Research Updates

Efforts made by California State University, Fresno students and volunteers with the nonprofit group RiverTree to help restore the San Joaquin River have paid off in the form of a $29,143 grant from the Fresno Regional Foundation to continue their work.

Unlike other political science students, those enrolled in Dr. Mark Somma’s Environmental Politics and Policy class are doing more than sitting in a classroom and taking tests – they are leaving their traditional classroom setting for the banks of the San Joaquin River, where they have dedicated themselves to restoring the Central Valley icon.

“The students here have gone far above and beyond anything that I imagined to help restore the river and build relationships with community groups, local agencies and local schools,” Somma said. “Their work now stretches into environmental service and research activities that stretch across the Central Valley.”

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The third and final installment of a $2-million grant from the California State University alcohol and traffic grant has come to a close.

The grants, from the California Office of Traffic Safety, provided support for eight CSU campuses to reduce alcohol abuse, alcohol-related vehicle accidents and alcohol-related misconduct among college students.

Serving as the grant’s headquarters, California State University, Fresno’s Health and Psychological Services worked on the latest grant with Channel Islands, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Cal Maritime, Northridge, San Francisco and San Jose campuses on alcohol safety programs, such as eCHUG (an online personal drinking assessment program), and peer-to-peer education and counseling. Partnerships also were established with local law enforcement to conduct DUI checkpoints around the campuses.

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Students who may never have dreamed of studying the sciences will get the chance thanks to an $892,000 grant awarded to Humboldt State by the National Science Foundation. It’s for recruitment and training of under-represented minorities.

“The opportunity for students to work closely with a faculty mentor, on a research project spanning two years, will serve as a springboard for students to pursue careers involving scientific research in biological sciences,” said Professor Matthew Johnson, chairman of the Department of Wildlife and member of the Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program in the Biological Sciences.

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Cal State Northridge, in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District, has received a $1 million grant from the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) to help improve K-12 teaching in math and English/language arts.

The four-year Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) grant was awarded to assistant professor of secondary education Ivan Cheng, who has developed a plan to improve the teaching of math in middle school by empowering teachers to think “outside the box” and collaboratively.

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Fresno State will receive approximately $1.4 million of the $25 million that the California State University announced today will be made available to campuses to provide additional course sections and classes for students, as well as student support services.

The one-time federal funding will allow Fresno State to add over 200 course sections in the spring semester that had been dropped and retain approximately 50 lecturers.

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The Eagle Lake Field Station (ELFS) remains open for business, despite changes in management. The field station is owned by California State University, Chico Research Foundation and the University and was managed by the Research Foundation through August of this year.

Due to a variety of financial issues, the Research Foundation terminated their existing ELFS projects and entered a lease agreement with John and Tracey Crowe, who have served as ELFS staff for several years. The ELFS is still available to those wishing to schedule academic activities or enjoy recreational fishing.

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Adapting a medical-school model and propelled by a new five-year $8.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), California State University, Los Angeles will launch the Los Angeles Urban Teacher Residency Program to strengthen both teacher preparation and student academic achievement.

Through a 15-month graduate-level program, students seeking to become teachers will spend a full school year as resident-teachers in classrooms at middle and high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), working with outstanding mentor teachers. The residents’ program will also include advanced coursework, projects, and extensive support. While in the classroom, the resident-teachers will receive a $21,000 stipend.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a five-year, $4.7 million grant to California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) for a project that will improve the infrastructure and capacity for research in minority health and health disparities at the Long Beach campus, including the training of faculty and students interested in such research.

The grant was awarded through NIH’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities and its Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Program, which provides resources to strengthen faculty-initiated research programs and to improve the capacity for training future research scientists. The program was created to establish and improve the scientific infrastructure of predominately minority serving academic institutions.

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California State University, Fresno, three other CSU campuses (San Luis Obispo, Pomona and Chico) and the CSU’s numerous research partners are celebrating the inclusion of $693,000 for the Agricultural Research Initiative (ARI) in federal appropriations for 2010.

The ARI focuses on new and promising technologies that have the potential for improving food safety, environmental stewardship, economic performance and long-term sustainability of California’s agriculture industry. The initiative also helps to foster and build upon university-industry partnerships while increasing the reach of publicly funded research.

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