The far-reaching grant will supply UC Berkeley and its partner institutions’ advanced quantum research hub with $37.5 million in funding over the next five years to address three priority research challenges: discovering and realizing the power of quantum computation, understanding nature through the lens of quantum information science, and developing quantum technologies and their applications.

“For more than four decades, NSF has been laying the foundational groundwork of research and discovery that is powering today’s modern quantum computing, sensing and communication,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director. “It’s time for focused activities to leverage that base of knowledge to drive us even farther forward to the benefit of all Americans. The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are a next step for us in understanding the quantum world we live in.”

The renewal of the NSF CIQC will feature several new initiatives. Cal State San Marcos and Cal State East Bay will anchor plans to establish systemwide degree programs in quantum information science, and the Computer History Museum and Berkeley Oral History Center will document the history of quantum computing in real time as it unfolds.

“We pride ourselves on creating exceptional opportunities for our students and connecting them with cutting-edge work that is shaping the future.” said Charles De Leone, dean of graduate studies and research at CSUSM. “Being part of the CIQC is a great example of that commitment. This partnership gives our students access to a field that is rapidly advancing and creates opportunities they might not find at many other universities. We’re proud to be part of this effort and to help prepare the next generation of California’s quantum workforce.”

“By uniting world-renowned research institutions and partnering with the California State University system, the CIQC will not only address long-term challenges in quantum computing, it will also expand access to education and career pathways,” said Justin Perron, a physics professor at CSUSM. “This effort builds on CSUSM’s leadership in quantum education and workforce development, and we are excited to work with our CIQC partners to build California’s quantum future at such a pivotal time.”

The NSF CIQC was founded in 2020, as one of the five original NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes motivated by the National Quantum Initiative Act’s call to strengthen America’s scientific leadership in foundational quantum information research.

True to the nature of quantum information science, the institute is multidisciplinary, combining expertise in chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics and physics. Researchers explore how to harness quantum systems to create next-generation technologies for sensors, computing and communications.

Through collaborative efforts over the past six years, the institute’s researchers have stress-tested claims of quantum computers that outperform classical ones, stimulating aggressive development by the quantum industry. By asking how quantum information evolves within physical systems, they discovered new kinds of phase transitions and established rigorous insights on the structure of quantum matter. They also advanced frontier research on neutral-atom platforms for quantum computing, setting the stage for the current explosion of activity and investment in such systems.

“The renewal and expansion of the NSF CIQC is a momentous event for the field of quantum science and for the quantum ecosystem in the state of California,” said Shimon Kolkowitz, the Herst Chair in Physics at UC Berkeley. “This center enables and enhances large-scale academic collaboration on basic quantum research at a pivotal moment for the field.”

By linking leading quantum research teams and educational initiatives across the state of California, the NSF CIQC serves as the backbone of an integrated, statewide ecosystem. UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology are core research partners.

The renewal of the institute recognizes the growing energy around quantum and builds on the long history of exceptional quantum research in California. Notably, the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus John Clarke, together with his former postdoctoral fellow Michel Devoret and graduate student John Martinis (both now on the UC Santa Barbara faculty), for quantum tunneling experiments that lay the groundwork for today’s superconducting quantum computers.

Cal State San Marcos researchers – along with colleagues from the San Diego Natural History Museum, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Research Experiences for Southern California Undergraduate Ecologists network (RESCUE-Net) – recently discovered a population of banana slugs at Palomar Mountain.

Now they are trying to determine if they stumbled on a new species of the slug, or if it is an existing species far from its usual home.

The team was so excited about its discovery that it blasted the news on social media after a population was found in photos on a nature app.

Fun fact: The mascot for UC Santa Cruz is the banana slug, which was selected in the 1980s. And in 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation making the banana slug the state’s official slug.

“This tells you about the importance of this slug … in the California culture,” said Sergio Nigenda Morales, a CSUSM assistant professor of biological sciences. “If it’s a different species and a really isolated population, that’s what I’m interested in studying. And it’s in our backyard, so we can just go and try to study them.”

“Great discoveries often begin with curiosity,” said Jackie Trischman, dean of the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. “Dr. Nigenda Morales recognized a fascinating scientific mystery right here in our area and engaged students in the process of exploring it. That's exactly the kind of hands-on learning and discovery we value at CSUSM.”

The banana slug is a decomposer that eats dead organic matter such as fallen leaves, plants and moss, then recycles it into waste that fertilizes the soil. It got its name because it resembles a ripe banana, and it’s usually found on moist forest floors in the Pacific Northwest.

Nigenda Morales said there are two ways that the population of slugs could exist here in San Diego County. One, they could have been introduced from a population farther north. Two, the slugs could have existed on Palomar Mountain for a while but are now trapped there because of the hot, dry conditions in the area surrounding the mountain.

California is home to all six currently recognized banana slug species, which explains the cultural importance of these slugs for Californians, according to Nigenda Morales.

CSUSM got involved in the project after Nigenda Morales, who joined the faculty in 2023, spoke about his genetic research on mammals, particularly whales, at UC Santa Cruz in the spring of 2025. That’s when he was approached by Janet Leonard, a UCSC researcher who’s a leading expert on banana slug reproduction.

Leonard asked if he’d be willing to partner on research on the genetic makeup of banana slugs. UCSC provided the samples, and Nigenda Morales decided that the research would make a great class and lab for students at CSUSM in a course called “Population Genetics.”

The group started the process of extracting the DNA of the samples, and a few days later, Leonard connected Nigenda Morales with some researchers and scientists from Los Angeles.

The research and initial work began last August. A short time later, a discussion was held about possible banana slug sightings at Palomar Mountain, dating back to the 1980s or even '90s, that were never proven. However, on the iNaturalist app/website, which relies on citizen science for its data, photos of the slugs on the mountain were recorded for about 10 years before a decision was made to pursue the research.

The group decided to organize an expedition to the site and tried seven times to find the slug. Luckily, eight was the magic number.

As far as next steps, the group will send the samples it collected off to be studied against the other six known populations of slugs. Once that is done, an analysis will be conducted at CSUSM with students in Nigenda Morales’ lab.

“Once we get the samples back, we can work on figuring out how much genetic diversity there is and how big the population is,” Nigenda Morales said.

The researchers also are also studying to see if the slugs can survive on the mountain.

“With small populations, you can have genetic problems such as inbreeding; if we know about that, then we can take better care of them,” he said. “We cannot intervene, but because Palomar Mountain is a California state park, we can give some recommendations to the rangers.”

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Perron is leading a three-year, $1,085,815 project supported by the Laboratory for Physical Sciences, targeting one of the most demanding areas in modern science: quantum information science and technology (QIST).  

The effort builds on a previous Department of Energy RENEW award that equipped CSU undergraduate faculty to integrate quantum concepts into their courses. Now Perron is tackling the next barrier: getting students hands-on experience with the technology itself. 

"Most undergraduate QIST education is theoretical or textbook-focused," Perron said. "While simulations and cloud-accessible systems are valuable, the quantum sector also needs scientists and engineers with hands-on experience operating these systems. Because quantum technology is expensive and typically limited to research and industry settings, most students don't have access to that kind of training." 

Perron’s team is developing a curriculum that teaches core QIST lab competencies without requiring access to a full quantum system. The model will draw on data from quantum industry stakeholders to define workforce needs, then design and test the curriculum at CSUSM and partner institutions, measuring its effectiveness from the perspectives of students, faculty and potential employers. 

While Perron’s project focuses on preparing students for emerging careers in quantum science, other newly funded CSUSM projects are reimagining how students engage with mathematics and biology from the start of their academic journeys. 

"It's exciting to see our faculty leading nationally competitive projects that connect research and teaching in powerful ways," said Charles De Leone, dean of graduate studies and research. "These grants reflect what's possible at an institution like ours, where faculty are deeply invested in student success and bring that commitment into cutting-edge work." 

Additional projects funded this academic year include: 

• Rethinking the gateway to calculus 
  A $173,098 grant from the National Science Foundation supports a collaborative project led by mathematics professor Kimberly Ayers, in partnership with Florida International University, Clark College and the University of Virginia. The project introduces a more interactive model for teaching introductory calculus, a course that serves as a gateway to most STEM majors but has some of the highest failure and withdrawal rates nationally in undergraduate education. 
  Rather than lecture-centered instruction, students work in small groups to solve problems and explain their thinking out loud, building procedural skills alongside the mathematical confidence that research shows is essential to staying in STEM. The collaboration across four institutions allows the team to test the approach across different student populations and refine what works.
• Putting field research into the biology curriculum 
  Funded with a $499,970 grant from the National Science Foundation, a project led by biology professors Mallory Rice, George Vourlitis and Jane Kim will embed hands-on, community-driven scientific research directly into biology courses at CSUSM. Students will investigate biological questions about how urban development is affecting wildlife and natural resources across North San Diego County.
• Building the region’s behavioral and mental health workforce 
  CSUSM received a $450,000 grant from the County of San Diego to help strengthen the region’s health and human services workforce through a partnership with the county’s Health and Human Services Agency and San Diego State University.
• Preparing future public health leaders 
  Kim Pulvers, a professor of psychology, and Richard Armenta, an associate professor of kinesiology, received a competitive renewal award for the Research & Action for Community Health (REACH): CSUSM/UCSD Smoke and Vape Free Scholars Program in partnership with UC San Diego. The program trains undergraduate and master’s students to address tobacco-related health disparities through research, community engagement and public health workforce development. Since the program’s launch in 2022, scholars have presented their work more than 30 times, published nine papers and gone on to graduate programs and health-related careers. This $1,331,620 grant is funded by the California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. 

“What’s especially meaningful about these projects is the way they connect research, teaching and workforce preparation,” De Leone said. 

Research funding is an integral part of CSUSM’s “Blueprint for the Future” fundraising campaign, helping advance the university’s $200 million goal through both philanthropy and grants. 

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Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

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The two studies are:

• "Health Risks and Cross-Border Environmental Exposure: A Binational Study of the San Diego-Tijuana-Rosarito Pacific Ocean Coastline," published in Environmental Challenges. This study examines health risks along the coastline shared by the United States and Mexico, and was a collaborative effort with community-based organizations on both sides of the border (One Coastal Community) and the Socio-Environmental Tijuana River Project that Calderón Villarreal directs. The research focuses on the unique environmental health challenges along this shared coastline and the associated health risks. The study is particularly relevant due to the current environmental crisis surrounding the binational Tijuana River, which impacts communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
• "Considering Water, Sanitation and Hygiene as a Valuable Component of Harm Reduction," published in the Harm Reduction Journal. This paper advocates for integrating water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services into harm reduction frameworks to support marginalized populations. It’s the summary of Calderón Villarreal’s contribution in the intersection between environmental health and substance use, based on her research conducted among U.S.-Mexico border communities.

Calderón Villarreal is a medical doctor whose work focuses on the intersection of environmental health and social equity in the binational region that includes San Diego. After earning her undergraduate and master’s degrees from institutions in Mexico, she finished her Ph.D. at the UC San Diego-San Diego State University Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health.

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“It’s incredibly meaningful to give students with intellectual disabilities an inclusive college experience,” Brooks said. “My greatest hope was to obtain funding to expand our cohort size and ensure the long-term sustainability of this program. These grants make that vision a reality.” 

Funding at this level is highly competitive nationwide, yet faculty and staff at CSUSM like Brooks continue to stand out, securing awards that support innovative projects and create transformational experiences for students. 

“Our faculty and staff are pursuing some of the most-sought-after grants in the nation, alongside leading institutions,” said Charles De Leone, dean of graduate studies and research. “It’s exciting to see their ideas recognized and to watch how their work enriches our students’ experiences, strengthens our campus and serves our broader community.” 

Examples of projects funded this academic year include: 

• Supporting chemistry and biochemistry students: A $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation will fund student scholarships in chemistry and biochemistry as well as a Vertical Mentoring Learning Community (VMLC). Led by Robert Iafe, Afra Panahi and Aswad Allen, the program blends mentoring, research opportunities and priority enrollment for up to 30 students each year, with eight first-year students eligible for renewable $15,000 scholarships.
• Making exercise more accessible: Kinesiology professor Todd Astorino received a $442,590 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore how reduced exertion high-intensity interval training (REHIT) – two short 20-second sprints within a 10-minute workout – can improve health and make exercise more attainable for inactive adults.
• Expanding mobile making in local schools: Funded by the National Science Foundation, this project led by Edward Price, April Nelson and Sinem Siyahhan of the Center for Research and Engagement in STEM Education (CRESE) expands the university’s Mobile Making program. Through after-school “making” clubs across North County, undergraduate STEM ambassadors bring hands-on activities and equipment to schools, libraries and community centers.
• Helping students with intellectual disabilities experience college: Brooks and psychology professor Allison Jobin received $2.5 million in grants to expand Aspiring Scholars with full-time staff, a dedicated campus space and additional peer mentors.
• Adding water refill stations: A grant from CalRecycle will enable CSUSM to reach its goal to have a water refill station on every floor of every building. Led by Juliana Goodlaw-Morris, director of sustainability and climate justice, in partnership with Facilities Development & Management, this grant will fund 10 new water refill stations and replace five older stations across campus. The project’s progress will be measured through station usage, recycling volumes and waste audits. 

“Each of these projects reflect the spirit of innovation and collaboration at CSUSM,” De Leone said. “They also give students meaningful opportunities to engage in hands-on research that prepares them for their future careers.” 

Research funding is an integral part of CSUSM’s “Blueprint for the Future” campaign, helping advance the university’s $200 million goal through both philanthropy and grants.

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Long before he was an assistant professor of history at Cal State San Marcos, Amador was a doctoral student at New York’s Stony Brook University who was doing field work for his dissertation in Mexico. Hoping to comb through the historical archive of the people of Temacapulin, a small town northeast of Guadalajara, he was surprised to learn that they didn’t have one. What they had was thousands of documents piled haphazardly into boxes, all too vulnerable to environmental damage in the event of, say, a flood.

Helping to organize the town’s historical record wasn’t part of Amador’s dissertation, but his conscience wouldn’t allow him to return to New York with the papers in such disarray. So he gave himself a crash course in archival studies – which traditionally is more the domain of librarians – and, with the aid of some volunteers from the community, he led an effort in 2022 to whip the archive into shape.

During the three months that Amador was in Temacapulin, word of his project spread to neighboring towns. It just so happened that the Indigenous community of San Juan de la Laguna (La Laguna for short) was in the midst of an effort to organize its own historical documents. The people behind it invited Amador to town, and he discovered that this project involved almost twice as many documents (nearly 20,000), stretching back more than a century earlier, to the late 1600s.

“When I saw that this project was a different beast compared to the first one,” Amador said, “I knew we needed more resources and more help.”

After a hiatus of a few years – during which he finished his dissertation, earned his Ph.D. from Stony Brook and was hired by CSUSM – Amador finally found himself in position to revisit the La Laguna archive. Last spring, he received a $15,000 grant from the Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library, the largest library in the world and the home of such storied pieces as the original Magna Carta.

Over the summer, Amador spent two weeks in La Laguna, and the funding not only paid for his trip, but allowed him to purchase laptops and hire and train five members of the community as full-time workers on the 10-week project.

“I never imagined I’d end up in this field, but it truly offers incredible opportunities,” he said. “I get to meet new people and develop skills in an area where, surprisingly, historians often know nothing about – archives. You’d think that’s odd, like chemists not learning about the equipment in their own labs. Now that I’m doing this work, I realize just how striking that gap is between what historians do and the archival side of their profession.”

Amador streamlined and accelerated a process that had progressed in fits and starts since his initial visit to La Laguna three years earlier. In helping gather the materials, he found that many of them were stored in unfavorable conditions, such as sacks, cardboard boxes and bound together with string. Many also were marked with water stains.

As the group surveyed and created an inventory of the documents, they encountered samples both mundane (countless tax receipts) and captivating. One example was a paper record of a legal battle in the early 20^th century between a town resident and an immigrant from Lebanon.

“How did a man from Lebanon end up in this little town?” Amador said. “That whole story sounds fascinating. Discovering history through these documents is, in a way, truly thrilling.”

Beyond just the work itself, the biggest challenge that Amador faced was gaining the trust of an Indigenous community that traditionally has had a fraught relationship with the local government and the outside world at large.

“With me coming from the United States, people wondered, ‘What are his priorities? Why is he here helping us? What’s in it for him?’ ” he said. “It really came down to open communication – reassuring them that I’m doing this because I love the work and involving them in the process as much as possible.”

As the grant-funded initiative wraps up this fall, Amador is considering a return to La Laguna in January to review the finished product in person. And as the domino effect continues, the second project might lead to a third one.

Another nearby Indigenous community heard about the work Amador led in La Laguna and requested his support for its archival project, which features more digitized material instead of old, yellowing papers. For that one, which remains in the preliminary stages, he is coordinating with classically trained archivists, namely Sean Visintainer and Jennifer Ho of the CSUSM University Library. He’s also talking with Visintainer and Ho about the possibility of introducing and teaching a history course in archival studies.

“I really did stumble into this type of work. I still am even hesitant to call myself an archivist,” Amador said. “I'm learning so much, and there's still so much for me to learn. But it does seem like this is where my career is headed – bringing archival studies and history together in some way.”

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Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

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It was the continuation of a two-decade career turn toward venturing to – both physically and emotionally – some of the coldest, most remote places on Earth and exploring the fascinating ways that art and science intersect.

Hersko, a longtime Cal State San Marcos professor who’s chair of the art, media and design (AMD) department, is back on campus this semester as she digests the discoveries she made on her summer sojourn to Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. How far-flung is it? After traveling the 5,400 miles from San Diego to Oslo, you’re still about 1,300 miles from your destination.

In Svalbard, Hersko boarded a sailing ship called the Rembrandt van Rijn (named for the famous Dutch painter) that was chartered by The Arctic Circle, an annual expeditionary residency program for artists and scientists from around the world. With 29 other people – a mix of visual artists, writers, composers and science communicators – Hersko sailed down the west coast of Svalbard before the ship left the land behind and pointed northwest into the thick ice of the Arctic Ocean.

“That was really exciting because it was a real North Pole feeling,” Hersko said. “The captain discovered this really large chunk of ice that was 20 kilometers. We moored to it, and it was sort of like mooring to land, except it moved.”

During her time at sea and on the ice, Hersko gathered material that she will use for her unique brand of artwork that she calls performance lectures. These are tightly timed presentations of narratives grounded in historical and scientific research that are accompanied by visual images, including the artworks that she creates – her specialties are sculpture and installation that also incorporate photography and collage.

“I build complex narratives that are basically true to life, except that I weave in a fictitious character who helps hold the story together,” she said.

It’s an approach to art that was born of Hersko’s early years at CSUSM, and a life-changing trip to the globe’s opposite pole. In 2003, when she was hired at CSUSM, she sent a letter to colleagues on the science faculty telling them that she was interested in collaborating on projects. One of the most enthusiastic responses came from Victoria Fabry, a biological sciences professor whose scholarly work explored the effects of ocean acidification.

Hersko and Fabry teamed up on an exhibit titled “Shifting Baselines” that translated the scientist’s research into visual art (it proved so impactful that it has been exhibited multiple times nationally, most recently last year in the San Diego Central Library). In 2006, Fabry went on a scientific trip to Antarctica and she came back raving about it, urging Hersko to apply for a program that brought artists there.

Hersko did just that two years later. On a completely funded expedition as part of the extremely competitive National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers grant program, she spent six weeks in Antarctica, where she watched penguins hatching at her feet, studied planktonic snails and assembled the research material that guided her work for many years, exhibitions, presentations and book chapters to come.

Specifically, she crafted narratives that centered around a fictitious, unknown female explorer, Anna Schwartz, who travels to Antarctica disguised as a man on the 1939 expedition led by American naval officer Richard E. Byrd.

Though her protagonist is invented, Hersko said, “my work builds on meticulous research, and I place her in real historical events. These layered stories present the complex history of science highlighting the absence of women from the narratives of exploration as well as science.”

Hersko isn’t the only School of Arts faculty member who has been to the frigid poles on a research excursion. In 2023, AMD professor Lucy HG Solomon received a prestigious Fulbright scholarship and did part of her research on Svalbard, where she furthered her ongoing studies of microorganisms and how they connect to the world.

Solomon’s experience in the Arctic, in turn, led to a rare opportunity for one of her students. Last year, she connected AMD student Leobardo Moreno Villanueva with an ecologist at a Svalbard university, and Villanueva worked with the scientist on a graphic design project in which he helped make technical signage describing the scientific equipment used for research in the Arctic.

Villanueva, a former foster youth from Mexico for whom English is his third language, graduated from CSUSM last spring.

“Designing for the far north was an unforgettable challenge that expanded my perspective on how art and science meet in unexpected places," Villanueva said.

As for Hersko, she knows several people in the small circle of polar researchers who have traveled with The Arctic Circle program, but she could never find the right time until this year. On July 4, she landed in Longyearbyen, a small town known for coal mining (though the last mine closed a few days before her arrival) and its views of the Northern Lights. After a few days to acclimate, she boarded the Rembrandt van Rijn to begin the two-week voyage.

Among the highlights of her time at sea was up-close viewings of two polar bears, the tragic sight (and thunderous sound) of ice falling from stunning glaciers, and the discovery of tiny flowers and lichens that she thinks she will incorporate into her next output of art that results from this latest trip of a lifetime.

“When I get fascinated by something, often it turns out that things come together in a weird, magical way where it has relevance,” Hersko said. “It’s all still percolating, and I think it’s probably a story that I will develop in the next year.”

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The grants come from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The faculty members involved from CSUSM include assistant biology professor Mallory Rice, associate biology professor Jane Kim, biology professor George Vourlitis, kinesiology professor Todd Astorino and assistant math professor Kim Ayers.

Rice is the principal investigator (with Kim and Vourlitis as co-PIs) of a three-year, $499,970 grant from the NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program). The project aims to increase student success by ensuring that every CSUSM biology student participates in multiple research experiences while enrolled in their lower- and upper-division courses. Research projects will investigate how urban development impacts wildlife and natural resources in North San Diego County.

The grant will be supported by the CSUSM-based National Latino Research Center, with Konane Martinez (faculty director of the NLRC and chair of the anthropology department) serving in a senior personnel role.

Astorino received a $442,590 Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) from the NIH. He will conduct a randomized controlled trial with 60 inactive adults, who will complete 24 sessions of reduced exertion high-intensity interval training (REHIT), a variation of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that requires only two 20-second sprints within a 10-minute session. Astorino then will compare the resultant changes in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), substrate metabolism and psychological response to a non-exercising control group.

The trial will expand work in the field showing that REHIT increases CRF and other health-related outcomes, but that has been criticized due to its small sample size, serving to question the broad application of REHIT in adults.

Ayers received a $173,098 grant from the NSF in collaboration with Florida International University and the University of Virginia. The three universities will adapt and implement the Modeling Practices in Calculus (MPC) approach, which has been shown to significantly improve learning and success for a broad collection of introductory calculus students. At the core of MPC is the opportunity for students to work cooperatively and discuss key mathematical ideas in a face-to-face, small-group setting. After adoption and implementation, CSUSM and its partners will identify three additional sites that will join the project in its second year. 

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Entering her third fall as an assistant professor of electrical engineering, Khoubrouy runs the Neural Signal Processing and Artificial Intelligence Research (NSPAIR) Lab, a small room in Academic Hall where she and a group of students work on projects fusing her two academic fields – using engineering skills to advance neuroscience applications.

This summer, the NSPAIR team began a project that they hope could someday contribute to helping people with paralysis use brain signals to accomplish everyday tasks.

As part of the long-running Summer Scholars Program on campus, the three students in Khoubrouy’s lab – Aleks Gonzalez, Moises Nelson and Manuel Villa-Hernandez – started modestly. They learned about the electroencephalogram (EEG) cap that Khoubrouy purchased through a Hispanic-Serving Institutions STEM grant during her first year at CSUSM. The EEG cap is worn over the head, where 32 electrodes connect to the scalp (non-invasively), measure brain signals and send them wirelessly to a computer.

The students then learned how to interpret EEG signals and the type of software employed to process them. They discovered how eye blinking by the person wearing the cap can disrupt the signal and how to remove that interference. They also reviewed methods used for EEG-based brain-computer interfaces that will assist them in designing their human data collection and decoding the collected EEG signals.

When the fall semester commences, the students will split into teams and continue the project as part of their capstones (all three are senior electrical engineering majors who are on track to graduate next May). Gonzalez and Nelson, joined by a third student, will work with the EEG cap – designing experiments for human subjects (mainly student volunteers), collecting data and applying machine learning and deep learning methods to decode the EEG signals. Villa-Hernandez, joined by two other students, will focus on the robotic arm – collaborating on the experiments for human subjects and designing an interface to allow the team to take brain signals from the cap and use them to control the robotic arm.

Khoubrouy said the Summer Scholars students built on the efforts of previous students, who accelerated the training process by sharing their work and resources. But she also saluted the current students for diving headlong into a mostly unfamiliar discipline this summer.

“They had to go outside their comfort zone, because the project was an interdisciplinary topic,” she said. “Before this, they were only focusing on electrical engineering, and this was more related to neuroscience. The literature that they studied is high-level papers written by scientists, Ph.D. students. I know it was really difficult for them to understand, and I was impressed by the progress they made.”

Gonzalez is a two-time Summer Scholar in the NSPAIR Lab who has been mentored by Khoubrouy since his sophomore year. The first project he worked on involved training AI software to interpret brain waves and predict if the subject was responding to an audio or visual stimulus.

The team next increased the complexity, presenting the subject only with a visual stimulus and trying to determine if it was a food or non-food image.

“I've been able to see how the projects have grown from their simplest form to now moving to controlling a robotic arm, which has been cool,” Gonzalez said.  

The robotic arm features four joints and a gripper. This school year, the objective is to exert basic control – which joint to move and in what direction. In future years, Khoubrouy hopes to reduce the processing time to make it as close to instantaneous as possible.

The ultimate goal of the multiyear project is to help people with paralysis to move prosthetic limbs or other devices using only their thoughts.

“I know some labs have been working on it,” Khoubrouy said. “They have been very successful, but the goal is to make it more natural and faster and easier.”

All three of the lab students are from the local area (though Villa-Hernandez was born in Ithaca, N.Y., where his father worked for Cornell University), and all three have caught the research bug to the extent that they intend to pursue a master’s or even doctorate in engineering.

“It’s really nice to be given the opportunity to partake in undergrad research,” Gonzalez said. “That pushed me to want to go to graduate school.”

For now, however, there are experiments to design, subjects to recruit – and a robotic arm to move.

“It’s fun, it’s interesting,” Villa-Hernandez said of the project. “It’s learning new things that you’ve never seen before.”

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The CSUSM fellows are: 

• Hugo Peralta-Ramírez, studying history and sponsored by history professor Alan Malfavon.  
• Karissa Tran, studying psychology and sponsored by kinesiology professor Richard Armenta.  

Seven CSUSM alumni were selected in the previous 2024-25 cohort. 

CDIP aims to increase the number of faculty with the qualifications and skills needed to teach the diverse students of California State University. The largest program of its kind in the United States, CDIP has supported more than 2,500 fellows pursuing doctoral degrees since 1987. CDIP also prepares promising doctoral students for CSU faculty positions by providing financial support, mentorship from CSU faculty and professional development with grant resources.  

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The event is open to the public, and free parking is available on the sixth floor of Parking Structure 1. 

The College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics hosts the Summer Scholars Program each year to actively engage undergraduates in STEM research. Working closely with faculty mentors, students gain hands-on experience in highly interdisciplinary projects and learn to apply new instrumental techniques and analytical methods. 

The 10-week program concludes each year with the Summer Scholars Showcase in which participants share the methods, results and interpretation of the work they have done over the summer. 

Students will present research conducted across a wide range of disciplines, including biological sciences, biotechnology, biochemistry/chemistry, mathematics, physics, computer science, and electrical and computer engineering. 

What: Summer Scholars Poster Showcase, hosted by CSUSM’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 

When: 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Friday, Aug. 8 

Where: USU Ballroom  

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, is the world’s largest multidisciplinary honor society with an international community of scientists and engineers dedicated to research excellence, promoting public engagement with science, and cultivating the next generations of researchers.

Maya Qaddourah, a graduating biochemistry major, helped start the CSUSM chapter. She first brought the idea up to the Committee of Undergraduate Research (CUGR) in November 2023. She helped create a student organization through the Student Leadership and Involvement Center. It was a complex effort that involved bringing together groups across departments, colleges and divisions. As an informal honor, Qaddourah’s was the first student nomination accepted in a brief ceremony on May 6.

Robert Iafe, associate professor and chair of chemistry and biochemistry, is the president of the new chapter. He will lead a group of founding members through the early years of chapter development. The chapter’s other founding members include David Barsky, Charles De Leone, Erika Díaz Almeyda, Kang Du, Sajith Jayasinghe, Julie Jameson, Jane Kim, Dennis Kolosov, Afra Panahi, Betsy Read and Deanna Schmidt.

At CSUSM, Sigma Xi will provide a platform to celebrate STEM students while opening new avenues of support for grants, networking and presentation at professional STEM conferences.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

She'll be thinking about her primary Cal State San Marcos mentor, biology professor Carlos Luna Lopez. She'll be thinking about her impending enrollment at UC Irvine to begin a Ph.D. program in cancer research.

Mostly, though, she'll be thinking about her parents.

Rodriguez’s father and mother never got the chance to pursue higher education, with her dad stopping in sixth grade and her mom in first grade. Rodriguez grew up in Oceanside with three siblings, and for the first 18 years of her life, she and her entire family resided in a house owned by a relative. Her father would rise by 5 a.m. seven days a week to do landscaping work, and still it was barely enough to scape by.

Many parents in that situation would have urged their children to drop out of school to help earn money for the family, but Rodriguez’s parents thought differently.

“They have always supported my journey of higher education, which I’m very, very thankful for,” Rodriguez said. “They didn’t choose not to have an education. They didn’t have an opportunity to. My mom used to tell me that if she could have gone to college, she would have become a nurse.”

On her path to a science degree, Rodriguez benefited from more than just parental support. She had a sibling role model in her sister, Tanya, who’s only one year older and resembles Valeria so much that they’re often mistaken for twins. Tanya preceded Valeria at CSUSM (graduating in 2024) and, after taking a gap year, also will be starting a Ph.D. program in the fall, at UC Santa Cruz for immunology.

Then there was her high school. Rodriguez had the advantage of attending Mission Vista, the newest high school in Vista Unified School District, which offers a program called Project Lead the Way that allows students to get a head start in STEM disciplines like biomedicine and engineering.

As a result, Rodriguez arrived at CSUSM having been exposed to and liking science, specifically biology. It was at CSUSM, however, that she discovered research and the notion – previously unimaginable to her – that research could be a career.

After her freshman year, she joined the lab of Luna, the biology professor, for the Summer Scholars program in 2022. She wanted to do research involving the human body, and she liked that Luna specialized in breast cancer research.

Rodriguez has been a member of Luna’s lab ever since. She worked on a project to learn how different types of fat cells (brown and white) affect how breast cancer spreads, growing such cells in the lab and using a special microscope to examine how they change shape. She also helped the lab transition to employing 3D models to study breast cancer cells since, as she points out, “humans are 3D, so hopefully we make research a lot more relevant if we use a model that’s closer to us.”

“Dr. Luna is the best mentor I’ve ever had,” Rodriguez said. “He’s very honest when it comes to meeting realistic goals but also supports me in the path that I want to follow. And he’s a very fun guy.”

After she caught the research bug through Summer Scholars, Rodriguez set her sights even higher for the subsequent two summers, gaining acceptance to premier undergraduate research programs through Stanford University and the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle.

Outside of the lab, she became heavily involved with both the Center for Training, Research and Educational Excellence (CTREE) – the hub for research-based initiatives at CSUSM – and The Alliance, a program aimed at increasing access to college education for area K-12 students. She also maintained a 3.96 GPA while being honored as one of the first two CSUSM students ever to receive a Barry Goldwater scholarship, a prestigious national award that recognizes leadership potential in research science.  

Of being a first-generation Latina scientist, Rodriguez said: “It has been difficult. Sometimes I feel like I’m behind, like I’m sprinting a marathon rather than jogging it. But I’ve learned to appreciate the small moments, whether it’s winning an award, having a happy time with my family and friends, or just chatting about life with Dr. Luna. Those moments motivate me to continue and overcome the hardships that I’ve gone through.”

Luna and Denise Garcia, the director of CTREE, said Rodriguez is one of the most motivated and talented students they’ve encountered in their careers as professors.

“I put her in the top 1% of students that I’ve worked with,” Luna said. “She displays a great deal of dedication, intellectual capacity and compassion. She is driven to be a leader and role model in the field of cancer research.”

The drive is innate in Rodriguez. It was forged as a child as she watched her parents struggle to assimilate into American culture and establish a livelihood. It carried her through her high school years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when her whole family was stuck inside the rented room, which simultaneously brought them closer together and drove them crazy.

Now, with her family having moved out and living in their own apartment, that inner drive will propel Rodriguez toward a doctorate in UC Irvine’s Cellular and Molecular Biosciences program, which she could start as soon as next month.

“I’ve always been motivated to get a college degree and a Ph.D.,” she said. “Yes, I want to have a better life for myself, but more importantly, I want to thank my parents and make them proud.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The documentary, “Good Natured” by filmmaker Ashley Stokes, takes viewers on a journey through Florida’s wild spaces, introducing individuals dedicated to conservation, innovation and “striking a balance between human progress and environmental stewardship.”

Díaz-Almeyda attended the premiere at the Tampa Theatre on Feb. 19. The documentary aired on PBS on Feb. 27 and can now be watched on its website.

Díaz-Almeyda was connected with Stokes through a former colleague in Florida, and she says she bonded with the filmmaker instantly through a shared vision of how to confront climate change. Díaz-Almeyda’s portion of the documentary focuses on her work at Triangle Ranch, which features a permanent conservation easement just north of Myakka River State Park. She collected three years of data and observed high microbial diversity.

“Microbial ecology means that I study small, invisible microbes,” Díaz-Almeyda said. “I want to know which microbes are where and what are they doing. Most microbes are beneficial and are needed for ecosystem health. My goal is to support decision-makers to document how their practices have an impact at microbial level.”

Díaz-Almeyda came to CSUSM in 2023 from New College of Florida because she wanted to be closer to family. At CSUSM, besides teaching in the biology department, she is a faculty fellow through the Innovation Hub. In that role, she created the Milpa Hub, a project that aims to promote the growth of milpas – traditional agricultural systems – to promote environmental and community resilience.

Díaz-Almeyda says the experience with the documentary motivated her to seek training in science communication. As a result, she was awarded a National Science Foundation-funded science communications fellowship for pre-tenure faculty of color through the SciComm Identities Project, a joint venture of the University of Rhode Island’s Metcalf Institute, Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and the URI Science and Story Lab.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The new RCU category recognizes institutions that typically do not offer many or any doctoral degrees and spend at least $2.5 million on research on average in a single year. There are eight additional CSUs included in the R2 category, which is assigned to universities that spend at least $5 million on research and development and award at least 20 research doctorates on average in a single year.

The Carnegie Classifications are the nation’s leading framework for categorizing and describing colleges and universities in the United States. 

The new classifications created multi-dimensional groupings of institutions that now go beyond a single label and reflect significant changes to how research is recognized, including the methodology that determines whether an institution is classified.

“Congratulations to all of the CSU institutions recognized by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education,” CSU Chancellor Mildred García said. “These classifications underscore the CSU’s commitment to engaging our undergraduate students in applied research that lifts communities and addresses our state's most pressing challenges across fields of study – and they wonderfully reflect the CSU’s mission and core values.”

“From Fungi to the Planet: Complex Systems in Science and Art” starts at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 17 in the USU Ballroom. Reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website. 

Scientists from the Treseder Lab at UC Irvine will examine fungi’s layered relationship to planetary life and discuss how fungi mediate and connect distant ecosystems. David Familian, also from UC Irvine, will introduce life webs and AI as complex systems, a topic that comes to focus in the art exhibition “Future Tense: Art, Complexity and Uncertainty.” Moving across perspectives in art and science, the panelists will reframe how we picture the planet. The lecture will be preceded by a workshop from 10:30-11:30 a.m. 

Scientists from the Treseder Lab include Kathleen Treseder and researchers Eduardo Misael Choreno Parra and Melanie Taleen Hacopian. CSUSM arts, media and design professor Lucy HG Solomon and Cesar Baio, a Brazil-based professor at UNICAMP, also will be featured at the event.  

CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers a diverse lineup of artistic, cultural and scholarly events every semester based on input and proposals from students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. 

What: Arts & Lectures event “From Fungi to the Planet: Complex Systems in Science and Art” 

Who: Scientists from the Treseder Lab include Kathleen Treseder and researchers Eduardo Misael Choreno Parra and Melanie Taleen Hacopian; David Familian, artistic director of the Beall Center for Art + Technology at UC Irvine; CSUSM arts, media and design professor Lucy HG Solomon; and Cesar Baio, Brazil-based professor at UNICAMP  

When: 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Monday, Feb. 17 

Where: USU Ballroom 

Cost: Free for CSUSM students, faculty, staff and alumni; $5 for community members 

Tickets: Visit the Arts and Lectures ticket webpage 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The committee reviewed student applications, including a short essay, to select five semifinalists. Based on their poster presentations at the CSUSM Student Poster Showcase on Dec. 3, Steppat and Serrano were selected.  

Steppat, mentored by biology professor Dennis Kolosov, showcased her research at the poster showcase on “Voltage-gated Potassium Channels Regulate Cell-Specific Ion and Fluid Transport in Malpighian Tubule Epithelium of an Important Agricultural Crop Pest, larval Trichoplusia ni.”  

The committee recognized Steppat’s ability to embrace unpredictability and problem-solving while conducting research.  

Serrano works with chemistry and biochemistry professor Kang Du to study the magnetism of iron. Serrano presented her research titled, “Developing Rigid Mixed-Valent Fe₂ Complexes to Facilitate Double-Exchange Magnetic Coupling.”

The committee was impressed by Serrano’s creativity and collaboration as well as her clear communication of research applications. 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

This award honors faculty and lecturers who have excelled in mentoring and guiding students in research or creative endeavors. It also recognizes those who have significantly increased the number and diversity of students involved in research. 

Kolosov has mentored 33 students, most belonging to groups underrepresented in STEM fields. Kolosov provides career-advancing opportunities to his students by offering co-authorship of publications and helping with conference presentations.  

He has two publications with student co-authors with nine more in review. Kolosov shows his dedication to mentoring students by participating in professional development opportunities.  

Majd has also put mentoring students at the forefront of her career since starting at CSUSM in 2014. She has mentored 40 students in research, 24 graduate students in their master’s theses and 14 undergraduate students. Majd’s mentored students were funded through Summer Scholars and the Learning Aligned Employment Program.  

Majd fosters diversity by mentoring first-generation, Hispanic and female students. Many of her students advance to graduate programs or secure competitive industry positions with Apple or Qualcomm. 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

CASC plans to work with faculty and staff to prepare students with practical solution-oriented approaches to climate crises and provide hands-on learning experiences within sustainability. One example is a student podcast being produced called “Climate to Action.”

Juliana Goodlaw-Morris, director of sustainability and climate justice and the administrative director of the CASC, is excited for the possibilities the center will provide for the campus community as is Dr. Kim Knowles-Yánez, professor in the Liberal Studies Department and faculty director of CASC. 

“The CASC is an opportunity to build upon the tremendous work that faculty, students and staff have already invested in climate, sustainability and justice over many years, and to build stronger relationships with our wider community,” Goodlaw-Morris said. “This center is also a perfect example of how we, as an institution, are putting into action the core value of sustainability and climate justice, which is a part of our CSUSM strategic plan.” 

Said Knowles-Yánez: “I welcome this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of establishing a new center charged with taking action and problem-solving for climate change. Please look forward to hearing more about our work on climate change curriculum and research, as well as the on- and off-campus collaborations we will facilitate to help our region meet the needs of climate change and climate justice mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.”

The center will engage campus community members and external stakeholders on climate change, climate justice and sustainability initiatives for the region. 

The mission of the CASC is to provide ”interconnectedness among societies, all living beings and ecosystems by ensuring socially just, ecologically sound, and resilient communities that value diversity, innovation, fiscal stewardship, health and well-being for all by creating a positive local to global impact for current and future generations."  The genesis of the center is the Climate Change Faculty Working Group, which faculty founded in 2020, and for which Knowles-Yánez was chair of the steering committee.

“The Climate Action and Sustainability Center provides recognition and structure for efforts that have been occurring across all disciplines and units,” said Dr. Charles De Leone, dean of Graduate Studies and Research, who is responsible for oversight of all centers and institutes on campus, had this to say about the new center. "And the new center could not be in better hands with Kim Knowles-Yánez and Juliana Goodlaw-Morris as its inaugural leaders."  

CASC will also serve as a resource for faculty seeking to develop research. The center is hoping to collaborate on fundraising opportunities to expand activities and sustainability efforts.

Biology professor Dr. Darcy Taniguchi drafted the proposal for the center and geography professor Dr. Elizabeth Ridder shepherded the proposal through the campus approval process.  

Taniguchi is hopeful the CASC will raise awareness toward climate issues.

“The CASC is an important establishment that will focus on some of the most pressing issues of our time,” Taniguchi said. “Its proposed efforts in the areas of climate change, climate justice and sustainability are important and timely for our campus community and beyond.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Nicolas Morales is a transfer from Northern Arizona University who came to CSUSM with a goal to become a physical therapist or physician’s assistant.

Both learned through faculty mentors about the existence of a new program to train students in research that would help them lessen the harmful effects of tobacco and vape use in their communities. It didn’t quite dovetail with their academic interests at the time, but both thought it sounded like a good opportunity to develop their research skills in an area that long has been vital to public health in the United States.

Now, almost two years later, Tran and Morales are not only graduating from CSUSM – Tran with a degree in psychology, Morales in kinesiology – but they are standouts in the first cohort of eight students to complete the Smoke and Vape Free Scholars Initiative Program for Reducing Tobacco Disease in Diverse Communities (SVFSIP). The initiative, which involves a partnership with UC San Diego, is the result of a four-year, $1.3 million grant from a state agency named the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, or TRDRP.

The training opportunity is tailored to students from racial/ethnic minoritized, low-income or LGBTQ+ groups, the same populations that studies show are disproportionately targeted by tobacco companies and affected by tobacco-related disease.

Thanks in large part to their experience in SVFSIP over the last two years, Tran and Morales are headed to graduate school to continue their research in public health. This fall, Tran will begin pursuit of a Ph.D. in health psychology at UCLA, while Morales will start a Master of Public Health program at San Diego State, with a doctorate on the horizon for him as well.

“It’s been absolutely wonderful,” Tran said. “I really credit the program and my mentors for getting me to where I am and pushing me to the point where I can accomplish my next steps. Without them, this wouldn’t be possible.”

Said Morales: “Overall, I think the program was amazing. I got to meet remarkable people that hopefully are going to be colleagues in the future.”

The faculty who shepherded the inaugural cohort through SVFSIP (seven other students just finished their first of two years) are Kim Pulvers, a psychology professor who has devoted her career to tobacco-related research, and Richard Armenta, a kinesiology professor who’s the associate director for the Center for Training, Research and Educational Excellence (CTREE). SVFSIP is one of many programs housed within CTREE, the mission of which is to enhance the educational and research experiences of students from underserved backgrounds.

“Developing the resources to provide students a substantial training experience to grow as researchers and advocates reducing the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States has been very rewarding,” Pulvers said. “I am proud that the footprint for tobacco research at CSUSM has grown beyond the studies that I conduct and the students I personally mentor.”

The eight students who are the initial SVFSIP graduates spent their first year working with a mentor on research project related to prevention or treatment. During the recently completed second year, they worked with a community-based tobacco control specialist on a local advocacy project. Throughout the program, they received an annual stipend and a discount of 50% on tuition.

For her research year, Tran was paired with Pulvers on two studies. The first examined the relationship between the age that a person first uses cannabis and their current level of abuse, and whether anxiety or depression helps explain that relationship. The second explored behavioral economic demand for cannabis and tobacco among young adults.

For her advocacy year that is wrapping up this month, Tran worked for the California Youth Advocacy Network (CYAN), investigating the legality of tobacco sales to several college campuses in the state. In between, she was selected for a competitive internship last summer with the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, a 10-week assignment that was extended into the entire academic year based on the quality of her research output.

In his first year, Morales was mentored by Eric Leas, a public health professor at UCSD. His two research projects concerned the self-reporting of adverse effects from the use of delta-8 THC, a psychoactive substance found in cannabis, and searching for loopholes in the enforcement of the ban on flavored vape products in California. The latter study was published in the online journal Tobacco Control.

After a summer internship in which he continued his research with Leas at UCSD, Morales for his advocacy year worked at the Institute for Public Health at SDSU. There, he collected data on the extent to which current and former tobacco users are up to date on non-lung-related cancer screenings, since tobacco use increases the likelihood of developing more than a dozen different types of cancer.  

Morales says his curiosity with this line of research stems from his own history as a smoker of both cigarettes and vapes.

“I felt like it was affecting my physical and mental health as well as affecting the people around me,” he said. “I wanted to get out of that, and I pulled myself out of it. So when I found out about the TRDRP scholars program, it particularly sparked my interest just from my previous use.”

Pulvers credited the training and mentorship provided by CTREE, led by Armenta and biology professor Denise Garcia, the co-direction of research internships by UCSD faculty member Dennis Trinidad, and the support of community partners like CYAN, Vista Community Clinic and SAY San Diego for the success of SVFSIP thus far.

“The level of student training in tobacco prevention and treatment research and advocacy and student outcomes achieved would not be possible without the time and talent of our research and advocacy mentors,” Pulvers said.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

 Salas felt like she didn’t have people around her to ask for help, and she wanted to dive deeper to see if others had similar struggles by conducting research on fellow first-generation students.  

 “I found that a student's college experience plays a significant role in determining their success in higher education,” said Salas, who will receive a bachelor’s degree in sociology this month. “For Latinx first-generation college students, factors such as family, FGCS status and representation all play a key role in determining their success and resilience in higher education.” 

 Salas has been recognized for her findings as one of seven winners of the 2023-24 CSUSM Library Award for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, which comes with a $500 cash prize for each winning submission.  

 Salas’s paper is titled “'I Don't Belong Here': A Qualitative Study on the Experiences of Latinx First-Generation College Students.” Despite an increase in Latinx students enrolled in undergraduate programs, she found that graduation rates have remained stagnant, raising a concern.  

 Salas discovered that Latinx students are systematically disadvantaged in higher education, causing them to question their sense of belonging and hurting their chances of success. But even in the face of these challenges, Latinx first-generation college students remain resilient. 

 After graduation, Salas plans to take a gap year, then continue her research in a Ph.D. program.  

 “I will most likely do a combined program or just go straight for my Ph.D.,” she said. “I plan to focus on Latino/a sociology and the sociology of education.”  

Other winners 

 Creative works category  

 Submission: “MET” 

Student: Mary Elizabeth Handler 

Program: Art, media and design  

Summary: Handler’s project is inspired by the book “The Metropolitan Museum of Art” by Howard Hibbard. This piece is a testament to the creative process of the exhibit.  

Submission: “Exploring Mental Health Stigmatization Within AAPI Communities” 

Student: Kayla Lankford 

Program: Psychological science 

Summary: Lankford’s work is a creative capstone of poems about mental health stigmatization in Asian American communities. Through her research, she created three poems, titled “Dad,” “War Cry” and “Recycling Day.”  

 Empirical works category  

 Submission: “Community Cultural Wealth: The Care and Resilience of Mothers in Poverty” 

Student: Colleen Janey 

Program: Social sciences 

Summary: Janey’s project explores the lived experiences of women who have timed out of welfare. Her research reveals the resilience of mothers facing poverty and inequitable systems.  

Submission: “Best Practices for Sharing Photovoice Research Outcomes” 

Student: Shyane Masters and Brandon Warren-Fox  

Program: Environmental studies 

Summary: Masters and Warren-Fox discuss the best practices for sharing images online for sustained community engagement. Their findings emphasize social media's role and participatory approaches, aiding in digital dissemination and bridging researcher-participant gaps in conservation efforts. 

Interpretive analysis 

 Submission: “From Mexicas to Ancient Aztecs, Classical Nahuas, and Modern Indios/as: Early Modern Criollo/a Constructions and Understandings of Indigenous New Spain” 

Student: Hugo Daniel Peralta-Ramírez 

Program: History 

Summary: Peralta-Ramírez’s project analyzes early national narratives of Mexico that were constructed by Criollo intellectuals with Indigenous pasts. 

Submission: “Howard the Duck vs. the Modernity of Man: A Critical Analysis on the Attitudes and Metaphors in Howard the Duck” 

Student: Emilio Serrano 

Program: Communication 

Summary: Serrano’s work analyzes “Howard the Duck,” a comic created and published by Steve Gerber. The comic used satire to offer a social commentary of the times through the lens of an alien. Through genre and metaphoric rhetorical perspectives, Serrano argues that Gerber was a visionary who was frustrated with the medium and sought to point it out on the pages of “Howard the Duck.” 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

“I am incredibly grateful to have received the opportunity to present my research and represent CSUSM at the CSU Student Research Competition,” Orea said. “The experience of presenting at this conference was really special. My family was present throughout the conference and this was their first time seeing me present my research. Additionally, as someone who struggles with public speaking, winning first place for my session feels surreal. It makes me realize how far I have come from my first presentations as an undergraduate student.” 

