CSU Voices and Views

Posts tagged with Research

July 6th, 2015 • Educational Quality, Impact on California

Translating Research into Textbooks

Honorable Paul Lo at CSU “Journey to Success,” hosted at Fresno State on May 2.

(L to R) CSUSB Provost/VP Academic Affairs Andrew Bodman, CSUSB Professor in Public Administration Montgomery (Monty) Van Wart, and CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales at the university’s 3rd Annual Student Research Symposium on May 27, 2014 where Dr. Monty Van Wart was awarded CSUSB’s inaugural Outstanding Scholar award for his extensive research in Public Administration. Photo courtesy of CSU San Bernardino

By Montgomery Van Wart, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Public Administration
CSU San Bernardino

Beyond my passion for teaching, scholarly research is a close second. A misconception about non-science faculty members is that our sole expertise lies in teaching. What people don’t realize is that we too conduct research and engage in scholarly activity.

Whether teaching public administration, history, communications or any other subject, professors all conduct research to help our respective universities become the best institutions possible. At CSU San Bernardino, we’ve created an environment where research endeavors thrive. I’m able to bring the research I conduct in the field into the classroom to help give students a well-rounded understanding of public administration topics. More …

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Tags: CSU San Bernardino, CSUSB, Faculty, Public Administration, Research

January 21st, 2014 • Access for Students, Educational Quality, Impact on California

Finding the Links through Linked Learning

By Felicia Anderson
Assistant Principal at David Starr Jordan High School
Doctoral Candidate at CSU Long Beach

Education is about creating links – between facts, concepts, real world situations and people. I am so privileged for the links that I’ve been able to forge in my time as a doctoral candidate at Cal State Long Beach. The Doctor of Education program immediately combines the efforts of seasoned educators and researchers with new teachers who are earning a first-time credential. The result is a powerful blend of experience and energy. Foremost, results-based best practices and techniques are seamlessly introduced into teacher and administrator preparation. More …

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Tags: Educator, Research, Student

August 6th, 2013 • Educational Quality, Impact on California

Knowing the Signs

By Marny Fern
Director, Patient Care Services
Doctors Medical Center, Modesto
Alumna of CSU Stanislaus (BSN and MSN)

Marny Fern (right) helped create a simple checklist to more quickly recognize sepsis

As with many people who go into health professions, my inspiration to become a nurse came from witnessing the care that others provided a loved one. I saw good things and bad things in my grandmother’s care when she was hospitalized. I learned by watching the nurses and putting those early lessons into practice as a portion of my grandmother’s home care became my responsibility.

Years later, a 42-year-old woman came into the emergency room during my shift as a staff nurse. Her vague and obscure symptoms were not immediately identified as sepsis – a serious condition resulting from the body’s immune response to a bloodstream infection. This patient is among the condition’s casualties. More …

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Tags: Alumni, Health, Nursing, Research

January 31st, 2013 • Educational Quality, Environmental Sustainability

The Point Sur Arrives

Congratulations to the crew of the R/V Point Sur for their Jan. 26 arrival at Palmer Station on Anvers Island, Antarctica. Their journey has already spanned nearly two months since departing from home – Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in the Monterey Bay area. More …

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Tags: Green, National Science Foundation, Ocean, Research

December 17th, 2012 • Educational Quality, Environmental Sustainability

The Point Sur

On November 29, the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories’ (MLML) Research Vessel Point Sur and its crew departed for Antarctica to provide sea-going support to a number of National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research teams from around the country.

Below is the first blog entry from the Point Sur’s voyage:

The Point Sur’s home is Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in the Monterey Bay area, but she will be steaming to new foreign ports and traveling over 8,000 miles before reaching the final destination of Palmer Station in Antarctica. This is a very exciting time for the crew in Marine Operations and the entire MLML community!

In Antarctica, we will be supporting various scientific research groups for two months. We will be there in the “summer” as it is the only time of the year a vessel of like ours can navigate around the Palmer peninsula. This is a historic voyage for the Sur and we are proud to be part of supporting science in one of the most remote and dynamic places in the world.

Throughout this journey we will be reporting on the adventure. Look for future posts to learn about the current transit, how we prepared for the trip, what science is happening in the Antarctic region, our cast of characters and, of course, lots of spectacular photos!

Last week, the day the Point Sur departed, one of our local news channels, KION, aired an in-depth report which was an exciting way to profile the beginning of our epic journey.

We will be back with more updates soon, in the meantime, take part in following the Point Sur’s progress underway with the vessel tracker on our website.

CSU Voices and View will also follow the Point Sur – posting images and captions of the ship and crew’s journey. Below is the first of those images.

The Point Sur, cruising along the coast of Mexico and getting ready to pass Acapulco, is treated to a gorgeous sunset as it sails South.

This photo was taken by India Grammatica who is the relief cook handling the transit South.

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Tags: Green, National Science Foundation, Ocean, Research

September 19th, 2012 • Access for Students, Educational Quality, Impact on California

Transforming Lives through Education

Speech by Marilyn Thomas, San Francisco State student
and Maija Glasier-Lawson, Chico State student

The 2012 William Randolph Hearst/CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement recipients

Before an audience of alumni, faculty, administrators, CSU trustees, CSU Foundation governors, peers, friends and family, two students present themselves and their fellow recipients of the Hearst/CSU Trustees’ Award.

