Achievements

Melanie Michalak

Geology

Melanie Michalak was awarded a American Chemical Society- Petroleum Research Fund grant toward her proposed research, "Reconstructing Neogene Paleogeography and Forearc Basin Evolution of Southern Cascadia using Detrital Mineral Geochronology." The grant of $55,000 is awarded over a two year period and will support original research by PI Michalak, a MSc student and a team of undergraduates. Their work in the coastal deposits along the north coast seeks to characterize paleogeography and forearc development over the past several million years using quantitative dating techniques.

Mark Colwell, Lizzie Feucht, Sean McAllister, Amber Transou

Wildlife

Mark Colwell and former students Lizzie Feucht, Sean McAllister, and Amber Transou published a paper in the August issue of Wader Study, an international journal dedicated to understanding the ecology and promoting the conservation of shorebirds. Their paper details the longevity record for a Snowy Plover that they've studied for the past 16 years! Mark will present this story in an EcoSeries lecture on August 31 in the Wildlife Department.

Brandon Browne, Raul Becerra

Geology

Dr. Brandon Browne, Associate Professor of Geology, and four undergraduate thesis students, including Raul Becerra ('16), recently published their study titled "Quaternary basaltic volcanism in the Golden Trout Volcanic Field, southern Sierra Nevada, California" in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. The study uses results from geologic mapping and geochemical analyses of rocks and minerals to interpret the eruption styles and geologic evolution of the volcanic field - the only one of its age in the High Sierra.

Irene Vasquez

Environmental Science & Management

Graduate student Irene Vasquez was chosen as a Switzer Environmental Fellow for the 2017-18 academic year. The national fellowships are highly competitive. Each year, 20 promising environmental leaders are awarded $15,000 each to complete master’s and doctoral degrees in New England and California to advance their skills and develop their expertise to address critical environmental challenges.Vasquez's research seeks to implement a management regime for restoring plants important for cultural preservation in Yosemite National Park. More details are available "here":http://users.humboldt.edu/steve.martin/graduateStudents_IreneVasquez.ht….

William F. Wood

Chemistry

Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, William Wood, was a co-author of an article on medicinal aspects of matsutake mushrooms (Tricholoma magnivelare). Wood identified and synthesized a new compound from mycelium of this mushroom, which was used in the current study – “Effects of matsutake mushroom scent compounds on tyrosinase and murine B16-F10 melanoma cells.” It was published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.

Yaad Rana, Josh Martinez, Toni Castillo, Karen Duarte, Peter Duin, Fernando Flores, Tanya Garcia, Jacob Hurd, Jackson Ingram, Amanda ‘the Destroyer’ Lagasca, Tony Mitchell III, David Rivera, Raymond Rios, Kelly Rodman, and Eunice Romero

Environmental Resources Engineering

Humboldt State University's Environmental Resources Engineering students retain their trophy for the American Society of Civil Engineers Mid-Pacific Water Treatment Competition (MidPac), for the second year in a row, and fourth time overall, leading HSU to have the most wins in this competition. In addition, HSU took Second Place Overall in MidPac, even though the environmental engineering students did not complete in the Concrete Canoe, Steel Bridge or Geowall competitions! Tongji University (Shanghai, China) was awarded first place overall due to their first place finishes in the other competitions that HSU did not compete in. The HSU team formed a great sense of camaraderie with the Tongji team, as they supported and cheered each other on throughout the three day conference.

MidPac was hosted by Chico State this year, and was attended by most of the UCs and CSUs in California, along with other international competitors. The competition was extremely close this year, with the ERE's toughest competitors being Tongji (China), Laval (Canada), University of the Pacific, UC Berkeley and UC Davis.

Midpac consists of four main competitions: Concrete Canoe, Water Treatment, Geowall, and Steel Bridge. There are also three report competitions: Transportation, Ethics, and Water Research, each offering a cash prize. Each competition victory earns the winning school conference points, which are summed at the end and used to declare overall Mid-Pac winners.