Through Orea’s internship with the CSUSM/UCSD Smoke and Vape Free Scholars Program, she has worked alongside psychology professor Kim Pulvers to conduct research. 

Orea and Pulvers plan to continue working together throughout the summer to expand the analysis. They hope to study whether using cannabis to cope with negative experiences explains the relationship between distress tolerance and cannabis dependence. The goal is to submit both projects for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

“Jessica is delightful to work with,” said Pulvers, who serves as the director of CSUSM’s Smoke and Vape Free Scholars Program. “She has strong research skills, is a great writer, and is very hardworking and dependable. Jessica conceptualized an original analysis identifying a modifiable behavioral health risk factor for cannabis dependence, which was even stronger for young adults from racial and ethnic minoritized groups.”

The CSU Student Research Competition showcases undergraduate and graduate research, scholarship and creative works by recognizing outstanding student accomplishments across the 23 campuses. Each year, over 200 students submit written papers and make oral presentations before juries of professional experts from major corporations, foundations, public agencies and universities in California. Competitors win $500 for first place and $250 for second.

“Competing made me realize how far I have come from my first presentations as an undergraduate student,” Orea said. “I credit this achievement to the incredible mentorship and support that I have received throughout my higher education journey. I am especially thankful to my principal investigators, the TRIO McNair Scholars Program, CTREE, the Smoke and Vape Free Scholars program and my family and friends.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The manuscript “Massive contractions of Myotonic Dystrophy Type 2-associated CCTG tetranucleotide repeats occur via double strand break repair with distinct requirements for DNA helicases” was published by Oxford University Press in the scientific journal G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics in early November. 

The research analyzed the disease myotonic dystrophy type 2, which is a genetic condition that causes progressive muscle weakness. To conduct the study, Kim and her students used yeast to investigate the CCTG DNA repeats that are responsible for the disease. Yeast is commonly used by biologists and geneticists because the cells replicate their DNA similarly to human cells. 

“Even though DNA repeats associated with human disease have been studied for 20-plus years, this was the first study that investigated CCTG DNA repeats in a system that mimics the human situation where the repeats are on a chromosome,” Kim said. 

“I think what's exciting is that this was the first comprehensive genetic analysis of these CCTG repeats. And we were able to pinpoint genes that are involved in contractions. Then we were also able to show that these repeats, when they're long, are actually more susceptible to breaking.” 

Kim started the research in 2017 while doing postdoctoral work at Tufts University in Boston and brought it to CSUSM when she became a professor.

“The pandemic definitely slowed things down a lot,” Kim said. “In 2020, we were at peak productivity. It felt like we were just a few months away from publishing at that point. Then the labs were basically shut down completely from March to about November.”

The amount of time that Kim and the students could be in the lab was limited, but the research started picking up once pandemic restrictions were lifted. The project took a total of five years to finish. 

“It feels like such an accomplishment,” Kim said. “I'm just so proud of the work scientifically and also the student contributions to the work. When I see the author list, I'm just very proud that each name represents an individual academic journey.”

Kim’s former students involved in the project are David Papp, Luis Hernandez, Theresa Mai, Terrance Haanen, Meghan O’Donnell, Ariel Duran, Sophia Hernandez, Jenni Narvanto, Berenice Arguello and Marvin O. Onwukwe. 

Media Contact

Bri Phillips, Communications Specialist 

bphillips@csusm.edu 

The showcase is an opportunity for students in all majors and disciplines to present their work in a noncompetitive environment. 

The event was created by CSUSM’s Committee for Undergraduate Research (CUGR) initiative to support the growing student research and creative activity projects on campus. CUGR hosted the first showcase in April 2010. The showcase is held in honor of the House of Representatives Undergraduate Research Week.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The plankton that she has devoted her career to researching consist of just a single cell, but the things that happen in that one cell enchant her. A particular species of plankton, for example, acquires its energy both like a human (through consumption) and a plant (through photosynthesis). Another type can devour a cell that’s photosynthesizing, steal its chloroplasts (essentially the machinery for energy production) and use it to photosynthesize itself.  

Some plankton can, like a python, ingest things considerably larger in size. They do this either by inserting the single-celled equivalent of a straw into their prey and sucking out the insides, or by releasing a veil of sorts around the prey, digesting it outside the cell and then slurping it in.  

And those are just feeding habits. It’s not to mention the brilliant blue glowing that plankton generate off the coast at certain times of year – otherwise known as bioluminescence. 

“I'm just amazed at all the cool things that plankton do,” Taniguchi said. “It's fascinating to me how a single cell can do so much. And they have so many behaviors that we just are learning to appreciate now.” 

Taniguchi has been a biology professor at Cal State San Marcos since 2018, but her deep personal and professional interest in plankton dates back much farther, to when she was an undergraduate student at UC San Diego almost two decades ago. It helped fuel her through a master’s and Ph.D. program in biological oceanography at UCSD, as well as three stints as a postdoctoral researcher, two at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and one at MIT. It motivated her to embark on five different ocean expeditions to conduct intensive studies for weeks at a time with no land in sight.  

It also drives her to keep advancing scientific understanding of what are easily the most abundant organisms of the sea, with an estimated population of over one billion in a single liter of seawater. Plankton serves as the base of the food web; without it, there would be no whales or dolphins or penguins.  

“They're sort of like the grass of the ocean,” Taniguchi said. “That's why studying this biology that forms the foundation for all the sea creatures that the public knows about is important because anything that happens to plankton is going to have ramifications for all the bigger things that we tend to notice as humans. That’s why I really like studying them – not only because they do such cool stuff, but they are fundamentally important to life in the ocean, which as a biologist I'm very passionate about.” 

As an undergrad at UCSD, Taniguchi actually earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and math (she graduated summa cum laude in both disciplines in 2006), and she relies heavily on this dual expertise in her plankton research. Taniguchi the biologist makes frequent treks to the coast to gather water samples, though she saves her most important collections for her sea voyages. 

Her most recent one came during the pandemic, in the summer of 2020 (she had to quarantine in a hotel for a week beforehand), on a ship based out of Scripps Oceanography in La Jolla. For more than two weeks, she collected water at varying depths using special bottles ranging from 3 to 4 feet tall and 10 liters in volume. Then Taniguchi analyzed the specimens to determine what type of plankton were found where, how quickly they were growing and how quickly they were being eaten. The twist in her experiment was looking at how the results vary during the day versus the night, which meant even more hours of work on top of the normally grueling schedule at sea, and precious little sleep.  

“If plankton are growing more during the day and then being eaten at night,” she said, “that’s going to have a really big effect on how their populations are changing just over a 24-hour period.” 

One of Taniguchi’s students, Anissa Garcia (who’s in the biology master’s program at CSUSM after graduating from the university last year), carried on the experiment through her own ocean expedition in 2021, and the pair now is collaborating with CSUSM biology professor Elinne Beckett to examine the DNA of the collected plankton.

Then there’s Taniguchi the mathematician. She taught herself computer programming through a college internship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and before being hired at CSUSM, she took a brief detour into working as a software developer for a private company. That experience now proves invaluable. She has built a mathematical model that uses computer code to simulate interactions between plankton. The objective is to examine how predator and prey communities interact in an environmental setting, with the findings having significant repercussions.  

“Dr. Taniguchi's ability with dynamic models allows us to look at complex processes in a realistic but simplified way,” said Susanne Menden-Deuer, a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island and one of Taniguchi’s mentors. “We can turn things on and off and ask ‘what if’ questions: What if this predator eats only smaller prey. What if it eats only every other day? These questions are important, as the answers determine how much production of organic matter will result. Organic matter is the basis for fisheries but also how carbon cycles through the ecosystem. 

“Dr. Taniguchi’s research is addressing crucial questions about how plankton dynamics in the ocean can be incorporated into predictive, global model simulations to understand the large-scale ramifications of the biogeochemical processes that are driven ultimately by individual, microscopic cells. Her work is essential to gain a predictive understanding of how organisms might respond to a changing planet and thus is at the heart of solving critical problems involving global biogeochemical cycles, fisheries production and the ocean’s response to and role in climate change.” 

As vital as Taniguchi’s research is to oceanography, she’s more than just a scholar on a ship or in front of a computer. After studying and working at UCSD for more than a decade, she was drawn to CSUSM because of its strong commitment to teaching in addition to research. She’s dedicated to incorporating students in her studies and she’s determined to increase opportunities in science for historically and presently excluded students.  

Taniguchi’s second postdoc project at Scripps Oceanography involved helping develop and run a marine science education program for middle school students in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego – some of them had never seen the Pacific Ocean despite their proximity. She’s currently part of a project led by Scripps Oceanography and funded by the Office of Naval Research that aims to enhance participation by historically and presently excluded groups in oceanography.  

Garcia, the student who went on the ocean trek three summers ago, has worked in Taniguchi’s lab since 2019, even to the point of volunteering for the spring 2022 semester between when she graduated and began her master’s program.  

“When I first started, I was very, very intimidated,” Garcia said of Taniguchi’s research. “But she’s so accommodating and so good at explaining complex ideas. And she cares so much about her students. She’s like our lab mom.” 

The daughter of parents who both were college professors, Taniguchi grew up in the Central Valley city of Merced, which doesn’t exactly suggest a future in oceanography. But her mother was an ocean lover, and even though it was a two-hour drive, she bought an annual membership to the famed Monterey Bay Aquarium.  

Taniguchi recalls one trip when she went tide-pooling with her family after a visit to the aquarium. Her father pointed to a squishy creature about half the size of a football and asked Darcy what it was. She correctly identified it as a gumboot chiton, having retained the knowledge from her stop at the aquarium’s touch tank.  

“Clearly I did absorb a lot,” Taniguchi said. “Those experiences of going to the ocean and having hands-on interactions with organisms was definitely what led me on my path.” 

Her burgeoning zeal for the ocean attracted her to UCSD’s Scripps Oceanography, and she discovered plankton through her first course in biological oceanography. Twenty years later, Taniguchi’s childlike wonder and academic rigor toward these so-called “drifters of the sea” show no signs of abating.  

“The oceans are so big and plankton are so small, and there’s so much we don’t know about both of them,” she said. “There’s lots of room for real exploration, which I think is really neat.”  

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The importance of the grant was recognized during a press conference in Vista on Oct. 6 by Mike Levin, who represents the 49^th congressional district that includes much of North County, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.  

Dr. Konane Martinez, director of the NLRC and an anthropology professor at CSUSM, spoke at the press conference to discuss the impact that the grant will have on Latinx communities.  

“The NLRC believes research is a collaborative effort, placing great value in collaborations with faculty, students and community partners to create bridges between the university and the communities around us,” Dr. Martinez said. “Collaborations create a medium for conversations that can lead to research initiatives that address the needs of local and regional communities.” 

The funding will help develop an innovative health service that will educate low-income students and their families about health-related resources.  

The NLRC plans to target students and families with limited English proficiency and those who have been affected by poverty or inequality. 

An advocate from Bridges2Health will assist two community schools in the Vista Unified School District and connect students with community resources to address health needs. This is a new initiative in California and nationwide to provide services for students and their families. The advocate will also encourage families to enroll in Medicaid and SNAP programs.  

“In San Diego County, there are about 1.1 million people who are Medicaid eligible,” Dr. Martinez said. 

The NLRC program plans to identify the resources urgently needed for students and their families as well as incorporate health services within the Vista Unified School District.  

“We hypothesize that the project will be successfully implemented and accessible to the target population and will accurately identify and capture variables to track and monitor long-term impact,” Dr. Martinez said.  

The Minority Research Grant Program is administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The Office of Inclusive Excellence and the Sustainability Program have worked together since 2015 to provide additional pathways for students while working with campus partners to connect diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging with sustainability-related and environmental issues.

The project came to fruition through the collaboration of Ariel Stevenson of the Office of Inclusive Excellence, Juliana Goodlaw-Morris from the Sustainability Program and Lucy HG Solomon, a faculty fellow of Center ARTES, to create a unique program that joins mentorship, creative artmaking, sustainability and climate justice. The program’s goal is to empower students to create meaningful art about the issues they care about, and in the process empower participating students to become changemakers for the planet. The articulate, creative visions expressed by participating students reveal the transformative potential of the program.

“This collaborative project speaks to our outstanding and dedicated students at CSUSM,” said Stevenson, the deputy diversity officer in the Office of Inclusive Excellence. 

“The mentorship program is one example of how CSUSM practices inclusive sustainability on our campus. Faculty and staff partners continue to help students thrive under the CSUSM inclusive sustainability umbrella.”

Stevenson noted that there was an initial donor for the program inspired by the merging of the campus’ inclusive sustainability efforts with the arts, and the program has learned that a new funder will be providing support for this academic year.

The program is a paid opportunity for students to be mentored alongside faculty and staff, including  Goodlaw-Morris,  Solomon,  Stevenson and faculty members from across campus, such as environmental studies professors Gabriel Valle and Shannon Swanson. This year, the program will seek outside mentors and also look to those who completed the program to act as peer mentors.

“Through our inclusive sustainability program and now our Planet Mentorship program, our students have benefited from creating an environmental justice internship, won competitive research awards, partnered with students to publish, received full scholarships, and participated in this paid mentorship program,” Stevenson said.

Students combine art and data to illuminate how climate change and environmental justice issues impact marginalized communities. The program also allows students to explore pathways for their futures and learn useful skills, such as communicating complex themes and ideas, project development through collaboration and creative problem-solving.

“We thought about the kind of change we wanted to grow and where to focus our joint mentorship,” Solomon said. “The program invites all students to participate and supports individualized research in different ways. The program engages students of color in the pursuit of creative works around climate and social justice. Data visualization involves research into layered problem sets, and the creative aspect of the program – the problem identifying, distilling and conveying through dynamic artworks – empowers students to become researchers/artists and elevates their voices in the discussion around climate.”

Last month, Planet Mentorship held an event called “Stories for the Planet,” which showcased students' art. The goal of the exhibition was to show what future changemakers are doing to help bring climate issues to light. 

“CSUSM is positioning itself as a sustainability and climate justice leader in the region,” Goodlaw-Morris said. “In order to successfully prepare our students for future opportunities, we need to allow them to be intersectional in their thinking and creative activities. This program has engaged students from across disciplines to connect their future careers and goals with the needs of our planet. Our inaugural students showcased amazing pieces of artwork connecting social justice, sustainability and climate change.” 

Recent biochemistry graduate Mellie Nitunga was initially interested in the program because it sounded like an opportunity for her to start a career in saving the planet. 

“I also wanted to learn more about how climate change can affect us and the steps necessary to help stop climate change,” Nitunga wrote on the program website. “The program has given me opportunities to have mentors, which can help further my goal and education."

David Ramos – an environmental studies and art, media and design student – joined the program because he wanted to gain skills that he could utilize outside of classwork. 

“I want to be the person who stands up to the challenge and aims to help people who are less fortunate and unfairly represented in the community,” Ramos wrote. “Through this internship, I can bring light to these issues in a way that feels fulfilling to my overall career. I want to stand up for the health of my community and the environment in an ever-changing world."

The first collection of planet changemakers art is on display at the Data Stacks on the fourth floor of Kellogg Library. Visit any time during library hours to see the students’ artistic meditations on climate and justice.

Thanks to the generous support of the Wells Fargo Foundation, the 2023-24 cohort of Planet Mentorship will launch this month. The Wells Fargo Foundation’s support also was instrumental in garnering additional donor support, doubling this year’s student cohort. This effort is instrumental in building a more inclusive and sustainable future for all.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

He had crawled on his hands and knees for a couple hundred feet through a pitch-dark tunnel in a cave in the jungles of Belize, with a headlamp illuminating his way. This was just the kind of exploration Spenard had signed up for when, as an archaeology major at a small private college in New Hampshire in 1998, he was invited to leave the Northeast for the first time in his life and join a field school in the Central American nation to research the ancient Maya.

And it was just the kind of adventure he had dreamed of since he was in sixth grade and was left awestruck by a documentary in social studies class about Maya civilization.

His dreams, however, didn’t include this inconvenient detail: At the end of the tunnel, the passage jutted upward, and Spenard had to contort his body around a couple of rocks as he tried to find space for his head to squeeze through. It marked something of a moment of truth, which meant that it was a really bad time for an aspiring cave archaeologist to discover that he was claustrophobic.

“I had an absolute panic attack,” Spenard said. “I remember saying for what felt like an eternity, ‘I can't do this, I can't do this.’ I had to make a decision. I've been waiting my entire life to be in a place like this. If I don't do it, I'm giving up on everything that I've ever known and wanted to be.”

Ultimately, desire triumphed over fear. Spenard wriggled his way through the small opening and was rewarded with the sight of Maya handprints a thousand years old on the cave wall above.

That foundational experience occurred 25 years ago, but in some respects, Spenard’s imagination never left that cave. Today, he’s an anthropology professor at Cal State San Marcos and one of the most accomplished cave archaeologists in the United States. His area of expertise remains Belize, which was populated by millions of Maya people during their heyday. He has conducted research in the country almost 20 times, several of them with CSUSM students and alumni in tow, and as recently as this summer.

In 2018, three years after he earned a Ph.D. from UC Riverside and two years after being hired by CSUSM, Spenard started the research program that still consumes his attention. Called the Rio Frio Regional Archaeological Project (or RiFRAP), it’s focused on investigating the pre-Colombian Maya of the Mountain Pine Ridge, a forest reserve in the Cayo District of central western Belize.

Spenard initially was drawn to the area by the Rio Frio caves, which are one of the top tourist attractions in the reserve but which hadn’t been properly surveyed by archaeologists since their discovery almost a century ago. There was a good reason for that, supposedly. The region is characterized by a series of upwellings of granite that produce poor soil, which would be unfavorable to the farming-rich culture of the Maya and would seem to indicate that they weren’t a major presence there, unlike in the rest of the nation.

By only the second year of RiFRAP, Spenard had proved that long-held theory to be incorrect and established the rocky nature reserve as a site of great archaeological significance. In June 2019, he was trying to relocate one of the more remote Rio Frio caves when he and his research team instead stumbled upon the remains of a pyramid and other vestiges of a lost Maya city deep in the jungle.

“I was speechless,” Spenard said. “Just completely overwhelmed with what I was seeing because there wasn’t supposed to be anything there, at least nothing as large. 

“The discovery doesn’t rewrite Maya history, but it has an impact on the way we understand archaeology, the big cities around Belize. Imagine we know about San Diego, we know about Escondido, we know about Oceanside. But everybody says, ‘Well, there’s nothing between Escondido and Oceanside.’ And then somebody discovers Vista, when for a hundred years the presence of Vista has been denied. That’s how I would describe it.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic that struck the following spring shut down Spenard’s field research for the next two years, but over a pair of trips since last summer, he and his team were able to do further examination of the site, which (as the first to report it to the Belize government) he was permitted to give a name: Nohoch Batsó. Now the original mission of RiFRAP – the Rio Frio caves and the rituals that were practiced within them – has expanded to a broader study of the many ways that Maya people interacted and lived in a landscape unique in the Maya lowlands.

In part because he works at a university where student success is primary and in part because he affirmed his own passion for archaeology during his college years, Spenard has long been dedicated to bringing students with him on his trips to Belize, hoping to light a spark in them. One of the students who went for the first time in January is Joe Gravino, an anthropology major who graduated this spring.

Gravino transferred to CSUSM in 2021 intending to study anthropology, but it wasn’t until last fall that he became interested in focusing specifically on archaeology, inspired by what he was learning in three classes taught by Spenard. It was through a course on Maya archaeology that he found out about the opportunity to accompany Spenard to Belize, which he jumped on with vigor.

“What intrigued me about it was getting to go with somebody who knows so much about the topic and who has spent so long making that his life’s work,” Gravino said. “It was super exciting for me to be part of something where he’s rewriting the textbooks on this region that he’s studying.

“I really didn’t see archaeology as a career that I wanted to pursue until I started taking Jon’s classes. And it’s gotten to where I could see myself in that field permanently.”

Spenard is one of only about 30 people in the world who have been granted an archaeological permit by the Belize government to work in the country, and he aspires one day to open a field school for students there. But the Rio Frio caves and Nohoch Batsó are in a remote location with little infrastructure, which makes Spenard’s work there especially challenging in terms of logistics.

Last year, the Office of Alumni Engagement organized a Cougar Crowdfunding campaign on Spenard’s behalf to raise money toward the renovation of a forest reserve cabin from the 1950s that would cut his Belize commute down from two hours to about 10 minutes. The campaign reached its $8,000 goal, but that amount is unlikely to cover the cost of the construction.

“I’d love to get a field school up and running, but that would require getting a lab built first so we can have a place to stay,” Spenard said. “My goal is to provide students with background knowledge of what goes into archaeology. Not just excavations and surveys, but what it takes to run a project – thinking about logistics and budgeting and these tangential skills that are vital to being a successful field researcher.”

Spenard grew up in New Jersey. His mother was a nurse, and his father was an athletic trainer for the local high school. As a kid, he remembers digging for dinosaur bones in a backyard garden. One day he found a bone that had been buried by the family dog, and his mom wasn’t about to spoil the joy that washed over her son’s face. 

“I ran inside and said, ‘Mom, I found one, I found one!’ ” he recounted. “I was like, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to dig in the ground and find stuff.’ ” 

The school documentary in sixth grade shifted his curiosity from paleontology to Maya archaeology. Not understanding that most colleges house archaeology under the umbrella of anthropology, Spenard combed the Eastern seaboard in search of schools that offered archaeology and found one in Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire.  

Through the lone archaeology professor at Franklin Pierce, Spenard connected with an adjunct faculty member at the University of New Hampshire who happened to be the interim director of the archaeological institute in Belize and operate a field school in the country.

“Two days after getting off the plane, I was in a tent in the jungle and spent the next couple of weeks there,” he said. “It turned out we were doing a cave archaeology project. And I’ve been doing it ever since.” 

Spenard returned to his home away from home in June. Besides doing further excavation of the city he discovered and named, he of course went back to the place where it all started – the primary Rio Frio cave, which is so vast that, as Spenard says, you could fit CSUSM’s Social and Behavioral Sciences building inside the main chamber and still have plenty of room left over.

With his team of students and alumni, Spenard will continue to explore every nook and cranny of the cave to unearth Maya artifacts (like ancient pots and jars) and try to advance his understanding of what the Maya people used the cave for and why. On a recent trip, for example, he reached the conclusion that the Maya made architectural modifications to the cave to heighten the dramatic effect of their theatrical rituals.

“Most archaeologists don’t want to work in caves,” Spenard said. “They’re really difficult environments. They're dark, they're humid, they require a lot of specialized training, people are claustrophobic. And working in caves isn’t something I ever set out to do, but they’re fascinating to me. I love exploring them and learning about them and learning how Maya used them.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Kimel’s article, titled “Finding Your Roots: Do DNA Ancestry Tests Increase Racial (In)Tolerance?”, focuses on understanding if an individual’s opinions of other racial and ethnic groups can be impacted by the results of their own DNA ancestry test. Essentially, the goal of Kimel’s research and experiment was to understand the effect of knowing how genetically similar or different you are to someone.

Despite the popularity of DNA ancestry tests, with millions of customers each year, the results are regularly misunderstood and interpreted incorrectly. The ancestry results are frequently, yet falsely, assumed to illuminate one’s true racial and ethnic lineages.

“This tendency has led to significant public and scientific concern — and optimism — over the potentially far-reaching implications of this inference. Yet, whether DNA ancestry tests actually increase racial tolerance or, alternatively, intolerance has been largely untested,” Kimel writes in the paper.

During her experiment, Kimel gave real or bogus DNA ancestry test results to general and student populations of majority-group members in the United States to analyze the effects on factors including multiculturalism, essentialism and outgroup bias. After collecting and analyzing data, she found no clear indication of support for either hypothesis, meaning that “receiving DNA ancestry results appears not to impact feelings and attitudes about other racial and ethnic groups.”

Kimel's psychological research focuses on intergroup conflict and culture, drawing inspiration from her background in public policy and her experience working at the United Nations.

Before being hired by CSUSM in 2018, Kimel was a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Harvard University.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The grand opening kicked off with a half-day symposium on condensed matter physics education. As part of the Quantum Design Education Initiative, the Teaching & Materials Discovery Lab located in Room 206 of Science Hall 2 provides hands-on experience in performing state-of-the-art materials characterization experiments for students majoring in applied physics.

The centerpiece of the lab is the VersaLab Physical Properties Measurement System donated by Quantum Design. This instrumentation – capable of electrical resistance, heat capacity and magnetic measurements – gives CSUSM undergraduates access to developing hands-on skills and expertise typically reserved for graduate students and working research scientists.

The facility supports instructional laboratory classes and the research activities of the faculty and undergraduate students in the physics department.

These efforts are enhanced by curriculum developed by faculty members of the Quantum Design Education Advisory Council and are provided at the Quantum Design Education website, along with tutorial videos on the Quantum Design YouTube channel. The Quantum Design Education Initiative began as an instructional collaboration between scientists at Quantum Design, CSUSM, San Diego State and UC San Diego to address the need for preparing future generations of materials scientists and engineers.

The grand opening was co-sponsored by Lake Shore Cryotronics, which, along with partners from Quantum Design and qutools, demonstrated its academic instruments to train physics and engineering students in magnetic and low-level electrical measurements and quantum information science phenomena.

“On our campus, we talk a lot about social mobility,” said Stephen Tsui, a CSUSM physics professor and the principal investigator for the Quantum Design Teaching & Materials Discovery Laboratory.

“Over half of our undergraduates are the first in their family to go to college, and they are exploring physics with an instrument that most physics majors don’t see unless they’re in graduate school. This access makes them competitive at getting into those graduate programs and at pursuing local careers in materials research and research instrumentation. We are incredibly grateful to Quantum Design for their partnership and their belief in our mission.”

Photos from the event can be found here.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

During the showcase, research will be presented by Summer Scholars students, who are actively pursuing undergraduate degrees at CSUSM, and Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) students, some of whom are completing their undergraduate degrees outside of CSUSM and were selected/funded to conduct research for the summer on campus.  

The Summer Scholars and REU programs allow the students to gain hands-on research experience, learn from faculty mentors, attend industry tours, network with industry professionals and present their research projects at the poster showcase. Presentations will include students’ research methods, results of findings and interpretations of the project holistically.  

 “By allowing me opportunities to network with my peers and experience the benefits of performing research with such a prestigious summer research program, I now feel prepared to continue in my academic pursuits and biological research with the Becket Lab at CSUSM,” said Amberinna Dolan, who is completing the Summer Scholars program as an undergraduate student and plans to begin a graduate program on campus this fall.  

“My research experience under my principal investigator, (CSUSM biology professor) Dr. Elinne Becket, will allow me to blossom as a graduate researcher and challenge me to continue biological research in order to produce results and data that can help drive therapeutic advancements for humans.”  

Each student in the programs is highly motivated and interested in pursuing a STEM career post-graduation. More than 40% of Summer Scholars alumni go on to earn advanced degrees and 99% remain in STEM fields after graduating. This is impactful, as the program is geared to support the educational quality of students from underrepresented groups including veterans and first-generation students.  

Most of the scholars are either juniors or seniors, and they are assigned to a faculty and graduate student mentor who support and aid them in their research.  

“The Summer Scholars program has shown me the importance of showing up for my mentees in multiple ways – not just in the literal and immediate professional sense, but also by providing supportive resources and environments” said Poorvi Datta, a graduate mentor who oversees four Summer Scholars.  

“I love my mentees; they are all kind and hardworking students, as well as talented at each of their disciplines. It was a pleasure to work with them and see them grow.”  

Starting with just 10 students, the Summer Scholars program has grown over the last decade, and program leaders hope they can continue increasing the number of students admitted next year.  

Sponsors of the 2023 program include Encodia, Genentech, Hologic, Jayson and Shilow Sack, Lawrence E. & Neva B. Fenstermaker Foundation, Eli Lilly, San Diego Foundation, and Thermo Fisher Scientific.  

The Summer Scholars Poster Showcase is free and open to the public. Free event parking is available on Level 6 of Parking Structure 1 on a first-come, first-served basis.  

The event allowed students the chance to share their work in psychological research and connect with fellow students and faculty. This year’s event included two student poster sessions (with 38 total posters), a student blitz talk session, graduate school and careers in psychology panels, and a keynote address by Dr. Franki Kung, an assistant professor of psychological sciences in the College of Health and Human Sciences and director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Purdue University.  

Kung's keynote address on “Robotic Asians: A Mechanistic Dehumanization Perspective of Bias Against Asians in the U.S.” struck a chord with one CSUSM student in particular. 

“His keynote address was quite informative and interesting,” Jonathan Solorio said. “I am unfamiliar with industrial psychology, so it was nice to hear from Dr. Kung, an expert in the field. I found Dr. Kung’s research crucial to making the workplace more inclusive. Research aside, his final statements (about doing research and applying to graduate school), on not underestimating yourself and going for all possible opportunities I feel resonated with several of us undergraduate students.”

Karissa Tran was the Seward Paper Award winner, and the two poster award winners were Alex Leon (Best Poster Quality) and Amanda Mata (Best Poster Presentation).  

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

To understand the reasoning behind this report, Cortes conducted empirical research examining important aspects of Latino wellness such as food and culture, sense of belonging and mental health treatment.  

“I wanted to further explore what made the Cougar Pantry such a great resource on campus,”  Cortes said. “And I wanted my research to be relevant to myself and my community.” 

His hard work paid off when he was announced as one of six winners of the 2022-23 CSUSM Library Award for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity award, which comes with a $600 cash prize for each recipient. 

“It is inspiring to see the work that our students are doing here at CSUSM,” said Rosa Rodriguez, CSUSM’s award chair and outreach librarian. "I am proud of our awardees and all those who submitted their amazing research and creative works.”  

Cortes was encouraged to apply by sociology professor Jill Weigt as this was an excellent opportunity to showcase his research and expand his professional experience.  

The library helped with his research process by providing access to the databases and resources on how to correctly write citations, literature reviews, abstracts and narrow down research questions. And there was one other advantage. 

“Everything was free,” he said.  

Cortes’ paper details that understanding the mechanisms beneath the reasons why Latinos reported mental health benefits from using the pantry can provide the university with information that can help it better support students. 

Other winners 

Creative works category 

Submission: Photographic Reflections on Landscape, Post-Colonial Society and Colonial Artifacts 

Student: Ken Waddy 

Program: Art, Media, and Design 

Adviser: Nancy diBenedetto 

Summary: This photobook highlights landscape, focusing on Rancho Guajome Adobe, the location of a settler colonial project that was built on the servitude of the Payómkawichum people (native to California). The photos reflect the different factors of settler colonialism, most notably how all of the subjects are a product of the process erasing and replacing.  

Submission: “Triggers” 

Student: Kelly Ibarra Perez 

Program: Art, Media, and Design 

Adviser: Siobhan Arnold 

Summary: “Triggers” (Transeúnte) is a short film that conveys how living somewhere between two places feels, physically and mentally. As an immigrant and a first-generation Mexican daughter, Perez portrays the relationship with her family and roots, and the distance between herself and her memory of home. 

Empirical research category 

Submission: Altruism and Mindfulness in Prosocial Helping Behavior 

Student: Alyssa Hudkins 

Program: Psychology 

Adviser: Virginia Tasulis 

Summary: This study’s results reveal how participants with higher mindfulness rates did not show significantly higher altruistic tendencies, and participants who rated themselves higher in altruism were not statistically more likely to help others in a high-risk situation.  

Submission: ‘Don't Jew Me’: How Antisemitism is Expressed, Experienced, and Ultimately Challenged 

Student: Eric Wilsker 

Program: Sociology 

Adviser: Mary Roche 

Summary: Through interviews, an in-depth literature review and a content analysis of items from contemporary American culture, this paper examines how Jewish people experience antisemitism, how antisemitism is expressed through various social mechanisms and a means by which antisemitism may be challenged.  

Interpretive analysis category 

Submission: Engendering Binaries: The Transhistorical Experiences of Catalina de Erauso 

Student: Hugo Daniel Peralta-Ramirez 

Program: History 

Adviser: Miriam Riggs 

Summary: This paper examines the crossdressing Basque Monja Alferéz Catalina de Erauso to demonstrate how gender performance iconography and symbolism are rooted in the way people experience and interact with Erauso and their performance within the archetypal standards of their contexts.  

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The event was held April 28-29 at San Diego State University.

Biological sciences student Jaeden Flury received first place in Session 7, Biological and Agricultural Sciences with her research titled “Investigating Wound Microbiome Composition in Type 2 Diabetic Mice.” Flury’s faculty mentor is Elinne Becket.

Mariella Castaneda, a graduate student in psychology, received second place in Session 18, Behavioral, Social, and Public Administration with her research “Effects of Repeated Exposure to Animals in Anthropomorphic Contexts.” Castaneda’s faculty mentor is Nancy Caine.

Twelve CSUSM students made 10 of the 195 presentations at the two-day event. The university was represented in four disciplinary categories: Biological and Agricultural Sciences; Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Health, Nutrition and Clinical Sciences; and Behavioral, Social Sciences and Public Administration.

The CSU Student Research Competition is an annual event that brings together scholars from the system’s 23 campuses. The competition showcases undergraduate and graduate research, scholarship, and creative works by recognizing outstanding student accomplishments. Undergraduate and graduate student participants from all disciplines are judged by experts for their oral presentations and written abstracts. Students who compete can win $500 for first place and $250 for second place in their session.

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Every year, almost half a million people die from the effects of cigarette smoking, which is more than the number of deaths from auto accidents, drugs and alcohol, murder, suicide and AIDS – combined.

Further, Pulvers came to discover that tobacco companies aggressively target vulnerable and disadvantaged populations, leading to vast disparities in not only tobacco-related death, but also disease, use and cessation rates.

“I began dedicating my research to addressing this preventable problem among people from low-income and racial/ethnic minoritized backgrounds who smoked,” Pulvers said.

She never really stopped, and for more than a decade, Cal State San Marcos has been the beneficiary. Hired as a psychology professor and clinical health psychologist in 2008, Pulvers has dedicated her career to reducing the risk of smoking, helping people stop smoking, and researching tobacco control policy. In the process, she has incorporated more than 100 students in her research and helped dozens of them advance to postgraduate education in the field.

For her tireless efforts, Pulvers has been chosen as one of two CSUSM nominees for the 2023 CSU Wang Family Excellence Award, which annually recognizes four California State University faculty members and one staff member who have distinguished themselves through exemplary contributions and achievements. Pulvers was nominated for the Outstanding Faculty Scholarship Award, with history professor Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall nominated for the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award.

“I am thankful for the privilege to be a faculty member in the largest state university system in the nation and the opportunity to have devoted my faculty career to CSUSM,” Pulvers said. “Contributing to social and economic mobility in California and in North County San Diego specifically, while addressing the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States through my research, makes me excited to work every day.”

During an eight-year period starting in 2014, Pulvers was awarded nine different research grants totaling $1.8 million in funds. From those projects arose four nationally recognized contributions to addressing the public health crisis of cigarette smoking:

• Being among the first U.S. studies establishing electronic cigarettes as a harm reduction strategy for smokers.
• Serving as co-investigator on a randomized trial testing the effect of cigarette packing on smoking perceptions and behaviors. This study demonstrated that graphic warning labels are effective reminders of the negative health consequences of smoking.
• Serving as a co-investigator on a randomized trial testing filtered vs unfiltered cigarettes.
• Serving as principal investigator on a multi-site study promoting engagement and compliance with college smoke- and vape-free policies. The project led to the creation of a real-time Tobacco Tracker to help keep college campuses smoke and vapor free.

Far from resting on her laurels, Pulvers now is taking her research to the next level. In the last year, she applied for and received three new grants totaling $3.1 million and representing 12 years of continuous funding.

The most notable of these allows her to develop and administer a training program for students from diverse backgrounds to conduct tobacco-related research projects in partnership with UC San Diego. The inaugural CSUSM/UCSD Smoke and Vape Free Scholars Initiative Program for Reducing Tobacco Disease in Diverse Communities is funding 15 CSUSM students from racial/ethnic minoritized, low-income and/or LGBTQ backgrounds – the populations that tobacco companies frequently target – for a comprehensive, two-year training experience, filling a critical gap as the first student training program devoted to tobacco control and advocacy.

Pulvers says she was prepared to lead this program because of her long record of mentoring students. In her 14 years at CSUSM, she has trained 100 students, more than half of whom completed at least two years of mentored research. That kind of experience has proved instrumental in many of her students gaining admission to competitive master’s and Ph.D. programs.

“As a minority student, the road to graduate school was difficult,” said Eleuterio Limas, a former undergraduate and master’s student of Pulvers’ who went on to earn a Ph.D. at Indiana University and is now a staff psychologist at UCSD. “Fortunately, Dr. Pulvers has made a career of helping underrepresented students such as myself. I have never seen her turn a student away. Even if a student had little to no research experience, she would give that person a chance. That type of approach goes a long way for an underrepresented student because it gives them hope and the confidence from someone believing in them.

“She continually puts out top-tier research, is admired by her colleagues, and is an inspiration to her students. It is an example that I hope to be to the students I have a chance to impact and mentor.”

Throughout her career, Pulvers has been inspired by a quote from, of all people, a hockey player. The legendary Wayne Gretzky once said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it’s been.” Similarly, as Pulvers observed, tobacco executives employ that philosophy to stay ahead of mitigation efforts and keep certain people addicted to nicotine to remain profitable.

Her work, and her mentorship of students from groups most affected, is devoted to fighting back against that harmful ethos.

“The research I have conducted over the past 14 years at CSUSM,” she said, “is designed to counteract the disastrous effects of cigarette smoking and the unjust predatory practices yielding this unimaginable toll.”

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Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

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CTREE formerly was known as the Office for Training, Research and Education in the Sciences (OTRES) from 2010-2022 and as the Office for Biomedical Research & Training (OBRT) from 2000-2010. Denise Garcia, CTREE director, changed the name this fall to reflect the official recognition of center status and the expansion of programs to support students from all majors. 

CTREE offers nine programs to support students, though the number often changes as the team consistently looks for opportunities to expand resources. The mission of the center is to enhance the educational and research experiences of students from historically/presently excluded and underserved backgrounds in higher education. CTREE enhances the experience of its scholars by offering one-on-one advising and research opportunities, assistance with the graduate school application process, Graduate Record Examination resource materials, student presentations and attendance at conferences across the U.S., and the chance to network with industry professionals.  

“All of our students are from historically/presently excluded backgrounds in education, and so helping them see and understand the value and knowledge they bring into their unique fields is such an important aspect of what we do,” said Richard Armenta, CTREE associate director and an associate professor of kinesiology.  

“So many times, students don’t see anyone who looks like them or they’re told, ‘You don't belong here.’  So an incredibly important aspect of what CTREE does is help these students develop confidence that they belong and can contribute significantly to their fields.” 

For 2019 graduate Faye Raymond, being part of the CTREE programs provided her with the resources and structure to apply to graduate school. Now a Ph.D. student in biochemistry at the University at Buffalo, Raymond praises the center for teaching her fundamentals that set her ahead of her peers in graduate school – skills such as networking, making a research poster, writing data and constructing data in a way that’s consumable.  

Each CTREE program provides support in a more personal way as well. For students like Raymond, it gives them a community and family to call their own. 

“For myself, especially as a person of color in STEM and a woman of color in STEM, the program really did help me in grappling with loneliness (that I experienced). Just the community that the program provided for me alone was fantastic,” Raymond said. “I would 100% recommend CTREE to any student – I actually can’t recommend it enough.” 

This atmosphere is fostered by the center’s open-door policy and a welcoming culture that's made possible with the help of an entire village across campus. Many faculty members work closely with the students and teach them how to be successful not only in research labs but in life.  

Faculty are at the root of CTREE’s accomplishments. They take students in their labs, conduct creative activities, offer hands-on mentorship and attend conferences with students. Fundamentally, they are dedicated to providing meaningful opportunities for students, instilling the confidence not only to achieve goals, but surpass them.   

Natalie Campos, a CTREE scholar and pre-med biological sciences major, discovered a calling for research after working in a lab with Casey Mueller, a CTREE faculty mentor and biological sciences professor.

“I came into this program thinking that I was going to go straight into pursuing a career in the medical field,” Campos said. “I never knew I needed time in research, but this opened my eyes to involving research in my future goals. Now, I might want to work as a clinical researcher.”  

Campos found a home in CTREE after discussing her research findings with peers at a conference in Seattle. Those peers soon became a family she would lean on, cry to and celebrate with. 

CTREE encourages, and provides funding for, students to attend discipline-specific conferences across the United States, where they can network with keynote speakers, visit graduate school booths, present research findings, engage in activities from universities they may be interested in applying to, and attend professional development seminars. 

Raymond Malfavon-Borja, assistant director of the TRIO McNair Scholars Program and a biological sciences lecturer, knows firsthand how transformational these opportunities can be for students. Malfavon-Borja is a CSUSM alumnus, and after excelling in one of Garcia’s genetics courses, she invited him to join her lab. He was subsequently accepted to a CTREE program. The program’s resources and Garcia’s training helped him gain acceptance to a summer training program at Stanford University followed by a Ph.D. program for genome sciences at the University of Washington immediately after he earned his undergraduate degree.  

Once Garcia received funding for the McNair program, she knew Malfavon-Borja would be the perfect person to lead the initiative because, like her, he is passionate about fostering students' growth, academically and personally. 

“CTREE as a whole is student-focused,” Malfavon-Borja said. “We work really hard to build up these programs and put our heart and souls into them. A lot of us have a philosophy in the office: Our students have limitless potential. They’re ambitious and they’re hard-working. So we’re going to meet them where they are and hold ourselves to the same high standards, because they deserve it.”

For Garcia, watching scholars get accepted into graduate school makes her feel like she’s a parent, humbly and proudly watching a child go off to college. A large smile crosses her face when she describes the joyous feeling of seeing a student, who two years earlier knew nothing about graduate school, hold their head high and radiate confidence after nailing an interview.

“This institution wouldn't exist and CTREE wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the students,” Garcia said. “We are truly here to support students in any way that we can so that they can be successful throughout their pathway in their education.”

Students from over 22 majors have completed programs through CTREE, and the team conducts outreach across campus to improve students’ awareness of their programs. For the most up-to-date list of programs with application information and eligibility criteria, visit the CTREE website. 

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Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Public Affairs and Operations

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The grant establishes Dominguez as a member of the science team for the NASA mission OSIRIS-REx, which stands for the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer. OSIRIS-REx is the first U.S. spacecraft to collect a sample from an asteroid. It is on its way back to Earth to deliver samples it gathered from the asteroid Bennu in 2020; the samples will arrive on Earth in about a year.

Dominguez’s role on the science team will be to analyze samples from Bennu by employing a cutting-edge technique that he has pioneered called nano infrared spectroscopy (or nanoIR) in which he uses the tip of an atomic force microscope, in combination with infrared light, to identify and characterize nanoparticles – those that are smaller than a micron.

Dominguez honed this technique as a postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego before he joined the CSUSM faculty in 2011. He said he’s the only one of dozens of OSIRIS-REx science team members who utilizes the nanoIR technique, and that his lab is the only one in the country that possesses such capabilities.

“It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Dominguez said. “It will be very cool to look at these samples and contribute to this creation of knowledge about some of the most primitive objects in the solar system, the building blocks of the planets. I was telling my wife the other day that it feels like being selected for the space program, except without all the danger.”

Dominguez is receiving the NASA grant at the same time he is also being published as a co-author of a Sept. 22 article in Science magazine about measurements of samples from a different asteroid, Ryugu, as part of the Hayabusa2 sample return mission by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Dominguez was a member of the team that measured samples at CSUSM and interpreted them over the past year.

The Science article reports that an analysis of 17 samples from Ryugu indicate that its parent asteroid formed in the outer solar system about two million years after the beginning of solar system formation.

“I expect to find lots of similar things with Bennu to what we've found with Ryugu,” Dominguez said. “But there will always be surprises.”

Dominguez said the first year of the grant will involve laying the groundwork for the sample analysis, including practice rounds. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to return on Sept. 24, 2023, and after that NASA will send a tiny amount of Bennu material to Dominguez, who will spend the latter two years of the grant analyzing it.

Dominguez said the goal of his project is to augment the remote observations of Bennu already made by scientists with detailed measurements produced by advanced lab instruments. Using nanoIR to map the minerals and organics present on the asteroid could help Dominguez and the rest of the team better understand the origins of the planets and the molecular seeds to life.

“These samples are arguably the most primitive. We think they're basically what the building blocks of the planets look like,” he said. “Stepping back 4.5 billion years, interstellar dust grains got snowballed into these parent bodies. Well, this is what we think the parent bodies look like. We think the ingredients for life or the precursors to life probably came from objects like these. And we want to understand their history between the time that they were interstellar dust grains to this stage in their evolution.

“We see the planets, but they probably haven’t always looked this way. So how do we find out what the building blocks of the planets look like? This allows us to go back in time because these samples in many ways have been cryogenically preserved. It’s an enormous opportunity, and I’m very excited about it.”

The risk paid off.

Peterson eventually entered her paper on the representation of American Indians in Hollywood into the Cal State San Marcos Library Award for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity and came away as one of six winners, each of whom earned a $600 cash prize.

“Native Americans were actually some of the first people on film,” Peterson said. “And it's kind of a long and complicated history.”

Peterson, a junior who attended high school at nearby Mission Vista in Oceanside, began her research studying a documentary called “Reel Injun,” which walks viewers through a decade-by-decade history of American Indians in Hollywood in the 20^th century.

What Peterson’s research taught her was that American Indians were often inaccurately represented on film.

Her paper showed that it wasn’t until the revival of the Western in the 1990s that a more accurate representation of American Indians, due to creating their own films, was occurring.

The end result was an award she didn’t envision winning.

“I was really surprised and really excited,” Peterson said about her reaction to winning the award. “It felt good knowing that what I was writing about was being recognized, and that not only was it good enough to get me a good grade, but it was good enough writing to be recognized by the school.”

Submissions for the library award ranged from written research papers to creative works such as art, music, lyrics, poetry and dance.

Peterson didn’t have to look far for examples of authentic representation of American Indians. The library is currently displaying a collection of paintings by Eric Tippeconnic, an enrolled member of the Comanche nation and assistant professor in American Indian Studies. Joely Proudfit, department chair of American Indian Studies,  is the founder and executive director of California’s American Indian & Indigenous Film Festival presented by CSUSM’s California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center.

“That’s actually something that I cover in my paper,” said Peterson, who said history professor Robert Miller was a major influence in her research. “California's American Indian and Indigenous Film Festival is a group of Native filmmakers that’s supported in part by Cal State San Marcos. And so it was really cool to find that tie in.”

As for Peterson’s future, she may combine her writing background with her history major and love for film to write and critique more about media and movies.

For now, it’s a hobby. Her senior year will determine which direction she’ll go next.

But wherever her career takes her, it will be greatly influenced by history.

“Learning about the place that you're from is really important,” Peterson said. “Not just for historians but for everybody. Taking a class relating to California history was really enlightening for me. And it's a subject that I was passively interested in. But this made me a lot more cognizant of when I watched movies, how people were represented and how that affects the way that we see other people in film.”

Library Award Winners

• Daniel Crescencio Castro, “American-Anime: How Japanese Anime Influenced American Cartoons”
• Kennedy Caudle and Courtney Johnson, “Examining the Impact of Human Presence on Native Insect Pollinators in Coastal Sage Scrub Habitat in North County San Diego”
• Emily Culbertson, “Modernized or Industrialized”
• Ariana Null, “The Hermits”
• Katelyn Peterson, “Native Americans in Hollywood”
• Ruben Sanchez, “Before Christ, There Was Augustus: Comparing the Imperial Cult in Hispania and Gaul”

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The four-year grant funded by the California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program is a partnership with UC San Diego. It’s called the CSUSM/UCSD Smoke and Vape Free Scholars Initiative Program for Reducing Tobacco Disease in Diverse Communities (SVFSIP).

The training opportunity is tailored to students from racial/ethnic minoritized, low-income or LGBTQ+ groups, the same populations that studies show are disproportionately targeted by tobacco companies and affected by tobacco-related disease.

“I am delighted to bring a training program dedicated to addressing tobacco-related health disparities to our campus,” said Kim Pulvers, a CSUSM psychology professor and the CSU principal investigator for the grant. “I am passionate about this issue and am so excited to have the necessary resources to provide students a substantial training experience. Personally, it will be extremely rewarding to work with students toward the common goal of reducing the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States. I am looking forward to teaching them best practices in tobacco research, placing them into great internships, and promoting their success in graduate school and careers.”

Pulvers procured the grant along with CSUSM kinesiology professor Richard Armenta. Pulvers will coordinate the administrative functions of the program, while Armenta will recruit prospective students and support them during their time in the program.  

The principal investigator from UCSD is Dennis Trinidad, a professor of family medicine and public health who previously has collaborated with both Pulvers and Armenta.

