The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: STEM

  • Black chemists celebrate diversity at Umoja Center event

    by August Linton

    Claps and cheers echoed through Founders Hall 118 during the Umoja Center’s Black Excellence in STEM event, probably far more than had graced the room in quite a while. Many HSU community members filled out the seats, just as their enthusiasm and passion filled the room.

    Dr. Kim White, Cal Poly Humboldt professor of chemistry, hosted the event at the request of Umoja Center for Pan African Academic Excellence.

    After an indigenous land acknowledgement, she began by paying homage to several Black scientists under whom she studied. One of these was Dr. Loyd Noel Ferguson, the first Black person to earn a PhD in chemistry from UC Berkeley.

    “He was the original backyard chemist, he synthesized moth repellent and stain removers in his backyard in Oakland when he was growing up,” White said. “He also used his academic talent not only to propel his own career but also to create opportunities for others.”

    She also spoke fondly about Dr. Phillip Crews, a UC Santa Cruz professor of chemistry known for his involvement in diversity programs.

    “Phil instilled in me a strong desire to use my privilege for the benefit of others… seeing him use his strengths to lift up others was pretty fundamental in the trajectory of my career,” White said.

    Dr. Chris Harmon, another member of Cal Poly Humboldt’s chemistry department, spoke next. He spoke on the importance of acknowledging and celebrating the growing diversity within science.

    “It matters where you come from, it matters what language you grew up speaking, and absolutely the color of your skin matters, Harmon said. “When I got into chemistry, one of the things that I loved was all of these rich, beautiful colors that you would see in the lab… if we celebrate the colors of the chemicals why can’t we celebrate the colors of the chemists?”

    Photo by Morgan Hancock | Dr. Kensha Clark speaks to students of her work in chemistry via Zoom at Founders Hall on Feb 11

    Harmon introduced Dr. Kensha Clark, a highly celebrated and accomplished Black chemist currently teaching at the University of Memphis.

    After brief technical problems, she appeared on the projector screen, Zooming in to the event.

    Clark discussed her work, both as a private sector chemist with Chevron and as an academic. Her current fields of interest include molecular electronics, solar energy conversion, and small molecule activation, among others.

    In her lab, she makes sure that students of all backgrounds feel welcome.

    “I think [our diversity] makes our science all the better,” Clark said.

    When she was a student, however, Clark felt that her interest in science was quashed. She described only being encouraged to become a writer or an artist, all the while never wavering from her passion for science.

    Even though strong familial support allowed her to achieve her dream, Clark is still faced with a shocking lack of diversity in her field.

    “By default, you are the representative of your people,” Clark said. “It makes it exciting when one sees up-and-coming scientists of color.”

    Photo by Morgan Hancock | Asia Anderson explains her research into membrane protein isolation on Feb 11.

    Cal Poly Humboldt student Asia Anderson took the stage after Clark, to a joyous round of applause from the audience. A transfer student from College of the Redwoods, Anderson is obviously beloved to the campus community.

    She spoke about the community and support that she has found while studying chemistry at Cal Poly Humboldt, and how her mother’s going back to school to study English inspired her.

    “I feel like every step of the way I’ve had this ushering of peers around me… I will also be the first person in my family to graduate from college,” Anderson said.

    Anderson’s research during her undergraduate degree at Cal Poly Humboldt has been in the targeted extraction of membrane proteins. She said that the proteins’ sensitivity to light means that further study could illuminate ways to use these proteins for targeted medication delivery.

    After graduation, Anderson will study to receive a graduate degree at UC Santa Cruz.

    The Umoja center hosted this event in collaboration with NSBE, the National Society of Black Engineers. Demi Ogunwo is a masters student in Cal Poly Humboldt’s Energy Technology and Policy Program, and spoke at the event as the president of the school’s NSBE chapter.

    “NSBE offers a platform for students to network and get mentored by … Black professionals,” Ogunwo said. “It’s not for engineers alone, it’s for all STEM students.”

    NSBE is a community focused on supporting Black scientists, whether academically or professionally. They will be hosting a social hangout for students potentially interested in joining this Friday Feb. 18, from 1 pm to 3 pm in the University Upper Quad.