As the 2012 Razi Scholar, Marilyn Thomas best exemplifies the principles of the award — financial need, personal hardships, and attributes of merit, including superior academic performance, exemplary community service, and significant personal achievements. As the 2012 Galinson Scholar, Maija Glasier-Lawson best exemplifies extraordinary public service to her home, university or global community.

These remarks are as prepared prior to delivery on Sept. 18. More …

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Tags: Alumni, CSU Trustees' scholar, Educator, Health, Research, Service, Student

September 11th, 2012 • Access for Students, Educational Quality, Impact on California

Building the Door

By Marilyn Thomas
2012 Trustee Emeritus Ali C. Razi Scholar
SFSU Alumna, Master’s Student

Marilyn Thomas and her son at graduation

Milton Berle, of TV’s golden age, said “if opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”

It was hard to hear opportunity knocking as I grew up in San Francisco’s most marginalized neighborhoods, dealt with the fall out of my parents’ substance abuse and became homeless at 15. The closest thing to a golden age for my childhood came in the brief time my mother, brother and I lived in the middle–class suburb of Millbrae. It was a struggle to meet the academic challenges of Mills High, but I discovered the joy of learning in my freshman and sophomore years of high school — that was until my family fell apart. More …

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Tags: Alumni, CSU Trustees' scholar, Health, Research, Student

February 7th, 2012 • Access for Students, Educational Quality

A Scientist’s Responsibility

Sepehr Eskandari, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of Biological Sciences
Alumnus of Cal Poly Pomona

Sepher Eskandari in the lab at Cal Poly Pomona.

My most important responsibility as a scientist is to teach the next generation. This is because science is not static – it is not the sum of all existing knowledge. Rather, science is a dynamic process that builds one discovery on top of the other. Today’s scientific community is asking questions that will not be answered in my lifetime, but in my students’ lifetimes – perhaps.

I derive great joy working with and teaching students in my lab at Cal Poly Pomona. Together, we research the chemistry implicated in brain processes that may one day lead to treatment options for seizures and strokes. The work itself is rewarding but the intellectual curiosity and maturation I see developing in students who spend upwards of four years (spanning both their undergraduate and graduate years) in my lab makes a greater personal impact. More …

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Tags: Alumni, Biotechnology, Faculty, Research

June 20th, 2011 • Educational Quality, Impact on California

Looking Beyond the Cure

By Elisabeth Freeman
President at International Center for Professional Development
Executive Director at Legacy Direct
Alumna of CSU Channel Islands

Elisabeth Freeman meets with students in Matetsi

Freeman meets with students in Zimbabwe

People in Africa are dying alarmingly early in life, primarily from preventable or treatable diseases. AIDS continues to be a prolific killer, but so are diseases tied to starvation, poor infrastructure and lack of sanitation.

I have already outlived 80 percent of my childhood classmates in Zimbabwe. This realization drives home just how fortunate I have been to access the medical treatment and quality of life in the United States, but it also underscores the tragedy of the health disparities that exist in this world.

After coming to California, my education at CSU Channel Islands started with optimism of finding a cure for AIDS and relieving the suffering for millions in Africa. As I went through the biology program, I learned that the problem was more complex – not just from a medical standpoint but also in terms of education, infrastructure and resources.
More …

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Tags: Alumni, Biotechnology, Health, Research, Service, Working for California

January 31st, 2011 • Educational Quality, Environmental Sustainability

Plastic Soup

By Chelsea M. Rochman
Ph.D. Student in Marine Ecology/ Ecotoxicology
San Diego State University/ UC Davis

Note: On January 25, 2011, the CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science and Technology (COAST) held its inaugural student-research showcase, with student researchers and faculty mentors discussing their work with CSU trustees and campus presidents. Chelsea Rochman took part in the showcase, sharing her research into the toxicological effects of plastic in the ocean. Rochman is one of about 20 students in the Marine Ecology/ Ecotoxicology Ph.D. program offered jointly by San Diego State and UC Davis. Students receive advising from faculty at both universities. The students’ research facilities are located on the San Diego campus.

Rochman skims a net along the water surface to pull samples from an oceanic gyre.

It is predicted that more than 300 million tons of plastic were produced worldwide last year, and plastic production consumed 8 percent of global oil production. Much of this plastic, such as bags, plates and cups, has a useful lifetime of seconds, minutes or hours. Once discarded, it is easy to forget these items. Yet, disposable plastics can persist in the environment for hundreds, thousands or even millions of years.

This disconnected reality of society and our waste is what led me to join two expeditions to oceanic gyres, or areas in the water where the currents form circular patterns. Some of these gyres have earned an unfortunate nickname “garbage patch,” famous for confetti-like plastic debris no larger than a pencil eraser with sporadic larger pieces here and there.

More …

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Tags: COAST, Green, National Science Foundation, Ocean, Research, Student