Achievements

Barbara Clucas and graduate student Stephanie Stragier

Wildlife

Dr. Barbara Clucas and graduate student Stephanie Stragier were awarded a grant from the Sequoia Park Zoo to support a study investigating habitat quality of the Western snowy plover, a threatened coastal bird species. In Humboldt County, some chicks are hatching at smaller body sizes, which may be linked to habitat degradation or climate change. This project will analyze chick measurements and habitat quality during the 2024–2025 breeding seasons to identify potential causes, ultimately aiming to inform conservation strategies for the species’ recovery and improve monitoring methods. This work will also provide research experience for Humboldt wildlife undergraduate students.

Alyssa Semerdjian

Biological Sciences

Alyssa Semerdjian received a Ranges Imaging Mini-Award for a project that will use 3D models generated from MicroCT scans to study nasal turbinates - tiny bones inside the noses of mammals that help them maintain body temperatures and conserve water. The study will focus on rodents from the family Heteromyidae. Members of this family can be found across North and Central American from extremely dry deserts to wet tropical forests. This work will provide new insights into the adaptive significance of nasal turbinates, and how morphology and physiology can vary in closely related small mammal species that occupy different habitats.

Elijah Harnar, Roland Carter, Zander Leigh, Shea Ciuca Duffy, Erika Ospenson, Nicholas Weiser, Kyle Ellis, Andrew Bricken, Sean Ruzicka, Kyle Amann, Jason Dyck, Felix Canari, Leonardo Castro, Eden Hill, Celeste Joyner, Erick Herrera, Teophil Edward, Hector Manuel, and Micah Matias.

Environmental Resources Engineering

Our Cal Poly Humboldt engineering team won first place in the Water Treatment Competition this weekend at the annual American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Mid-Pacific Conference, hosted by UC Berkeley!

The Water Treatment Competition challenges students to design a sustainable and effective filter for treating simulated wastewater.

Our students spent two semesters building and improving their filter, and all that hard work paid off. The judges were impressed by their teamwork, school spirit, and ability to effectively communicate technical content.

We’re incredibly proud of their achievement and the way they represented Cal Poly Humboldt on a regional stage. Go Lumberjacks!

This year’s winning team included:
Elijah Harnar, Roland Carter, Zander Leigh, Shea Ciuca Duffy, Erika Ospenson, Nicholas Weiser, Kyle Ellis, Andrew Bricken, Sean Ruzicka, Kyle Amann, Jason Dyck, Felix Canari, Leonardo Castro, Eden Hill, Celeste Joyner, Erick Herrera, Teophil Edward, Hector Manuel, and Micah Matias.

Jordyn Neal, Sam Rodrigues, Allison Bronson

Biological Sciences

Undergraduate alumna Jordyn Neal (now an M.S. candidate at CSU Fullerton) & Assistant Professor Allison Bronson had their recent publication in the Anatomical Record featured as the journal's "Editor's Choice" article for May 2025. The publication described inner ear shape in four species of sharks, part of a team effort including undergraduate alumna Samantha Rodrigues and data scientist John Denton. The Editor's Choice interview with Neal & Bronson is available through the American Association for Anatomy website.

Joshua Smith

Chemistry

Chemistry & Biochemistry faculty Joshua Smith is a co-author on a paper with an international team working on using triplet state Baird-aromaticity in photosensitive processes. In this study triplet state Baird-aromaticity is used to stabilize the quencher molecules used in fluorescence imaging. The paper was published in the Royal Chemical Society's open access journal, Chemical Science. 

Bakouri, O. E.; Johnson, M. A.; Smith, J. R.; Pati, A. K.; Martin, M. I.; Blanchard, S. C.; Ottosson, H. Search of Improved Triplet-State Quenchers for Fluorescence Imaging: A Computational Framework Incorporating Excited-State Baird-Aromaticity. Chem. Sci. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SC01131K.

Justin Luong

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Dr. Justin Luong received CSU Agricultural Research Institute funding to assess how solar micro grids affect coastal prairie plant communities and soil properties. The study aims to determine land use strategies that maximize ecosystem services for native plant biodiversity, sheep forage, and solar energy. The project involves mentorship and training for undergraduate (Gabriel Abundis, Claudia Alfaro-Hernandez, Logan Holey) students and a graduate student (Angelina Garcia) to improve retention of diverse natural resource managers and scientists in rangeland sciences. Results of this study will inform California policy related to rangeland management and solar energy, as well as natural resource management. 

Cynthia Le Doux-Bloom

Fisheries Biology

Dr. Cynthia LeDoux-Bloom received a $145,000 grant from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board to develop a monitoring strategy for improving the effectiveness of water quality, sediment, and flow monitoring efforts throughout the Elk River (Humboldt Co.) watershed. The monitoring strategy will be developed in conjunction with the Science and Coordinated Monitoring Workgroup composed of government agencies, non-profit agencies, and landowners. Findings shall serve as the basis for a monitoring plan.

Logan Holey, Angelina Garcia

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Angelina Garcia and Logan Holey received competitive research grants from the California Native Grassland Association (CNGA) to conduct research with Dr. Justin Luong. Logan will examine how local solar microgrid energy developments influence physical rangeland characteristics that result in microhabitats for plant communities, and Angelina will explore how targeted invasive species removal on affects rangeland soil health.

Sarah Jaquette Ray

Environmental Studies

Environmental Studies Chair Dr. Sarah Jaquette Ray will moderate a discussion with Joe Hendersen, Nikki Hoskins, Jade Sasser, Rebecca Weston, and Finn Does on how the climate crisis has been mobilized in service of authoritarian nationalism, anti-immigrant xenophobia and misogyny.  Learn more and register here: https://www.climatepsychology.us/cpa-workshops-and-talks-aNVzu/unnaming…

Claire Till, Matthew Hurst, Ben Freiberger

Chemistry

Chemistry faculty Claire Till and Matt Hurst, along with alumni Ben Freiberger, led a paper just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. This paper came from their fieldwork at sea off the coast of California and Oregon, and is compares the chemical reactivity and distribution of the essential nutrient iron with a potential tool to study it: scandium

Till, C.P., Hurst, M.P., Freiberger, R.B., Ohnemus, D.C., Twining, B.S., Marchetti, A., Coale, T.H., Pierce, E. (2025). Contrasting the marine biogeochemical cycles of iron and scandium in the California current system. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 130(4), doi:10.1029/2024JC022087.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/UKXCXGUBBP3U4KJWPE4Q?target=10.1029/2024JC022087