News from the College of Sciences
Red Flag: Childhood Irritability Could Signal Future Problems
Psychologist Jillian Lee Wiggins received $5.4 million in NIH grants to study irritable youth to predict risk for mental health issues.
Interns Lend a Helping Hand in Disasters
Gabby Smith had just read a news app text message on the horrific migrant-smuggling tragedy in Imperial County: an SUV crammed with 25 people had smashed into a tractor-trailer near the international border, resulting in numerous fatalities.
Big Ideas for Climate Change
Chemists Douglas Grotjahn and Jing Gu will develop catalysts and use microbial fermentation to convert CO2 into chemicals. Microbial biologist Marina Kalyuzhnaya will work on leveraging microbes to consume methane and convert into cell building blocks to produce proteins.
SDSU Astronomy Department Receives $14 Million Bequest
San Diego State University has received the largest donation to a single department in the university’s history, a $14 million gift to the Department of Astronomy.
Virtual Reality: Immersive Learning In Class and the Lab
In biology, students manipulate the skull and different bones to get 360º views of human bones in Sandra Garver’s anatomy class, but they’re not in the lab — this is taking place via remote learning. “In five years we’ll look back and wonder how we ever taught without these immersive learning tools.”
SDSU Joins Nationwide Study of COVID-19 Risk and Severity
Health researchers at SDSU’s South Bay Latino Research Center will join a nationwide study that aims to determine what causes COVID-19 risk and disease severity in diverse communities. The large study of 50,000 people aims to determine what causes disease severity and long-term impacts.
A Legacy in Research
An endowment to support graduate research in chemistry honors the legacy of SDSU President Brage Golding. Former Mayor Susan Golding hopes her father’s endowment will continue to grow, providing needed assistance for graduate students hoping to solve the world’s greatest challenges.
SDSU Professor Rees Garmann’s Research on the Assembly of Bacteriophage MS2 Recognized for Understanding COVID-19 and other Viruses.
Scientists are exploring the physics of viruses, to understand how these pathogens assemble themselves — and might be rent apart.
SDSU Imperial Valley adds B.A. in Math and M.A. in Homeland Security Programs
“It is extremely exciting to see our 17 years of program knowledge instructing homeland security, national security, emergency management, law enforcement, and military professionals inside the SDSU Main Campus Graduate Program in Homeland Security program…”
SDSU Faculty Address Mental Health During a Pandemic
College of Sciences psychology professor Jean Twenge and Florida State University colleague Thomas Joiner compared levels of mental distress experienced by U.S. adults during the pandemic to pre-pandemic distress levels.
Ancient Lake Contributed to Past San Andreas Fault Ruptures and Could Help Explain Fault’s “Earthquake Drought”
SDSU joint Ph.D. student Ryley Hill presented new work using geophysical modeling to quantify how the presence of a large lake overlying the fault could have affected rupture timing on the southern San Andreas in the past.
Halloween 2020: More Risk from Fellow Trick-or-Treaters than the Loot
Researchers say viral transmission risk is low, even when candies are handled by infected persons, but hand washing and disinfecting collected treats reduces risk even further.
Public Trust in Science on the Rise during COVID-19 Pandemic
Conservation ecologist and biology professor Rebecca Lewison concurred, observing that COVID-19 has demonstrated that through coordinated action, daunting challenges can be tackled efficiently.
SDSU Faculty Lead Collaborative COVID-19 Research Efforts: Health Care
Biology professor David Lipson is partnering with San Diego biotechnology company Menon Biosensors and UCSD researchers to develop a new COVID-19 test using a combination of molecular biology and nuclear magnetic resonance technology.
Capturing the First Image of a Black Hole
The Event Horizon Telescope, a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration, captured this image of the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy M87 and its shadow. (Image: © EHT...
Jeff Roberts: Laser Focused on Research
The dean of the College of Sciences gained early exposure to research opportunities and wants to ensure SDSU students do too. His priority is to ensure the high-caliber faculty recruited by the college have the resources to take their research to the next level.
SDSU Named to Consortium for Terrorism Prevention and Counterterrorism Research
SDSU’s Homeland Security Graduate Program co-directors, Eric Frost and Lance Larson, will use additional funds provided by the award to deliver an education of the Homeland Security Enterprise with focused training on cyber and open-source intelligence to build up existing and future DHS needs and opportunities and solve real problems as a means to learning.
A Will to Learn and Inspire
Deva Reign assisted with humanitarian relief in Haiti for the U.S. Navy, built satellites at the Hughes plant in El Segundo and recorded his own rap albums — but only now is Deva finding his place in a field that has fascinated him since childhood.