Student entrepreneurs in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics will soon be using Alexa devices to power their ideas through CSUN’s participation in the inaugural Amazon Alexa Innovation Fellowship program. Photo by Lee Choo.

“Alexa, start my new business venture.”

Although we’re used to asking Amazon’s Alexa for everyday things like playing music or controlling home lighting, student entrepreneurs in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge will soon be using the devices to power their ideas through CSUN’s participation in the inaugural Amazon Alexa Innovation Fellowship program.

The Alexa Innovation Fellowship aims to help support on-campus entrepreneurial programs through funding, Alexa devices, hardware kits and regular training.These resources are expected to be used for student scholarship and to further support  innovation programs, operating costs and sponsorships.

“Participating in the first Alexa Innovation Fellowship is an honor that gives our students, regardless of their background, new opportunities to make their business ideas a reality,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison. “From global leaders visiting campus, to our outstanding business incubator, to the collaborative programs that inspire our students’ creativity, CSUN’s initiatives to enhance innovation and entrepreneurship across campus are being recognized nationally.”

CSUN was recently named an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and No. 2 in the greater LA region for producing tech talent by Bixel Exchange.

Tim Tiemann, managing director of the CSUN Innovation Incubator, and Ryan Holbrook, Entrepreneurship Program director for the Nazarian College, were selected as fellows. The Nazarian College is the first business college to receive fellowships under the new program and joins other universities including Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth and the University of Southern California.

“The Alexa Fellowship will be an important addition to the numerous activities we are undertaking to encourage, pursue and develop an entrepreneurial culture in our college,” said Nazarian College Dean Chandra Subramaniam. “The Alexa Innovation Fellowship provides our students with tools and skills to be creative and drive innovation in the domain of voice-enabled technology.”

Plans for the initial year are to incorporate Alexa into a series of campus events, including a social entrepreneurship workshop focused on solving societal issues through voice technology and Alexa-enabled devices; to expand the I-Corps customer discovery program outside of that program’s STEM funding; to create student entrepreneur teams from diverse disciplines; and to expand the Fast Pitch, Bull Ring and CSUN Summer Accelerator programs to include more voice-activation technology startup teams.

“Where there’s innovation, there’s opportunity,” said Holbrook. “Voice technology, including natural language processing and conversational AI, is one of the most transformative new areas of innovation, and we’re excited to offer our students and faculty the resources to explore new applications and, essentially, help shape the future.”

“Innovation at CSUN is already accelerating at a rapid pace,” added Tiemann. “The Alexa Fellowship allows us to build on existing programs and broaden the type and sophistication of tools the CSUN community has to solve real-world problems. Amazon’s recognition underscores their confidence in CSUN’s ability to bring together the best students, technology and training to provide meaningful improvements to the way we live.”

Amazon and CSUN already work together on campus: CSUN currently uses Alexa in business and information technology (IT) conference rooms and is exploring potential use cases for the technology in educational settings. In addition, many CSUN alumni call Amazon home, including alumnus Steven Rabuchin ’85 (Organizational Systems Management), a vice president for Amazon Alexa who oversees much of its work with third-party developers and device makers.

“The number of alumni in high positions at leading tech companies is an important part of our strategy to help innovation and entrepreneurship flourish,” said Robert Gunsalus, vice president of University Advancement and president of the CSUN Foundation. “We are grateful to Steve for his support in our expanding our relationship with Amazon, which is joining companies like Apple, Microsoft and other tech giants who invest in CSUN and see momentum here on campus.”

CSUN has received the 2018 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. Photo by Lee Choo.

California State University, Northridge has received the 2018 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

As a recipient of the annual HEED Award — a national honor recognizing United States colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — CSUN will be featured, along with 95 other recipients, in the November 2018 issue of the magazine. This is the third year in a row that CSUN has been named a HEED Award recipient.

“To receive the award for three years in row demonstrates that CSUN is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive educational environment,” said Natalie Mason-Kinsey, the university’s chief diversity officer. “It’s easy to say you are committed to inclusion and diversity, but CSUN demonstrates every day, in programs across the campus, that its faculty and staff are doing all they can to ensure that all our students succeed.”

Mason-Kinsey pointed to a number of programs that demonstrate the university’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, from CSUN’s nearly 30-year-old Maximizing Access to Research Careers Undergrad Science Training and Academic Research (MARC U-STAR) program, which provides support to underrepresented undergraduate students who are interested in the biomedical sciences; to more recent programs such as Bridge to the Future, which provides a four-year, tuition-free education to 25 students from Canoga Park High School annually; and BUILD PODER (Building Infrastructure to Diversity and Promoting Opportunities for Diversity in Education and Research), which aims to increase diversity in biomedical research fields and prepare participants for Ph.D. programs.

“There are dozens of other programs across the campus that also provide support and encouragement to students from diverse backgrounds to ensure that the students are on the path to success,” Mason-Kinsey said. “What’s important is that not only does CSUN have these programs, but it gives the programs the support and flexibility they need to respond to the ever-changing needs of our students. This institution, to its very core, is committed to diversity and inclusion.”

The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion.

“We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED recipient,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity. “Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being accomplished every day across their campuses.”

Spielberg and Clooney, Kidman and Downey Jr., Geffen and Katzenberg, Marvel and DreamWorks.

California State University, Northridge alumnus and filmmaking heavyweight Michael Grillo shared memories from his decades working with Hollywood royalty in front of a packed auditorium at CSUN’s Northridge Room. Grillo appeared on campus Sept. 26 for the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics’ Distinguished Speaker Series.

Beneath the glossy surface of silver screen memories was a deep message that Grillo ’71 (Business Administration) imparted to Matadors.

First, Grillo said, he still pinches himself every day — even after 50 years of making movies, including one of the biggest box office hits of all time. Grillo was the executive producer of Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War. According to IMDb, the film’s budget was more than $300 million, and it grossed more than $2 billion, the fourth-highest grossing film worldwide ever. Grillo is also the executive producer of the forthcoming, untitled Avengers movie, scheduled for release in 2019.

Second, there is a place for anyone who wants to get into the industry, he said.

“There are hundreds of jobs working in the entertainment business, and honestly, it’s the greatest gig in the world,” Grillo said. “No matter what you study, no matter who you are out there in the audience, there’s actually a job and an opportunity for you. And you have to figure out what you do well and how you fit into it. You can be a lawyer, a mathematician, you can be a chef — it doesn’t matter what it is you do. You can be a writer. You can be a director. There are those opportunities for you.”

The theme of Grillo’s 90-minute talk to students, faculty and staff was the intersection of filmmaking and business.

As executive producer of two of the biggest blockbusters in history, it was the 70-year-old’s job to ensure each film was made on time, on budget, and all the pieces were in place for a team of hundreds to execute a constantly shifting plan.

