David Huckaby (Biological Sciences) was recently elected a Fellow of Southern California Academy of Sciences, a non-profit organization located at the Museum of Natural History.
Rajen S. Anand (Biological Sciences) is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention taking place in Denver August 25-28.
Alumna Millie Sweesy-Barger's (Kinesiology) thesis research involving the influence of yoga training on bone density was recently cited in Internal Medicine News.
Tom Blomquist (Film and Electronic Arts) directed two music videos for recording artist Kellie Coffey, who was named American Country Music’s Best New Female Artist in 2003. Blomquist took several of his students to film "I Would Die For That" and "Walk On.” Director of Photography Alex Rodriguez, Gaffer Erol Kalafat, Camera Operator Matt Irwin and Script Supervisor Golnar Fakhrai were among the many undergraduate students who worked in principle and supporting production roles. Matt Irwin also served as Second Unit Director of Photography. In addition, 20 students from the Department of Music performed in the gospel choir for "Walk On," which was partially filmed in the Studio Theatre.
Alumna Alex Arnold (Dance) has opened Elevation Studios, a dance studio in Signal Hill. In August, the studio held its first Summer Movement Intensive for young dancers featuring a special guest master teacher, including TIMO – America’s #1 male Flamenco Dancer (recently showcased on “So You Think You Can Dance”) and Nick Drago, one of the four finalists on Bravo’s “Step It Up and Dance.”
Richard Behl (Geological Sciences) is among a group of scientists studying the Santa Barbara Channel to examine how and why earth’s climates and oceans have changed in the past. The scientists will be taking core samples from a depth in the channel bed that will provide data from more than 1 million years ago.
Sharlene Sayegh (History) has been awarded the annual Teaching Prize of the World History Association for the best lesson on world history. She received the award for her lesson titled, 'The Logical Fallacies of Nationalism: Critical Thinking in the World History Classroom,' designed to foster critical thinking skills in reading primary source documents. The framework was designed to get students to think about ways in which they hold mythic ideas of the nation and how often those myths are rooted in ideological fancy. Her lesson was selected out of a highly competitive pool of submissions by secondary and post-secondary educators. The award was presented at the annual conference of the World History Association in London in June.
Chris Lee (Geography) was the Principle Investigator on the Geosciences Diversity Enhancement Project funded by the National Science Foundation. The program enabled underrepresented high school and community college students interested in studying natural sciences at the university level to participate in an intensive six-week summer geosciences field and laboratory program.
Master’s student Stephen Trbovich (Biological Sciences), was awarded a $1,500 grant-in-aid-of-research from the Southern California Academy of Sciences for his master’s thesis research on the population genetics of kelp bass in the Southern California Bight. This is a competitive grant-award program with master’s and doctoral students from universities like UCLA, San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara competing equally for grant awards.