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Delta disruption
A Dec. 8 Sacramento Bee report on Central Valley water quality cites research published in 2007 by Senior Research Scientist Richard Dugdale of the Romberg Tiburon Center. Dugdale's research suggested that ammonia is disrupting the food chain of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by preventing phytoplankton blooms. The largest source of ammonia -- about 14 tons per day -- is the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, which treats sewage for that area.
Fungi at the fair
Biology Lecturer Thomas Jenkinson is quoted in a Dec. 6 San Francisco Bay Guardian story about Fungus Fair, a Bay Area mushroom festival. Why is there so much mushroom mania in the Bay Area? "The Bay Area's a real center of mycology… Fungus is a whole other kingdom -- we don't think about it that much because it's underground, but microscopic threads of it are just everywhere," Jenkinson said.
More grads
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on Dec. 5 that the graduation rate for SF State has increased five points during the last five years, without any changes in admissions selectivity. Nearly one third of surveyed colleges saw their graduation rate decline over the same period.
Saving face
The New York Times profiled Anatomy Lecturer Gloria Nusse's work as a forensic artist in a Dec. 4 feature article. Nusse helps to solve missing person cases through skull analysis which allows her to reconstruct the missing face. "You really have to understand the anatomy. That's really key to this work: knowing how to read the skull," Nusse said. Her work not only helps solve crimes but also provides closure to families. One victim's mother "had no idea where she was," Nusse added, "To know that I helped a person get their loved one returned to them -- I find comfort in that."
For more media coverage of faculty, staff, students, alumni and programs,
see SF State in the News. |
