Research

Anna E. Kircher, who has 19 years of leadership experience with information technology systems, has been named chief information officer of Humboldt State University’s information technology services division. She succeeds Ann Burroughs, who was interim CIO following the retirement of Bill Cannon early this year.

Making an initial step in establishing Humboldt State University's leadership in the Northern California Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, HSU named Kristin Johnson the regional director for the program.

Marlette Grant-Jackson, a member of the Yurok Tribe who serves as curriculum resource coordinator for the Indian Teacher & Educational Personnel Program (ITEPP) at Humboldt State University, has been selected to participate in an all-expenses-paid Native American Internship Program at Cornell University Library in Ithaca, New York this summer.

Marshelle Thobaben, a Humboldt State University nursing professor, was reelected as the Academic Senate chairwoman for the entire California State University system during an organizational meeting on May 6.

HSU economics professor Steven Hackett was one of four distinguished panelists selected to participate in a discussion of California's economies at Tuesday's all-staff meeting for the California Labor Market Information Division of the Employment Development Department based in Sacramento.

HSU Emeritus English Professor John Schafer recently celebrated the publication of his book "Vo Phien and Sadness of Exile," the first ever book-length study of a modern Vietnamese writer, written in English.

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 on May 1.

Dr. Chris Aberson, an associate professor of psychology at HSU, and his colleagues from the Claremont Graduate University, were awarded the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) Exemplary Online Learning Resources Award.

Students from Humboldt State University's Service Learning Center organized a collaborative, regional food drive during March and April, raising 5,392 pounds of food and an additional $3,181 for Food for People, the Eureka food bank.

A group of 27 Humboldt State geography students, and department faculty Joe Leeper, Stephen Cunha, Dennis Fitzsimons, and Chris Haynes, traveled to Shasta College in Redding, Calif. for the California Geographic Society Annual Conference from April 28 to 30.

Two teams of HSU engineering students took on the challenges of the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, set forth by the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP) last February. It was just recently announced that HSU's competing teams earned “Meritous” rankings based on their problem solutions.

Faculty and students from the Humboldt State University Department or Psychology will be traveling to Palm Springs, Calif. to present their research at the Annual Western Psychological Association (WPA) Conference, April 27 to 30. The WPA meeting is the nation's largest regional psychology conference, with over 2000 attendees each year.

On Wednesday, April 19, Humboldt County's Environmental Health Division recognized the waste reduction efforts of several local people and organizations, including both Humboldt State University President Rollin Richmond and the Campus Recycling Program's ROSE, by honoring them with Waste Reduction Awards.

Humboldt State's 2005 Scholar of the Year and economics department chairman, Steven Hackett, has just published the newest edition of his textbook, "Environmental and Natural Resources Economics."

Humboldt State University's Eugene Novotney, founder of the ever-popular HSU Calypso Band, has been announced as one of five 2006 recipients of the prestigious California State University Wang Family Excellence Award. The other recipients include a versatile innovator in education, a brilliant volcanologist, a classic historian educator, and a renowned scientist.

Faculty, alumni, and students from Humboldt State University's environmental resources engineering department traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico for spring break, implementing a workshop on water reclamation and wetland treatment at Universidad Autónoma "Benito Juárez" de Oaxaca (UAJBO).

At the recent World Conference of Natural Resource Modeling, Humboldt State University emeritus mathematics professor Roland Lamberson was honored by the international Resource Modeling Association and named one the first two RMA Fellows -- the highest award offered in this discipline. Robert McKelvey of University of Montana was the other honoree.

Pianist and freshman HSU student Rebekah Downey was the regional winner at this year's California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT) state competition. She then competed at the state level, performing the music of Scarlatti, Schumann and Copland, and won second place.

On the subject of Charles Darwin and the Galapagos, most people inevitably picture the archipelago's famed giant tortoises or speciose finches. However, it is a little known fact, even among most biologists, that Darwin's initial evolutionary insights were inspired by neither of these. Rather, it was a much lesser known group of birds -- the Galapagos mockingbirds -- that first captured Darwin's attention and catalyzed his thoughts on the roles of geography and adaptive radiation in producing new species.

A hooked rug made by Susan Higgins, Dean of the College of Professional Studies, won first place in the American Folk Art Museum's international hooked rug contest in New York earlier this month. The theme was "Icons of America."

Mark Larson, professor and chairman of the journalism and mass communication department at Humboldt State University, recently received a Lifetime Achievement award from the California Journalism Education Coalition.

Four Humboldt State faculty members presented their research theories, designs, and results to more than 200 attendees at the first CSU Community-Based Teaching and Research Conference: Creating Knowledge and Building Community on March 3 and 4 at California Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Two Humboldt State University students have received the distinction of winning excellence scholarships from the California Parks and Recreation Society, District I. Both hail from the College of Professional Studies and are majoring in Recreation Administration. Evan Priestly and Kelsey Glass each received $500 scholarships at the CPRS District I officers meeting held on the Humboldt State University campus February 10.

Brent Duncan, Ph.D., professor and director of the school psychology program at Humboldt State University, was the recipient of the California Association of School Psychologists' (CASP) Sandra Goff Memorial Award -- the association's school psychologist of the year award -- for his outstanding contributions and distinguished service to the profession of school psychology.

Suspended by ropes and harnesses, a Humboldt State University botanist explores the canopies of the world's tallest trees. Now, thanks to a new chair -- specifically the Kenneth L. Fisher Chair in Redwood Forest Ecology -- he will be able to take this research to new proverbial heights.