Faculty Christine Cass Biological Sciences

Oceanography faculty member Christine Cass recently received a 2013-14 California Sea Grant Focus Award. Cass will spend 18 months studying seasonal changes in the fat and protein content of zooplankton in northern California and southern Oregon. California Sea Grant is funded by the National Sea Grant College Program, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Student John M. Mola, Rachael L. Olliff, Christopher M. Steenbock Biological Sciences

Biology graduate students John Mola and Rachael Olliff and Botany/Biology-Ecology undergraduate student Christopher Steenbock received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship on March 29th.

Faculty Amy Sprowles Biological Sciences

Biological sciences professor Amy Sprowles recently won an elevator pitch contest summarizing her research on stem cells. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's Elevator Pitch Challenge asked scientific researchers to explain what they do, why it’s important and why the public should care in 30 seconds or less. Sprowles and her students are studying how cancer genes may turn on stem cell like properties in normal adult cells. Their research is supported by CIRM's Bridges to Stem Cell Research Awards program. You can see the speeches on YouTube at #SciencePitch.

Student 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.

Faculty 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.

Student 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.

Faculty Jianmin Zhong Biological Sciences

Professor Jianmin Zhong in the Department of Biological Sciences has been awarded a $353,500 R15 grant from the National Institutes of Health. The title of Professor Zhong's project is Symbiotic Rickettsia Species as a Model System for the Study of Folate Biosynthesis.

Student Kathryn Wiles Biological Sciences

Kathryn Wiles, Ecology junior, has been selected to receive a 2012 CSUPERB Presidents’ Commission Scholar Award to fund her summer research project titled, ”Investigation of Horizontal Gene Transfer and Biogeography among Thermoacidophilic Isolates from Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, USA.” Wiles' faculty mentor, Dr. Patricia Siering, was instrumental in writing the proposal. Her adviser is Dr. Erik Jules. A committee of CSUPERB faculty and deans selected 25 proposals out of 67 submitted. The CSUPERB Presidents’ Commission will meet award winners and mentors in August 2012 at the CSU Chancellor’s Office in Long Beach.

Student Jessie Hagadorn Biological Sciences

Biological Sciences student Jessie Hagadorn (Advisor Dr. Jacob Varkey) has been awarded a 2012 Global Youth Advocacy Fellowship.

The fellowship, which begins in April 2012, will provide specialized training from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the opportunity to participate in youth-led global advocacy at the Commission on Population & Development (CPD) meeting at the UN in New York City. Fellows will also participate in a youth coalition at the International AIDS Conference, which will take place in Washington, DC in July 2012.

Alumni Jon Forrest Dohlin Biological Sciences

Jon Forrest Dohlin ('92, Biology), is currently working on a new shark exhibit at the New York Aquariam. Dohlin was named director of the aquarium in 2008. He pursued a master's degree in architecture at Parson School for Design. There, he focused on sustainable and green building. Dohlin was able to combine his love for both fields working as a designer for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Read an "article":http://thelumberjack.org/news/alumnus-big-new-york-hsu-graduate-becomes… on Dohlin in HSU's student newspaper, "The Lumberjack":http://thelumberjack.org/home.

Student Leah Sloan Biological Sciences

Leah Sloan, graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences, recently tied for first place for the Best Student Poster Award at the recent Western Society of Naturalists meeting held in Vancouver, Washington. The title of her poster was: "The Bane of Bullfrogs: Population Structure of Western Pond Turtles (Emys marmorata) in Lentic Habitats Along the Trinity River."

Student Melissa Dougherty Biological Sciences

Melissa Dougherty participated as an intern with the Humboldt State Marine Mammal Education and Research Program (MMERP) this summer. One of the projects that she was involved with was observing the Gray Whales in the Klamath River.

"Being able to spend an extended amount of time observing these animals gave me a whole new appreciation for marine mammals. Specifically, watching the interactions between mother and offspring is something that I'll never forget," she says. "As an added bonus, I also had the chance to observe throngs of excited sightseers. Seeing how one animal can unite so many disparate people was pretty amazing."

Student Lisa Voelker Biological Sciences

Lisa Voelker received the Lee Hartwell Poster Award "in recognition of contributing to innovative research, delivering an outstanding presentation, and creating an exceptional visual arrangement for a scientific poster" at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Summer Undergraduate Research Program competitive poster session for her work on the molecular basis of electrical synapse formation.

Student Du Cheng, Jianmin Zhong Biological Sciences

Du Cheng, a HSU Cellular/Molecular Biology major undergraduate student attended the 111th American Society for Microbiology General Meeting as an invited speaker. He gave an oral presentation titled:"The Rickettsia Species in Ixodes pacificus is Transmitted by Transovarial and Transstadial Transmissions" in session "The Best and Brightest in Diagnostic Microbiology and Epidemiology I" at 5:00pm, May 23,2011 in New Orleans. Du's mentor Dr. Jianmin Zhong of Department of Biological Sciences also attended this meeting.

http://gm.asm.org/index.php/scientific-program/daily-schedule/monday-ma…

Faculty Matt Nelson (grad student) and Sean Craig (faculty) Biological Sciences

Published a paper in Marine Ecology Progress Series this week entitled:

"Role of the sea anemone Metridium senile in structuring a developing subtidal fouling community"

Vol. 421: 139–149, Jan 17th, 2011

link to full paper (open access):

http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps_oa/m421p139.pdf

I won a two year NOAA NERR graduate fellowship to develop a project working on Gull-billed tern foraging movements and diet at The Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Student Kymberly Gustus, Annayal Yikum and Yesenia De León, Biological Sciences

Biology majors Kymberly Gustus and Annayal Yikum, along with Wildlife major Yesenia De León, won the award for best poster in Neuroscience at the SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) conference held on Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 in Anaheim, Calif.

The undergraduate student’s poster was entitled: The effects of histamine on escape behaviors and giant nerve fiber conduction velocity in the blackworm Lumbriculus variegatus. Their research was conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Bruce A. O’Gara. Annayal, Kymberly and Yesenia are interns in the Undergraduate Research and Mentoring (URM) Program in the Biological Sciences.

Student Du Cheng Biological Sciences

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) has selected Du Cheng from Humboldt State University as a 2010 award recipient of the ASM Undergraduate Research Fellowship. This fellowship is aimed at highly competitive students who wish to pursue graduate careers (Ph.D. or MD/Ph.D.) in microbiology. Dr. Jianmin Zhong from HSU is Du Cheng’s mentor. The research title is: Study of Prevalence and Transmission Routes of Rickettsia species in Ixodes pacificus by Real-time PCR.

Faculty Erik Jules Biological Sciences

Erik Jules published a paper in the journal Ecology on the effects of wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park on aspen forests.

Kauffman, M. J., J.F. Brodie, E.S. Jules. 2010. Are wolves saving Yellowstone’s aspen? a landscape-level test of a behaviorally mediated trophic cascade. Ecology 91:2740-2753.