Grillo said his job impacts both business and creative sides of filmmaking, and it touches all points of a movie, from planning to production to marketing. For example, a marketing team will show up during filming and ask that a particular scene gets shot earlier in the production, so they can use that scene earlier to promote the movie.

“It’s not two separate entities,” Grillo said. “Making movies is a business, and all the creative decisions have a financial basis. So, what’s really interesting is having very creative people working with people who are business oriented. Putting the whole group together to make something that you think is really special, that people will respond to and also makes money.

“If you work in the film business and your films don’t make money, you don’t get to do it anymore. You go home. That’s it,” he continued. “So, you better be cognizant of how much the movies cost and how people are willing to invest in them, what your audience is, how to sell to them, how to market them.”

Grillo said he doesn’t allow the pressure of it all to get to him.

“First, I know how lucky I am,” Grillo said. “People would die to be on a film like [Avengers]. I feel very fortunate. I’ve done a lot of movies for Marvel. I worked for [directors] Joe and Anthony Russo before. I know how to make these movies. I have a confidence in that.”

“[In] our production meeting with the crew, I said, ‘This is what we’re going to do: We don’t have a script yet. We kind of don’t know what [all] we’re doing,'” Grillo said, recounting his experience making the third and fourth Avengers movies. “‘We’re going to be chasing it. But here’s the difference: We’re going to make the two best movies that Marvel has ever made, and we’re going to make them for the money they’re giving us, and we’re going to do our best work. To do that, we’re going to look after each other. We’re going to be a family for two years. We’re here for too long for it to not be a really positive experience. We win when the films are successful, and we all have a great time together.”

Grillo shared parts of his journey at CSUN, where he earned his bachelor’s degree during the late 1960s and early ’70s, one of the most turbulent times in U.S. history, and he said that going to college was a haven for young people like him who had no interest in going to war in Vietnam.

After CSUN, Grillo went to the Directors Guild Training Program, which helped launch his career in entertainment that has included his work on some of the best-known American films of the past 50 years —The Deer Hunter, The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist (a movie nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1989), Saving Private Ryan, American Beauty and Gladiator. At DreamWorks, he was the studio’s first head of feature film production and oversaw production on all of its live-action movies from 1996 to 2006.

Grillo spoke about his ties to his alma mater, which was then called San Fernando Valley State College.

“The process of being challenged to do things and try and figure out how to solve them and be successful at the end of the day” was one of his biggest takeaways from CSUN, he said.

Grillo said he was gone from his Hermosa Beach home for two and a half years while making Avengers: Infinity War and the yet-to-be-released fourth Avengers movie. He said he’s unsure as to what the future holds and joked that maybe he’ll just hang out on the beach and enjoy life.

“I just finished two of the biggest movies ever made. I’ve had a really good career. I don’t think there’s a project that would make me fulfilled that [would make me feel], ‘now I’ve done it all,’” Grillo said. “I’ve kind of done all those. I worked my way up. I did small movies. I’ve done huge movies. I’ve worked on movies that have won Best Picture. I’ve been nominated for an Oscar. I’ve run a studio.”

For the moment, he said, he’s enjoying life. And on this night, he enjoyed giving back to CSUN.

“I’ve been making movies for 50 years, and I think it’s valuable to share these experiences with people,” Grillo said. “It’s an unbelievable industry. If I affect two or three students, it’s worth it.”

CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison reads to young people at the 2017 Feria de Educación. Photo by Sarah Dutton.

Univision Los Angeles, the California State University Chancellor’s Office and California State University, Northridge are once again teaming up to host the Feria de Educación, a daylong celebration focused on providing educational resources for thousands of youth and families at CSUN on Saturday, Oct. 20.

The free, annual event, part of Univision’s “Regresa a Classes” (Back-to-School) campaign, has become one of the largest education fairs in the nation and is free for parents, students and educators. Through its award-winning corporate empowerment platform, Univision Contigo, the back-to-school campaign is focused on promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) building blocks, education, opportunities and careers for Latinos.

The Feria is scheduled to take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in areas and buildings around CSUN’s Oviatt Library, located in the heart of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge. This is third year CSUN has hosted the community event.

“We are pleased to once again partner with Univision and the California State University system to host this year’s Feria de Educación,” CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison said. “As a university that has launched more than 360,000 bright futures, we are happy to help shape the next generation of college students’ futures. I encourage students and families of all ages to join us in discovering valuable educational information and a better understanding of the financial resources that make higher education affordable and accessible.”

Since 2009, a CSU campus and Univision Los Angeles have partnered to offer this one-day education fair filled with Spanish- and English-language workshops and other activities designed to give parents the tools to help their children achieve their educational and career goals, providing resources and valuable information on the full spectrum of education.

“Our joint mission to provide access to education and empower our community has been the driving force behind our ten-year partnership with CSU system and why we are proud to do this event,” said Luis Patiño, president and general manager of Univision Los Angeles. “Knowledge is powerful and empowering, it opens doors and helps our community rise and succeed.”

Workshops will include how to navigate the California educational system, preparing for college early, financial aid and scholarships, and services for undocumented students.

The Feria will include a “reading garden” and a variety of age-appropriate books and learning materials will be distributed to encourage children and their parents to read together. There will be exhibits explaining the “pathway” to education with additional resources and information, beginning with pre-K and continuing through post-graduate services.

Univision talent joining Feria include: Liz Alvarado (KLOVE), Yarel Ramos and Oswaldo Borraez, as well as Cecilia Bogran and Gabriel Teissier (A Primera Hora).

The Feria de Educación supports the CSU’s Graduation Initiative 2025that is focused on increasing the completion rates of first-time freshmen, transfer, low-income and underserved students. The Graduation Initiative 2025 will add 100,000 more college graduates to California’s workforce over the next 10 years, bringing the total number of expected CSU graduates between 2015 and 2025 to more than 1 million.

“The future of California and the nation will depend on our ability to ensure that all students — regardless of background, belief, circumstance or status — have equitable opportunities for academic achievement and lifelong success,” CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White said. “As a product of California’s public higher education systems, I am proud that the California State University stands committed to building pathways to higher education for all qualified students.”

For more information about the Feria de Educación at CSUN, visit www.csun.edu/feria. To learn more about Feria events across California, visit www.calstate.edu/feriadeeducacion.

California State University, Northridge went grand on Saturday, Oct. 13, as 6,000 Matadors returned to campus for the university’s 60^th Anniversary Grand Reunion.

The main event of the day was the Grand Reunion Picnic — an afternoon celebration on the Oviatt Lawn in front of the iconic Delmar T. Oviatt Library where student performers entertained their fellow Matadors on stage and people enjoyed mini-reunions, campus tours, games, food trucks and more.

“The Grand Reunion was beyond expectation,” said Shellie Hadvina, assistant vice president, Alumni Relations and Annual Funds. “It was so incredible to see Matadors of all ages return to campus. We hope this event has brought them closer to CSUN today and for years to come.”

The day started with the Matador Fun Run 5K and led into the invite-only Founders’ Luncheon, where 1968 graduates and faculty and staff who began their service to CSUN were inducted into the university’s 50 Year Club.

After the Grand Reunion Picnic, some event-goers made their way to watch CSUN Men’s Soccer host Cal Poly, attended reunion gatherings for Journalism, University Student Union or the TAKE stage performance program or watched Moon River and the Music of Henry Mancini (hosted by Monica Mancini) at The Soraya.

This was CSUN’s largest reunion since the 50^th Grand Reunion in 2008. Like at that event, a group photo was taken in front of the Oviatt Library, commemorating a spectacular day for all.

A number of rankings have been released recently, and each named CSUN among the best. Photo by Lee Choo.

A combination of academic quality, diversity and size have helped California State University, Northridge garner recognition as one of the leading institutions of higher education in the United States.

A number of rankings have been released recently — including the U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Best Colleges, the 2019 Wall Street Journal (WSJ)/Times Higher Education (THE) College Rankings, the 2018 Washington Monthly College Rankings, the 2018-19 Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac and The Hispanic Outlook on Education’s Top 100 Colleges and Universities for Hispanics — and each named CSUN among the best.

“This year, CSUN is celebrating 60 years as a life-changing public university,” CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison said. “Throughout all those years, we have strived to provide access to excellent higher education to our region and beyond. These rankings are a recognition by national publications of what our students, faculty, alumni and friends have always known — CSUN provides an inclusive, quality environment for learning that makes a difference in the lives of everyone who walks through our doors.”

U.S. News & World Report ranked CSUN 10^thamong West region institutions in the proportion of international students its serves, and 21^stamong the top public colleges overall in the West region. It also ranked the university 35^thin the same region for its undergraduate engineering programs.

The WSJ/THE College Rankings placed CSUN second in the nation for its diverse learning environment based on student and faculty diversity, as well as the number of international students who study at the university. The WSJ/THE US College Rankings, now in its third year, puts an emphasis on student success and included a survey of student opinions in its methodology.

Washington Monthly ranked CSUN 21^stnationally among master’s level universities and 21^stamong universities of all types in the western United States on their “Best Bang for the Buck” rankings, recognizing CSUN’s success in elevating the economic prosperity of its students.

The Chronicle of Higher Education cited CSUN as the second-largest public master’s-level university in the country, and credited it with having the third-largest international student population among public master’s-level universities in the nation.

The Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education ranked CSUN third in the nation for the total number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanics or Latinos in 2017, based on data collected from the National Center for Education Statistics. CSUN also ranked 10^thin the nation for the total number of master’s degrees it awarded Hispanics or Latinos in 2017. The education magazine ranked CSUN sixth in the nation for total enrollment of Hispanic or Latino students at a four-year institution in 2016.

Finally, Diverse Issues in Higher Education placed CSUN at seventh in the nation among colleges and universities awarding undergraduate degrees to minority students and fourth for Latino students.

Branching corals growing on a wave-cut channel on the outer reef of Mo’orea. These corals were wiped out by voracious swarms of the Crown of Thorns seastar and, following a major cyclone in 2010, they started to rapidly regrow from large numbers of babies that settled when adult corals were removed (i.e., settlement was negatively related to the abundance of adults, as described in CSUN marine biologist Peter Edmunds’ latest paper on coral reefs). Photo by Peter Edmunds.

California State University, Northridge marine biologist Peter Edmunds and a team of researchers have taken a step forward in understanding why some coral reef populations recover from catastrophic events.

Edmunds and his colleagues have found that density dependence — a scientific concept usually associated with understanding how the population sizes of animals and plants are controlled — can be applied to coral reef communities.

“You’ve got the ability for a population to grow, but then you’ve got what controls the rate of growth and the final size of the population,” Edmunds explained. “That control includes a whole bunch of processes — called the density-dependence effect— that play a critical role in determining the population size. The control of population sizes is front and center in climate change issues and the changing world that we live in. You can argue that the factors controlling population size, even with coral reefs, are fundamental to understanding the biological effects of climate change.”

Edmunds and his colleagues — Hannah Nelson, a doctoral candidate at the Center for Population Biology at University of California, Davis, who earned her master’s in marine biology from CSUN while studying with Edmunds, and Lorenzo Bramanti, a marine biologist with the Laboratoire d’Ecogéochimie des Environnements Benthiques in France — conducted an experiment that demonstrates the role that density dependence plays in the recovery of the coral reef populations in the reefs of Mo’orea, French Polynesia. Their paper, “Density-dependence mediates coral assemblage structure,” appears in the latest edition of Ecology.

In population ecology, density-dependence processes occur when population growth rates are regulated by the number of organisms in that population. The term, density dependence, is often used by scientists to better understand the factors controlling the development of complex communities.

Shallow coral reef on the outer shore of Mo’orea showing the branching corals that are the subject of Edmunds’ recent study. Bare carbonate rock is visible between them, and is the surface on which baby corals love to settle. The green coral in the center is “fire coral” which avoided being eaten by the Crown of Thorns Seastar. Photo by Peter Edmunds.

Edmunds and Bramanti first applied the concept of density dependence when they investigated the recovery of the coral populations on the reefs of Mo’orea following a massive infestation of coral-eating sea stars that, according to Edmunds, “pretty much killed off every coral on the reef” in 2010.

“It turned out that 2010 was the start of an absolutely remarkable recovery of the coral community,” he said. “In the course of just eight years, the reef has gone from basically no corals to about 75 percent of the sea floor covered by live coral.

“We published a paper [in 2016] that pointed out that this was really unusual and, at that stage, we suspected the recovery provided an example of density dependence at work,” he continued. “If you kill off the coral, you get phenomenally high densities of new baby corals appearing (a case of higher recruitment), and example of negative density dependence — which means when these corals die off, you get high recruitment, but as the population recovers, recruitment declines.”

The paper appeared in a journal about coral reefs and was read mostly by professional coral reef biologists. Edmunds and his colleagues realized that their paper was missing one key element that could attract the interests of more of their fellow scientists — an experiment that proved their theory was right.

In 2016, Edmunds, Bramanti and Nelson returned to Mo’orea and trimmed some corals from small plots of reef, altering the “density” of the corals in specific areas.

“We achieved exactly what we predicted would occur — we removed the coral and, sure enough, recruitment went up,” Edmunds said.

