News & Notes
Final dispatch on tsunami in ‘Japan Reconnaissance’
May 27, 2011
Category: News & Notes
“The most important lesson is that underestimating the hazard has tragic consequences.”
That’s the kernel to remember, reports Lori Dengler, a geology professor at Humboldt State University, as she concludes her “Japan Reconnaissance” series of posts about her recent journey through tsunami-ravaged landscapes. Read more »
By giving genes the silent treatment, Bonneau earns biochemical kudo
May 18, 2011
Category: News & Notes
Society’s national RNA poster honor goes to CSUCI student researcher
In genetics research, as in many mysteries, it’s often what isn’t said nor seen that provides the clearest clue. And, as Ashley Bonneau will tell you, silenced genes don’t get expressed.
Bonneau, a biology major at CSU Channel Islands, 
has spent more than two years there silencing particular genes and examining the ensuing effects on cell growth. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology recently cited the excellence of her investigation into improving silencing techniques, presenting her its award for the best RNA-themed research poster at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Her poster is titled “Double knockdown of the Rheb gene in mammalian cells using RNA interference.” (Click for abstract.) Read more »
Stellar Roster: CSU’s White House honorees for science guidance
May 16, 2011
Category: News & Notes
As Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Teacher-in-Residence Anne Marie Bergen receives the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching this week, she joins a select group of CSU individuals and programs to have been honored by the White House for science mentoring — including Frank Bayliss of San Francisco State University and CSU Northridge’s Steven Oppenheimer last year.
(In the photo above, Oppenheimer is in front row, second from left; Bayliss is in the back, third to the right of President Obama. Click to enlarge the photo.)
Nine CSU faculty members and two programs have received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), a similar honor, also administered by the National Science Foundation. It cites those who excel at enhancing the participation of underrepresented groups in all levels of science education.
In chronological order, here are the PAESMEM honorees from the CSU (with campus): Read more »
Aerospace legend Rutan on space exploration in CSU’s VnV
May 14, 2011
Category: News & Notes
Burt Rutan — a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo whose company Scaled Composites became the first privately owned organization in space when it launched its SpaceShipOne — opines on the way forward for space exploration in a new posting in the CSU blog Voices and Views.
Read it here: The New Space Race by Burt Rutan
Wonder how many CSU graduates have been into space? This 2007 CSU news release has a roster of the CSU alumni who became astronauts.
Here are profiles of some of them.
COAST to dive into PRIMO conference for global look at marine pollution
Category: News & Notes
Short for “Pollutant Responses in Marine Organisms,” the biennial international PRIMO symposium will bring researchers from 26 countries to Long Beach 
May 15-18, thanks in large part to key organizers from CSU Long Beach.
PRIMO is supported by several organizations – including the California State University’s Council on Ocean Affairs, Science and Technology (COAST), which is sponsoring a session on “Impacts of Changing Ocean Conditions.”
In roughly 120 talks, researchers will present findings related to societal and industrial toxins in a range of organisms, from microbes to whales. Talks will also focus on tracking animals, biomarkers, bioaccumulation, and endocrine disruption.
Details are in this CSU news release: CSU’s COAST, Others to Convene at Global PRIMO Sessions
to Address Toxins in Aquatic Life.
– Sean Kearns
‘Dr. Ramani’ reaching masses with research via ‘reality TV’
May 12, 2011
Category: News & Notes
Some researchers avoid news interviews because they see them as experiments with unknown outcomes and no control groups. Not Cal State L.A. Associate Professor of Psychology Ramani Durvasula; while she recognizes the risks, she participates eagerly, seeing interviews as opportunities to improve public health.
Durvasula is carving out a niche as a “go-to” articulate, informed psychologist, providing expertise on critical issues — such as obesity and HIV — for a range of television programs, including on CNN, the E! network and in a Bravo network series called “Thintervention.” Sometimes she’s simply called “Dr. Ramani.” Read more »
CSU faculty members judge, students interpret as ambassadors to world’s largest science fair
May 11, 2011
Category: News & Notes
- About 20 students from seven CSU campuses are volunteer interpreters – in Spanish, Russian and Mandarin. Students from the CSU’s Math and Science Teacher Initiative (MSTI) are helping with the Inaugural Student Observer Caucus, a program for students to exchange ideas and network.
- CSU faculty have been tapped to judge some of the ISEF projects, which were created by more than 1,500 high school students from more than 65 countries.
- The Intel ISEF is a program of the Society for Science and the Public, a partner with the CSU in a service-learning in science, engineering, technology and mathematics.
WRPI gets the lowdown on the Delta
April 28, 2011
Category: News & Notes
Imagine the landscape between San Francisco Bay and Sacramento peppered with hundreds of inverted “islands,” dry basins isolated by levees – and below sea level, still sinking, amid a vast network of water channels.
The picture, all too real, is of California’s Delta in the 21st century.
At the April 27 annual meeting of the CSU’s Water Resources and Policies Initiatives, experts provided an overview of the Delta’s history, an update on its status, and a rundown on the key factors that will shape the outlook for its future. Read more »
Water solutions: WRPI’s applied research for a precious resource
April 27, 2011
Category: News & Notes
Ranging from harvesting rainwater in urban areas to tracking polluted groundwater in agricultural regions, the discussion at today’s annual meeting of the California State University’s Water Resources and Policies Initiatives (WRPI) flowed all over the map. It touched on avocados, dams, the Delta smelt, and, most often, the future.
With its pool of experts from throughout the CSU – with backgrounds in biology, hydrology, economics, statistics, engineering, and more – the WRPI focuses on research, training and new technologies and strategies to help California develop and maintain sustainable water resources for the 21st century. Read more »
Back to the future in fuel cells: A talk with pioneer Peter Lehman
April 19, 2011
Category: News & Notes
On paper and in animations, fuel cells can appear pretty simple. Putting them to work – in power plants, cars, planes and maybe even handheld electronics someday – is trickier. In their labs and offices, the California State University scientists, engineers, administrators and students pushing the research, development and implementation of fuel cells face many challenges – relating to electrochemistry, supply and demand, society and infrastructure, the market and, of course, policy and politics.
Yet, with visions of a much more sustainable society, they navigate through them to create clean power, spawn innovation, and train a legion of enlightened energy professionals.
Peter Lehman, a professor of environmental resources engineering at Humboldt State University, has directed Humboldt’s Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC) since it was established 1989. Read more »
