Alumni Updates


Bob Freeman, 1976
Submitted: July 7, 2020

Bob Freeman, Biological Sciences, 1976, retired from his job as a public health microbiologist and lab director but is still writing software for the laboratory information management system. Freeman is now writing SciFi and his work can be found at
www.smashwords.com/books/view/1023599 and www.smashwords.com/books/view/1029727.


Nancy Ross-Flanigan Pokerwinski, 1976
Submitted: June 23, 2020

After a rewarding career as a science writer for the Detroit Free Press and the University of Michigan, Nancy Ross-Flanigan Pokerwinski, Biological Sciences, 1976, is now focused on writing memoir and fiction. Her memoir, MANGO RASH: COMING OF AGE IN THE LAND OF FRANGIPANI AND FANTA, was published by Behler Publications in 2019, after winning first place in the memoir/nonfiction category of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Awards. Like most authors, she had to cancel or reschedule all the in-person events she had scheduled for spring and summer of 2020, and is exploring options for virtual events. Meanwhile, she is working on a novel about creativity, outsider art, and madness.


Judith Stone-Hulslander, 1992
Submitted: January 8, 2020

Judith Stone-Hulslander, Biological Sciences, 1992, was promoted to partner at the law firm Lathrop GPM. With approximately 20 years of intellectual property experience, Stone-Hulslander focuses her practice on patent preparation, prosecution and client counseling in all areas of biotechnology. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and prior to obtaining her law degree, she worked more than five years as a technical specialist and patent agent. Stone-Hulslander has particularly strong patent experience with therapeutic antibodies and antibody-like molecules for a variety of disease indications.


Charles Acosta, 1985
Submitted: October 2, 2019

Charles Acosta, Biological Sciences, 1985, is retiring in 2021 after spending 34 rewarding years serving high school students. His oldest daughter, Krista (HSU Alum 2012), arranged with the dean to allow him to walk across the stage at her commencement ceremony since he was unable to attend his own. While having breakfast in Eureka the following morning, his photo was captured on the front page of the Times Standard newspaper. After HSU, Charles and his daughter both served in the Peace Corps (Dominican Republic and Honduras) where they both married the love of their lives. Krista married Ekow Edzie and Charles married Leyla Turcios. "Thank you HSU, redwoods, sunsets and APD for the great memories".


Benjamin Woodruff, 2017
Submitted: September 25, 2019

After graduating from HSU, Benjamin Woodruff, Biological Sciences, 2017, became a California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Bridges 2.0 scholar through Humboldt State and began his career as a researcher at Stanford University. There, he studied regenerative medicine as it relates to inner ear biology. Fueled by an enthusiasm for science and academia, he applied for graduate school and is currently a first year PhD student at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon.


Melissa Neufer, 2001
Submitted: September 5, 2019

In summer 2019, Melissa Neufer, Biology, 2001, studied desert and marine landscapes through ecological and social field methods in Baja, Mexico. Melissa, a biology teacher at Roseland University Prep High School, lives in Santa Rosa, California, and is a graduate student in Miami University's Global Field Program.


Craig S. Harrison, 1974 (Masters)
Submitted: August 8, 2019

Craig Harrison, Biological Sciences, 1974, spent a year in Africa before attending HSU. Craig recently published his travelogue "Dreams of a Vanishing Africa: A 1970s Transcontinental Trek", which recounts his travels within the fabric of African societies in 1971-1972. He avoided safe, well-trodden routes and instead used decrepit trains, cargo trucks, rattletrap buses, jammed bush taxis, dugout canoes, and ferries. He lived out of a backpack and experienced the land and people of Africa up close. Craig's website (www.craigsharrison.net) has photos, and the book can be ordered there from the publisher Lulu as well as Amazon.


Christopher Swarth, 1978
Submitted: May 16, 2019

After graduating, Christopher Swarth Biological Sciences, 1978, moved back home to Oakland where in 1983 he received his MS in Zoology from Cal State East Bay. After working for Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Lawrence Hall of Science (UC Berkeley) and Diablo Valley College, he married in 1987 and moved to Maryland. There he spent 23 years as director of the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, one of the components of the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. In 2013, he moved back to northern California to work and teach at UC Merced, where he was the director of the 6,500 acre Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve adjacent to campus until he retired in 2016. He lives in Mariposa.


Jolene Saldivar, 2017
Submitted: April 9, 2019

Jolene Saldivar, Biological Sciences, 2017, has committed to the University of California, Riverside's Plant Biology PhD program and will begin this summer. She is also the recipient of the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, which is the most prestigious diversity fellowship offered at UC Riverside.


Maria Cecilila Avila, 1985
Submitted: January 2, 2019

Maria Cecilila Avila, 1985, is living in Chile.


Jessica Elaine Sepulveda, 2017
Submitted: September 10, 2018

Jessica Elaine Sepulveda, Biology, 2017, recently got this amazing opportunity to work in startup using stem cell technology to reduce humans impact on the environment. Unlike most stem cell technology that focuses on medicine, VitroLabs Inc goal is to reduce our ecological footprint by making ethical leather in a lab. Her job entails making induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), differentiating our stem cells into skin cell and generating leather. By producing leather in a lab from iPSCs we can eliminate the need for cow hides will still supplying the market with this particular textile. She finds her work satisfying and is able to fulfill her graduation pledge in several ways: our product is ethical & ecological.


