Welcome to the School of Science & Technology's spring newsletter! We hope this finds you well in these uncertain times. Please take care and stay safe. |
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Dear colleagues,
Welcome to the spring 2021 SST newsletter. I wanted to start by thanking everyone for your hard work and flexibility as we continue to operate under challenging and changing conditions. The faculty and staff of SST have been doing an exceptional job serving our students and coping with the changes wrought by the pandemic.
We are now turning our attention to Fall 2021, and beginning to plan for having more courses on the ground. We expect that we will still have social distancing, masking, and other changes in place for the fall, and the Continuity Group is working on planning how staff, students, and faculty can all come back to campus safely. I will continue updating SST on fall plans as the semester goes along.
I am pleased to share with you all of the exciting things that continue to happen in SST. Our students, faculty, staff, and alumni are doing wonderful work, both on campus and remotely, and I am so happy to be able to share it with you.
Thanks to all of you for your continuing support of SSU,
Elisabeth Wade
Elisabeth Wade
Dean, School of Science and Technology
Sonoma State University
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Growing up in Queens, New York, Omayra Ortega always knew she liked numbers more than words. It’s a reason why one of her two degrees from Pomona College in Southern California is in Mathematics — the other in music. “I like the idea of order existing in the universe,” she said.
In recognition of her work in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics field, Cell Press included Ortega, an assistant professor of mathematics and statistics at Sonoma State University, in their list of 1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America. According to Cell Press, the list shines a light on Black scientists’ contributions to the field while encouraging the next generation of Black professionals to pursue careers in STEM. [...]
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Nursing Mutual Aid was presented with the award on Sept. 23, 2020 at the GLMA Nursing Summit in recognition of their innovative and tireless dedication to amplifying the voices of nurses and fighting for social justice, including racial, queer, environmental, and economic justice. [...]
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Sonoma State University has been awarded $4.96 million from NASA to design and implement a program that will engage students on the autism spectrum in informal STEM learning.
NASA’s Neurodiversity Network (N3) aims to broaden participation in NASA programs to include autistic and other learners with neurological differences. As part of NASA’s Science Activation Program, which is composed of teams across the nation to help learners of all ages and abilities do science, N3 will use specific learning modules to support autistic learners with the social and technical skills needed for successful STEM careers. [...]
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Science by Diverse Scientists |
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On Wednesday, June 10th, 2020, the STEM community came together to Strike for Black Lives (see, for instance, Particles for Justice and Shut Down STEM). The strike was not intended to be simply a day-off fornon-Black scientists, but instead a day to put aside research, teaching, and committee responsibilities in order to take the time to work toward building a better society for everyone. The Cal-Bridge Program hosted a virtual event to bring together affiliated faculty and scholars to reflect on what we could do as a community to combat anti-black racism in academia and then commit to doing something about it. One result of this event was a new seminar series: “Science by Diverse Scientists: A Cal-Bridge Physics & Astronomy Seminar Series” [...]
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Nursing Students Work with Shelters for Unhoused |
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As we all know, Covid-19 has interrupted and altered many of our usual operations here at Sonoma State University. The nursing department has been greatly impacted in that many of our clinical facilities where students gain their experiences have closed their doors to students during the pandemic. In Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, all of the usual facilities that students gather their clinical hours toward licensure by the Board of Registered Nursing could not take students this semester.
Fortunately, our department was given an opportunity to work with the organization Disaster Emergency Medical Assistance (DEMA) which has set up several shelters for the unhoused in Sonoma County. After a conversation with Michelle Patino, Director of Nursing and Administration of DEMA in December, we found a solution for having our Psych Mental Health nursing students gather their clinical hours! DEMA incorporates community medicine in a wholistic approach not only treating the physiological aspect of the human body but also the mental and spiritual aspects. Patino states “We believe in treating the whole person.” She agreed that our students would be an asset to the residents, particularly those with mental health challenges. [...]
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Adapting Higher Ed to Meet BIPOC Needs in Virtual Environments |
Sonoma State is proud to continue strengthening and expanding its programs on the Sonoma State University campus and in the wider educational community. While the impacts of COVID are still evolving, a new grant has been awarded that will expand MESA and adapt their support structures to the new remote environment, to supplement additional supports for BIPOC students currently in MESA, and to increase institutional capacity for BIPOC students in the future. The grant, Adapting Higher Education to Meet Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Needs in the New Virtual Environment, is sponsored by the Genentech Foundation for a total of $449,869. |
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SSU CSU-LSAMP PROUD Scholars |
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The CSU- LSAMP Program for Recognition of Undergraduate Distinction (CSU-LSAMP PROUD) is a program designed to recognize and highlight the achievements of outstanding CSU-LSAMP students. These PROUD Scholars are featured in the annual CSU-LSAMP PROUD publication. SSU's 2020 CSU-LSAMP PROUD Scholars are:
- Branndon Mariscal, Mathematics, Outstanding Resilience
- Frida Pereira Palencia, Biology, Outstanding Resilience
- Gabriel Quintero Plancarte, Biology, Outstanding Research in STEM
- Fabian Ramirez, Mathematics, Outstanding Academic
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Using Microorganisms to Compost Bioplastic |
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Replacing petroleum-based plastics with zero-carbon plastics will be essential for creating a sustainable society. Polylactate (PLA) bioplastic technically meets the non-toxic and biodegradable standards to be labeled “Compostable” but cannot currently be processed by most commercial composting facilities or in home compost piles due to its slow rate of degradation. In the Department of Biology, research begun this semester by undergraduate student Belle Ehrmantraut along with project supervisor Prof. Michael Cohen seeks to test the ability of photosynthetic microorganisms to initiate the degradation of PLA and thereby make it suitable for wide-scale composting. [...]
