Newsmakers in the College of Natural Sciences

Dr. Jim Pushnik, Rawlins Professor of Environmental Literacy and Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, has accepted the appointment as the Director for the Institute for Sustainable Development. 

"It's a somewhat early technology - it still sounds like science fiction to most people," said conference chairwoman Cristina Archer, an assistant professor of energy, meteorology and environmental science at California State University, Chico. Read more.

Dr. Christine Archer, department of Geosciences, is working with Cleantech Innovation Center for a research project on Wind and Weather. Read more.

Dr. Jane Hightower was working as a diagnostician at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco in 2000 when she realized there was something terribly wrong, and that it was up to her to solve a potentially lethal mystery. Read more.

Gordon Wolfe, a professor of biological sciences at California State University, Chico, is part of a team that has been funded by the Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) within the National Science Foundation to unlock the power of biocatalysts. Jacqueline V. Shanks of Iowa State University (ISU) heads the research team that includes Basil Nikolau and Tom Bobik of Iowa State and Govind Nadathur of the University of Puerto Rico, in addition to Wolfe. Read more.

This summer, Todd Greene was offered some valuable core rock samples he hopes will lead to a breakthrough in mapping the rock formations under Chico. Read more.

Cristina Archer, faculty in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at California State University, Chico, has collaborated with Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology to compile the first-ever global survey of wind energy at high altitudes. Read more.

Faye Johnson, Professor of Nutrition and Food Sciences, has been selected for a 2009 American Dietetic Association (ADA) Outstanding Dietetic Educator Award for a Didactic Program in Dietetics for Area 1 (which covers 8 western states).
The ADA awards program is to recognize the teaching, mentoring, and leadership activities of faculty and preceptors in ADA-accredited and approved dietetics education programs.

On Thursday, March 5, the Research Foundation’s Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion received the 2009 Korten Champion for Children Award for programmatic excellence in their efforts to promote healthy eating and activity patterns. The award was presented during the 11th Annual Network for a Healthy California (Network) conference. Read more.

Peachy peanut butter, butter pitas and vegetable quesadillas fill up students' bellies at a free cooking class. The Wellness Center and nutrition and food science majors hosted the free event to teach students how to make healthful snacks March 3. See the video here.

Sergei Fomin, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, exemplifies the “teacher-scholar” model as Co-PI on an NSF Research Experience in Mathematics for Undergraduates and Teachers grant. Dr. Fomin has co-authored a peer-reviewed article with students in the Journal of Fluids Engineering, and has co-authored seven more publications in peer-reviewed journals related to mathematical modeling of hydro-mechanical, thermal, and chemical fluid flow processes. Dr. Fomin has also presented six papers at national and international conferences since 2006.

Susan Patricio, PHN, MS has accepted the position of Assistant Director for the Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion. She will begin her new position with us on December 1, 2008. Her office will be located in 25 Main St, Suite 101, Rm 101B. Susan brings with her many years of supervisory and program management experience in the health care and education fields. Please give her a warm welcome when she begins her position here at CNAP.

Maybe squash isn't a teenager's favorite food, but most of the students in Dave Teja's class at Chico High School tried it Friday afternoon anyway. Alana Nohrden offered the squash — three varieties, along with two dipping sauce choices — as part of a weekly nutrition class she's teaching this semester. Nohrden works for the Sierra Cascade Nutrition and Activity Consortium, a grant-funded program that works with local schools to encourage healthy lifestyles. Nohrden, who plans to graduate from Chico State University next spring with a degree in nutrition and food science, created lesson plans that use resources and materials from the SCNAC office. Read more.

Middle-school girls learn joys of science at CSUS seminar. American girls have fallen behind in science. Maybe they think science is for dorks. It can involve things such as dissecting frogs, and that can be pretty gross. Studies have suggested girls don't have enough scientist role models. Read more.

The Annual Pumpkin Drop! It's not every day that pumpkins fall from the sky. And on days they do, it's probably worth checking out.Hundreds of elementary school children arrived at Chico State University's Butte Hall Thursday for a field trip organized by the Society of Physics Students. Read more.

California State University, Chico continues to receive distinction for its work as a leader in sustainability and environmental programs. Kiwi Magazine, a New York based bi-monthly print and online publication focusing on families and health, has for the second straight year profiled CSU, Chico among other U.S. colleges and universities. "Kiwi's 2008 Green College Report features schools pioneering the way in campus sustainability, excelling in environmental stewardship, and making great strides toward going eco," the article states. Read more.

CSU, Chico is one of the top 10 green colleges in America! California State University, Chico has once again been named to an exclusive list of national schools leading the way in sustainability and environmental awareness. Read more.
Check out the other winners!

