Research

Will Goldenberg tossed a handful of peanuts onto the concrete, hoping to lure the Steller’s Jay from its nest outside Founders Hall. After a few minutes, the blue and black bird popped out of a bush and hopped over to the pile of nuts scattered on the ground.

Humboldt State has purchased three new instruments and has begun remodeling existing space to support student and faculty research in the earth, physical and biological sciences.

Humboldt State University Biological Sciences Professor Jianmin Zhong has received a three-year, $353,500 grant from the National Institutes of Health to advance innovative tick research.

Del Norte County and Adjacent Tribal Lands should further localize their farm-to-market sector with Community Supported Agriculture networks, according to a detailed analysis by the non-profit California Center for Rural Policy at Humboldt State University.

Graduate student Brandon Namm is putting the finishing touches on a multi-year research project that investigates an area few scientists have ventured before: Underground to understand the root systems of the tanoak.

When it comes to long-running student questions, Darvin DeShazer’s (’72, Biology, ’86, Education) might take the cake.

At Humboldt State University’s Cultural Resources Facility, student Brandy Hurtado is helping to preserve the contents of five student notebooks.

Engineers at Humboldt State’s Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC) are using their expertise in sustainable technology to increase clean water access in the developing world.

Sometimes one plus one is more than two. HSU is committed to improving campus communications. It's also is committed to developing undergraduate research. Mix the two together and the result is an intriguing, synergistic project.

What if gravity doesn’t behave exactly the way we think it does? And if we proved it doesn’t—what then?

Beth Larson, lecturer and Coordinator for Humboldt State’s North Coast Concussion Program, is used to taking challenges head-on. But her research, which was recently discussed in the New York Times’ health blog, suggests that soccer players could benefit from cutting back on heading the ball.

Specialized audio research by Humboldt State anthropology lecturer and alumna Marissa Ramsier (’03) indicates that one of the world’s smallest primates probably has an ultrasound warning system within its social groups.

For Clara Lazen, 10, a classroom assignment turned into a scientific finding. As Chemistry Professor Robert Zoellner confirmed, the fifth-grader's curiosity led to a new molecule, and her first mention in a scientific journal.

Sheila Kelly grew up in a family that encouraged sports over video games and outdoor activities over television. As a child, she played soccer, basketball and softball, and as an adult, she worked as a group exercise instructor and personal trainer while pursuing her Ph.D. in Kinesiology at Michigan State University.

Since hitting the market in 2003, personal locator beacons have saved hundreds of people from life threatening wilderness situations. The satellite-linked emergency devices alert search and rescue teams to the precise location of a person in danger and can often mean the difference between life and death.

Humboldt State’s Telonicher Marine Lab in Trinidad is wrapping up a year and a half long $350,000 renovation of its wet lab and public display area funded by alumni, grants and private donations.

At HSU, new concussion research is asking people to take a page out of Johnny Cash’s songbook and “walk the line.” While Cash kept a close eye on his heart, students working with the North Coast Concussion Program at Humboldt State are keeping a close eye on the head, specifically head injuries.

The California Center for Rural Policy at Humboldt State University has issued a series of policy options to encourage food donations, pare considerable local waste and stem the region’s food insecurity.

A two-year, $117,000 National Science Foundation grant will enable Humboldt State University physics students to conduct the most rigorous test worldwide of Einstein’s famous theory of relativity in the campus’s Gravitational Research Laboratory.

The College of Natural Resources and Sciences has received a half a million dollar grant to purchase an environmental scanning electron microscope, a cutting-edge tool that will boost faculty-led research in the earth, physical and biological sciences.

HSU Anthropology and Sociology major, Leslie Perkins, was awarded the Jane C. Waldbaum Archaeological Field School Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to only seven students in the United States and Canada and includes $1,000 to pay for their first fieldwork experience.

Imagine a towering ocean wave 60 feet high, racing with a tsunami’s obliterative force against the mouth of Redwood Creek in northern California.

When it comes to environmental literacy, Humboldt State students are ahead of the curve according to a spring 2011 study conducted by HSU students.

A gray whale that offered students a rare educational opportunity when it wandered into the Klamath River for nearly eight weeks this summer died this month after beaching itself on a sandbar.

Humboldt State University’s Department of Geography has installed a full-scale weather station atop Van Matre Hall to spur engaged learning in physical geography.