Breadcrumb
Achievements
Find out what our students, faculty, and staff are being recognized for.
Bri Johnson, Ellery Brownlee, Patience Brennan, Lucas Kebow, Allison Bronson
Biological Sciences
Undergraduates Bri Johnson and Ellery Brownlee, alumna Patience Brennan, and faculty Lucas Kebow and Allison Bronson presented their work at the annual Gilbert Ichthyological Society conference. Topics included glue-producing fishes, invasive gobies, threatened species of local smelt, 400 million year old fossil fishes, and shark inner ears. A good time was had by all! The Gilbert Ichthyological Society is an annual gathering of Pacific Northwest fish biologists, hosted by the University of Washington and Oregon State University.
Mihai Tomescu
Biological Sciences
Botany professor Mihai Tomescu attended the 12th European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference in Münster, Germany, where he presented a paper on the early traces and evolution of plant-animal interactions, deep in the Silurian and Devonian fossil record; the paper was co-authored with scientists from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), Université de Lille (France), and Kyoto University (Japan); Tomescu also co-authored three other papers presented at the conference, in collaboration with Cal Poly Humboldt undergraduate students and with scientists from Spain, Germany, and Romania.
Terry Henkel
Biological Sciences
Botany Professor Terry Henkel and co-authors David Largent (Cal Poly Humboldt, emeritus) published a peer reviewed article titled "The Entolomataceae of the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. VIII: Entoloma aldinophilum sp. nov., a striking species associated with Aldina insignis" in the Edinburgh Journal of Botany.
Mihai Tomescu
Biological Sciences
Botany Professor Mihai Tomescu published recently an invited review paper on the evolution of tall plants in the journal Current Biology. The paper, titled Evolution of arborescence at hydraulic, structural, and developmental limits, is co-authored with Martin Bouda (University of Hohenheim, Germany) and Craig Brodersen (Yale University).
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)00505-1
https://www.earth.com/news/why-do-trees-exist-it-may-come-down-to-one-surprising-challenge/
https://kymkemp.com/2026/06/30/what-made-trees-possible-new-research-points-to-drought-survival/
Jianmin Zhong
Biological Sciences
Dr. Jianmin Zhong has received funding (2026–2030) to investigate tick-borne pathogens in Northern California wildlife. The project unites Cal Poly Humboldt’s Biology Vertebrate Museum, the California Department of Public Health, IERC, and the Karuk Tribe. Researchers will study 11 pathogens and microbes, including the Lyme disease bacterium, in small mammals, gray foxes, deer, elk, and ticks. This first molecular surveillance of tick-borne pathogens on Karuk Tribal lands supports health priorities, advances One Health surveillance, assesses risks to people and animals, and provides graduate students with thesis research and training. Funding comes from NIH’s Support for Research Excellence award.
Mihai Tomescu
Biological Sciences
Botany Professor Mihai Tomescu was recognized by the Botanical Society of America with the 2026 Donald R. Kaplan Memorial Lecture Award that recognizes each year a leading scholar in the fields of comparative plant morphology, anatomy, and development. As this year's awardee, professor Tomescu gave a lecture titled Dead plants do tell tales at the annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America in Tucson AZ, August 4, 2026.
Mihai Tomescu
Biological Sciences
Botany Professor Mihai Tomescu gave an invited lecture titled,What can we learn from 400-million-years old fossils about plant evolution?, at the 90th meeting of the Botanical Society of Japan in Noda, Japan, September 4, 2026.
Monica Sheffer & Benjamin Hanlin
Biological Sciences
Dr. Monica Sheffer and master’s student Benjamin Hanlin received funding to investigate how spider communities reflect the health of California's redwood forests. The project will compare spider diversity in old-growth, unthinned second-growth, and restoration-thinned forests in Redwood National and State Parks. Because spiders play important roles as predators and prey, changes in their communities could provide valuable clues about how redwood forests recover after restoration. Led by Hanlin with Sheffer serving as faculty mentor, the research will establish baseline biodiversity data to help evaluate restoration efforts and support monitoring of redwood forest ecosystems.
Funding comes from Save the Redwoods League.
Dr. Oscar M. Vargas, Eli Allen
Biological Sciences
Oscar Vargas, Associate Professor of Botany in the Biological Sciences Department, along with M.Sc. graduate Eli Allen (currently a PhD student at UC-Santa Cruz), published an article documenting a case of budding speciation in the California Floristic Province. This mode of speciation, thought to be rare in nature, is being found in plants, especially regions with high biodiversity. The article "A case of budding speciation in the California Floristic Province and infraspecific divergence in Abronia villosa" is available at the following link https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.70234
Allison Bronson
Biological Sciences
Cal Poly Humboldt Biological Sciences Professor Allison Bronson was awarded the American Society of Ichthyologists & Herpetologists “Best Paper by a Young Scholar in Ichthyology” award for her work titled “Novel Nasal Anatomy Suggests Enhanced Olfactory Acuity in Auchenoglanidid Catfishes (Siluriformes: Auchenoglanididae)." The annual prize honors the best publications from the society’s peer-reviewed journal Ichthyology & Herpetology. Bronson received the award at the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH) held in New Orleans this July. Ten students from the Bronson lab on campus also presented their research at the meeting.