Achievements

Jeffrey Kane

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Co-authored three new articles related to fire and fuels management:

“The impact of fuelbed aging on laboratory fire behaviour in masticated woody fuels” in the International Journal of Wildland Fire

“Suites of fire-adapted traits in the southeastern USA oaks: multiple strategies for persistence in fire-prone environments” in the journal Fire Ecology

“Duration of fuels reduction following prescribed fire in coniferous forests of U.S. national parks in California and the Colorado plateau” in the journal Forest Ecology and Management

Adam Carter

Computer Science

Adam Carter will be presenting his paper, "With a Little Help from My Friends: An Empirical Study of the Interplay of Students' Social Activities, Programming Activities, and Course Success" at the ICER 2016 computer science education conference this September.

Dr. Steven J. Steinberg

Environmental Science & Management

Dr. Steven Steinberg (Adjunct Professor, Geospatial Science) is speaking at the European Sociological Association, Qualitative Research Summit, Sept. 1- 3 in Cracow, Poland.

He will be presenting in the Mobile and Geospatial Research Technologies session about his recent fish consumption study supported by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, entitled: A Geospatial Survey of Anglers to Assess Fish Consumption from San Diego Bay, California.

More information about the conference is available at: http://www.esa-cracow.pl/

Steven Martin

Environmental Science & Management

Steve Martin had an article published in the August issue of International Journal of Wilderness -- 'Protecting Visitors and the Wilderness through Stewardship Research.' The article was invited by the Editorial Board of the journal in response to Dr. Martin's recent award for excellence in wilderness stewardship research.

Kristin Cooper and Catherine Trimingham

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Two Humboldt State University students passed the rigorous “Fundamentals of Soil Science” exam offered on April 15, 2016, becoming Associate Professional Soil Scientists, according to test results from the Council of Soil Science Examiners.

Kristin Cooper and Catherine Trimingham graduated from Humboldt State University with the Wildland Soils option in Rangeland Resource Science. Kristin has performed range technician duties for the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming and has volunteered for several California Resource Conservation Districts. She is studying for the GRE exam and plans to apply to a graduate program for Fall 2017. Catt rowed for the HSU Women’s Crew team and is currently working as a forest-wide soils technician on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest in Idaho. She says that “my education is much more well-rounded compared to the people I work with. I am able to understand a majority of the timber jargon, identify most of the plants I come in contact with, and have been told that my notes are too thorough.”

The national pass rate for the Spring 2016 soils exam was 56 percent, with a California pass rate of 87.5 percent. Since 2011, 25 HSU students have attempted this exam, with an overall pass rate of 80 percent, the last two years with 100 percent success. Those who pass the fundamentals exam will be eligible to take the Professional Practice exam after five years of professional experience, an additional step in becoming a Certified Professional Soil Scientist. Recent Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) discussions about program self-certification have included the fundamentals exam as one indicator of program quality. Given that the exam is multiple choice, it does not evaluate students’ field skills per se, but is an exam that is offered nationwide and is therefore ‘portable.’ Humboldt State University Wildland Soils students (under the Rangeland Resource Science major) spend more than 200 hours in field or laboratory learning experiences, honing hands-on skills and field judgment of soil properties, limitations, and capabilities.

William Wood

Chemistry

“Do skunks hate the smell of their own spray?” William Wood, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, was asked this question by Popular Science Magazine (July-August, 2016, p. 102). He said we can never really know the answer to this question. Like humans, skunks should experience olfactory fatigue on prolonged exposure to their defensive spray. The receptors in their nose get clogged up with odor molecules and the smell can no longer be detected. The article is online at www.popsci.com/do-skunks-hate-smell-their-own-spray.

Steven Martin

Environmental Science & Management

Dr. Steven Martin is co-author of a peer-reviewed article recently published in the Journal of Forestry--The Evolution of Wilderness Social Science and Future Research to Protect Experiences, Resources, and Societal Benefits.

Dr. Jason R. Patton

Geology

Dr. Jason R. Patton was invited to and participated in the research cruise CASEIS16. The goals of this cruise were to characterize the tectonics of the convergent subduction zone plate boundary along the Lesser Antilles in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. Dr. Patton provided essential advice to the chief scientist Dr. Nathalie Feuillet for cruise planning by helping Dr. Feuillet locate core sites; locate seismic profile locations; describe, sample, and archive sediment cores; and conduct preliminary stratigraphic analyses. Dr. Patton provided expert advice on the methodology of turbidite paleoseismology.

Here is Dr. Patton’s research cruise blog http://humboldt-jay.blogspot.com/

Dr. Jason R. Patton

Geology

Dr. Jason R. Patton is a recipient of the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Kirk Bryan Award, granted by the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division. This is one of the most prestigious awards granted to geologists that study the Quaternary (from 2.56 million years ago to present). http://www.geosociety.org/awards/divisions.htm#kirkBryan

Dr. Patton was a coauthor to the Goldfinger et al., USGS Publication, "Turbidite Event History—Methods and Implications for Holocene Paleoseismicity of the Cascadia Subduction Zone." The award is presented to all coauthors. http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1661f/

The award will be presented at the September 2016 GSA national meeting in Denver, CO.

Emily Klee, Aaron Kent, Jake Coniglione, Daniel Burgett, Heidi Otten, Jason McMack, Patrick Hasset, Jax Gill, Jake Burns

Environmental Resources Engineering

Again this winter, the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) sponsored the annual Mathematical Modeling Contest (MCM) and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM). Student teams from the HSU Environmental Resources Engineering (ERE) department have participated in this four day long contest for the last 15 years, and did so again this year. Competing against over 12,000 teams from thousands of universities, each team produced a report summarizing their solution to one of six possible problems.

This year, three ERE student teams entered in the competition that began on Thursday evening, January 28, and ended on Monday evening, February 1. The team consisting of Emily Klee, Aaron Kent, and Jake Coniglione, and the team consisting of Daniel Burgett, Heidi Otten, and Jason McMack, selected a problem that required understanding the drivers of water scarcity as they created intervention strategies for a region of the world to mitigate the water crisis. Both teams' reports were awarded the score of Meritorious Winners. Only 9 (0.3%) of the 3,209 teams working on this problem scored higher, and 83% of the teams received lower scores.

The team consisting of Patrick Hasset, Jax Gill, and Jake Burns selected a problem that required they build a mathematical model to determine an effective strategy for a person taking a bath to add heated water to raise the temperature back to near starting levels while minimizing the overall use of water. Patrick, Jax, and Jake competed against 4,094 teams and were awarded a ranking of Meritorious Winners, awarded to only 8% of the entries. Only 13 teams received a higher score.

Congratulations to the members of all three teams for their high achievement in this event. We appreciate your efforts, which bring recognition to the Environmental Resources Engineering Department and to Humboldt State University.