Applying density-dependence processes, which are regularly used in many aspects of ecological science, is much harder to apply to aquatic environments where the times researchers can work underwater is limited.

“It’s really difficult to work underwater,” Edmunds said. “If you work underwater for too long, you’ll die. If you stay underwater for sort of too long, you’re paralyzed. It’s not as easy as going into a forest and working there for 12 hours straight.”

Corals growing on a wave-cut channel on the outer reef of Mo’orea. Photo by Peter Edmunds.

But as marine scientists continue to study coral reefs over the course of years, if not decades, they are able to gather data and conduct experiments suggesting that the mechanisms controlling marine populations are similar to those controlling populations of plants and animals on the land.

“Many marine biologists have not been paying enough attention to what their colleagues in terrestrial biology are doing,” said Edmunds, who has spent the past 14 years studying the coral reefs off Mo’orea. “There’s a huge understanding of how a forest functions, and you can argue that some animals, like branching corals, can make underwater forests and, therefore, it is interesting to ask whether forests of trees and forests of coral are regulated by similar mechanisms.”

Edmunds said the density-dependences processes that applied in Mo’orea can provide marine biologists important information as they study ways to help coral reefs recover from disasters.

“If you can better understand the mechanisms that determine how a coral reef is put back together following a disaster, then you have a better chance of understanding how it might be put back together in a world with more intense hurricanes, perhaps fewer predators or possibly more diseases,” he said.

Edmunds, who also spent the past 32 years studying the reefs of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, said he did not think the density-dependence process he saw in Mo’orea would apply in the Caribbean.

“Most of the reefs in the Caribbean are so degraded that I think they are controlled by different rules,” he said. “Their rule book has changed because their communities have changed so much.”

Edmunds called the recognition that density dependence applies to many coral reef communities “a step forward” in understanding what may save them from the effects of climate change.

“Science advancement occurs down a very long road along which scientists are taking very small steps,” he said. “If you take enough steps, however, you can make a difference in understanding the way in which the biological world functions. I don’t know if we can take enough steps to understand the biological crises we are currently facing. That will depend on resources, public support and interest.”

From left, Greg Easton, James L. Easton, Phyllis Easton, and Robert Gunsalus, CSUN’s vice president for university advancement, at the celebration on Oct. 22 marking the opening of a new archery range and the creation of a fellowship in CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.  The Easton family, through the Easton Foundations, have given CSUN $1.5 million for the creation of the fellowship and to bolster resources for the Olympic-style sport of archery on campus. Photo by Lee Choo.

The sporting goods manufacturing company Jas. D. Easton, Inc., has had a decades-long relationship with California State University, Northridge — from offering students hands-on training through internships to its staff working alongside faculty to investigate and solve many materials engineering challenges.

Easton is taking the relationship to the next level with a $1.5 million gift from its philanthropic arms — the Easton Foundations — for the creation of an endowment for faculty in CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. Money from the gift also will be used to bolster resources for the Olympic-style sport of archery on campus.

“California State University, Northridge and the Easton companies have enjoyed a long and highly beneficial history of working together,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison. “Industry involvement has played a key role in the development of our materials engineering program, and the Easton companies have been exemplary partners. The collaboration between Easton and CSUN has made an indelible imprint on Los Angeles and beyond, and this latest gift from the Easton Foundations will extend the positive impact in perpetuity.

“James L. Easton’s legacy and the Easton name will be an important part of CSUN forever,” she continued, “and hundreds of students each year will be positively affected by the engineering fellowship and the enhancements to our archery programs.”

Greg Easton said the gift honors the long relationship Jas. D. Easton, Inc. and his father, James L. Easton, had with the university over the years.

Reynaldo “Rene” Paguia, archery head coach for Associated Students sports clubs, takes the first ceremonial shot in celebration of then opening of CSUN’s new archery range. Photo by Lee Choo.

“My dad directly worked with professors at the university over the years on different projects, trying to improve materials for sporting goods,” Greg Easton said. “The question was always, how do we make a better product to bring out the best in the athletes?

“This also is a great opportunity to enhance the archery program on campus,” Easton added. He and his father are well known for their passion for the sport. Easton noted that studies have shown that young people who do archery are better able to concentrate and focus in school.

“With this gift, we’ll be able to expand the opportunities for students to take part in the sport,” he said

More than $1 million of the gift will go toward the creation and support of the James L. Easton Fellowship in Engineering Endowment in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. The college’s dean will select one faculty member from any of the college’s engineering programs to be the “Easton Foundation Engineering Fellow” for one academic year. During that time, the Easton Fellow will receive financial support for his or her teaching, research and service activities.

The remainder of the gift will be used to support CSUN’s student archery club, the creation of an on-campus archery range not far from the baseball diamond and an archery class in the Department of Kinesiology in the College of Health and Human Development.

Robert Gunsalus, CSUN’s vice president for university advancement and president of the CSUN Foundation, said the gift not only creates an opportunity for students to explore archery, but it also creates a wide variety of career opportunities.

“Countless Northridge students have served in internships and pursued successful professional careers in the Easton companies,” Gunsalus said. “Several of these Matadors have returned to their alma mater to serve on advisory boards, judge engineering competitions, and support the engineering college in other ways. This gift builds on the great relationship CSUN has had with the Easton Companies and amplifies their tremendous positive impact.”

Created by James L. Easton., the Easton Sports Development Foundation (www.esdf) was founded in 1984 with the mission of introducing the Olympic-style sport of archery to more people in Southern California. The success of that effort led to the formation in 2006 of a second Easton foundation, Easton Sports Development Foundation II. Today, the Easton foundations continue to further the sport of archery by bridging the gap between first experience and elite experience. The goal of the Easton foundations is to promote and maintain the viability of archery by growing the sport as a mainstream activity at the state, regional and national level.

The CSUN Chicanx House is inviting the community to its 37th Annual Dia de los Muertos celebration, this year with two nights of events, Nov. 1 and 2.

Students and faculty from the CSUN Chicana/o studies department, in collaboration with the student organization El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA de CSUN), are hosting a two-day community event in remembrance of friends and loved ones who have passed away.

Dia de los Muertos is an ancient spiritual and cultural celebration of life, death and regeneration originating from the indigenous people of Mexico and Central America, and later combined with Spanish Catholic influences. Today it is still celebrated in Mexico, Central America, throughout other countries Latin America and parts of the United States. MEChA de CSUN aims to bring that celebration closer to home.

“Dia de los Muertos provides a platform for people to reconnect with culture and our ancestral roots,” said Melissa Esquivel, MEChA de CSUN’s event coordinator and one of the lead organizers of the event. “This two-night event is a way for the community to do the same, and to celebrate this life and the life that comes after.”

