May 3, 2024 | Digital Showcase | Humboldt Library
All Presenters & Abstracts
HSU Student Disability Awareness
Presentation Year: 2016
This is an evaluation of the awareness of the existence of the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) on HSU Campus. The purpose of this study is to better understand campus awareness of student services such as the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC). Though there are numerous resources on campus, our hypothesis is students are not fully aware of the Student Disability Resource Center on campus. Therefore, to better understand how students learn about the services our research question is: How can we improve campus wide awareness among the HSU community of the services of the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC).
HSU's River Otter Citizen Science Project
Presentation Year: 2016
River otters are key indicators of the health of northern California's coasts, rivers and wetlands. We collect river otter sightings from the public in order to assess and monitor the health of our local river otter population, and therefore of our local ecosystem as a whole.
Humboldt Cares - Bringing Campus and Community Together for Change
Presentation Year: 2016
Serving in the community is a proven way for students to build a sense of belonging on campus and throughout the greater community while applying the things they are learning in their courses. As an intern in the Center for Service Learning and Academic Internships I have been able to put into practice the commitment to social justice and diversity from Sociology and the skills in Social Advocacy, Community Organizing, and service through nonprofit organizations through participation through training in activism at Berkely, creating the Humboldt Cares Club, and recruiting volunteers for the needs of Humboldt County.
Humboldt County Women's Ethnographic Archive
Presentation Year: 2016
This goal of this project is to establish the Humboldt County Women’s Ethnographic Archive through the Anthropology department at Humboldt State University. An ethnographic archive is a collection of materials that provide historical and contemporary information about a place, group of people, or institution. Archives provide a repository for unpublished and other unique materials that preserve cultural memory and supplement the historical record. Women’s archives are particularly important as women’s contributions have generally been underrepresented in historical collections. The HCWEA’s mission will be to preserve the contributions and culture of Humboldt women from all walks of life.
Interactions of Mycorrhizae, Native Grasses and Quercus douglasii in California blue oak woodlands
Presentation Year: 2016
Interactions of Mycorrhizae, Native Grasses and Quercus douglasii in California blue oak woodlands
California’s endemic Quercus douglasii (blue oak) is not regenerating throughout the state and although many hypotheses have been made, no conclusive evidence has been brought forward as to why. The goal of this study is to find evidence of a relationship, if any exists, between Q. douglasii, mycorrhizae and the native grasses that once dominated the landscape.
Investigating Mycorrhizal Association Between the California Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii) and Native and Non-Native Grasses
Presentation Year: 2016
Interactions of Mycorrhizae, Native Grasses and Quercus douglasii in California blue oak woodlands.
California's endemic blue oak is not regenerating and despite many studies, no one has found any reasons as to why. The trees make lot's of acorns, the acorns germinate fine, but the saplings fail to properly establish and typically die before reaching maturity. This investigation looks at a potential reason as to why this is, focused on invasive annual grasses that have almost entirely replaced the native perennial species.
H1: Grass species affects the rate of mycorrhizal infection in Q. douglasii seedlings.
H0: Mycorrhizal infection rate of Q. douglasii is independent of grass species.
Island Biogeography: Invasive Species and Eradication Programs
Presentation Year: 2016
For this project, a masters list of introduced mammals was provided. The masters list consisted of several different species of mammals who were classified by family, genus, species, and common names. Each species was accompanied by islands they were introduced too. Using the “Database of Island Invasive Species Eradication,” each animal on the list was searched for to see if they were successfully eradicated. If these animals had been eradicated, then the date and method of eradication were recorded. If these species didn’t show up on the database, then they were search for using various different search engines. If animals still remain of these islands the question becomes why?
Isolation and Initial characterization of antibiotic-producing bacteria from Northern California's Redwood Forest
Presentation Year: 2016
In order to fight the increasing antibiotic crisis, an experimental lab isolated bacteria from the Redwood Forest. From soil and air, 47 isolates were extracted from the Redwood Forest and tested for inhibition against the six deadly ESKAPE pathogens. We sequenced the 16s rRNA gene to identify the bacterial species. Isolates that had identical 16s rRNA genes inhibited different pathogens, possibly leading to the discovery of a novel antibiotic producing bacteria.
Kiss Me Kate, Costume Design
Presentation Year: 2016
I was one of the costume designers for HSU's production of Kiss Me Kate; in charge of the costumes of the lead characters, Fred/Petruchio and Lilli/Kate. I'll be presenting Kate's final dress for the finale of the show. After researching many paintings, I designed a dress that harkened to the Renaissance time period. The dress was built by a team of costume technicians, including myself.
Kleptoplasty and Co-evolution in Humboldt Bay: A study of sea-slug, Alderia modesta, and Coenocytic Algae.
Presentation Year: 2016
Alderia modesta is a sacoglossan sea-slug that is capable of of kleptoplasty, a process where the sea-slug steals the chloroplast from the algae that it eats , phagocytizes it, and uses it to photosynthesize. In this experiment, different groups of A. modesta were fed three different species of coenocytic algae, all of which are known to be eaten by sacoglossans. The cerata (anatomical structures) were then plucked off and the chloroplasts were counted under a fluorescence microscope to compare which alga the sea-slug ingested the most. The experiment has yet to conclude, however, the alga with the highest ratio of chloroplasts is considered to have co-evolved with the sea-slug.
