Achievements

Kushal Adhikari, Clifford B Fedler, Alireza Asadi

Environmental Resources Engineering

Adhikari (ERE Faculty) and researchers from Texas Tech University recently published an article on design configuration and flow dynamics of Pond-In-Pond (PIP) wastewater treatment system for reuse. The findings showed that the PIP offers more advantage over traditional ponds and thus may be a potential alternative to existing treatment systems. For more information, please refer to:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2021.07.012
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2019.103523
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101281

Frank Fogarty

Wildlife

Frank Fogarty (Wildlife) published a new paper on utilizing point count data to estimate the abundance of mobile animals in Ecological Indicators. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21008359

Sophia Lemmo

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Sophia Lemmo (MS student in Forestry) was awarded a $1500 scholarship from the North Coast Chapter of the California Native Plant Society for her study of regional forest mortality and regeneration.

Sophia Lemmo

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Sophia Lemmo (MS student in Forestry) was awarded a $1000 Northern California Botanists Research Scholarship for her study of regional forest mortality and regeneration.

Frank Shaughnessy, Susannah Ferson, Adam Frimodig, Daniel Barton, Mathew Hurst, Jeffrey Black

Biological Sciences

Students and faculty from several departments have been studying the effects that grazing by brant geese have on a widespread marine plant, eelgrass, which provides numerous ecosystem services within estuaries. Using an experimental approach, they found that brant enable greater productivity and sexual reproduction of eelgrass, therefore potentially contributing to ecosystem resilience.

https://esajournals-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.humboldt.edu/doi/10…

Alison O'Dowd

Environmental Science & Management

ESM Professor Alison O'Dowd and co-authors published a paper in River Research & Applications entitled 'Toward natural approaches in restoration: Experiments of co-evolving physical and biological structures in a self-organizing step-pool channel.' The article is available in open access at https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3851

Jasper Oshun

Geology

Jasper won a 3-year National Science Foundation GEOPATHS Award ($145,352). This education award links faculty and students at SDSU, CSUS, and HSU and is titled 'Collaborative Research: Developing a diverse hydrology workforce through an undergraduate hydrological research experience in a coastal California watershed'. The award provides opportunities for 10 rising sophomores per year to participate in course and summer immersion focused on interdisciplinary water science, hydrology field techniques, and the challenges of water management. A primary goal is to build community across 3 CSU campuses and train a diverse cohort of hydrologists to inform water management in California.

Jasper Oshun, Margaret Lang, Yojana Miraya Oscco (M.A. 2018, Env. & Comm.)

Geology

Jasper, Margaret and Yojana (along with Kristina Keating of Rutgers University, Newark) published 'Interdisciplinary Water Development in the Peruvian Highlands: The Case for Including the Coproduction of Knowledge in Socio-Hydrology' in a special issue of Hydrology focused on Socio-Hydrology. The article highlights the interdisciplinary and collaborative research, novel educational model involving applied and place-based student learning, environmental leadership, and service to the community of Zurite of the Bonanza en los Andes project.

The article can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5338/8/3/112

Jasper Oshun & Margaret Lang

Geology

Dr.’s Oshun (Geology), Lang (ERE), and Keating (geophysics, Rutgers University -Newark) won a $266,034, 3-year award from NSF’s International Research Experiences for Students program to engage a diverse set of students from two HSI’s in water resources development in the Andes of Perú. Students from HSU, RUN and Peruvian universities will participate in an interdisciplinary curriculum, which includes a preparatory semester of virtual learning, 5-weeks of field work in Perú and faculty guided independent research. The project will blend western scientific, Indigenous, and nature-based approaches of water resources management to inform best practices of sustainable water development.

FWR Students

Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management

Congratulations to our 2021 Forestry and Wildland Resources Department scholarship recipients! At the annual (Zoom) awards banquet, over $50,000 in scholarships were distributed thanks to the generosity of alumni and other donors.

A new scholarship for Soils and Botany students was created to honor Aidan Leaf Mullin, who planned to attend HSU in 2020 but passed away unexpectedly. The scholarship will support students who exemplify Aidan’s spirit and ideals.

Special congratulations to Department award winners: Cameron Miller (Professional Promise), Judson Fisher (Academic Excellence), Allyssa Glaser (Outstanding Range Student), and Dr. Aaron Hohl (Outstanding Faculty Member).