The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: voices of student science

  • Voices of students in STEM

    Voices of students in STEM

    Travis Farwell is a Wildlife major with an emphasis in Conservation and Management. Farwell is back at HSU after taking a semester off to participate in a three-month field study working to identifying and track birds through bird banding. Bird banding is the practice of tagging birds with a plastic or metal band in order to number them so that they can then be tracked and studied for different research projects.

    The Wildlife Techniques class here at HSU helped to prepare Farwell for the work he did during the study.

    “I learned a lot just from the Wildlife Techniques professor, he’s been banding for a long time,” said Farwell.

    Farwell ended up processing and banding over 200 birds, so the techniques he learned in his Wildlife class really ended up benefiting him.

    “We would wake up at 4-something in the morning every day and set up everything so that we could catch birds, and it was a huge, migration that goes through a specific area right on this river,” said Farwell. “We caught what I believe is a threatened species, the Willow Fly Catcher.”

    During their study, they found the threatened birds nesting within a specific invasive plant that a conservation group was working to remove from the area. Because the field study was able to identify the birds as a threatened species, they were able to stop the removal of the plants to allow the habitat to remain for the birds.

    Alex Jamal
    Alex Jamal, a wildlife major, plans to join the Peace Corps after graduating. Photo credit: Kyra Skylark

    Alex Jamal is also a Wildlife major with an emphasis in Conservation and Management in his second year. Jamal is in the beginning of his time here at HSU and he is excited to learn the situational protocols and how to interact and handle the animals he will work with.

    Jamal has learned some of the basics that he hopes to carry with him as he moves on to harder classes, and in his future career after he graduates.

    “The amount of persistence you need to put into it and the amount of efficiency and protocol that you need to take within every step of what you are doing, that is something that I hope to take into whatever field I go into, just that type of consistency,” said Jamal.

    After leaving HSU, Jamal hopes to join the Peace Corps to help educate individuals on the reality of what is happening to the environment, and how that is affecting the animals.

    “I would like to go out and do public education, just let people know about how severe everything is becoming and what we could do for the species that we still have here,” said Jamal.

    Daisy Valencia
    Daisy Valencia, a general biology major, will be apart of a directed study with Prof. Steele where they will be researching gene mutations and antibiotic resistance. Photo credit: Kyra Skylark

    Daisy Valencia is a General Biology major that hopes to pursue a career in Veterinary Medicine after she graduates. Valencia is currently about to start a directed study with one of her professors, John Steele, where they will be looking into gene mutations.

    Valencia took professor Steele’s Introductory Biology course last semester, which spiked her curiosity on gene mutations and antibiotic resistance.

    “We looked at bacterial resistance and we tested multiple water resources here in Humboldt County, like the Humboldt Bay and Allen’s Marsh, we found that there was some antibiotic resistant bacteria in the water,” said Valencia.

    After learning about the antibiotic resistant bacteria, Valencia wanted to know more about antibiotic resistance.

    “That got me really interested in studying antibiotic resistance, how we can harvest it from natural resources and develop antibiotics that can help us battle antibiotic resistance, which is a really big problem now,” said Valencia.

  • Voices of student science

    Voices of student science

    By Claire Roth

    Tarah Moleski, environmental management and protection major in the environmental planning option. Photo by Claire Roth

    Tarah Moleski is originally from Sacramento and is an environmental management and protection major in the environmental planning option.

    Moleski’s choice of major stems from her interest in multiple fields of study.

    “I chose my major because I was switching from psychology and was learning a lot about the environment and this one really spoke to me,” Moleski said. “My emphasis is policy and I figure that was the only way to make changes in this world. I’m not too sure about that now.”

    As for the future, Moleski plans to take a break from academics to see what the outside world has in store.

    “I’ve been in school since birth basically, I’m tired of it,” Moleski said. “ I’m going to take some time for myself and travel, but then eventually, I want a federal job somewhere trying to plan for either wildland conservation or maybe sustainable transportation.”

