Achievements

Pedro Peloso and Brandice Guerra

Biological Sciences

Dr. Pedro Peloso and Brandice Guerra, M.F.A., received a $10,000 grant from the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation to support a scientific illustration residency program at Cal Poly Humboldt. The program will recruit a student or recent graduate from anywhere in the world to work with faculty from the departments of Art+Film and Biology. The intern will create a series of illustrations of recently extinct Brazilian frogs, and share their work and artistic process through a lecture or exhibition on campus.

Matthew D Johnson, Amy Sprowles, Steven Margel, Kat Goldenberg, Raven Palomera

Biological Sciences

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. 

Melody Tew, Nicole Rahman-Garnier, Jordyn Neal

Biological Sciences

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.

Hannah Cornwell (the PreMed Society student President)

Biological Sciences

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.

Roxann Schroeder

Biological Sciences

Roxann Schroeder, lecturer in Biology and ESM, has written an online textbook, Human Genetics: Understanding How Genes Work, to support students in the Human Genetics class.

Frank Shaughnessy, Susannah Ferson, Adam Frimodig, Daniel Barton, Mathew Hurst, Jeffrey Black

Biological Sciences

Students and faculty from several departments have been studying the effects that grazing by brant geese have on a widespread marine plant, eelgrass, which provides numerous ecosystem services within estuaries. Using an experimental approach, they found that brant enable greater productivity and sexual reproduction of eelgrass, therefore potentially contributing to ecosystem resilience.

https://esajournals-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.humboldt.edu/doi/10…

John Reiss and Karen Kiemnec-Tyburczy

Biological Sciences

John Reiss and Karen Kiemnec-Tyburczy have been awarded a 3-year National Science Foundation (Division of Integrative Organismal Systems) grant to study the evolution of olfaction across multiple species of lungless salamanders with different developmental modes.

Catalina Cuellar-Gempeler

Biological Sciences

Catalina Cuellar-Gempeler earned the NSF Career award, one of the most prestigious awards offered by NSF.

Karley Rojas

Biological Sciences

Undergraduate Karley Rojas (Botany) has received a science fellowship from the Agricultural Research Institute for their proposed study of native plants that have the potential to be utilized in the context of agroecosystem building as consistent with regional TEK. They will be working with their mentors Dr.Buddhika Madurapperuma and Craig Benson.

Karen Kiemnec-Tyburczy

Biological Sciences

Karen Kiemnec-Tyburczy and co-authors published a paper "A New Perspective on Female-to-Male Communication in Salamander Courtship" in Integrative and Comparative Biology. The paper can be viewed at https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaa087