The Humboldt County office of education (in partnership with HSU students is preparing) the environmentalist of the future by integrating their Classroom Aquarium Education Program with their Redwood Edventure Program in an effort to educate K-12 students on the value of aquatic environments. Their lessons speak to the balance that must be met to maintain and preserve California's fisheries and habitats and actively engage students to get up and out into their local environments where they can then see how our personal actions affect valuable resources.

For ideafest, we plan to enlighten our fellow Humboldtians on how Native tribes are helping to save the bison from extinction. Bison have played a key role in Native culture, especially in the great plains . The Sioux and Assiniboine tribes of Fork pecks currently have the largest restoration herd, with up to 340 bison living and thriving on their lands. We major in zoology, so we decided to focus in on this subject because we are passionate about the wellbeing of animals and it is a clear bridge between Indigenous people, animals, and their culture. Thereby, a connection between NAS and Zoology is born and recognized :) .

Large woody debris (LWD) in rivers can increase fish and macroinvertebrate habitat, but also increases the risk of flooding and reduces channel navigability. This research aims to better understand the river hydraulics associated with LWD in order to find a balance between the beneficial and detrimental effects. By modifying equations of turbulent pipe flow, we attempt to estimate the vertical velocity profile of flow under LWD jams and compare the estimated profile to measured profiles from flume-simulated LWD jams.

Our project investigates the cross-talk between cells contained within the human coronary atherosclerotic plaque using single-cell technologies. We mapped the transcriptome of the plaque using 10x transcriptomics and validated our findings with immunohistochemistry and in vitro assays. We found a predominance of memory T cells suggesting T cells were recruited by antigen engagement with their cognate peptide presented by myeloid cells. Using in vitro assays, we also found activation of pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic pathways in smooth muscle cells after exposure to T cell cytokines. Our analysis suggests that T cells communicate with myeloid and smooth muscle cells within the plaque

The objective of my study is to determine relative abundance and species diversity of avian species in dune habitat by comparing point counts conducted in burned sections of prescribed fires that were either treated or untreated with herbicides prior to application of fire compared to unburned areas of invasive beach grass or native dune mat. The prescribed fire event was conducted last fall in Loleta's Ocean Ranch Unit, and I am seeking to inform CDFW and Cal Fire on the potential effects of the burn on birds, with the goal of restoring our dunes to habitat with native vegetation.

As a part of a service learning class, we spent 30 hours in the community through the Y.E.S. House programs. Each one of us had our service learning goals in terms of knowledge, skills, and values. Y.E.S. House places its volunteers in the community. In this poster, we present the lessons learned and challenges faced in the service learning.

This year, I had the opportunity to work with the Clarke Historical Museum, one of the largest in Humboldt County. I helped set up exhibits, worked on projects, and participated in community events. I learned how a small community preserves and shares its history through this. Balancing this with college was challenging, but the support from Josh and the Clarke staff made it manageable. This experience deepened my appreciation for public history and inspired me to pursue future work that connects education, culture, and community engagement.

The purpose of this project is to explore how hardiness relates to the mental health outcomes of college students with disabilities during COVID-19. We hypothesize that Hardiness will negatively correlate with: (H1) perceived stress, (H2) COVID-19 stress, (H3) anxiety, (H4) depressive symptoms, and (H5) substance use. Twenty-nine students from the campus student disabilities center participated in the study (age M = 23.3, SD = 3.1; range 19-33 years). Participants completed an online survey during Spring 2021, including the following scales: Perceived Stress Scale; COVID Stress Scale; Beck Anxiety Inventory; Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; and Substance Use Scale.

The American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) is a highly invasive species that has successfully colonized different habitats around the world. The level of genetic variability in a population may help determine how resistant a population is to pathogens and how persistent an invasive population may be over time. Our project’s objective was to isolate and characterize the genetic diversity of a rapidly evolving immune gene in an invasive bullfrog population near the Mad River in Humboldt County, CA. We isolated four genetically distinct alleles from 16 frogs. When included with alleles from related species, we detected positive selection acting on putative binding sites.

Social media has been used to share individual hauls of shoplifted items. Research suggests an evolutionary perspective for this behavior, suggesting mate-relevance. Images were collected using Tumblr search tags to examine the cost of stolen mate-relevant verses non-mate-relevant items posted online. The results demonstrate that mating-relevant items are significantly more expensive than non-mating-relevant items. Although the average prices of the stolen items were not significantly high for either category, the differences suggest a mating-relevant strategy for displaying shoplifted items.