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Achievements

Find out what our students, faculty, and staff are being recognized for.

Faculty

Allison Bronson

Biological Sciences

Dr. Allison Bronson received a National Science Foundation grant to study the inner ear structures of sharks, using CT scanning and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This work will evaluate whether ear shape differs between shark species living in different habitats, potentially developing a predictive model for inferring the ecology of extinct fishes. The project involves collaborators at the University of Michigan, University of North Carolina WIlmington, University of Birmingham, and University of Auckland, and will use specimens from Cal Poly Humboldt’s Fish Collection and other museums throughout the United States.

Faculty

Rachael Wade

Biological Sciences

Dr. Rachael Wade received a 2024 Norma J. Lang Fellowship award from the Phycological Society of America. The award supports genome sequencing of the red alga, C. berteroi. While algal species tend to assume restricted ranges, C. berteroi is widespread and can be found across nearshore environments in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Dr. Wade’s work will explore this cosmopolitanism, and data from the study will later be used to reconstruct the species’ ancestral range, and identify adaptive traits that have facilitated its distribution. Understanding drivers of cosmopolitanism can increase understanding of algal adaptation in the face of climate change.

Faculty

Rachael Wade

Biological Sciences

Dr. Rachael Wade received a 2024 Norma J. Lang Fellowship award from the Phycological Society of America. The award supports genome sequencing of the red alga, C. berteroi. While algal species tend to assume restricted ranges, C. berteroi is widespread, and can be found across nearshore environments in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Dr. Wade’s work will explore this cosmopolitanism, and data from the study will later be used to reconstruct the species’ ancestral range, and identify adaptive traits that have facilitated its’ distribution. Understanding drivers of cosmopolitanism can increase understanding of algal adaptation in the face of climate change.

Student

Hunter Circe, Sean Stippick, Sarah Lasley

Environmental Studies

A film made by Environmental Studies majors Hunter Circe and Sean Stippick in Professor Sarah Lasley's "Social Change Filmmaking" class last spring was accepted into the Earth Connection Film Festival. Their film, Troglodyte, follows a man paralyzed by anxiety over a looming climate disaster. His mental turmoil and isolation, brought on by an obsessive consumption of climate doom media, manifests as a physical sea cave, which he ultimately escapes when his television breaks. Hunter and Sean will receive $300 for being accepted and have their film premiered on July 20 at the Buskirk Chumley Theatre in Bloomington, IN.  

Faculty

Jeff Kane

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

In partnership with Redwood National Park and the United States Geological Survey- Arcata Field Office, Jeff Kane and graduate student Megan Joyce from the Department of Forestry, Fire, and Rangeland Management will be examining the impacts of restoration thinning treatments that burned in the 2023 Lost Fire on surface fuel changes, tree mortality, regeneration, and secondary redwood forests. Information from this study will aid managers in determining the ability of restoration thinning treatments to mitigate impacts from wildfire and will advance our understanding of fire effects in secondary redwood forests.  

Faculty

Dr. Lucy Kerhoulas

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Lucy Kerhoulas received a $180,000 grant from the Columbia Land Trust to investigate white oak responses to forest restoration thinning treatments aiming to reduce fire fuels, overstory competition, and tree drought vulnerability. This project will measure oak physiology before treatments and two years after treatments; findings will help hone management prescriptions to maximize Oregon white oak resiliency at the eastern edge of the species' range. The project is in collaboration with Oregon State University, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Columbia Land Trust, and the East Cascades Oak Partnership and will support one graduate student and numerous undergraduate students.

Student

Regina Khoury, Brandon Browne

Geology

Regina Khoury (MS Student, Environmental Systems - Geology) and professor Brandon Browne (Geology Department) presented their original research poster in Spokane, WA, at the May 15-17, 2024 Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section Meeting. Their research poster, titled "Petrologic and Geochemical Constraints on Pre-Eruptive Storage Conditions of Magmas Erupted During the ~12.5 ka Flare Up of Medicine Lake Volcano, CA," described the results of Regina's MS thesis, including detailed field mapping of lavas and vents, whole-rock geochemical analysis of lavas and pyroclasts, and in situ chemical analysis of tiny crystals within lavas and pyroclasts.   

Faculty

Lucy Kerhoulas

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Lucy Kerhoulas received a $50,000 grant from Save the Redwoods League to examine the influences of Redwoods Rising restoration treatments on forest water sources and drought responses in Redwood National and State Parks near Orick, CA. Tree-rings, stable isotopes, and physiological measurements will all be a part of this work. Findings will help foster drought-resilient ecosystems by informing managers about how treatments influence forest water sources and what treatments most effectively maximize water availability for plants. Collaborators include Anthony Ambrose, Andrew Stubblefield, Alana Chin, Phil van Mantgem, Lathrop Leonard, and Jason Teraoka.

Faculty

Sarah Jaquette Ray

Environmental Studies

In her new book that came out on May 13, "The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators: How to Teach in a Burning World," Dr. Sarah Jaquette Ray draws on a decade of learning from Humboldt students about how to be an educator in times of climate disruption. Given CPH's ongoing and pivotal legacy of student activism, it is clear that college students need a pedagogy that supports them in meeting the polycrisis. Bringing emotions research, neuroscience, and liberatory pedagogy to the center, the book helps climate educators in particular be more embodied and trauma-informed.

Faculty

Oscar M. Vargas-Hernandez

Biological Sciences

Dr. Oscar Vargas and collaborators have published a new scientific article "Towards a Monophyletic Infrageneric Circumscription of Adesmia DC. (Dalbergieae, Leguminosae): a Taxonomic Revision in Adesmia series Adesmia" in the journal Phytotaxa. https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/view/phytotaxa.639.1.1