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded the California State University a second major grant, this one of $474,000 to support Professional Science Master's (PSM) programs. CSU, Chico is one of the 14 CSUs currently offering the program and will receive $26,389, bringing its three-year total to $76, 162. Read more.

The Herbarium at California State University, Chico, located on the first floor of Holt Hall, is a little-known treasure, a warehouse of approximately 98,000 native plants. Data on native plants from the herbarium was recently part of a study to analyze current distributions of plants native to California and to project distributions into the future. Read more.

Nine Chico State nursing students and one faculty member spent their winter break in January in a Mixtec village, treating ailments ranging from parasites to burns. They passed out vitamins, distributed sanitation kits, gave health consultations and treated minor injuries, skin infections and malnutrition. Read more.

These scientist-turned-teachers are "scientific ambassadors," says Bruce Alberts, former president of the National Academy of Sciences. Because "they've got PhDs and therefore are well connected and respected by the scientific community," says Alberts, they can be more effective liaisons between the education system and the scientific community. Irene Salter agrees. Read More.

California State University, Chico students will be receiving $10,000 scholarships to become math and science teachers, thanks to a new $749,180 grant from the National Science Foundation. CSU, Chico and California State University, Sacramento are joint recipients of the grant and collaborators on the project, called Teaching Excellence in Math and Science. The new grant will result in the University awarding 32 new scholarships over the next four years. The grant is in place until 2011. Read More.

Denis Hayes, one of the organizers of the original Earth Day in 1970, former director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and one of Time Magazine's "100 Heroes of the Planet," gave a message of hope and a message of warning to a crowd of hundreds Wednesday night (April 11, 2007) at Laxson Auditorium on the Chico State University campus, reports the Chico Enterprise-Record. Part of the message was that the world is headed toward catastrophe if serious changes aren't made to slow global warming.
Chico State University President Paul Zingg gave an honorary doctorate of science to Jack Rawlins, whose endowment to the university has provided scholarships for ecology and conservation, student research and an award for environmental achievement. Read more

A new facility in Chico to train nurses using lifelike, state-of-the-art patient simulators is a reality. California State University, Chico's School of Nursing received one of three grants awarded by the state Employment Development Department to establish the center. The $250,000 grant was matched through facilities, supplies and faculty and staff time by the Rural Northern California Clinical Simulation Center Partnership, which includes CSU, Chico, Butte College Nursing Program, Enloe Medical Center and Feather River Hospital. Read more

The Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion (CNAP) at California State University, Chico has been selected for honorable mention by Community-Campus Partnerships for Health. The mission of the CNAP, created in June 2006, is to create innovative partnerships that enable Californians in the North State, especially those in high-risk populations, to adopt healthy eating and physical activity patterns as part of a healthy lifestyle. Read more

The Northern California Natural History Museum (NCNHM) Board and California State University, Chico are pleased to announce that a design and construction team has been selected for the museum building project. Read more

Chico State biologist, Professor Michael Marchetti, joins international team. Read more

Cindy Wolff, Chico State's Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion director, is concerned about how much kids are growing--not up, but out. Read more

Master's in Environmental Sciences. California State University, Chico is one of 12 CSU campuses to offer the new Professional Science Master's (PSM) option and the only one to have a program in environmental sciences. The new programs are being started thanks to an $891,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which was announced Tuesday, Dec. 12, at CSU headquarters in Long Beach. Read more

Larry Hanne, Biology, and Larry Kirk, Chemistry, write about the "Evolution of a Scientific Research Group." Twenty years ago we began a research group with five undergraduate student participants. We chose a research project that would be multidisciplinary and would accommodate the interests of microbiology, cell and molecular biology, and biochemistry students. From Inside Chico State, Dec. 7, 2006. Read more

People are surprised to learn that dinosaur fossils have been found throughout the North State, some from around, and even within, Chico. It is understandable that most people are not familiar with the fossil heritage of this region, for few researchers have recently studied the topic and few museums locally display the exciting fossil finds (something that the Northern California Natural History Museum will address, at least in part). You could be standing on a dinosaur!

Business Student Wins $10,000 Jack Rawlins Award. Taylor Bass, who has an option in management with a pattern in entrepreneurship and minors in marketing and in managing for sustainability, wrote a winning proposal titled "Social Entrepreneurs Emerging with new Direction," or SEED. Read more

Physics students bring home Blake Lilly Prize members of our Society of Physics Students (SPS) are honored for their effort to positively influence the attitudes of school children and the general public about physics. Read more

Jeff Price, assistant professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences, and other leading scientists talk about climate changes on National Public Radio in Cleveland. Read more

Retired Dean Roger Lederer walks on the wild side. Read more

President George W. Bush seeks to double National Science Foundation Budget.
Read more