From Plants to Portola: Geovisualization of the Pre-Colonial California Coast, Derived from Paleobotanical Data and Spanish Journals

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

From Plants to Portola: Geovisualization of the Pre-Colonial California Coast, Derived from Paleobotanical Data and Spanish Journals

From the Post-Soviet to Eurasia: Regional Constructs a Quarter-Century after Independence

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

This project, an overview of an in-progress edited book, interrogates Eurasia as a form of regional definition for the states that gained independence after the USSR’s breakup, arguing for the continued relevance “post-Soviet” as a regional construct. The idea of the post-Soviet is positioned as a heuristic device to evaluate existing prior attempts at regional definition. Path-dependency as a concept suggests that preexisting institutions condition the institutional form that follows political transition; the condition of path-dependency remains relevant across the post-Soviet successor states.

Functional impact of alternative splicing on the transcriptomic landscape and fate of multipotent skeletal stem cells and osteosarcoma

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Greater than 90% of all protein-coding genes in the human genome undergo post-translational alternative splicing (AS), giving rise to many unique isoforms from a single gene. Our work with human skeletal stem cell (hSSC) has demonstrated the need to examine AS as it relates to cancer, development, aging, skeletal regeneration and skewing of hSSCs towards non-skeletogenic lineage fates. Here we explored the relationship between AS and function of hSSCs. Using RNA microarray technology we discovered RNA-binding proteins involved in hSSC function; inhibition of these proteins prevents differentiation and formation of osteosarcoma. Our current work reveals other essential roles of AS in hSSCs.

Fungi Decomposition Rates in Relation to Growth Rate and Moisture Tolerance

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Researchers found that fungi that grow faster tend to be less resistant to changes in temperature and moisture. Exploring the relationship between a fungus’s growth rate and moisture tolerance, our team used a system of differential equations to model the decomposition rates of woody material by different fungi to understand how decomposition would be affected when the species are in competition.

Future Flights

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

In hopes of increasing STEM students in colleges this project is geared towards high schoolers with the idea that since they are quite adept to todays technology they may be interested in drone technology, either flying, programing, or learning how drones help in the scientific community.

Garden Collaborative: Addressing Food Insecurity

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

My service learning project addresses the issue of food insecurity in Arcata. Through the benefits of community gardens, greater socio-economic development can be achieved. At Open Door Health and Wellness Garden, I am maintaining and managing the beds in the garden for spring harvest, for the people of Arcata, so they can have easier access to organically grown healthier foods. I am interested in support networks of community gardeners as resources to sustain locally grown organic food and the health benefits that community gardens offer.

Gardening for Change

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

In Spring Semester 2017, we dove into a service learning project with Pacific Union School. We are contributing to the garden coordinator’s vision for an interdisciplinary, garden-based learning program that incorporates aspects of social and environmental justice. We have worked to create a reciprocal learning environment, such as described by authors in the Environmental Studies curriculum. We believe this is one step toward addressing the inequalities, environmental degradation, and corruption inherent in the global industrial food system. These injustices span issues such as race, class, gender, health, and the environment, which we have been exposed to throughout our journey at HSU.

Gender Equity in Wildlife Publishing: A Census of 22 Years of Authorship in the Journal of Wildlife Management

Rebeca Becdach, Wildlife Graduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Various studies have documented gender inequity in scientific fields, including medicine, computational biology, the physical sciences, and ecology. A clear indicator of this bias can be seen in the disparity between men and women authorship of scientific papers. This study describes gender diversity in wildlife publishing across institutions, countries, and study species taxa in recent decades. We reviewed all research articles published in the Journal of Wildlife Management from 1999 to 2020 and collected author names and affiliations. We classified the gender of each author using Genderize.io, and calculated the men:women ratio of first and co-authors over time.

Gender, Colonialism, and the Epistemology of Mycology

Toni Sardelis, Biological Sciences Undergraduate Student

Other

This paper critically examines the exclusion of Indigenous women and early women scientists from the field of mycology. It highlights how their ecological, medicinal, and ceremonial knowledge was appropriated by men who received institutional credit, authorship, and economic gain. Case studies include María Sabina, Mary Elizabeth Banning, Mapuche women, and more, whose work has been essential yet erased. It also critiques how contemporary myco-capitalism and tourism commodify their knowledge and cultural practices without consent, often disrupting local economies and ecosystems. The paper calls for accountability in attribution, citation, representation, and benefit-sharing.

Gender, Sexuality and Crime in the Queer Life Course

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

In this study, we look at the offending of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals over their life course. Growing research on criminal offenses finds LGB individuals offend more often than heterosexual individuals, due to different experiences within social institutions like family and school, but very little criminological research that includes transgender or gender non-conforming individuals as offenders. We aim to gather information about LGBTQ individuals’ experiences in social institutions, across the stages of their life course, to illuminate experiences that act as turning points in the queer life course toward and/or away from involvement in crime.