Research

Arcata — After spending a semester working hand-in-hand with 15 classmates, students from the Journalism & Mass Communications Department's Investigative Reporting class are receiving kudos for the thoughtful and thorough work they did covering an extremely sensitive topic.

More than 20 HSU geography majors, accompanied by department chair Joe Leeper, professors Joy Adams, Stephen Cunha, Dennis Fitzsimons and Chris Hayne, attended the California Geographic Society's 62nd annual Conference. Adams chaired a panel discussion on “Strategies for Mentoring and Supporting Female Students and Faculty,” along with geography students Anna Leeper, Diana Muncy, Corinne Cogger and Angela Crane. Adams was also elected to the CGS board of directors. Leeper presented “Challenges Confronting Humboldt County Agriculture” and Cunha presented “The Changing Face of Vietnam.”

Some of HSU's most outstanding undergraduates, nominated in eight categories of excellence by faculty, staff and fellow students, were recognized at the recent Outstanding Student Awards ceremony in the Kate Buchanan Room on April 30.

Arcata — Students from Humboldt State University’s Service Learning Center organized a collaborative, regional food drive in the months of March and April that raised more than 4,550 pounds of food and an additional $1,665 for Food for People, the Eureka food bank.

Arcata - Humboldt State University undergraduate Rani Ram will receive a $3,000 scholarship as one of 23 winners statewide of the 2008-2009 William Randolph Hearst/California State University (CSU) Trustees Award for Outstanding Achievement.

The Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources celebrated their 10th Annual Spring Banquet in the Kate Buchanan Room on Thursday, May 1. The event was beautifully catered by Twyla Henderson and her staff from University Dining Services.


This spring the Mu Alpha Theta (Mathematics) Contest continued its tradition of posing mathematical questions of varying difficulty to students in the Department of Mathematics.

Winter Santander, a Botany and Zoology double major, was awarded the Best Oral Presentation Award in the Physiology Section of the West Coast Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Conference.

Humboldt State students in the Model United Nations program won four Meritorious Delegation Awards and finished among the top three performers for the second year running at the recent Model United Nations of the Far West Conference in San Francisco. The awards recognize outstanding academic preparation for, and participation in, the conference. HSU International Studies major Jonathan Linton was named Rappateur, or best delegate, in the economic and financial committee.

Arcata – Arcata student and physics major Liam Furniss recently represented Humboldt State University at a national conclave where he introduced results of his experimental research of dark energy in the Gravity Research Laboratory at HSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Arcata – Humboldt State University’s Natural History Museum has received a $10,000 grant from the Fortuna-based McLean Foundation to buttress the museum’s partnerships with area teachers and schools.

Dr. Kenneth Fulgham, HSU Professor of Rangeland Resources, and D.E. Coultrap, a former HSU graduate student, are among the co-authors of an article about western juniper in the inaugural edition of Invasive Plant Science and Management magazine, published by the Weed Science Society of America under the auspices of the University of California, Davis.

Arcata — Humboldt State's Environmental Resources Engineering students once again lived up to the tradition of academic excellence -- this time in the field of mathematics modeling.

Since 2000, HSU Department of Psychology's students and faculty have given nearly 150 conference presentations.

Think you know more than a 4th grader when it comes to geography? Try this one on for size: Known for its production of alpaca wool, Arequipa is a major commercial and tourist center in what country just south of Ecuador? (Answer at end of story)

Arcata - Dr. Howard B. Stauffer, Professor of Statistics and Chair of Humboldt State University’s Department of Mathematics, has written a new book that introduces natural resource scientists to more current methods of statistical analysis, helping them to enhance their estimates of the probability of specific occurrences in nature.

Arcata - In their 20th year at Humboldt State University, Smullin Scholarship honors were bestowed recently upon the eight annual Smullin Scholars by the Patricia D. & William B. Smullin Foundation and university representatives.

Humboldt State Sociology Professor Mary Virnoche is a contributor to the current issue of the Sociological Practice Newsletter, in which she reports that graduate level research combined with applied field experience enables HSU master's degree professionals to effect real social change.

Assistant Professor Rae Robison and several Humboldt State University students were honored for their achievements at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival held at California State University at Los Angeles.

For the first time ever, the Humboldt State Construction Management Team went head-to-head with other institutions, including Arizona State University and Cal Poly San Louis Obispo, in the 21st annual Associated Schools of Construction competition in Sparks, NV. The competition, which ran Feb. 14 and 15, pitted HSU against 137 teams representing a total of 34 universities from 15 states.

Arcata - Thanks to a Humboldt State University engineering class, a non-profit partner and two local contractors, a Del Norte County ranch is now being powered year-round by an off-grid renewable energy system.

Arcata – Humboldt State University has again won national recognition for exemplary service to disadvantaged youth, this time for its Youth to College Initiative (Y2C), which sets up campus-community partnerships for tutoring and mentoring.

Arcata - Dr. Noah Zerbe, assistant professor of government and politics at Humboldt State University, will attend a Summer 2008 Fulbright Seminar in Berlin that will examine the impact of science on international policy making.

Arcata – Humboldt State University Geology Professor William C. Miller III is a member of the editorial board and an associate editor of the new journal Evolution: Education and Outreach, a quarterly magazine devoted to expanding the knowledge and teaching of evolutionary theory to a wide audience.

Humboldt State recently recognized the inspiring work of professor Arne Jacobson when it selected Jacobson as the winner of its Making a Difference contest — a competition intended to highlight the core values of a Humboldt State education as defined in the university’s current re-accreditation process.