HSU has historically competed only in the wastewater treatment competition. This year, HSU also competed in the water research paper category and mini-games. For water treatment competition, the team dedicated an enormous amount of effort into each of the scored categories to earn First Place in Water Treatment:
Construction (Second Place)
Poster Presentation (Tie for First Place)
Powerpoint Presentation (First Place)
Design Report (First Place)
Water Quality (First place).

For the Water Research Report competition, ERE student Peter Duin received a unanimous first place finish in both design report and oral presentation. HSU also won the Scavenger Hunt.

ERE students Yaad Rana and Josh Martinez co-chaired the preparation for Mid-Pac. Other participants were Toni Castillo, Karen Duarte, Peter Duin, Fernando Flores, Tanya Garcia, Jacob Hurd, Jackson Ingram, Amanda ‘the Destroyer’ Lagasca, Tony Mitchell III, David Rivera, Raymond Rios, Kelly Rodman, and Eunice Romero. The students are especially grateful the guidance and feedback from Professors Brad Finney and Margaret Lang.

Brent Henry, Andrew Mueller, Kaelie Pena, and Mariah Aguilar

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

The Forestry and Wildland Resources Department celebrated its students during the annual Awards Banquet on April 18. This year, the department awarded over $68,000 in scholarships to 56 deserving students. Many scholarships were established by alumnae or in honor of alumnae; the Forestry Pathfinders scholarship was created by the founding forestry class at Humboldt State; and the Gayleen Smith scholarship was created in honor of the “office mom” for the department from 2005 through 2013.

The department also honored outstanding students: Brent Henry (Academic Excellence award in Forestry), Andrew Mueller (Professional Promise award in Forestry), Kaelie Pena (Rangeland Resource Outstanding Student), and Mariah Aguilar (Rangeland Resource Outstanding Student). And the students voted to award three separate honors: to Maurine Nicholson (Administrative Support Coordinator) and George Pease (Stockroom Manager) in recognition of their contributions to the department, and to Dr. Pascal Berrill for Outstanding Faculty member.

Dr. Kerri Hickenbottom and Dr. Leslie Miller-Robbie

Environmental Resources Engineering

Assistant professor Kerri Hickenbottom and visiting professor Leslie Miller-Robbie co-authored an article on a techno-economic assessment of a closed-loop osmotic heat engine published in the Journal of Membrane Science.
Full article: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2017.04.034

Yaad Rana, Marcela Jimenez, and Joshua Martinez

Environmental Resources Engineering

For the last 16 years, student teams from the HSU Environmental Resources Engineering (ERE) department have participated in a four day long math modeling competition. The competition consists of the Mathematical Modeling Contest (MCM) and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM) sponsored by the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP). Competing against nearly 17,000 teams from thousands of universities, each team produced a report summarizing their solution to one of six possible problems.

This year, a record six ERE student teams entered in the competition that began on Thursday evening, January 19 and ended on Monday evening, January 23. Four of the six ERE teams were awarded the score of Honorable Mention, with fewer than 12% of the other teams scoring higher, and approximately 50% of the other teams scoring lower. One team received a ranking of Meritorious Winners, with fewer than 1% of the teams scoring higher. Finally, the team of Yaad Rana, Marcela Jimenez, and Joshua Martinez received the highest ranking possible, Outstanding Winner. This team also received the Rachel Carson award and the Sigma Scholarship award which provides a $3,000 prize to each team member.

Bill Trush

Environmental Science & Management

Congratulations to Bill Trush, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Environmental Science & Management and Co-Director of the HSU River Institute for receiving the “Golden Pipe” award from the Salmonid Restoration Federation at their recent annual meeting in Davis, CA. The Golden Pipe is an award for innovators in the salmon restoration field. https://www.calsalmon.org/about/awards/golden-pipe-award