Nov. 1 is the Noche de Ofrenda, or night of offering, which serves as a night of remembrance and reflections. The event will feature a viewing of altars, sharing stories and music. The night will begin with a procession led by Aztec dancers with students participating. Noche de Ofrenda will start in the Jerome Richfield lobby at 5:30 p.m. and end at the Chicana/o House.

There will be a community altar provided by Chicana/o Studies professor Jessica Arana which guests are encouraged to bring any offerings such as flowers, photos or any other contributions to place on the altar. Chicana/o Studies professors Yreina Cervantez, Lara Medina, and professor Jamie Russom from the CSUN Art Department are getting their students involved with making the artistic elements of the event come to life. Cervantez and the students in her Days of the Dead course are leading the display of the altars, and some community members have submitted their own altars to display.

The Noche de Ofrenda will feature several musical acts — including Carlos Hernandez, a musician from Oaxaca; Cuerva Dance Company; the musical group Cuaño; and Son Jarcocho, musicians from the state of Veracruz.

The Nov. 2 Dia de los Muertos event is a night of celebration, family and community. This night will feature art and food vendors, face painting, a children’s corner and more live entertainment. It will feature a live performance by Ballet Folklorico, the traditional Mexican dance company; Sister Mantos, a queer empowerment cumbia group; and Los Angeles ska band Raskahuele.

This event is free and open to the public and welcomes all ages.

Following the procession, Noche de Ofrenda will take place from 6-10 p.m. at the Chicanx House.  Dia de los Muertos will go from 6 p.m.-12 a.m.

Nayereh Tohidi and Judy Baca.

The late Maya Angelou’s 1978 poem, “Phenomenal Woman,” lends its name to the biannual Phenomenal Woman Awards — a reception, award ceremony and fundraiser hosted by the Gender and Women’s Studies department at California State University, Northridge.

The 13th biennial Phenomenal Woman Awards, which took place Nov. 4 at the Grand Salon in the University Student Union, celebrated the 25th anniversary of CSUN’s Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and the 45th anniversary of the university’s Women’s Research and Resource Center.

The department bestowed the accolade to five women this year. The honorees were:

• CSUN alumna Judy Baca ’69 (Art), M.A. ’80 (Art Education), Hon.D. ’18, a painter, muralist and scholar. Baca is a world-renowned muralist perhaps best known for the The Great Wall of Los Angeles — which was painted along the Tujunga Wash, a tributary of the Los Angeles River. She was the founder of the first City of Los Angeles Mural Program in 1974. The program has since evolved into a community arts organization known as the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), which has been creating sites of public memory since 1976.
• Nayereh Tohidi, professor emerita, former chair of Gender and Women’s Studies, and founding director of CSUN’s Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies department. She also has served as a consultant to the United Nations (UNICEF and UNDP) and represented women non-governmental organizations at both the third and fourth World Conferences on women.
• Melina Abdullah, professor and chair of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. Abdullah was an original organizer of Black Lives Matter. She was also instrumental in replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day.
• Sue Dunlap, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, an organization that provides comprehensive reproductive and sexual health care services to 250,000 patients each year.
• Sandra Harding, distinguished research professor emerita of education and gender studies at UCLA. Harding is a feminist philosopher and directed the UCLA Center for the Study of Women.
• An honorary award also was given to professor and research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford, who testified about an alleged sexual assault during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. Ford was honored for her courage and moral integrity, according to Tina Beyene, an assistant professor in CSUN’s Gender and Women’s Studies Department.

Department chair Breny Mendoza thanked the honorees for their efforts.

“Our awardees are phenomenal women of all walks of life,” Mendoza said. “They have made a difference in the world, and we are honored to have with us today a truly extraordinary lineup of phenomenal women.”

To recognize Baca as a Phenomenal Woman, Marta Lopez-Garza — professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Chicana/o Studies — lauded the Matador’s artistic work, including The Great Wall of Los Angeles, which spans a half mile and depicts the multicultural history of California from prehistoric times to the 1950s.

Moreover, Lopez-Garza said, Baca’s art “reflects [her] strong belief that people of color should learn about and value our histories, and the histories of one another.”

Baca thanked the committee for the award and shared her vision of the future.

“I can easily say I was raised by phenomenal women,” Baca said. “A single mother in Watts who brought me into the world [by] taking a cab to give birth in St. Anne’s Home for Unwed Mothers, by herself at 23 years old; her indigenous mother, a refugee escaping a brutal revolution in Mexico….

“I dream of a time in the future when the ‘me too’ movement is transformed by Maya [Angelou]’s words: ‘I am a woman phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me.’ [Of a time] where women can respond [to that], ‘me too,’” she added.

The second Matador honored that night was Tohidi, who formerly served as chair for the department for four years. When presenting the award, professor and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities Sheena Malhotra said Tohidi “has one of the sharpest and [most] critical eyes for Islamic mobilization in Iran … and feminist responses to the same.”

Tohidi accepted the award with “pride and humility.”

“I’m humbled because I know very well [what it takes] to organize the Phenomenal Woman Awards and the deliberation it takes to choose awardees,” she said. “I’m really humbled to be among [my co-awardees] — they’re truly distinguished and phenomenal.”

Also in her acceptance speech, Tohidi thanked the CSUN community.

“I value CSUN so much,” Tohidi said. “CSUN gave me a home. As an exile [from Iran], and as an immigrant, [CSUN] has made me feel at home because of good colleagues, a friendly environment, good administration and a diverse, multicultural school.”

In addition to the presentation of awards, the event featured a silent auction, whose proceeds went to the department; a slideshow, highlighting past Phenomenal Woman awardees and the department; and two spoken-word pieces by poet and CSULA Pan-African Studies professor Funmilola Fagbamila.

Professor of gender and women’s studies and Director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center Shira Brown said that her goal for this year’s event was to highlight the ways in which the honorees contribute to feminism, gender studies and civil rights movements.

“[This event] reminds us why we’re doing the work, with whom we’re doing the work,” Brown said. “It’s an opportunity for us to not lose sight of the important work that’s being done and not lose sight of the fact that even though there’s a lot happening in politics, our work is still valuable and meaningful.”

After the awards and acceptance speeches, Mendoza led a question-and-answer session with the five awardees. Discussing police brutality, reproductive rights and other pressing social issues, the session lasted almost an hour. One question was directed to Baca.

Mendoza asked, “How does a muralist like Judy Baca depict what the current political landscape and struggles look like? What would be its themes, and who would participate in the making of it?”

Baca responded, “I am working in Fresno with Oaxaceños who are stone-fruit pickers, who are suffering from diabetes and amputations because of the lack of access to fresh food. [I’m also working in] Bakersfield with [farmers who encounter] pesticides as [a byproduct of] the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) removing pesticide controls,” she said.