The grant will support the training of 15 CSUSM students across two cohorts beginning this August. Students will spend the first year working with a research mentor on an individual prevention or treatment research project. During the second year, they will work with a community-based tobacco control specialist on a local advocacy project.

Throughout the two-year term, the students will receive structured education through a research class and weekly seminars and workshops on tobacco control topics and professional development, and receive academic advising, networking and career guidance.

The program will be run through CSUSM’s Office for Training, Research and Education in the Sciences (OTRES).   

“This program is a great addition to the other training programs we have at CSUSM and fills a gap in our existing programs,” Armenta said. “We are excited that CSUSM students will have the opportunity to work with amazing research and advocacy mentors to address tobacco-related disparities that their own communities face.” 

To be eligible to participate, students must be a member of a racial or ethnic minoritized, low-income or LGBTQ+ group; have an interest in health research or advocacy; and have two years remaining to complete an undergraduate or master’s degree at CSUSM. Selected students will receive an annual stipend of up to $14,760 for two years and 50% tuition and fees coverage for two years.

For more information about the program or application process, go to the OTRES website.

The article, titled “Examining Field Experiences of Teacher Candidates During COVID-19: Systemic Inequities Unveiled for Underserved English Learners in K-12 Grades,” was published on Nov. 18. The authors are School of Education professors Ana Hernandez and Annette Daoud, psychology research faculty Anna Woodcock, and Kyle Landin, an assessment specialist in student services for the College of Education, Health and Human Services.  

The article marks the first collaborative publication to emerge from Project ACCEPT (Aligning the Common Core with English learners, Parents and Teachers), a five-year U.S. Department of Education grant that provides professional development to improve the education of English learners.  

The study supporting the journal article confirmed that, in the wake of COVID-19, K-12 English learners lacked access to online learning, active engagement with peers/teachers and differentiated instruction due to rapid changes and uncertainties in their programs.  

Professors published in journal 

Communication professors Michelle Holling and Dreama Moon have written an article that was recently published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech.  

The article is titled “20/20 in 2020?: Refractive Vision, 45 and White Supremacy.” It’s part of a forum on the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign focused on division, discord and democracy. 

Founded in 1915, the Quarterly Journal of Speech is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the National Communication Association.  

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The study, titled “Short-Term Training in Mindfulness Predicts Helping Behavior toward Racial Ingroup and Outgroup Members,” is the sixth peer-reviewed publication by Berry, but the first in Social Psychological and Personality Science.  

Berry began the research in 2014 when he was a doctoral student in general experimental psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University and completed data collection in 2017, just before he was hired as an assistant professor at CSUSM. He runs the Social and Affective Psychophysiology (SAP) Lab, which studies how people respond to others in need and show kindness to one another.  

“This paper is special to me because it was part of my dissertation research toward my Ph.D.,” Berry said. “As director of the SAP Lab, I’ve worked to get this paper published since arriving at CSUSM.” 

Berry’s study, which he undertook with two student assistants, explored whether practicing mindfulness meditation increases acts of kindness in interracial social interactions. Mindfulness is a self-regulation skill that entails directing one’s attention to present experiences.  

In the experiment, self-identifying white participants were randomly assigned to compete a four-day mindfulness mediation training or a sham meditation training. Mindfulness trainees were taught focused breathing exercises that rested their attention on the sensations of breathing and thoughts and feelings that came to mind. Sham meditation trainees were led to believe that they were receiving a real mindfulness mediation and completed breathing exercises that did not involve mindfulness.  

Before and after the training, participants were put into staged lab scenarios — helping a racial outgroup member pick up a stack of dropped papers or offering their seat to a racial outgroup member on crutches. The participants weren’t aware that their social behaviors were being studied. They also completed pre- and post-intervention daily diaries about their social behaviors with strangers and acquaintances.  

Berry and his team found that mindfulness trainees were three times as likely to help racial outgroup members in the staged scenarios as compared to sham meditation trainees. Mindfulness trainees also reported more helping behaviors toward racial ingroup and outgroup members in their daily diaries.  

The results included two important qualifiers. First, mindfulness training only increased helping behavior among people who were less predisposed to experience mindfulness in daily life. Second, participants in both trainings reported helping racial ingroup members more than outgroup members. Because helping behavior was preferentially given to racial ingroup members, the study recommends mindfulness meditation to complement existing efforts to reduce preferential helping.  

The COVID-19 Farmworker Study (COFS) team released its first report last February, and now it’s back with another one. Bade, a professor of medical anthropology, participated in a press conference on Oct. 18 to discuss the new report highlighting extensive interviews with Indigenous agricultural workers and the dire conditions they are facing during the pandemic. 

Titled “Experts in Their Fields: The Lived Experiences of California Indigenous Agricultural Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” the report shares stories of Indigenous farmworkers about COVID impacts and the support that these communities will need to recover from the pandemic. 

COFS is a research project facilitated by the California Institute for Rural Studies, a Davis-based organization for which Bade serves as a senior research associate. The institute collaborated with a team of social science researchers and six farmworker-serving, community-based organizations, including the FarmWorker CARE Coalition and Vista Community Clinic, which both are in North County.  

"During the pandemic, all farmworkers, classified as essential workers, have been living in stress and fear due to the lack of protection offered to them as essential workers who play a crucial role in global food supply chains," Bade said. "Indigenous farmworkers, who prefer the term 'campesinos' to recognize their ancient agricultural knowledge and crop specializations, experienced further marginalization that manifested largely as language justice issues. Campesinos speak pre-colonial languages like Mixtec, Zapotec and Triqui that have no relation to Spanish. Campesinos make up about one-quarter of the 800,000-plus farmworkers in California’s $50 billion per year agricultural industry.

"In addition to being excluded from economic and housing relief programs, the coronavirus educational materials, testing and vaccination efforts, online learning challenges for families and relief program paperwork have not recognized the language needs of the campesino communities and have further excluded them from appropriate COVID-19 protection protocols and relief programs. Because of the communal approach to society inherent in campesino communities, regional indigenous-language-speaking, community-based organizations have filled that gap by assisting campesinos with interpretation, financial, food and logistical support in the absence of culturally and linguistically appropriate federal, state and county assistance programs."

Psychology professor leads study on tobacco reporting tool 

CSUSM psychology professor Kimberley Pulvers is the lead author of a study that examines the impact of a new online reporting tool in shaping college campus attitudes and behaviors about smoke and tobacco-free (STF) policies. 

The study was published Oct. 21 in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research by Oxford University Press. It’s a joint venture between CSUSM and UC Davis.  

The study explores whether an online tool for crowdsourced reporting of tobacco use and related litter called Tobacco Tracker is effective in supporting STF policies on college campuses. Surveys were administered to students, faculty and staff at CSUSM and Davis, which both have 100% smoke- and tobacco-free policies in place. 

Results showed that awareness of Tobacco Tracker to report tobacco use or related litter on campus doubled, and use of the online tobacco reporting tool tripled, from pre- to post-assessment. 

“Campus community members are critical to the success of their smoke- and tobacco-free policies,” Pulvers said. “Almost all adult daily smokers started smoking before the age of 26, making college and university campuses a high priority for these policies.” 

Tobacco Tracker was developed based on student and staff input, as described in a related study published by the same team in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. In a user survey, the top motivations for using the tool were a cleaner environment (79%) followed by health concerns (69%).

Myra Rice, a 2020 graduate of CSUSM, contributed to the study.  

Alumnus receives administrator of year honor 

Carlsbad High School principal Bryan Brockett, an educational leadership graduate of the joint CSUSM-UC San Diego doctoral program, was recognized by the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce as a School Administrator of the Year on Oct. 14. 

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Reyes, though, went and made her tasks even more difficult, though simultaneously more fulfilling. She wrapped up her semester duties from the other side of the country while acclimating herself for an unforgettable summer spent at one of the finest academic institutions in the United States.  

Reyes, now in her final year at CSUSM, is back in Southern California after participating in the Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates at Duke University in Durham, N.C. The program through Duke’s psychology and neuroscience department is designed to provide underrepresented students with the “skills, socialization, connection and continuity to begin developing a scholar-researcher identity.” 

Out of about 600 students who applied to the program, Reyes was one of only eight who were selected, and the only one from the West Coast. 

“I was pretty shocked,” Reyes said. “Duke is a prestigious institute, and as an underrepresented student, I really didn't think I had a very good chance. I never thought I was going to be able to get accepted to that type of school. And once I got there, it was even more shocking. I was like, ‘Am I dreaming?’ ”  

Reyes discovered the Duke opportunity through the TRIO McNair Scholars program, which supports low-income or underrepresented students in pursuing research that leads to graduate studies. When she traveled to North Carolina in early May, it marked her first time leaving California for another state. Her parents and two younger sisters live in Mexico, where Ruby also resided until she decided to come to the U.S. by herself midway through high school to pursue her education.  

“Because my parents didn’t go to college, I thought they wouldn’t really understand the magnitude of this opportunity,” Reyes said. “I was like, ‘I got a job for the summer,’ just to simplify it for them. And they were like, ‘Oh, that’s amazing, have a good time over there.’ ” 

Assigned to a dorm on Duke’s campus with several other students, Reyes spent most of her time working on her research project, either in her room or in the Identity & Diversity Lab, run by Duke psychology professor Sarah Gaither. Reyes’ two mentors for the summer were Analia Albuja, a postdoctoral fellow, and Brenda Straka, a doctoral student in social psychology.  

Under their guidance, Reyes researched multiracial populations and the tendency for their racial identity to be denied or questioned. Using surveys and data analysis, she specifically focused on the predictors that a person will reassert their identity after it has been denied and questioned.  

“We found that people who reported higher perceived benefits of reasserting also reported higher frequency of reassertion after they experienced identity denial and questioning,” she said. “If they believed that reasserting would be a benefit – maybe they think it will educate another person, it will make that person not deny or question in the future – then they were more likely to reassert.” 

As a newcomer to that part of the country, Reyes appreciated the lush greenery and wildlife of North Carolina (she saw deer within the first week) and the beautiful Gothic architecture of Duke’s campus. She says she didn’t experience the culture shock that people warned her about, though she encountered few Mexican-Americans like her.  

“I always felt welcome within the Identity & Diversity Lab,” Reyes said. “It was pretty diverse in the sense that we had students from different backgrounds, including students who were biracial. I think that really caused me to not feel like an outsider within that lab.” 

The Duke experience wasn’t Reyes’ only recent research opportunity. Last April, she gave a presentation at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research on the role of family obligation and work experiences in college students’ career aspirations. As a senior at CSUSM, she continues to work as the media and data lead for the DREAMer Resource Office, and she’s also the president of two student organizations – one for McNair Scholars and the other supporting undocumented and minority students.  

This semester, Reyes plans to apply to more than a dozen Ph.D. and master’s programs, with a goal of studying counseling psychology. She aspires to a career as a psychologist at a university or community-based center, helping underrepresented and marginalized populations. 

“The program at Duke definitely built my confidence to want to pursue graduate school, and to see that I have the ability to go into graduate school,” she said. “It also really built my confidence that I'm a researcher. I really had not considered myself that before. Now I know that I have a lot of ideas that I could work on.” 

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

A local nonprofit called the Lucky Duck Foundation has worked for years to try to alleviate the suffering of San Diego County’s homeless, and in 2019 – having partnered with municipalities, politicians and other civic leaders – the organization decided to enlist area universities in the cause. Lucky Duck convened a series of meetings with scholars from all the local institutions to brainstorm ways to address the crisis, which in turn led to a series of grants to fund studies.  

Two years later, that funding is starting to bear fruit. Blake Beecher, chair of the Department of Social Work at Cal State San Marcos, has completed a study – made possible by a $40,000 grant from Lucky Duck – on the perceptions of mental health and substance use services by individuals experiencing homelessness.  

“I didn’t really know a lot about what Lucky Duck was doing, but it’s been a great collaboration,” Beecher said. “I’ve been able to get to know a lot of colleagues at different universities.” 

Beecher hadn’t researched homelessness specifically, but he was a natural target for the foundation’s generosity because of his extensive work on mental health, behavioral health and substance use, which are known to be significant factors causing the problem. And he accepted the assignment willingly because of his interest in community-engaged research that’s responsive to regional needs.  

Homelessness certainly qualifies. Beecher undertook the study early in 2020 with a research team that included Department of Social Work colleagues Jimmy Young and Jeannine Guarino, as well as Master of Social Work student assistants Britney Carbajal and Briana Fair. 

In partnership with local agencies Interfaith Community Services and Mental Health Systems, the CSUSM research team interviewed 25 homeless individuals in North County. The subjects ran the gamut, with more than half having some college education, the ages ranging from people in their 20s to a man in his 80s, and some living outdoors while others were in a shelter, a hotel or even their vehicle.  

Of course, the start of the study coincided with the dawn of a global pandemic that changed the calculus considerably, given the substantial impact of COVID-19 on homelessness in America. COVID and COVID-related effects on technology became two of the dominant themes of the study.  

“Certainly, we didn’t anticipate COVID,” Beecher said. “We also didn’t anticipate that there would be pros and cons. Some people said, ‘I really benefited from the COVID environment. I got into a shelter that I’ve been trying to get into for two years, or it really helped me focus on self-care, or I got more resources.’ Whereas others were like, ‘I was more isolated, I didn’t participate in services, I lost my job.’ 

“That was interesting, and it impacted how they saw providers and agencies that were providing support. Because then as agencies transitioned to virtual, how helpful people saw those services or whether they engaged in them or not influenced their perceptions.” 

Other key findings of the study include: 

• Perceptions of mental health services were generally more positive than those of substance use services, which Beecher expected because the latter often are court-mandated. 

• Mental health and substance use services aren’t as integrated as they should be, which leads to a lack of follow-through and less effective treatment overall. 

• Interview subjects expressed a desire for more time in treatment and for better basic services such as bathroom and shower access, bus passes and lockers.  

• In a result that surprised Beecher, the vast majority of participants said divorce or the disruption of a long-term relationship was tied to their becoming homeless.  

• There were only seven women in the study, but almost all of them reported experiencing sexual violence while homeless.  

As a research assistant, Carbajal contributed to the study from beginning to end, and even after graduating with a master’s degree in May, she’s still working with the team as it develops a journal article for publication. She even was able to use part of the research project for her thesis in the MSW program.  

“As a social worker, I felt that I was able to understand the importance of being completely present while listening to our research subjects as they told us their stories,” said Carbajal, who plans to pursue a social work license and possibly a Ph.D. in the field. “As I went through the process of analyzing our data, I realized how important it was to not only record the words that our participants told us, but to fully embrace the essence and feelings of what it was that they were trying to communicate. This was important, as matters of systemic injustice, trauma and pain were shared with us.” 

Beecher said he hopes to finish the journal submission by the end of the year, but in the meantime, he’s creating an executive summary for local mayors and nonprofits that provide mental health and substance use services.  

“There are some key constituents we want to reach out to,” he said. “One thing coming out of this study is that there really needs to be a lot more mental health support. We’ve got to be able to fund it because we’re funding it regardless. Are we going to fund it in prevention and providing support? Or are we going to fund it through emergency room visits and the correctional system?  

“I think we should use funds to move into the preventative realm to maintain people in housing before they lose it in the first place, or to keep people in sobriety or mental health stability before it gets to the point where they’re homeless.” 

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

It’s not unusual to see Sethuraman smiling while teaching, sitting in on a meeting or simply walking around the campus of Cal State San Marcos.

But forgive the biological sciences professor if his smile has been extra wide these days.

Earlier this month, Sethuraman was granted early tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor starting with the upcoming fall semester.

That announcement came on the heels of his National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award being recommended for funding. It’s a prestigious award that puts Sethuraman in rare company as he’s believed to be one of just two CSUSM professors to ever win it. The other was biology professor George Vourlitis in 2002.

Sethuraman’s grant will cover a period of five years and is worth a total of $608,360.

“It's a career-building opportunity,” Sethuraman said. “It’s set up to both engage our student population in science and to make sure that we communicate it. We want to be able to communicate our science to the general public with all sorts of engagement activities and programs.”

The NSF CAREER Award is for early career researchers. The award aims to provide financial support and assistance to those who have just started out on their careers and are trying to establish a program for themselves. Only assistant professors and tenure-track assistant professors can apply for it. The award needs a scientific or public community engagement component for it to work.

That won’t be a problem for Sethuraman, who with an NSF grant earlier in his career as a postdoc student at Temple University established a summer workshop program for high school teachers in the Philadelphia area.

That program trained teachers basic programming skills to take to their high school biology or chemistry classroom after a week of learning different types of exercises.