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Provisional Patent Granted |
Sonoma State University and Dr. Sudhir Shrestha, assistant professor of Engineering, have been granted a provisional patent on a low cost, hand-held device invented by SSU’s Intelligent Systems Lab to diagnose and monitor various diseases, including diabetes. This device builds upon Dr. Shrestha’s many years of research in sensing systems and reflects his dedication for developing technology that improves lives. This patent is the first of its kind for Sonoma State University, and its development has provided students with valuable research experience. We thank Dr. Shrestha and the undergraduate and graduate students of Intelligent Systems Lab for their work, and we are so excited that Sonoma State can celebrate the accomplishment of holding an active provisional patent.
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COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics |
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On Monday February 8, the Sonoma County Office of Education began vaccinating community members aged 70 and over, childcare workers and educators. SCOE will be vaccinating up to 17,000 people over the next months. Sonoma State University nursing faculty and students have played an important role in vaccinating older adults and educators against COVID-19. Nursing faculty, led by Dr. Michelle Kelly, were able to provide expertise and support to the Jewish Community Free Clinic and Sonoma County Office of Education as they planned and implemented their mass vaccination clinics. Both clinics have been staffed with SSU nursing students.
Nursing students in the public health clinical course are very motivated to contribute to vaccinating the community. Students have studied research findings on efficacy and precautions for the two types of vaccines, care and storage of the immunization, how to conduct screening and review consents, administer the vaccine and observe people after they received their vaccine. A critical piece of the vaccination process is the nurse providing information who ensures that the person receiving the vaccine understands how the vaccine works, and what to expect after the first and second injection. Students emphasize while the risk of getting COVID in reduced, people who have received their vaccinations must continue to wear a mask and socially distance.
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Team Beetle Studies Continue Despite Pandemic |
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By Dr. Nathan Rank | rank@sonoma.edu
The willow leaf beetle Chrysomela aeneicollis lives at high altitude in the Sierra Nevada, from Mount Whitney to Yosemite. In 1998, Dr. Nathan Rank (SSU Biology), was joined by Dr. Elizabeth Dahlhoff (Santa Clara University) to study how these beetles survive exposure to environmental extremes. Over the years, Dahlhoff and Rank have led a team of mostly undergraduate researchers (over 120 to date) in their research partnership, known as Team Beetle. In 2014, Professor Caroline Williams (UC Berkeley) and her students (including SSU alum Kevin Roberts) started to investigate how the beetles survive long winters. Williams and her team developed educational materials for K-12 students to study the significance of genetic variation in nature, hosted on UC Berkeley’s Understanding Evolution website. Recently, Sierra willow beetles were selected as a model species to represent natural genetic variation in California as part of the California Conservation Genomics Project. [...]
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First-hand experiences in the natural world are essential for learning observation and research skills in many disciplines. Yet during the pandemic, students are being denied these opportunities.
The Virtual Field, led by SSU's Center for Environmental Inquiry, is a team of 50 field sites in 26 states and 6 countries that is creating virtual resources for faculty that mimick the high-impact in-person field experiences that happen at field stations and marine laboratories.
These resources have value far beyond the covid crisis, giving students personal experience with a diversity of ecosystems around the world, encouraging participation by a broader diversity of university courses, and expanding opportunities for students with disabilities.
All resources have teaching guides and are free to faculty. Check them out today by registering at thevirtualfield.org!
The Virtual Field is supported by a National Science Foundation RAPID-grant led by Claudia Luke, Director for the Center for Environmental Inquiry at Sonoma State University, along with co-PIs Hilary Swain at Archbold Biological Station and Kari O’Connell of the STEM Research Center at Oregon State University.
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Bringing the Makerspace to Students During COVID |
Although the pandemic has disrupted learning, students in ES 104 were able to continue their learning with the help of exclusive Makerspace kits sent to their homes. In this unique design-thinking-engineering-oral communication class, students typically visit the SSU Makerspace to build prototypes as a problem-solving solution. With funding support from the Chevron Foundation 2019-2020 CSU Pathways to STEM grant (Dean Schneider, University Library, PI), Dr. Sara Kassis from the Department of Engineering designed, assembled, and mailed kits to ES 104 students in Fall 2020. As one student mentioned, "This kit was important because it allowed me to have different material for projects. It was helpful in participating in class activities." With subsequent support from the CSU Pathways to STEM 2020/2021 grant, Dr. Kassis was also able to send kits to her Spring 2021 class to continue their learning online, in addition to coordinating with faculty in other courses to send assembled kits to their students.
