An Evaluation of the Blue Lake Biomass Plant Emissions: Air Quality and Health Impact on the Blue Lake Rancheria

College of Professional Studies

The Blue Lake Rancheria community has had visibly polluted air and matter emitted from the local biomass plant over the recent past. The Rancheria is concerned about the negative health impact the biomass plant could be having on the environment and community. This literary review hopes to establish an understanding of the impact of the Blue Lake biomass energy plant’s impact on air quality, determine standards of emissions which it operates and examine the gaps between current healthy standards of emission and that of the Blue Lake biomass plant. The findings will inform the Blue Lake Rancheria and will raise public awareness of the air quality and health impact of the biomass energy plant.

An Investigation into the Copper Toxicity of Anti-Fouling Paint

College of Professional Studies

The goal of our research is to analyze the effect of copper toxicity in anti-fouling paint on invasive bryozoan specie. The goal of this project is to determine the ideal concentration of copper in anti-fouling paint to prevent the ability of these invasive specie to attach themselves to ship hulls and be transported around the oceans.

Analysis of Herbicides on Culturally Significant Plants Throughout Yurok Ancestral Territory

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Use of herbicides by public and private entities throughout the Yurok ancestral territory, has raised concern for the health of Native peoples exposed to these organic residues on plant materials due to the plants significant role within the Yurok culture ( such as baskets, ceremonial, and medical purposes). Using organic extraction followed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis, the herbicides 2,4-D and Triclopyr were identified on plant material collected from the Ah-Pah location. Continuation of this research involves computational research on 2,4-D derivatives and more sampling sites added for herbicide analysis throughout the Yurok territory.

Analysis of Herbicides on Culturally Significant Plants Throughout Yurok Ancestral Territory

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

Use of herbicides by public and private entities throughout the Yurok ancestral territory, has raised concern for the health of Native peoples exposed to these organic residues on plant materials due to the significant roles that plants have within the Yurok culture (such as basket, medicinal and ceremonial purposes). The herbicides 2,4-D and Triclopyr are analyzed by using organic extraction followed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Additional research was also conducted such as computational calculations on 2,4-D and its derivatives along with more sampling sites added to this herbicide research.

Arcata Demographics

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

This poster will look at the demographics of Arcata and how this effects the community. This would include students at HSU and also people out in the community of Arcata. Looking at the demographics of a community would be interesting in order to see what the population looks like. For many people that live in a community they do not know the demographics because the community is so large. Even though a city like Arcata is small to most it is still large enough for many people not to know one another. This would also help improve the relations between the students of Humboldt State Univversity and the community of Arcata.

Art Integration: Deepening Learning Through the Arts

Other

The North Coast Arts Integration Project (NCAIP) is a four-year federally funded project that seeks to integrate and strengthen arts instruction in eight rural elementary and middle schools with the goal of improving student academic performance, reasoning skills, creative thinking and engagement. NCAIP increases student exposure to the arts through field trips and in-­school performances by local, national and international performing artists. In addition, our project builds community bridges by partnering teachers with local teaching artists and other local arts institutions. We will share examples of an arts integrated lesson and provide a chance for you to have a short arts experience.

Assessing BDNF Levels over 30 Days via Capillary Blood

College of Professional Studies

Brain health, and the benefits of physical exercise, have been linked to a biological signaling molecule called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Numerous studies have investigated BDNF levels before and after exercise. Some benefits of increased BDNF concentration have been associated eith better cognitive functioning, memory and neuronal support. Decreased BDNF levels have been linked to poorer cognitive functioning, poorer memory recall, and apoptosis (cell death). This study investigates BDNF variability over a longer duration (30 days) through capillary-drawn blood and will do a correlational analysis to see if recent physical exercise increases circulating BDNF concentrations.

Assessing The Effectiveness of Latinx Center for Academic Excellence & Cultural Space Model Mentorship

College of Professional Studies

We will be assessing the newly implemented programming model used by the LCAE in order to understand where improvements are needed and where we can identify strengths to establish best practices at the center. We will also be looking at how many people use the center and how we can focus outreach efforts in the future. This assessment is being done for internal programming purposes and to support HSU in its larger mission to improve outcomes for students of color, particularly Latinx students at HSU.

Assessing The Effectiveness of Latinx Center for Academic Excellence & Cultural Space Model Mentorship

College of Professional Studies

We will be assessing the newly implemented programming model used by the LCAE in order to understand where improvements are needed and where we can identify strengths to establish best practices at the center. We will also be looking at how many people use the center and how we can focus outreach efforts in the future. This assessment is being done for internal programming purposes and to support HSU in its larger mission to improve outcomes for students of color, particularly Latinx students at HSU.

Astronomy Education Research

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

The basis of our research is to assess why learning gains are low within introductory astronomy courses and how scores can be improved. Examining pre and post scores from an Astronomical Diagnostics Test we were able to examine learning gains of fifty-six students. We used Hake’s normalized gain formula to quantify learning gains. The average learning gain found was 0.20 and the highest gains fell among questions such as phases and position of the moon, eclipses, and seasons on Earth, with gains between 0.5-.64. Because Hake’s normalized gain formula is biased, we are looking into other methods of quantifying our data.