaugural Humboldt County High School Constitution Day Essay Competition, initiated by Humboldt State University’s Department of Politics and providing Medford with $221 from the Humboldt Loyalty Fund to commemorate the 221st anniversary of the signing of the nation’s most fundamental law on Constitution Day last September 17.

Arcata – The Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group, a tri-county interagency body that includes Humboldt State University and advances mitigation of coastal earthquake and tsunami hazards, has received an award for excellence in innovation from a regional earthquake consortium headquartered in Sacramento, Calif.

Frank Cheek, Humboldt State University's legendary softball coach, will be inducted into the "National Fastpitch Coaches Association":http://www.nfca.org/ (NFCA) Hall of Fame on Dec. 11, 2009 at the Renaissance Hotel in Nashville, Tenn.

Arcata – Connie Stewart, Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity County senior field representative to Assemblywoman Patty Berg since 2002, has accepted appointment as the Director of Special Projects for the California Center for Rural Policy at Humboldt State University, a research and data mining unit aimed at improving rural living conditions on the Redwood Coast.

Kate Milich, a graduate student in the Natural Resources-Forestry M.S. program at Humboldt State won the Best Poster Award at the Pacific West Fire Conference last week in San Diego, CA.