Achievements

Sharon N. Kahara and Steven R. Chipps

Wildlife

Dr. Sharon N. Kahara and Steven R. Chipps' paper "Wetland Hydrodynamics and Long-term Use of Spring Migration Areas by Lesser Scaup in Eastern South Dakota," published in the journal Great Plains Research (2012), was selected to receive the Charles E. Bessey award for the best paper in natural resources.

Lauren Wendt

Wildlife

Lauren Wendt ('09, Wildlife) received the "Torch Award" by the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association. The award honors top young officers in the U.S. and Canada. Lauren works as a conservation officer for the Idaho Department of Fish & Game.

Mark Colwell

Wildlife

Wildlife Professor Mark Colwell was named 'Outstanding Mentor' at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Western Section of The Wildlife Society in Sacramento in January.

Kelly Weintraub, Dana Herman

Wildlife

HSU Wildlife Master's students Kelly Weintraub and Dana Herman received best poster awards at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Western Section of The Wildlife Society in Sacramento in January. Kelly's presentation summarized her research on the nesting ecology of tri-colored blackbirds in the San Joaquin Valley and Dana's presentation reported the results of her work on the reproductive success of the threatened snowy plover in Humboldt County.

Bethany Baibak

Biological Sciences

Bethany Baibak (MSc, Biological Sciences) has been named a 2013 California Sea Grant State Fellows. Since 2010, Baibak has held positions as a wildlife biologist at the National Council on Air and Stream Improvement in Arcata and as a wildlife technician at Stanislaus National Forest. As a state fellow, Baibak will work closely with California Department of Parks and Recreation's division chief to develop strategies and policies that protect coastal parks from sea level rise and other climate impacts.

Sharyn Marks

Biological Sciences

Sharyn Marks published a paper in the journal "Molecular Ecology" on the phylogeography and historical demography of Black Salamanders. This manuscript was based in part on data collected by Sean Reilly as part of his master's thesis under the supervision of professors Marks and Bryan Jennings. Reilly is now a Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley and Jennings is a Visiting Professor at the Museo Nacional in Rio de Janeiro.

Sean B. Reilly, Sharyn B. Marks and W. Bryan Jennings. 2012. "Defining evolutionary boundaries across parapatric ecomorphs of Black Salamanders (_Aneides flavipunctatus_) with conservation implications. Molecular Ecology 21: 5745–5761.

T. Luke George and Joe LaManna

Wildlife

T. Luke George, graduate student Joe LaManna and scientists at the Institute for Bird Populations published a paper in the Auk (October 2012) examining factors influencing the annual survival of Swianson’s Thrushes in the Pacific Northwest. Using mark-recapture data collected at bird banding stations throughout the region (including a station near Eureka where many HSU students have been trained to band birds) they found that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an important driver of annual survival in Swainson's Thrushes.

Sharon N. Kahara, Walter G. Duffy, Ryan DiGaudio and Rosemary Records

Wildlife

Sharon Kahara and Walter Duffy along with colleagues Ryan DiGaudio (PRBO Conservation Science) and Rosemary Records (Colorado State University) published a paper in the journal "Diversity." The title of the paper is "Climate, Management and Habitat Associations of Avian Fauna in Restored Wetlands of California’s Central Valley, USA". The paper reports the results of a two-year study of avian diversity on restored wetlands in California's Central Valley. Restored wetlands support a large number of avian species; however, securing access to water in the drier southern valley is imperative to sustaining bird use and diversity.

Gregory Manata

Biological Sciences

Biology student Gregory Manata has received the 2013 Crellin Pauling Student Teaching Award from the CSU Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB). The $1750 award recognizes outstanding student teaching by California State University students in biotechnology.

Manata will be honored at the 25th Annual CSU Biotechnology Symposium Jan. 6 in Anaheim.

Lonny Grafman

Environmental Resources Engineering

Lonny Grafman will co-facilitate the Epicenter Entrepreneurship in Undergraduate Engineering Education un-conference Oct. 1st, 2013 at Stanford Sierra Camp. http://epicenter.stanford.edu/