Dale Prize Winners Plan for Change
February 1st, 2009
The Urban & Regional Planning Department has announced the winners of the 2009 William R. and June Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban Planning. Gail Goldberg and Stephen M. Wheeler will be honored at an upcoming banquet and colloquium. This year’s events focus on “The Future of California’s Communities and Regions in an Era of Resource Constraints and Climate Change.”
Increasingly, today’s planners are challenged to carefully consider California’s future as they plan the state’s communities and regions. Resource constraints such as water supply, combined with aggressive action to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, mean that the context for planning has changed. Some see a transformation toward a mixed-use, urban model while others contend that outlying areas will adapt and prosper. Because change is continuous, unprecedented new types of communities may emerge.
Full Story: Dale Prize Winners Plan for Change
Online Courses Cut Carbon Emissions
January 16th, 2009
There’s a moral of sorts to this story, but it’s a little tricky. Last semester, Professor David Campbell, a psychologist at Humboldt State, taught two online courses: Psychology of Critical Thinking (PSYC 100) and the Senior Seminar (PSYC 485).
Humboldt State has recently increased its number of courses offered via the Internet and Campbell has been one of a collection of professors who have been quick to adopt the new format. As the semester went on, he became curious as to the environmental impact of his Internet classes.
Full Story: Online Courses Cut Carbon Emissions
HSU Wins Major Conservation Grant
December 17th, 2008
A team of Humboldt State University faculty and graduate students has won a $620,000 federal grant to develop water management solutions in the face of soaring population growth and rapid changes in water and land use in the rural West.
Field work for the three-year project, which starts in January, will be situated in the upper Snake River basin in Idaho and Wyoming at the Henry’s Fork (North Fork) watershed, considered by fly fishermen to be one of the premier trout fishing streams worldwide. Funding is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Humboldt State Sponsored Programs Foundation.
Full Story: HSU Wins Major Conservation Grant
Student Designs May Help Developing Nations
December 9th, 2008
The Full Belly Project and Humboldt State University’s Introduction to Design course hosted an open house from 5 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at HSU. The event marked the public unveiling of seven student team designs that improve and adapt the internationally acclaimed Universal Nut Sheller (UNS) as part of an international service learning partnership.
Students enrolled in Engineering 215, Introduction to Design, were contracted by the non-profit organization The Full Belly Project (FBP) to expand the usefulness and accessibility of the Universal Nut Sheller (UNS) to a broader range of people. Deployed in nearly 20 countries, the UNS shells nuts with increased speed and efficiency, increasing incomes of subsistence farmers in developing countries.
Full Story: Student Designs May Help Developing Nations
SJSU team creates award-winning zero-emissions vehicle
December 8th, 2008
Think the Flintstones meet the Jetsons.
After 40 years of challenging universities to create a marketable human-powered automobile, the Society of Mechanical Engineers has yet to reach its goal.
Imagine a vehicle with an electric motor, four solar panels and eight eco-friendly batteries attached to a custom frame with two sets of power-generating foot pedals.
“I asked myself, ‘Why not?’” said Tai-Ran Hsu, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “Using solely human power isn’t practical enough for today’s society.”
Full Story: SJSU team creates award-winning zero-emissions vehicle
