Achievements

Samuel Bold

Geology

Samuel Bold (MS student, Geology) was selected for a prestigious $4,000 American Federation of Mineralogical Society scholarship from the California Federation of Mineralogical and Geological Societies. Sam's MS thesis work uses geochronological methods to date timing of uplift and faulting along the Van Duzen River.

Tyler Ladinsky, Harvey Kelsey, Melanie Michalak

Geology

Tyler Ladinsky (Geology M.S. '12), Harvey Kelsey (Geology) and Melanie Michalak (Geology) published their Final Technical Report in collaboration with USGS scientists, from their paleoseismic studies on the Little Salmon and Goose Lake faults near Hydesville, CA, funded by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. The report is entitled, In Southern Cascadia, do upper plate faults rupture in concert with subduction zone earthquakes: a paleoseismic investigation of the Little Salmon fault zone. The work helps to quantify earthquake hazards in northern California. The full report is available at this link: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/cfusion/external_grants/reports/G19AP00046.pdf

Lonny Grafman

Environmental Resources Engineering

Lonny Grafman co-authored a new book with Dr. Joshua Pearce on how communities come together to harness the power of the sun and how other people can do it as well.

Thanks to a partnership with Humboldt State Press and the Appropedia Foundation with the backing of a very successful Kickstarter campaign, this book is available free to all that need it.

Interested in renewable energy, solar power, photovoltaics, community-based projects, DIY, or preparing for a zombie apocalypse (or Public Safety Power Shutoffs)? You can find out more and get your copy at https://www.tocatchthesun.com

Dan Barton

Wildlife

A new cooperative grant from the Bureau of Land Management to HSU will support graduate students working with Wildlife faculty member Dan Barton to study conservation of seabirds and the Trinidad Seabird Protection Network around Trinidad Head and Sue-Meg over the next three years.

Dan Barton

Wildlife

Working with colleagues from four other institutions around the country, Wildlife faculty member Dan Barton co-organized and facilitated a workshop "Active Learning in the Wildlife Classroom: Engaging students beyond the field" with 30 participants at the annual meeting of The Wildlife Society in early November 2021.

Janelle Chojnacki

Wildlife

Wildlife graduate student Janelle Chojnacki has received a grant from The Nuttall Ornithological Club to fund her research into the foraging behavior of common ravens, and their predator impact on the western snowy plover, a federally threatened bird. The project aims to address the causal factors related to increased raven abundance and proximity to plover nesting areas to provide conservation practitioners with useful information for identifying key areas to focus mitigation efforts. Results will be applicable to other prey species throughout ravens’ range in North America.

Chojnacki received the award working in collaboration with her graduate advisor, Dr. Barbara Clucas.

Rafael Cuevas Uribe

Fisheries Biology

Dr. Rafael Cuevas Uribe (Fisheries Biology) has received a grant from the Western Regional Aquaculture Center to support a collaborative aquaculture project between HSU, Virginia Tech, and Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, which aims to collect and assemble information on western aquaculture and distill it into easily accessible digital media forms.

Funding will enable Cuevas Uribe and a graduate student to collect farm-level data from fish farmers in California, and then produce at least one video vignette that highlights the farmers, their care for their animals, the commitment to environmental stewardship, and social responsibility.

Frank Fogarty

Wildlife

Frank Fogarty (Wildlife) published a new paper demonstrating that observational data can be useful for predicting songbird nest sites in Ibis. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.13020

Darren Ward

Fisheries Biology

HSU Fisheries Biology Professor Dr. Darren Ward received a grant from the Cooperative Institute for Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Systems to support an ongoing research collaboration project between HSU, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division, and the California Coastal Area Office, NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region.

The project supports research and graduate student training related to habitat and conservation of federally-listed salmon, and allows for enhanced research efforts that complement NOAA Fisheries research and management information needs in northern California.

Micaela Szykman Gunther

Wildlife

HSU Wildlife Professor Dr. Micaela Szykman Gunther has received a grant from the Humboldt County Fish and Game Commission to support ongoing research into the diets of two local at-risk species, the Humboldt marten and fisher, and their predators. The project aims to analyze diet data to help inform land management practices that may benefit the two species, and to understand predator impact that will further help land managers and conservationists.

Project collaborators include Dr. Katie Moriarty (National Council for Air and Stream Improvement), graduate students Alyssa Roddy and Erika Anderson, and two undergraduate students.