As soon as next summer, Sethuraman plans on implementing a similar program for San Diego County high school teachers, one in which potentially 25-30 lesson plans can be given to each teacher.

“That’s one part of (the grant),” said Sethuraman, who earned his bachelor’s in computer science from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, and his Ph.D. from Iowa State. “The other part is, I write for a popular science blog called ‘The Molecular Ecologist,’ and my goal as part of this career was to incorporate my own graduate students and teach them how to do science communication to the general public. They will work on tutorials and articles, which we’ll then publish as part of the science blog accessible to the general public. So there's a number of other sort of synergistic outreach and community engagement activities that are also part of the brand.”

Sethuraman isn’t waiting until next summer to make his latest impact.

The second annual Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program that he and biology professor Betsy Read co-run began on campus last week and runs for 10 weeks.

There were more than 250 applicants from all over the country for this year’s program. Ten students will do research projects in different labs and receive training in genomics and bioinformatics. The program will end with a poster presentation on Aug. 13.

Whether it’s earning tenure, receiving a prestigious award or being the driving force for an important summer program, Sethuraman has big goals for his career beyond just the classroom and lab.

“I've already started to think about sabbatical years and things that I want to do in those years,” he said. “My immediate goal would be to teach a lot of genetics classes here. I've noticed over the years that genetics textbooks and resources are not very inclusive, and actually that's also written into my NSF CAREER grant.”

Last spring, Sethuraman co-taught a one-unit seminar course with kinesiology professor Richard Armenta that is open to the entire campus called the genetics of minorities. In that course, he discussed the genetic basis behind ethnic and racial minorities, sexual orientation, weight and people with pre-existing conditions, and how there are different types of minorities and disabilities that are also affected by sociological perspectives.

“It’s also actually written into my CAREER proposal that the goal is to offer that class as a three-unit course on campus to explore the sorts of things that are not in the textbooks and not talked about or not studied enough just by virtue of the fact there's no resources in parts of the world that are highly underrepresented or for sections of the society that are highly underrepresented,” Sethuraman said. “So my goal, whenever I'm eligible for sabbatical, would be to eventually write about genetics of minorities in a much more inclusive genetics book.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

So when she decided to write and produce a film for her final project assignment for a world cinema course, she accessed the creative side of her brain, the part that produced many a drawing and painting while growing up in nearby Oceanside.

The result was the film “The Routine,” which looked at the struggles associated with the pandemic in general, but specifically the struggles associated with being a college student during this time. Her creativity and technical abilities earned her a 2020-21 CSUSM University Library Award for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity.

Glorioso was one of 12 students to win the award, which came with a $600 prize.

“I just really wanted to convey the struggles that college students are going through right now with a pandemic and being virtual and just being stuck at home and that type of environment,” said Glorioso, who is the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences representative to Associated Students, Inc. “I wanted to do a film that touched on the COVID-19 pandemic, and kind of this social commentary type of film that's really relevant with what we're all experiencing right now; and touching on how it is being a college student and doing things virtually. So that was my inspiration on my film and making it using the neorealist conventions to get my story across.”

Glorioso’s film inspirations were Italian filmmakers Roberto Rossellini and brothers Vittorio and Paolo Taviani, some of the neorealist directors she was introduced to in her world cinema course. Not a veteran of foreign films by any means, she was able to view many of their films through the library database.

She filmed most of it with a DSLR camera inside her house because of the pandemic. At the end, she wound up at the beach “because that's something I would have been daydreaming about.”

Her theme of escapism came across to show how it was unclear whether the end was a dream in the middle of the pandemic or the hopeful reality ending of being at the beach when the pandemic's over.

In a little less than two years, Glorioso has made the most of her opportunities on campus, including working at the library last year before the pandemic.

In addition to being the CHABSS representative to ASI, she is an ambassador to The Alliance to Accelerate Excellence in Education.

“I really want to get the most out of my time here,” she said. “In my first year, my main goal was just to get involved on campus as much as I could and take advantage of as many opportunities as I could. While I'm here, whatever opportunity comes across to try to apply for something I definitely want to take that opportunity.”

As for her post undergraduate plans, she’s interested in a career in either law or the public policy side of government. Whether it means writing public policy, being an advocate or being a practicing attorney, she knows she wants to make a positive impact on her community.

And perhaps one day pursue a career as a filmmaker?

“Maybe,” said Glorioso, with a laugh.

Visit the library website for a complete list of winners.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Though Silvia is grateful for a strong support system of friends in North County, it’s still challenging being a single mom attending school full time, working multiple jobs and caring for a son with spastic quadriplegia, a severe form of cerebral palsy.

But Silvia never thinks about moving back to Colombia.

“I made a life here, and I feel like I can be successful with what I'm doing here,” Silvia said. “Here, there's so many opportunities for research and you can do world-class things, revolutionize, if you will. In the U.S., the opportunities are endless.”

For Silvia, one of those opportunities included a prestigious workshop at Princeton University in July. Silvia and fellow CSUSM physics student Mireya Juarez were among 20 students from throughout the country selected to participate in the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) Undergraduate Workshop in Plasma Physics. The four-day workshop provided students an overview of plasma physics, fusion and the research done at PPPL, which is a collaborative national center for fusion energy research that is managed by Princeton.

Silvia and Mireya joined other participants in attending lectures and conducting experiments. The program is designed to encourage women and people from underrepresented backgrounds to consider a career in physics. It was particularly inspiring for Silvia that the program was led by a fellow Colombian, Arturo Dominguez, who is a science education senior program leader at the PPPL.

“It was cool to see somebody and to meet somebody that is also Colombian that succeeded and is at Princeton,” she said. “I thought, ‘If he did it, then I can probably do it, too.’ ”

The road to becoming a scientist has been an unexpected journey for Silvia, who earned a degree while studying physiotherapy at Universidad del Rosario in her native Colombia more than a decade ago. She worked as a physical therapist in Colombia before moving to the United States in 2009 with her now ex-husband, a Marine who was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá.

The extensive process to practice physical therapy in the U.S., coupled with Silvia’s waning interest in the field, led her to consider returning to school. She always had a passion for science and was intrigued by a career in engineering.

But it wasn’t an easy decision. She would essentially be starting from scratch after years of experience in the health-care field. There were her son’s health challenges to consider. And starting over in her 30s seemed daunting.

It was a conversation with her mom that helped convince Silvia to make the change.

“She said, ‘What makes you happy? Because that’s what it’s about. Life is about being happy,’ ” Silvia said. “I said, ‘I want to be a scientist. I want to work in engineering.’ And she said, ‘Go for it.’

“My family was really supportive, and that made it easier.”

Silvia earned her associate degree at MiraCosta College and transferred to CSUSM for fall 2018. Now 37, Silvia has embraced the age gap between her and most of her classmates. Many have a difficult time believing that she’s nearly two decades older than them. One classmate even requested to see her ID because they didn’t believe she was that much older. And she said her maternal instincts often kick in when it comes to her classmates, just as it did at the PPPL workshop.

“It was a lot of 19-, 20-year-olds, so I felt like I was responsible for the entire group somehow,” she said. “Everyone was like, ‘You’re not the mom.’ And I’m like, ‘But I feel like I am a little bit.’

“I am very protective of the younger crowd and I’ve always tried to be a mentor. If I know something that they don’t know or if they’re looking for guidance, I’m really happy to help because I didn’t really have that when I was in school back in Colombia.”

Silvia makes time for her classmates despite her myriad commitments. In addition to her full-times studies, she is part of CSUSM’s Summer Scholars program working in the lab of physics professor Stephen Tsui, a math facilitator for the university’s Readiness and Success program and a math tutor at MiraCosta College.

Tsui first learned of Silvia through fellow physics professor Chuck De Leone, who thought she would be a good fit for Tsui’s lab. Then Tsui saw her work firsthand last spring when she took his advanced lab course.

“She was very focused in the lab course,” Tsui said. “They work in groups, and there were times when she was the one in her group helping to keep people on task because her grade was important to her.”

Silvia’s success in the class helped her get selected to work under Tsui during Summer Scholars, a 10-week program that pairs a student with a faculty mentor to gain hands-on research experience. Silvia is spending 20 hours a week in the lab this summer examining the heat capacity properties of the mineral magnetite and will present her work during the Summer Scholars Poster Showcase on Aug. 8.

But her top priority is Matthew, her 7-year-old son who has been at Rady Children’s Hospital’s rehabilitation wing since 2015.

Silvia commutes multiple times each week from her Vista home to Rady in San Diego to be with Matthew, and she spends many late nights there studying while he sleeps.

“She’s very driven,” Tsui said. “It’s not just for her. What she’s doing is for her and her son. Her dream one day is to be in mechanical engineering. After she’s done here, I think she’ll be able to go on to whatever she wants to do, and she’ll be great at it.”

Silvia will graduate in May and plans to pursue a master’s in mechanical engineering at UC San Diego. Leaving San Diego County for her master’s isn’t an option because she wants to ensure that Matthew continues receiving the care he needs at Rady.

“It’s been a journey,” Silvia said. “I’m proud of what I have done thus far. With all the effort that I have put in my academics and in life so far, I’m starting to see that it’s finally paying off. It’s a good feeling.

“The university is so supportive of students like me. The faculty members of the physics department, my peers, everybody is just amazing. This is an amazing university. I’m proud to be here.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

CSUSM will receive $842,267 from the NSF’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program for a project titled “Cultivating STEM Teaching Identity in Noyce Teacher Scholars.”

Rong-Ji Chen, an associate professor in CSUSM’s School of Education, is the principal investigator on the project. He is joined by co-principal investigators Chuck De Leone, professor of physics; Linda Holt, professor of mathematics; and Paul Jasien, professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Other collaborators include MiraCosta College, Palomar College, Escondido Union High School District, San Marcos Unified School District and Vista Unified School District.

Other CSUs that received Noyce awards are Chico State, San Diego State, San Francisco State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Stanislaus State.

Shapiro Named 2018 Fellow

Adam Shapiro, a professor of sociology, was named a 2018 Fellow in the Behavioral and Social Sciences Section of the Gerontological Society of America, the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging.

Shapiro was one of 89 exemplary professionals selected as a GSA fellow, the highest class of membership within the GSA. It is an acknowledgment of outstanding and continuing work in gerontology.

The new fellows will be formally recognized during at the GSA’s 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting in November.

Hamill Appointed WSCUC Commissioner

Sharon Hamill, a professor of psychology and faculty director of the CSU Institute for Palliative Care at CSUSM, is one of seven new commissioners appointed to the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). Hamill’s appointment began July 1.

Commissioners serve three-year terms with the possibility of re-election to a second term.

Leadership Award

Neal Hoss, vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, was among nine people honored for their leadership during the North San Diego Business Chamber’s annual Celebration of Business.

The North San Diego Business Chamber Leadership Awards honor individuals who have positively impacted another individual, a business, organization or agency, or their community.

NSCS Gold Star Chapter

CSUSM’s chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) has been recognized as a Gold Star Chapter for the 2017-18 academic year. Fifty-three of the more than 320 NSCS chapters received the designation.

Gold Star Chapters were recognized as leaders in implementing engaging, student-centered events on their campus and in their local community.

Inclusive Excellence Initiative

CSUSM was among 57 colleges and universities selected for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inclusive Excellence Initiative, which provides $1 million in grant support over five years for each institution.

The Inclusive Excellence Initiative aims to catalyze schools’ efforts to engage all students in science regardless of background. That includes underrepresented ethnic minorities, first-generation college students and working adults with families.

Commendation for Women’s Volleyball

The women’s volleyball team, which became the University’s first program in the NCAA Division II era to travel abroad when it played three matches in Italy last month, will be given a commendation at the San Marcos City Council meeting on Aug. 14.

Top Honor for Sigma Alpha Epsilon

CSUSM’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon received the John O. Moseley Zeal Award, which recognizes the chapter that best exemplifies a model chapter in the fraternity.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The new endeavor will utilize a cellphone-friendly tracking app to scan QR codes placed on existing signage throughout the 304-acre campus. Students, faculty and staff can scan the QR code when they see tobacco litter or someone using tobacco, and a geographic information system (GIS) framework will gather, manage and analyze data that could inform policymaking and enforcement decisions.

The project is funded through a $400,000 grant from the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program at the University of California, and it will be managed through a partnership involving CSUSM, UC Davis and the California Youth Advocacy Network. The point person at CSUSM is Dr. Kim Pulvers, who has been conducting tobacco-control research for 15 years and is a leader on the CSUSM Smoke and Tobacco Free Campus Task Force.

Plans call for the university to form focus groups for feedback on the new grant-funded campaign and tracking tool prototypes in the fall. Implementation is expected in January 2019 in conjunction with a promotional campaign to raise awareness of the negative environmental consequences of tobacco waste on campus.

The focus of the new effort is educational, Pulvers said, both for the University and for offenders, who will be engaged in conversation when possible.

“Engaging the campus community in reporting tobacco use and tobacco litter is critical to achieving the benefits of our 100-percent smoke- and tobacco-free campus policy,” Pulvers said. “Those benefits include decreased tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke, reduced tobacco litter and toxic chemicals entering our waterways and ecosystem, and greater wellness. These benefits promote environmental sustainability and yield significant fiscal savings.”

The University of California system banned smoking from its campuses in 2014; the California State University system followed suit in 2017. CSUSM has been a smoke- and tobacco-free campus since Aug. 28. Many campus authorities, however, are reluctant to use fines to enforce compliance. Instead, they use a more educational approach, which is leading to more innovative efforts to increase engagement with offending students, faculty and staff.

Nearly one-third of U.S. colleges have adopted smoke- and tobacco-free policies. Despite the growing movement, compliance remains an issue. Officials at several UC schools, for instance, report that tobacco is still being used on campus and tobacco waste remains a challenge.

Tobacco waste was a key motivator for campuses to adopt smoke-free policies. They are a significant source of pollution, and taking an environmental approach is seen as a promising way to engage college students. In fact, national surveys have shown large majorities of students weigh a college’s commitment to the environment when making a decision about where to enroll.

Smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths – or nearly one in five – each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 15 of every 100 adults 18 or older currently smoke. Even nonsmokers are impacted by tobacco use, as approximately 2.5 million nonsmokers have died from health problems caused by secondhand smoke since 1964.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

“Having been involved in the development, for instance, of our applied physics degree, it’s tremendously satisfying to see these programs come to fruition and students graduate and go off and get jobs,” said Price, a professor of physics. “That, to me, is one of the great parts of working at this University.”

Price is on the ground floor of another project as the faculty director of CSUSM’s new Center for Research and Engagement in STEM Education (CRESE), which officially launched July 1.

The idea for the center emerged from work Price and fellow physics professor Chuck De Leone have done together over the last several years, which has included a number of sizable federal grant awards. Price said that Program Director Debbie DeRoma also was instrumental in making CRESE a reality.

As the center’s name suggests, its mission is to support STEM education research and support engagement in STEM education. That includes engaging the community, K-12 students and teachers, and CSUSM undergraduates.

Price notes that CRESE is separate from the STEM Tutoring Program, which operates under the Office for Undergraduate Studies. While the STEM Tutoring Program focuses on academic support for students, CRESE will be involved in things like research to develop new programs as well as testing pilot programs and documenting their effectiveness.

“There are a range of different access points for faculty,” Price said. “For some faculty, it may be that this is just a point where they can connect with colleagues who are interested in a topic. Maybe they have some ideas about something they want to do but it’s not what their training is in necessarily.

“The teacher-scholar model here is really strong and faculty are thinking about what they can do in the classroom to help their students be successful.”

CRESE is funded entirely through grants, and Price anticipates that the center will greatly benefit faculty submitting proposals related to STEM education research projects.

“It’s a great umbrella for us to have,” he said. “That’s a great banner to be putting a proposal under. Rather than just me as an individual, it signals there’s something larger going on here with more support and resources connected with that effort.

“One of the things that we’re really excited about with having the center is moving beyond the efforts of individuals, of which there are several very active individual faculty on this campus doing this kind of work, but now to have a more higher profile collective way for us to organize that work.”

One of Price’s first priorities is to promote awareness on campus about the center. He said some faculty members already have expressed interest in being affiliated with the center and he anticipates getting them on board once they return to campus this fall.

“Part of the proposal process for the center was to describe how the activities of the center will enhance the university’s mission,” Price said. “And I think it’s right in line with what we’re trying to do here on this campus to have innovative pedagogy, to support students and to support faculty. Getting approval for the center indicates confidence from the administration, and we’re excited about being able to advance the university’s mission through the work of the center.”