Additionally, Baca said, these images will become murals in the neighborhoods where she is doing this work, to “point out that the people who feed the nation — and, in fact, feed the world – are suffering these consequences for living in the Central Valley, more highly polluted now and more of a difficulty than ever.”

It was 1996 on the campus of a university still dusting itself off from a massive earthquake that struck two years earlier.

And Parag Vaish ’97 (Finance) had to find a way.

Based off numbers he had gathered, he knew voter turnout among students at California State University, Northridge for Associated Students government elections was generally low. So he, running for vice president, and Vladimir Cerna, running for president, got clever.

The Deaf Studies Association on campus, he recalled, was largely ignored because of a communication barrier. However, data showed that the members of the group were generally active voters. Thus, Vaish broke the barrier and campaigned to the overlooked students.

Vaish also recognized that students weren’t voting in numbers because of one of the requirements for voting. They had to provide pin numbers that were assigned to them months before as a requirement for registering for classes. After registration, they tossed or tucked the pin numbers away. The Cerna-Vaish ticket decided to knock on doors at university dorms, encouraging students to find their pin numbers, vote and vote for them.

Then the duo took it a step further.

“We knocked on people’s doors at the dorms, and we told everyone we were losing,” Vaish recalled. “We didn’t truly know if we were winning or losing. But we wanted to create some urgency. … We got them motivated to go and find their pin number and vote, and we won!”

It’s called resiliency — not facing a challenge but doing what it takes to overcome it.

It’s one of the biggest takeaways Vaish said he has from his time at CSUN. And it’s a characteristic that has pushed him to great heights through leadership roles at The Walt Disney Company, Microsoft, NBC News, StubHub and in his current role with one of the most innovative companies in the world as digital products lead at Tesla.

“I think about the term resiliency, and that’s really what Cal State Northridge taught me,” Vaish said. “I’ve got a chip on my shoulder I know, and I think it sources from my time at CSUN where not only were we affected by the earthquake in a material way, but we were also in the shadow of UCLA and USC as students.”

There is passion that stirs inside of Vaish when thinking about his time at CSUN. He had roots in the university. His sister, Aparna Singhal (who is now the director of global retail operations for Google Play), earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from CSUN in 1991. His father, Harish Vaish, was a professor at CSUN.

The university also provided opportunity for Vaish to find a way. Student government, he said, unlocked something in him.

“I was a pretty shy kid going into college, and having to campaign and get in front of an audience and explain why you’re credible and qualified for this particular role develops character because you have to answer questions on the fly,” Vaish said.

Fast forward 20 years and the skills he began to develop at CSUN helped when he answered questions during a live interview on Fox Business News explaining how one can purchase tickets through the StubHub app on the Apple Watch.

“I learned how to think quickly on my feet, especially when in front of a live audience. I had no idea that would come in handy on live television 20 years later,” Vaish said.

Tenacity, hard work, having foresight and transferring skills across different business landscapes are other ways that Vaish has found a way throughout a dynamic career.

Between his junior and senior years at CSUN, he competed with what he recalls as 150 people for an internship at Disney. He came into the interview armed with a zero-based budgeting plan that he implemented within the University Student Union Board of Directors, while others came in empty-handed, and made so much of an impression that he was hired.

Over the last 20 years, Vaish has worked in entertainment, healthcare, advertising, commerce and the travel industry, with three distinct job classification roles — finance, marketing and product management.

Vaish received considerable media attention at StubHub, where he was the director of mobile product management from 2013-2015 and oversaw the company’s digital products during an immense growth period in technology and user engagement by leading the company into the mobile era.

After StubHub, he became vice president and general manager of Epocrates, one of the most downloaded and highly rated medical reference apps on the market.

And from there, he took on a new role at Tesla.

Vaish oversees a team of product managers, designers and content creators at Tesla with the goal of providing users with the most informative, innovative and captivating experience on the website, on mobile, in retail stores and inside the actual vehicle.

Being a part of a company that has received so much attention for its advances in technology and sustainability is something that Vaish doesn’t take for granted. Learning from visionary and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Vaish said, is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.

“I now look at problems in the world and say there’s got to be a better way to solve and ask how businesses could run better,” Vaish said. “It’s almost like a curse where you’re constantly seeing problems with the way things have always been because the world has defined it. … Elon drives the behavior and the thinking that causes us to think differently about the world. That’s the coolest part about the job.” 

Change, finding a way — they’re thematic in Vaish’s professional journey. And if there’s a path to finding the way’s starting point, it’s in Northridge.

Yes, the environment was the stage. But it takes a doer to bring things to life. Vaish continues to do at every stage of his life.

And he has a motivation that burns inside and lifts him to do more.

“I will go to my grave with this phrase: There are people in the world who make it happen, and there are people who let it happen. And there is not a whole lot in between,” he said. “I want to be known as someone who makes things happen.”

Busy tents, men and women in military uniform, and patriotic balloons painting the scene red, white and blue—that is what awaited students of California State University, Northridge as they stepped into the Plaza del Sol, located in the center of the University Student Union (USU), on Thursday, Nov. 8. One of several events during the Veterans Resource Center’s (VRC) We ❤ Our Veterans Week celebration, the CSUN Students and Veterans Party served as a festive way to honor and learn more about the university’s student veterans.

Anyone who wanted to be a part of this block party received a stamp card indicating a variety of activities found under different stations around Plaza del Sol. These activities included writing a letter of appreciation to the veterans, visiting a Humvee parked behind the Northridge Center, taking pictures at the photo booth and taking on the 20 push-ups challenge. For each activity completed, participants would get a stamp on their card. Get three stamps, and enjoy a free meal from In-N-Out, serving fresh burgers right from their In-N-Out Cookout Truck.

Scores of giveaways were available at the information booth. Those who successfully completed the 20 push-ups challenge won a VRC T-shirt, and those who followed the VRC on Instagram were gifted with a wooden labyrinth puzzle game. As students received swag including water bottles, phone-case wallets, ball pens and We ❤ Our Veterans pins, they could also obtain more information about veterans, volunteering at the VRC, and the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program.

Nick Cruz, a VRC administrative assistant who was at the information booth, said that the men and women in uniform roaming around and helping out the different booths were CSUN students currently undergoing the ROTC program, which is a scholarship program that would aid those students with tuition and other fees as they train to become commissioned Army officers.

