December 2012

Dr. Robert Sheath, Biological Sciences, has had his lab designated as the Primary Algae Laboratory for the State of California by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego Region.  His lab will be responsible for taxonomic identification of soft algae species as well as other projects used to build taxonomic algea infrastructure for the state. You can read more about this important research at:  http://www.csusm.edu/news/steps/clean-water.html.

November 2012

Dr. K. Brooks Reid, Professor Emeritus, Department of Mathematics was honored at a retirement celebration on November 15th.  Dr. Reid was one of the 12 University Founding Faculty at the establishment of CSUSM in 1989.  The Founding Faculty established initial policy and academic programs and hired the next round of faculty and administrators who arrived in 1990.   His research interests were in graph theory and combinatorics, particularly the theory of tournaments, centrality in graphs (primarily trees), and voting theory.  His recent research focused on monochromatic reachability in tournaments, cycle intersection in tournaments, and generalized centrality in trees.  Thank you for your many years of service to our campus!

Dr. Amber Puha, Dr. Andre Kundgen, Dr. Emily Cutrer, Provost, and Dr. Reid

 

September 2012

The Center for Molecular Structure is up and running in their new space in Science Hall I. The W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Molecular Structure (CMoIS) is a comprehensive X-ray crystallographic facility that Dr. Kantardjieff brought with her when she joined us last year as Dean.  Dr. Eric Reinheimer serves as the Instructional Support Technician.  The Center currently has several students working in the lab with Dr. Reinheimer and collaborates regularly with colleagues at CSU Fullerton, Cal Poly Ponoma, Harvey Mudd, and University of Iowa.  You can read more about this exciting new venture at: http://www.csusm.edu/news/topstories/articles/2012/10/tsKeck.html.

July 2012

As part of her CyberQUEST project, Dr. Youwen Ouyang, CSIS, hosted two weeklong summer academies for 6th grade science teachers in the San Diego and Palm Springs areas respectively. The academies prepared cyber-savvy teachers who will in turn bring cyber-enable learning experience into classrooms during school year.
     
As Dr. Ouyang observes teacher interaction with existing cyber-tools, she constantly looks for ways to design new custom-built interactive tools that provide engaging learning and promote student awareness of cyberinfrastructure. Over the summer, two such projects have emerged. The Earthquake Plotting tool retrieves recent earthquake data and provides an interface for students to plot them on Google Map.

The Cyber-Scavenger tool allows teachers to specify geo boundary of their field trips where students use their GPS and camera to identify related evidence. The tool then allows students to upload their findings and reflection for others to view.

May 2012

Our Biological Sciences techs work hard to support our many outreach programs so what better way to spend a morning in the lab than with a group of kindergarteners?  The North County Times covered their visit to campus and you can read about it here.   Our thanks to Jeani Cressy and Yessenia Peralta for an engaging presentation!  Welcome Class of 2024 to CSUSM! 
 

The Department of Computer Science & Information Systems established a Student Advisory Board this academic year.  Members are from ID Analytics, Qualcomm, Northrop Grumman, and Tealium.
 

Dr. Brian Norris, Biological Sciences, was the last speaker of the semester for the OTRES series.  He discussed his research on the neural system that produces the heartbeat in the leech, "Variability in a Hard-Wired Network."  Stay tuned for the Fall 2012 series, which always features the research of our own CSM faculty.

April 2012

Dr. Karno Ng, Computer Science & Information Systems, was an invited to present a talk, "Teaching Chemistry On-line," at the CSUSM Faculty Center's "Teaching Science: Engaging Students with Digital/Electronic Solutions" workshop on April 23rd.

The Physics Department hosted the Southern California section meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers on April 21st.    

Dr. Stephen Tsui (PHYS), Dr. Michael Burin (PHYS), Dr. Tom Spady (BIOL), Dr. Gerardo Dominguez (PHYS), Dr. James Janchovich (BIOL), Dr. Bianca Mothe (BIOT), and Dr. Katherine Kantardjieff and Dr. Eric Reinheimer (Dean's Office) were on hand to showcase their research at the 2012 Celebration of Faculty Scholarship and Creative Activities event.  Sponsored by the Graduate Studies & Research office.  http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/san-marcos/san-marcos-from-musical-stocks-to-nintendo-language-lessons-academics/article_a95edfe9-8f3a-500e-a6b7-616d82c5f795.html

March 2012

Dr. Katherine Kantardjieff, Dean, attended the NOBCChE West Regional Meeting at The Scripps Research Institute to discuss "The Center for Molecular Structure:  A Remotely-Enabled Collaboratory in the California State University."
Available online at UCSD-TV, Dean Katherine Kantardjieff's UC San Diego talk on "The Conduct of Science in the Information Age."  http://ucsd.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=23212

February 2012

Report to the Community is published in the North County Times.  Dr. Edward Price, Physics, is spotlighted in "Faculty Profiles" along with an introduction to the new College of Science and Mathematics.  http://www.zwire.com/site/dav.cfm?brd=3118&dept_id=683360&pag=1027&ssid=20005&vw=all

January 2012

A Top Ten list from our Dean, Dr. Katherine Kantardjieff, in Saturday's San Diego Union Tribune.  Check out "A scientist's life: Proteins, glaciers, and 'Looney Tunes'". 
 

In Memoriam: Professor Radhika Ramamurthi, Mathematics, joined CSU San Marcos in 2002 as a faculty member in Mathematics, where she was the model of a true teacher-scholar. She brought to the classroom a dedication to the success of her students and the beauty of mathematics. She believed deeply in the transformational power of education, and she spent many hours encouraging students to pursue mathematical study as the faculty advisor of the Hypatians, a Mentoring Program for Women in Mathematics at CSUSM. Professor Ramamurthi's commitment to scholarship was evident in her own work, and throughout her years as Faculty Center Director, where she made it her mission to increase research opportunities for faculty. Her infectious laugh and smile are legend across campus and will be greatly missed by all who experienced the joy of knowing and working with her. She is survived by her husband, Professor Andre Kundgen, and a daughter, Mira.

December 2011

CSM is featured in the CSUSM: Steps Magazine, Fall/Winter 2011 issue.  Read about Frontiers in Science, iQuest, Rockets and Robots, and working on The Wild Side of Science.  http://www.csusm.edu/news/steps/