Levee Stories: Myths of Management
Presentation Year: 2016
What is the cultural significance that the Redwood Creek Levee System carries in Orick, California? The purpose of this study is to further investigate the history and management of the levee system and to apply the findings. By tracking the levee's ethos using multiple research methods and publishing, the study hopes to better understand roles humans play with regard to the levee system and to each other. Through collaboration and greater understanding of the levee system research will be revealed in the Orick wikipedia page and within an Omeka exhibit site.
Life's Footprints
Presentation Year: 2016
As college students progress through their academic career they begin to form an identity. Their identity then balances their intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cognitive abilities (Jones and Abes 2004). A college education has also been theorized to act as a protective factor from offending, or a factor that can promote desistance from crime (Hirschi 1969). Does the self-concept of college students influence their offending behavior? The purpose of this topic is to conduct a narrative study, to explore the life course development that college students have undergone before attending college, as well as what their current life course (life path) is, and their vision for post-college life.
Live, Love, Latch; An Ethnography of the Breastfeeding Community in Northern Humboldt County
Presentation Year: 2016
The biocultural approach to anthropology recognizes that one cannot fully discuss human biology without a discussion of human culture as well, and vice-versa. The socially complex topic of breastfeeding is a perfect example of the intersection between biology and culture; while breastfeeding is a biological process, it has been observed cross-culturally that the way it is practiced and if it is practiced at all, is highly dependent on the culture where the mother belongs. Through this ethnography, an anthropological investigation of the unique culture of Humboldt County will be undertaken to understand if and how a positive cultural atmosphere is created for local breastfeeding mothers.
Mapping Ancient Maya Lowlands
Presentation Year: 2016
Aleck Tan and Breana Esparza will assist Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon in mapping the areas between Dos Hombres and Gran Cacao using GIS and remote sensing techniques. Aleck Tan has been using satellite imagery to analyze the vegetation in the area in order to identify the extent of the causeways by applying remote sensing techniques of calculating the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Breana Esparza has been applying different methods of spatial analysis to create topographic contours of quarries and water features near the site N950. The information gathered would help create a better understanding of how ancient Mayan rural communities lived within their environments.
Mapping Marijuana Cultivation Sites and Water Storage in the Redwood Creek Watershed, Southern Humboldt County
Presentation Year: 2016
Impending regulation of California’s medical-marijuana industry demands a quantifiable understanding of the extent of cultivation on private lands long devoted to commercial-scale marijuana growing. This research aimed to quantify marijuana cultivation and water storage in the Redwood Creek watershed of southern Humboldt County, where critical changes have taken place since the advent of the back-to-the-land movement in the late 1960s. A GIS-based spatial analysis, following a visual search using Google Earth imagery, yielded 303 greenhouses, 100 outdoor cultivation scenes, 164 water tanks, and 51 installed ponds on assessor’s parcels located within or partly within the watershed.
Maximization of Sustainable Values in Real Estate
Presentation Year: 2016
Using applied anthropology to create sustainable models for real estate values, and hopefully prevent another great recession. The next phase is to determine the cultural implications of these models and to see how our cultural will react when their homes loses value on paper but are worth the same in terms of wages disposable income ratio.
Measurements of Sub-Milliradian Angles Using a Modified Michelson Interferometer
Presentation Year: 2016
At Humboldt State University, a group of undergraduate students and faculty have been investigating the effects of gravity at very short distances. Due to the need to measure very small amounts of motion during these experiments, a separate group of students and faculty have been designing an optical system to measure very small rotational movement, down to the sub-milliradian scale. This system, a modified Michelson interferometer, utilizes the optical path length difference of two branches of a split laser beam to measure almost imperceptible rotations of a mirror by observing constructive and destructive interference of the two branches.
Millennials' Redefinition of "Career"
Presentation Year: 2016
Today, as the Millennial Generation attend and complete college, enter the workforce and start their careers—research suggests that they are redefining the “traditional” values of individualism, entrepreneurship, and materialism that convey “success” in their chosen fields. The argument of this article is that the teaching of career preparation at the university level must also change. Therefore, this article will explore the question of how to teach “career” curriculum to a generation that arguably has very different values in the small, rural context of Humboldt State University.
Mindfulness: A physiological examination of mediation and alternate states of conciousness
Presentation Year: 2016
From Tibetan monks to college students in the U.S., meditation is a practice that has transcended cultural barriers and has been in existence for thousands of years. In addition to waking, dreaming, and non-dreaming, Davidson (1976) describes the practice of transcendental meditation (TM) as a fourth state of consciousness (as cited in Kanellakos & Lukas, 1974). This is due to the studies with brain wave lengths and EEGs that show what areas of the mind are being activated during meditation. My study will be a literature review of: the physiological changes during meditation, brain activity during meditation, and current clinical applications.
Natural Influences from Inside and Outside of the Classroom
Presentation Year: 2016
The research project has been developed to investigate what the relationship is between early education students, teachers, living plants inside and outside the classroom, and the environment outside the windows. The research project surveys 32 center-based programs among rural and urban early education programs to produce quantitative and qualitative data for a research project that will support a blog site. The blog site will include curriculum plans, activities and images supporting incorporation of plants in children’s environments and children’s interactions with natural materials and playscapes.