Indeed awareness was the heart of the We ❤ Our Veterans Week event, of which the CSUN Students & Veterans Party was a part of. Previous Veterans Week activities also comprised of the Veterans Appreciation Game between CSUN Men’s Basketball and Cal State LA, a Sigma Tau Alpha-hosted 5K Fun Run, Veteran Ally Training for CSUN faculty, staff and student leaders, and the Associated Students Farmer’s Market: Student Veteran Recognition. On Veterans Day itself, Nov. 11, The San Fernando Valley Veterans Day Parade took place in Mission Hills.

“We Love Our Veterans Week is all about education, awareness, as well as celebration,” said Amber Bartmus, supervisor of the VRC.

A collaboration of a vast network of veteran supporters is what made the event possible, said Bartmus. This network includes different organizations, including CSUN athletics (who provided the inflatable chair at the photo booth), CSUN’s volunteer program Unified We Serve (who spearheaded the station for the letters of appreciation), as well as VRC employees—one of whom even made the connections to bring the Humvee on campus.

“It’s really a sort of past, present and future event,” said Bartmus. By participating, the CSUN community honors what the veterans have done for the nation in the past, celebrates the results of those efforts in the present and looks ahead to the future as it is made more aware of its student veterans, she said.

Cyrtodactylus-myintkyawthurai. A new species of gecko discovered in Myanmar. Photo courtesy of Robert Espinoza.

By looking up in trees and searching in caves in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia, California State University, Northridge biology professor Robert Espinoza and his colleagues have discovered and “described” three new species of bent-toed geckos last November in Myanmar.

The process of “describing new species” involves “characterizing what makes creatures unique and is a fairly lengthy process,” Espinoza said. “You have to compare the new specimens that you think are new, to all the known related species, to show that the new species is actually unique and diagnosable.”

On his recent trip to Myanmar – a country known for its beaches, diverse religious practices and growing tourism – Espinoza’s team searched less-visited locations and found many animals that were new to science. Among these new species was a crocodile newt – a type of salamander – which was also recently described, and several house geckos, which are in the process of being described.

Espinoza was part of an international team of eight scientists, organized and organized by Lee Grismer, professor of biology at La Sierra University, that led to the discovery of the new bent-toed geckos, which belong to a genus with more than 260 species.

Espinoza said geckos are among the most diverse lineages of reptiles, and they possess unique traits that distinguish them from other lizard groups. The new species the team found in Myanmar share the bent toes as a distinguishing feature of the genus, along with unique patterns that frequently include colorful bands.

Espinoza has done fieldwork and described a dozen new species of geckos in San Juan, Argentina, since 1994. He, along with colleagues, study how these lizards diversify and evolve over time.

Instead of lifting rocks like he was used to in regions in Argentina, where he has conducted research for 24 years, Espinoza’s team found success exploring the caves of Myanmar.

The team searched caves which had entrances barely large enough to crawl inside, while others were large and cavernous reaching up to over 300 feet. Inside they were “cool relative to the outside forests, and very humid. Many had water dripping from the ceilings and puddles of mud on the floors. “The team often encountered large rock-dwelling spiders, bizarre-looking camel crickets, and occasionally bats.

“I’m used to working in deserts. Where and how you look for animals is very different,” he said, “It took me a while to train my eyes to find things [in Myanmar]. This was particularly challenging because tradition mandated shoe removal and walking barefoot in the Buddhist caves and the cave floors were often muddy and slippery and the trails within them narrow with lots of obstacles both at eye level and on the ground. It’s hard to concentrate on searching for small reptiles when you are holding a flashlight in a pitch-dark cave while trying to keep your balance and avoid whacking your head on a stalactite or smashing your toe into a stalagmite.”

Espinoza takes a specific interest in the evolution of lizard species that he has observed in Argentina. Some include geckos that thrive at elevations over 15,000 feet and give birth to live young, as opposed to laying eggs. He is also fascinated by a small percentage of these lizards that have evolved to eat plant matter instead of bugs.

“I enjoy learning about how animals function in their world,” said Espinoza. “The animals keep me going back, but having nice colleagues and spending time with the people keeps it interesting.”

Espinoza said he plans to do more field work next summer to understand how a species of lizards in Argentina evolve to “color-match” — change their color based on environmental changes over time — with fellow CSUN professor of biology Jeanne Robertson.

Innovation is key to unlocking new systems, ideas and products. It is essential for all areas of business to thrive. To prepare its students for the workforce of the future, California State University, Northridge is fostering an environment for future innovators to thrive.

On Nov. 2, CSUN hosted its fifth semi-annual The Art of Innovation Conference to continue the university’s deep exploration of current and future trends of technology. Entrepreneurship, startups and tech are changing everything — including how we shop, how we get around, how we age, how we’re entertained and how we learn. The panel-style event included a broad range of entrepreneurs and business owners discussing these topics, including big data (large, complex data sets) and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as advancements in healthcare and transportation.

The conference focused on trends, opportunities and best practices for launching new ventures. The ultimate goal of the program is to spark ideas for entrepreneurial ventures and help build networks for all attendees — students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the community — according to event organizers Ryan Holbrook, entrepreneurship program director for the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics, and Shereazad Jimmy Gandhi, professor of manufacturing systems engineering and management. This event was hosted in collaboration with the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics, and the College of Health and Human Development.

“At CSUN, we want our students to have the creative skills and talent to succeed in this workplace frontier,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison, who welcomed attendees to the event. “We also know that the entrepreneurial mindset is one that looks beyond standard, functional boundaries and considers and fosters multidisciplinary collaboration.

“Entrepreneurship represents the future of work,” Harrison continued. “Beyond the value of the ‘traditional’ entrepreneur, we know that the skills, capabilities and creativity that come from an entrepreneurial mindset are what generates jobs and competitiveness, and stimulate innovation and economic growth. The future is now.”

CSUN alumni Harry Sefton III ’85 (Engineering), M.S. ’91 (Electrical Engineering), a senior manager at The Boeing Company with more than 30 years of leadership experience specializing in commercial and government satellite systems, served as keynote speaker of the event.

“Human nature is to resist change, so when entrepreneurs get good ideas, human nature is to resist their ideas and to resist that disruption,” Sefton said. “Part of our job as entrepreneurs and innovators is to also be leaders. As leaders we have to have the courage and the passion to speak up and say, ‘We are going to implement an idea and make it work.’

“I would ask that all of you young leaders be an early adopter, to be courageous and have passion in what you do,” Sefton told the large crowd, which included scores of students. “It is fundamental to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a new idea, a disruptive idea, and what makes the difference is having the courage to take action and implement that idea when everyone else is stuck in a different paradigm.”