Ana Veronica Parra, 2013
Submitted: September 6, 2018

Ana Veronica Parra, Biology, 2013, fell in love with Astronomy after watching “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” narrated by Neil deGrass Tyson. She is currently taking math and physics courses at San Diego Mesa College and plans to apply to the University of Colorado’s Astrophysics and Planetary Science Ph.D. program in December 2019. Here’s is more info as to what she's been up to: http://www.sdmesa.edu/_resources/newsroom/posts/stem-scholars-ncas.php.


Lawrence (Larry) Flammer, 1956 and Teaching Credential
Submitted: February 1, 2018

Lawrence (Larry) Flammer, Biological Sciences and Teaching Credential, 1956, taught high school biology at Del Mar. He was largely responsible for the creation and administration of the website of the Evolution and Nature of Science Institutes, which were founded (with NCSE's encouragement) "to improve the teaching of evolution in high school biology courses by encouraging teachers to teach evolutionary thinking in the context of a more complete understanding of modern scientific thinking," according to the "National Center for Science Education":https://ncse.com/news/2017/12/larry-flammer-dies-0018673. He passed away at the age 83 on December 13, 2018.


Ruben Isaí Madriz Villanueva, Ph.D., 2007
Submitted: December 7, 2017

After graduating from Humboldt State in 2007 (B.S. in Biology & Zoology), R. Isaí Madriz, Biological Sciences, 2007, embarked on a two-year-long bicycle trip through the Americas during which he rode from Chicago to the southern tip of South America, volunteering along the way at wildlife rehabilitation centers and parks. He then attended UNAM in Mexico City and received a master's degree in Electronmicroscopy. In 2011 he married HSU alum, Kristina Lindsay (2006, Women's Studies) and they moved from California to Iowa where he earned a Ph.D. in Entomology from Iowa State. He and Kristina are currently living in Patagonia, Chile where he is a Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellow focused on rare insects.


Benjamin J. Crain, 2008
Submitted: November 8, 2017

Benjamin Crain, Biological Sciences, 2008, recently took a position as an Ecologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the North American Center for Orchid Conservation. With a diverse group of collaborators, he conducts research in the Republic of Palau where they study the diversity and distribution of orchids, monitors their dynamics in the Ngardok Nature Reserve, and studies the fundamental ecology of orchids by looking at their relationship with mycorrhizal fungi. The team's goals are to improve knowledge and increase awareness of orchid diversity in Palau, understand the ecology of these plants, and develop strategic plans for conservation and restoration of orchid species and their habitats.


Danielle Cudahy (nee LeFever), 2005
Submitted: February 10, 2017

Danielle Cudahy (née LeFever), 2005 Biological Sciences, recently became the full-time Optometrist at the local Eureka VA office. In 2010, Cuday graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University in Elkins Park, PA. She is expecting her second child in late March.


Tobin Fulmer, 2005
Submitted: July 29, 2016

Tobin Fulmer, 2005 Biological Sciences, has taken a position with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality at the El Dorado office.


Ron Fritzsche, 1967
Submitted: July 14, 2016

Ron Fritzsche, 1967 Zoology, recently contributed a section to the Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Fritzsche is an Emeritus Professor of Fisheries Biology. He was the HSU Outstanding Professor in 1991 and served as an administrator including Dean for Research, Graduate Studies and International Programs. Fritzsche also served as assistant to the Provost for faculty affairs and space and facilities. He is currently an elected board member for the North Humboldt Recreation and Park District and the local Timber Heritage Association. Fritzsche met his wife, also an HSU graduate, in John VanDuzer’s Speech 1 class.


Allison Formica, 2014
Submitted: June 24, 2016

Allison Formica 2014 Biological Sciences, is working as a Life Science Research Professional in the Genetics Department at Stanford University studying the cellular and molecular biology of the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis, which is a critical relationship to the lives of reef-building corals. She was recently promoted to Laboratory Manager and is assisting in developing a reliable spawning protocol for the sea anemone, Aiptasia, in an attempt to improve spawning efficiency and predictability in the lab.


Gail Newton, 1989
Submitted: February 18, 2016

Gail Newton, 1989 M.A. Biology, married alumnus, Jared Haynes (see above), in 1986 under the redwoods in Eureka. Newton and Haynes have one child, Blythe Newton-Haynes, who is currently attending Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. Newton began her career in Humboldt County as a self-employed botanist. During her 10 years as a professional botanist, she provided 1,400 specimens to the HSU herbarium (many of which are rare species from remote areas of the North Coast) and restored coastal dune, riparian, and wetland systems. After the couple moved to Sacramento, she spent 27 years employed by the state of California as a restoration ecologist and manager in the Departments of Conservation, Fish and Game, Water Resources, and the State Lands Commission. Newton retired in 2015. They plan to split their retirement time between Connecticut, California, and traveling.