  • HSU establishes a collaborative space for Latinx STEM disciplines with ¡Échale Ganas!

    HSU establishes a collaborative space for Latinx STEM disciplines with ¡Échale Ganas!

    ¡Échale Ganas! is a $249,000 grant that was awarded to Humboldt State University to support hands-on learning and career advancement for Latinx students in STEM disciplines.

    The grant was named for the Mexican expression, ¡Échale Ganas! as it translates to “throw some life into it,” roughly similar to English expressions, “just go for it” or “give it your all.” The program hopes that by identifying the grant through this expression, it will enable and empower Latinx students to pursue opportunities that will further their learning and careers in natural resources.

    ¡Échale Ganas! provides students with an array of opportunities through a couple of main components. This consists of supporting two graduate STEM Promoters, providing a number of valuable learning sessions, and offering research internships to Latinx undergraduates.

    The promoters serve as a key component to the program as they use their academic and work-related experience to mentor Latinx undergraduates majoring in natural resource sciences.

    The grant was awarded to Wildlife Professor Matt Johnson and Fisheries Biology Professor Rafael Cuevas-Uribe, in collaboration with Fernando Paz of El Centro Académico Cultural.

    “El Centro works diligently to help students succeed in their respective major and academic disciplines,” Paz said. “In particular with STEM majors, we provide a cultural context that helps students persevere through courses that can be foreign and alienating.”

    Paz obtained his undergraduate through a double degree in history and ethnic studies from Humboldt State, as well as his Masters in social sciences a few years later.

    During his time as a student, he felt as though his path and the challenges he faced toward graduation were unique and different from those of many of his peers. He was consistently aware of the different perspectives he was able to contribute within his classes.

    Samantha Chavez and Laura Echávez are both graduate students studying wildlife at HSU and are the first two promoters for ¡Échale Ganas!

    “I’m hoping that my work as a promoter will inspire students to break out of their shells and believe in themselves and their abilities to succeed in this field,” Chavez said.

    Chavez said that she wishes that she would’ve tried to access established Latinx spaces during her undergraduate study because it was increasingly harder to make these types of connections once she entered the workforce. She explains that the the unique situations that seasonal field work brings intersects with one’s culture, so it is best to talk it through with a friend in a similar situation.

    The ability to learn and have access to other Latinx students of all different levels of experience is the primary goal of ¡Échale Ganas! Connecting these students within STEM disciplines is especially important as it allows them to feel supported in a field where they are predominantly underrepresented.

    The revelear sesiónes are a critical role within the collaboration process between the STEM Promoters and undergraduate students.

    Sarah Bacio, an academic and career advisor at HSU, attended both of the sessions last semester.

    “It’s really valuable to have that student experience and know what folks have done in the steps that they’ve already taken,” Bacio said as she spoke to those in attendance of the first revelear sesióne on Oct. 14.

    The Academic and Career Advising Center, along with other offices on campus, provides ¡Échale Ganas! with a number of valuable resources that coincide with the helpful tips that are given by the STEM promoters from their personal experiences.

    “The great thing about undergrad is that so many similar people gather in one place,” Chavez said. “So there’s no easier time for students to be able to find peers who are like-minded and share the same cultural background.”

  • HSU students support science with Spanish

    HSU students support science with Spanish

    A bilingual HSU program encourages students to pursue the STEM field

    Ciencia Para Todos, known as “Science for All,” is a Humboldt State University program that hopes to bridge the gap between younger, grade-school students and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics careers through teaching English and Spanish in conjunction with local elementary schools like Fuente Nueva Charter School.

    Christian Trujillo, a senior environmental science and management major, is the founder of Ciencia Para Todos. He strives to elevate youth whose first language is Spanish.

    “We’re trying to destigmatize that idea,” Trujillo said. “Be like, ‘We are people who are bilingual, we’re in STEM, we want you to do that when you grow older, and hopefully you could become a scientist and also use your abilities and cultural lens to really help the science community.’”

    Ciencia Para Todos came from a desire to create an environment for budding Latinx STEM students. Feeling ostracized from many of the spaces on campus, Trujillo and his fellow Latinx classmates communicate in Spanish as a means of escape.