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    Jett Hagerty, environmental science major in the ecological restoration option. Photo courtesy of Jett Hagerty

    Jett Hagerty is from Placerville, California and is majoring in environmental science under the ecological restoration option.

    Even before attending HSU, Hagerty always felt an attachment to the natural world.

    “I choose my major because I’ve had a strong connection to the outdoors my whole life and grew up on a beautiful watershed near Lake Tahoe that I’ve been passionate to protect,” Hagerty said. “I want to mainly leave the most positive footprint I can with my life and do something that protects what’s truly important.”

    Following graduation from HSU, Hagerty wants to take up hands-on work involving the environment.

    “I’m thinking that I can see myself being a ranger for a while or working in sustainable  fisheries,” Hagerty said.

  • Voices of student science

    Voices of student science

    By Bryan Donoghue

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    Voices of student science aims to highlight individual Humboldt State students majoring within the widespread realm of the sciences.

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    Thomas McBrinn, a HSU fisheries biology major. Photo provided Thomas McBrinn.

    Thomas McBrinn is a junior fisheries biology major with an emphasis on freshwater fish. McBrinn grew up in Lompoc, California, within Santa Barbara County.

    McBrinn chose his major for a couple of reasons.

    “One, is because I’ve been an angler since I was a kid, and it’s me and my father’s favorite thing to do,” McBrinn said. “It got me fascinated in biology and fish specifically at a young age. I’m also an all-around outdoorsman with a respect for all life.”

    McBrinn is working in an independent study with three other students at the HSU marine lab where they are breeding and rearing ornamental fish. McBrinn and his colleagues practice raising ornamental fish, which are species typically found inside a home aquarium.  

    “I hope to in some way increase the love and respect everyone should have for mother nature,” McBrinn said. “And to help preserve the gorgeous gifts this world has to offer, so generations to come can enjoy its beauty too.”

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    Matt Davis, a HSU general biology major. Photo | Bryan Donoghue

    Matthew Davis is a junior general biology major who was raised in Modesto, California.

    Biology has always captivated Davis’s interest.

    “There’s just something about living things that gets me excited,” Davis said.

    Davis references universal entropy, which the Institution of Creation Research defines as, “indicating that the whole universe of matter is running down, and ultimately will reduce itself to uniform chaos.“

    “The existence of any type of life actively defies the fundamental concept of universal entropy,” Davis said. “Natural order states that things then should become less ordered and more chaotic, but as life develops, it becomes inherently more structured, and hierarchical.”

    Davis goes to Trinidad twice a week for his invertebrate zoology class. He finds the class to be rewarding since he works with live specimens of species he’s learning about.

    “I would never be able to identify Anthopleura Elegantissima [known as aggregating anemone] if I hadn’t witnessed them utilizing their acrorhagi [tentacles] right before my very eyes.”

    Davis hopes to use his diploma to get hired into research jobs so he can sustain himself without the help of his parents.

    “All I want is to be able to live my life without being dependent on other people,” Davis said.

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    Brittany Myrhang, a HSU general biology major and her pug Molly. Photo | Bryan Donoghue

    Brittany Myrhang is a junior general biology major from San Jose, California.

    Myrhang has been interested in science ever since she could remember and holds a fondness for animals.

    “I’ve always liked science and had a curiosity for the world. I like how everything breaks down in the world, even down to the smallest molecule, to the atoms, and down to cells,” Myrhang said. “I have a passion for animals, so what better way than learning about life and about animals than learning about all of it together?”

    Following her passion, Myrhang hopes to pursue an internship that allows her to work with animals. “I’m hoping to get into an internship, working with wildlife possibly, or doing some shadowing for some vet schools.”

    Myrhang hopes to fulfill her ambition once she graduates. “Once I get my own degree, I hope to go to veterinary school, and then go on to have my own practice.”