Volume 11, Issue 2 | March 28, 2022

Spring 2023 Newsletter

Welcome to the School of Science & Technology's Spring newsletter!

Dean's Welcome

Dear friends,

We continue moving toward the new normal in SST. At this point, our classes are back in person and our students are excited to be in their labs and working on projects on campus. We are looking forward to our annual Science Symposium on May 2, 3 to 6:30 pm in the Student Center Ballroom. This is a wonderful opportunity for both undergraduate and graduate students to share the research projects that they have been working on all year.

This summer, we will also welcome ten students from Santa Rosa Junior College and Mendocino College to campus to engage in a five week residential research experience with our faculty. Tom Targett is the PI on this NSF grant, and we are looking forward to seeing the impact of research on these students!

Sonoma State will have Giving Day on April 6. This is a chance for all of us to help support the good work going on throughout SST, including in the departments and with our MESA program which supports first generation college students in STEM. Any gift is profoundly appreciated!

We are preparing for next academic year, including tenure track searches in Computer Science and Nursing, and are looking forward to see what next year will bring.

Elisabeth Wade

Giving Day is April 6!

Mark your calendars! Sonoma State University is preparing to host its annual Giving Day!

On Thursday, April 6th for 24 hours, the Sonoma State community will come together to

support the university we all love and care about.

Many departments and programs in the School of Science & Technology are participating in Giving Day. By supporting our school, departments, and or programs, you will be directly contributing to the success of our students by funding equipment, providing hands-on research experiences, and supporting scholarly activities such as presenting at conferences and publishing academic articles.

We hope we can count on you to show your support by making a donation to the School of Science & Technology, our departments, or our programs. All gifts - no matter the size - make a huge impact on Sonoma State students. To learn more about Giving Day, visit givingday.sonoma.edu.

Giving Day Website

Physics Department About to Experience GROWTH

Sonoma State Professor Alexandra Miller, in partnership with Associate Professor Wing To of Stanislaus State was awarded a $950,000 grant from the Department of Energy’s Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) program to teach high energy physics and engage students in research and internship opportunities.

It is the first Department of Energy Grant ever awarded to either University.

The nearly $1 million for the pair’s proposal, Growth and Research Opportunities With Traineeships in High Energy Physics at Minority Serving Institutions (GROWTH-MSI), will support 10 students per year beginning in January 2024. Each student will receive up to $19,000 in scholarship and stipend support during their junior and senior years.

Two Student Groups in Biology Represent Sonoma State University at the CSU Biotechnology Symposium

The 2023 Annual CSU Biotechnology Symposium was held at the Santa Clara Marriott this January 13-14, 2023. Over 600 participants attended this annual meeting that was organized and hosted by CSUPERB (California State University Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology).

Lynn & Laura visit Pt. Arena High

Last month, Lynn Cominsky and Laura Peticolas of SSU's EdEon visited Point Arena High School in Point Arena, California. While there, they met the new Principal, Marc Feliz, and officially welcomed our new Learning by Making teacher, Andrea Mazza, into the program. Despite joining in the middle of the course, Andrea is doing a fantastic job learning and teaching the course. While there, Lynn and Laura were able to observe Andrea’s class as her students began Lesson 3.8. The students demonstrated turning lights on and off with the use of code, and both Lynn and Laura jumped in to facilitate any troubleshooting that needed to be done. Demonstrating and offering experience in “debugging,” or troubleshooting, code is something that is increasingly becoming a priority in our curriculum. Laura and Lynn also facilitated a brief lesson on energy and energy transformation between light and electrical energy, which the students were very receptive to.

One of the things that make the Learning by Making (LbyM) curriculum great is the ability for students and teachers to use their own personal computers to complete lessons. Lynn and Laura helped the students in Andrea’s class download and install Arduino drivers on their own computers, making the curriculum more accessible. Next year, we hear, Point Arena High School will use Google Classroom so that students can automatically have the Arduino driver and Chrome web browser available for use in class, streamlining the whole process and facilitating a streamlined experience for students in the future.

Learn more about LbyM.

50 Years of Nursing at SSU

We will be hosting a 50th Anniversary Celebration for the Department of Nursing on May 8, 2023, from 11 to 2 pm. Lunch is included in the program and we will have campus tours from 1 to 2 pm.