Executive and innovator Dale Deardorff ’84 (Art), M.A. ’87 (Two-Dimensional Art), M.S. ’93 (Industrial Engineering) introduced a panel of CSUN alumni who discussed big data, AI and machine learning. The panel included Kimberly Sanders ’95, director of global TV distribution at NBCUniversal; Subash D’Souza, director of data and operations at Warner Brothers; Elena Bolbolian ’05 (Public Administration), civic innovator for the City of Glendale; Seyed Sajjadi ’18 (Computer Engineering), a systems engineer at NASA; and Sina Talebian ’14 (Engineering Management), a data scientist at Versus Analytics.

Deardorff asked the panel, “What does artificial intelligence in our daily lives look like, that we don’t recognize?”

The panelists all noted that AI is everywhere. Sajjadi said that big data is the new norm, and he discussed a commonly used type of data called sentiment analysis data.

“This type of artificial intelligence gathers data about you to see what your preferences are,” he said, citing examples of companies that use sentiment analysis. “The most obvious is Netflix, which makes suggestions like, ‘We think you would like this movie because you have watched x, y and z.’ Another one that comes to mind is Amazon. These recommendation engines are everywhere.”

Another panel discussed the topic of telemedicine, which is the use of telecommunication to provide healthcare anywhere, removing the necessity to go to the doctor’s office. Telecommunication enables services such as in-home medical devices, virtual consults, chatbots to answer questions, and interactive education, aiming to streamline care by making it more convenient for patients. In addition, medical apps are offering digital cardiac monitoring, diabetic monitoring, and exercise and diet plans for patients to monitor and improve their health. Kaiser Permanente is offering ear-infection monitors, which allow at-home ear-infection checkups for children (administered by parents and guardians).

The telemedicine panel was led by Sal Esparza ’94 (Health Administration), an associate professor in health sciences at CSUN, who posed questions to panelists Lou Rubino, chair of CSUN’s Department of Health Sciences; Hadley Washburne, regional manager of strategy at Providence St. Joseph Health; Thomas Chan, assistant professor of psychology at CSUN; and Kara Snow, director of patient care experience at Kaiser Permanente.​

The day’s final panel focused on the future of transportation and was led by Jeff Joyner, attorney and co-founder of Uscooter, a folding electric scooter. The panelists included alumna Flaurel English ’79 (Psychology), founder of Gridlock Solutions and executive advisor to the Toyota Mobility Foundation; Ian Gardner, president at Chanje, a startup manufacturing the first medium-duty, all-electric commercial truck; alumnus Terenig Topjian ’08 (Art), founder of Have A Go, an electric scooter company; and Rick Teebay, transportation specialist for Los Angeles County.

The panelists discussed the current dynamics of transportation, including the issues and benefits of electric scooters, future transportation technology, how officials in LA and across the nation are rethinking urban mobility — as well as the importance of future innovators, creators and engineers to continue to develop future transportation options and solutions.

Organizers and participants said the conference aimed to inspire and prepare CSUN students to face challenges that can be solved by technological innovation.

“The job of an innovator is to question the status quo,” Sefton said. “The quality of our answers depends on the quality of our questions, and the quality of our questions depends on the diversity of our thoughts.”

The deadline to donate to the annual clothing drive hosted by California State University, Northridge’s volunteer program Unified We Serve has been extended to Nov. 30.

A special collection in front of the Delmar T. Oviatt Library will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15.

Donations are being collected on CSUN’s campus in bins located in the Matador Involvement Center, Sierra Hall and Bayramian Hall. Unified We Serve is asking the community to donate the following: coats, new underwear, socks and plastic ponchos.

Donations will be given to Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND), a nonprofit organization that aims to provide less-fortunate families with basic necessities.

This drive is a competition among university-recognized clubs and organizations. The three clubs that collect the most donations will be awarded up to $300 that will be donated in their Associated Students accounts.

For more information, please click here.

CSUN marine biologist Kerry Nickols, pictured here on a prior trip to Antarctica, will be boarding a ship next month bound for Antarctica. She is part of an all-woman expedition that, among other things, will explore how the women, leaders in the fields of science, technology, mathematics and medicine, can work together to battle climate change. Photo courtesy of Kerry Nickols.

In little more than a month, California State University, Northridge marine biologist Kerry Nickols will board a ship with 80 women from 27 different countries and embark on an expedition to Antarctica to explore how they can work together to battle climate change.

In the process, Nickols said, the women hope to heighten the influence and impact of women in making decisions that shape the planet.

“This trip is about building our leadership skills, but there will also be a lot of discussion about what we do, and how to do it better,” Nickols said. “This is a wonderful opportunity to pick the brains of some of the smartest people in the world about my research, and to learn about theirs. This is an opportunity to network, share ideas and learn how to work together and become better leaders so we can have an impact on policy.”

Nickols is in the third cohort of a program called Homeward Bound, a global leadership initiative for women in science, technology, mathematics and medicine, STEMM fields. The program aims to build an international network of 1,000 women in those fields to influence policy and decision making as it shapes the planet over a 10-year period.

“The program offers an unparalleled opportunity to connect with 79 other women from around the globe who are all passionate about creating positive and immediate change in their communities,” Nickols said. “For example, one of the faculty on the trip is Christiana Figueres, who led the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This is a great opportunity to work with and learn from women who are truly making a difference.”

Nickols and her colleagues set off for Antarctica on Dec. 31. They will spend the next 21 days networking, building leadership skills and finding ways that they can support each other’s research as well as their individual efforts to advance in their respective fields.

Wi-Fi on the ship will be spotty, at best. Instead, the women will spend their time in academic and leadership workshops, including discussions on how to navigate in what are still male-dominated fields. The women also are encouraged to use the time without outside distractions to focus on prioritizing the goals they hope to achieve in their respective fields, and to network with their fellow passengers on how to achieve those goals.

Nickols noted that all the women on the expedition, whether they are medical doctors or marine biologists like herself, are concerned about the impact climate change is having on the world.

“Antarctica, which is seeing significant changes due to global warming, will provide us firsthand the influence human activities are having on the environment,” she said. “It is the perfect backdrop to discuss our research and to inspire us to come up with tangible ways that we can do more.”

Nickols’ research focuses on marine protected areas and how they are impacted by climate change. As part of her research, she has explored ocean habitats from California to the Caribbean and Antarctica.

Among her goals, she said, “is to educate students, the public and policy makers about the oceans to deepen our connection to the planet and understand the threats we face so that we can move forward with tractable solutions to environmental problems.”

The California Sate University, Northridge American Indian Studies program and American Indian Student Association hosted the 35th annual Powwow – a celebration of American Indian dance and music — on Nov. 24.

Dozens of dancers, including those from the Fernandeño Tataviam (the native people of the San Fernando Valley), wore special regalia of feathers, beadwork and tribal designs.

The Powwow featured vendors selling items from souvenirs to fine arts, a raffle, traditional American Indian foods and a children’s activity table featuring history and botany of native plants in California.