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When we transitioned to remote work and learning a year ago, we faced many unknowns and new, unexpected challenges. One of them, surprisingly, was dealing with all of the mail and packages! In order to facilitate receiving and distributing equipment and supplies to staff, faculty, and students, SST established its own in-house mail service. From picking up items from Shipping and Receiving, to shipping out lab kits and navigating complicated on-campus pick-up procedures, our staff have developed and finetuned an effective internal process.
We owe a huge thank you to our SST mail services team: Gloria Allen (Kinesiology), Ryan Grumich (Chemistry & Dean’s Office), Kate Lapp (Engineering Science), Sarah Tucker (Math & MESA), and our trusty red wagon (pictured left with Gloria).
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A variety of lecture series are held across disciplines in the School of Science and Technology. We are especially honored that we often get to host alumni of our school as speakers in our series. This academic year, the following alumni have been featured:
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Biology: Dr. Lindsay Dawson, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University
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Computer Science: Dr. Zachary Ives, Adani President’s Distinguished Professor and Department Chair, Computer and Information Science Department, University of Pennsylvania
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Geology: Nick Bel, Engineering Geologist, Caltrans
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Math: Travis Hayes, Lecturer, Sacramento State University
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Math: Elizabeth Mannshardt, Associate Director, Information Access and Analytic Services Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
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Recent Publications and Presentations |
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Computer Science undergraduates Ari’El Encarnacion and Cynthia Rosales presented at COPLAC 2020. You can watch their presentation, titled “Machine Learning: How Automatic Data Processing Can Augment Your Workflow,” online:
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Electrical Engineering undergraduates Andres Rivera, Tony Jang, and Nathan Candler also presented at COPLAC 2020. Their project, titled “The Greenhouse Project,” is a collaboration between SSU’s Engineering Department and Petaluma Bounty Farm in Petaluma, CA.
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Computer Science undergraduates Jakob Evans, Matyas Krizek, and Andrew Eljumaily’s paper, titled “Profiling CUDA Benchmarks for Performance Analysis on Modern GPUs,” has been accepted to CSCSU 21, the first-ever CSU-only computer science conference.
- Dr. Gurman Gill (Computer Science), Dr. Chris Halle (SSU CEI), and Joseph Granados (recent CS graduate) published their paper, “Classifying False Alarms in Camera Trap Images Using Convolutional Neural Networks,” at the 2020 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence: American Council on Science & Education (CSCI 2020).
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Dr. Mark Perri (Chemistry) and his co-authors recently published their paper, titled “Measuring success for a future vision: Defining impact in science gateways/virtual research environments”, in Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpe.6099
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The following SST faculty received $8k 2020-2021 Koret Awards: |
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Owen Anfinson, Geology: Mapping and Age Dating the Geologic Units of Angel Island State Park, CA
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Farid Farahmand, Engineering Science: GreenSense: A Low-Cost Enabling System for a Smart Greenhouse
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Gurman Gill, Computer Science: Using Machine Learning to Understand Animal Biodiversity
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Lisa Hua, Biology: Chromosome Organization of Umbellularia Californica with Phytophthora Ramorum Resistance
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Y.J. Ryuh, Kinesiology: Relationship Between Physical Activity Motivation of Parents and Actual Physical Activity in their Children with Intellectual Disabilities
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Mohamed Salem, Engineering Science: Electromagnetic Low-Frequency Measurements in the Stratosphere
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Sudhir Shrestha, Engineering Science: Breath Glucose Sensor & Gender Gap in Engineering
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Shubbhi Taneja, Computer Science: Analyzing Energy-Efficiency of State-of-the-Art Hardware using Machine Learning Benchmarks
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Nansong Wu, Engineering Science: acreFree: An Automatic Wildfire Detection System and Network
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The following students received $650-$750 Student Research Awards from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs: |
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Anthony Arjona Pech, Electrical Engineering : Volatile Organic Compound Profiler for Use in Future Glucose Monitoring
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William Cowles, Electrical Engineering: Autonomous UAV Pollination
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Brandon Fong, MS-CES: Automatic Music Transcription
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Daniel Greisen, Electrical Engineering: Standardized Automated Testing of Frequency Selective Surfaces
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Jordan Johnston, Electrical Engineering: Real-Time Fire Detection on Embedded Devices using Machine Learning
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Victor Madrid, Electrical Engineering: The Seer
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Jacob Marshall, Physics: Modeling Supernovae as a Fireball
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Paul Meyer, Electrical Engineering: Drone Flights Under Control
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Rania Saba, Electrical Engineering: Platform for Automated Capture and Storage of Breath Sensor Data
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Natalie Valle Medina, Electrical Engineering: Warehouse PHRAY, (Phased Array) Gun
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Michael Wiles, Electrical Engineering & Math: Pedestrian Spotter
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