Breadcrumb
Achievements
Find out what our students, faculty, and staff are being recognized for.
Silvia Pavan, Pedro Peloso
Biological Sciences
We just published a paper on diversity of non-volant small mammals (marsupials and rodents) from Parque Nacional del Río Abiseo (PNRA), a poorly known site located in the eastern Andean slopes in Peru. We report the highest ever recorded diversity for high Andes, and through DNA barcoding we reveal several putative new species of small mammals that are uniquely known form PNRA. The paper is a result of an expedition in 2018, funded by National Geographic, and had the collaboration of a diverse team of researchers including myself as first author and Cal Poly colleague Pedro Peloso as senior author.
Melanie Michalak, Susan Cashman, Dana Christensen, Taylor Team
Geology
Melanie Michalak (Faculty- Geology) with co-authors Susan Cashman (Emeritus Geology Professor), Taylor Team (Humboldt Geology MS ’21), Dana Christensen (Humboldt Geology MS ’21) and Victoria Langenheim (USGS Geophysicist) published their work in the open access journal Geosphere. This publication is a long format research paper investigating Neogene tectonics and mountain building of the southern Klamath Mountains Province, a geologic province that records millions of years of faulting, magmatism, and deformation due to its position on the upper plate of tectonic plate subduction. Download the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02612.1
Rafael Cuevas Uribe
Fisheries Biology
Dr. Rafael Cuevas Uribe received a grant to support a collaborative project between Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, San Diego State University, and Cal Poly Humboldt. The project will involve building and testing a novel technology system for developing new and profitable seaweed strains for commercial, land-based aquaculture production. The system will contribute to a more diverse domestic seaweed production and larger networks of local seaweed sources, as well as aquaculture education and training through use at education institutions.
Funding comes as a subaward from University of California, San Diego, with the original funding source being SeaGrant.
Aerin Monroe
Environmental Studies
https://newsfromnativecalifornia.com/review-sowing-seeds-racial-justice-and-the-environmental-movement/
“Sowing Seeds is a new docu-series on YouTube produced, written and hosted by Aerin Monroe (Environmental studies scholar at Cal Poly Humboldt) in partnership with Save California Salmon. Filmed and edited by Valentina Dimas, each episode offers insight into different aspects of environmental justice by centering Black and Indigenous scientists, educators, and activists all working to bring about positive change within Humboldt County.” Co-founder of Pathways and Purpose, alongside his wife, Dr. Susanne Sarley. Pathways of Purpose is an organization dedicated to empowering underserved youth and communities with “asset-based, STEAM educational and vocational programs.”
Zach Walllace, Bryan Bedrosian, Jeff Dunk, Dave LaPlante, Brian Woodbridge, et al.
Environmental Science & Management
Jeff Dunk (ESM) and colleagues recently published a paper on predicting the spatial distribution of wintering Golden Eagles in Wyoming (including parts of surrounding states). Much of the existing work on Golden Eagles pertains to their breeding season habitat use. A link to the manuscript is here.
Kjirsten Wayman, Matthew Reilly, Alaina Petlewski
Chemistry
Kjirsten Wayman (Chemistry), Matthew Reilly (USDA Forest Service), and Alaina Petlewski (B.S. Botany, 2017) published a peer-reviewed article in the American Journal of Botany (2023) titled "Taxonomic insights from floral scents of western North American sessile-flowered Trillium". The article can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16255
William Wood, David Largent
Chemistry
Faculty William Wood, Chemistry, and David Largent, Biological Science
Emeritus Professors William Wood and David Largent recently published an article in the Austrian Academy of Sciences journal Biosystematics and Ecology on the crustacean-like odor of the mushroom Russula xerampelina. This mushroom has a cooked shrimp odor that gives it the common name the “shrimp mushroom.” They and mycologist Darvin DeShazer of the Sonoma County Mycological Association, identified the chemicals that are responsible for this mushroom’s odor.
Contact Information
Phone 707 832 2931
Colton Boyd, Brianna Rennard, Cristina Portillo, Kayah Ray, Nievita Bueno Watts
Computer Science
2023 LSAMP PROUD
Outstanding Research in STEM
Please find attached the 2023 LSAMP PROUD Cal Poly Humboldt page featuring:
Cristina Portillo, Wildlife
Brianna Rennard, Zoology
Kayah Ray, Geology
Colton Boyd, Computer Science
Congratulations to these scholars and a huge thank you to their mentors.
Jim Graham
Environmental Science & Management
Dr. Jim Graham received a grant from CalTrout that will pay for a graduate student to perform GIS habitat modeling in the Eel River Watershed, and develop a subsequent Riparian Climate Refugia (RCR) data set. The data will provide information on where riparian corridors (vegetation growing near natural bodies of water) contain remaining climate refugia on the CA North Coast. Climate refugia are landscape features that provide environmental protection and can allow species to persist through climate change effects. The data will be particularly useful to land managers, who can use it to make more informed restoration and conservation decisions.
JuEun Lee and Joshua Steimel
Environmental Resources Engineering
Drs. JuEun Lee and Joshua Steimel recently published a paper in the Journal of Orthopaedics. The study examined the effect that vancomycin, tobramycin, and the combination of these two ubiquitous antibiotics can have on the compressive and tensile strength of bone cement. As the concentration of antibiotics increased there was a decrease in both the compressive and tensile mechanical performance of the bone cement. The results of this study can be utilized to guide future surgical techniques to reduce the incidence of failure of bone cement in the presence of antibiotics.