    An already-established refuge named Indian Natural Resource Science and Engineering Program for marginalized science students on campus, inspired them to create a refuge of their own.

    “We need to make our own space on campus since no one else is really going to do it for us, so we have to do it for ourselves,” Trujillo said. “And we’re like, ‘Oh, now that we’re doing this for ourselves, why don’t we do it for our communities.’”

    Different cultural centers at HSU have gotten their budgets slashed, Trujillo worked to combat the problem with student retention.

    “The stuff we do I think is very important to keeping student retention,” Trujillo said. “Because I’m one of those students that stayed here because of the centers and if it wasn’t because of centers, I would have been gone.”

    Odalis Avalos is an environmental science and management major and senior. She works as the liaison for Ciencia Para Todos and conducts outreach. Avalos is glad to have a space where she can flourish alongside Latinx STEM students, an opportunity she didn’t have growing up.

    “I’m really grateful that there is a program out there that’s able to provide this resource specifically for sciences,” Avalos said. “It’s a very lax subject within the Latinx community, so it’s not really normalized to pursue these types of careers.”

    Building off that, Avalos is glad to be able to feel a sense of community not only with the students she teaches, but also with her colleagues like Trujillo.

    “It means a lot that they’ve created the sense of community for me,” Avalos said. “So we sit together and we come together and we collaborate and we have a common mission and even with that, we also have common experiences together.”

    Diana Martinez recently graduated from HSU but continues to work for Ciencia Para Todos. Responsible for translating entire lessons between English and Spanish and managing the Instagram account for the program, Martinez has become more confident and optimistic in her future endeavors.

    “And I used to do English and Spanish, but then when I go up in Humboldt, it was just English,” Martinez said. “So I almost feel like my Spanish was just blocked, and having met this group of people, it was just like ‘Oh, I could just talk in Spanglish or I could talk in English and in Spanish fifty-fifty.’”

    Martinez is inspired by the children she’s worked with for Ciencia Para Todos and feels accomplished with what she has done for them.

    “Once you see the kids, especially the native kids that only speak Spanish, when you speak in the same language, there’s a huge happy face in their face and it’s hard to describe,” Martinez said. “But knowing that they’re able to communicate just fine and the fact that you know that you’re helping them and supporting them and empowering them, that makes me feel great as an educator, too.”

  • Clubbin’ at the quad

    Clubbin’ at the quad

     

    By | Ian Benjamin Finnegan Thompson

    Sword fighting, physics demonstrations, acro yoga, Folklorico dancing and more were on display at the annual Clubs Fair at the UC Quad last Wednesday.

    Dozens of clubs ranging from an anime fan club to the Society of Women in Math and Science were reaching out to students and informing them about the ideas behind their communities during the lunch hours of 10-2pm.

    Jordi Koopman of the Humboldt Circus said it’s a great way to meet people and play games with others.

    “Being able to co-create with people in a whimsical way is great,” said Koopman.

    According to the Clubs and Activities page on the Humboldt State University website, the goal of the clubs fair is to “Support safe and inclusive opportunities for student involvement and engagement.”

    Many of the clubs are simply safe spaces for students to meet peers and have weekly gatherings to socialize.

    The HSU Browncoats is a fan club of the Joss Whedon single season cult classic tv show Firefly (and spin off movie Serenity) who meet up once a week for Firefly trivia, games, and events.

    “It’s a safe space for nerds to hang out at,” said Kelsey Vaughan, a member of the HSU Browncoats.

    The clubs fair can also be a place to receive much needed scholarly or emotional support for students who may feel isolated or not included in the communities found on the HSU campus.

    Carla Quintero is the president of the Society of Women in Math and Science (SWIM) whose goal is to help women on campus as well as other minority groups succeed in STEM (science, technology, engineering mathematics) majors.

    “Our goal is to encourage other underrepresented groups to become science majors,” said Quintero.

    If you missed the clubs fair there are still plenty of ways to reach out and join clubs on campus. Check out the Clubs and Activities page on the HSU website for a full listing of available clubs. And if you don’t find a club you like, sign up and make your own.