The 2009 Faculty Exposition takes place on Wednesday, March 18 from 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. in The Commons. The Expo provides an opportunity for faculty to share the results of their research and scholarly activities with their colleagues, staff, students and the community at large. Wine and refreshments will be served throughout the event.
The faculty and a brief summary of their recent work includes:
ENACT: ENSURING ACCESS THROUGH COLLABORATION & TECHNOLOGY - Emiliano Ayala, ELSE - With support from the U.S. Department of Education, EnACT has established an innovative faculty development program to support students with disabilities in attaining their post-secondary educational goals. Specifically, EnACT provides faculty across eight different California State University (CSU) campuses the skills, support and training necessary to implement the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in higher education.
TREASURE OF THE REALM - Brantley Bryant, English - This project considers key works of late medieval English literature alongside parliamentary and legal records to show the growth of new ways of thinking about economics in medieval England. It aims to contribute to an understanding of the social force of medieval literature and of the history of society and institutions.
A SCALABLE APPROACH TO MAPPING LAND-USE/ LAND-COVER CHANGE OVER BROAD SPATIAL SCALES: A CASE STUDY IN THE CRY CHACO ECOREGION OF ARGENTINA, BOLIVIA AND PARAGUAY - Matthew Clark, Geography and Global Studies - The Dry Chaco eco-region covers 79,000,000 hectares across southeastern Bolivia, northwestern Argentina and western Paraguay and includes large areas of tropical dry forest. Clark analyzes recent land-cover change in this ecoregion using an image classification process based on MODIS satellite imagery and terrain data.
PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY OF PINNIPEDS, SEALS AND SEA LIONS - Dan Crocker, Biology - These studies provide animal-acquired oceanographic data in areas for which satellite and ship-based technologies are limited. National Science Foundation funded studies investigate the metabolic physiology associated with fasting adaptation.
IS THE DEATH PENALTY A DETERRENT TO MURDER?- Steven Cueller, Economics - Using murder statistics for the US by state over time and combining this data set with economic and demographic data from the Current Population Survey, Cueller intends to provide a rigorous analysis of the death penalty's affect on the murder rate.
CONSEQUENCES OF LEOPARD PREDATION ON WILD VERVET MONKEYS - Karin Enstam Jaffe, Anthropology - Jaffe describes changes in ranging and social behavior of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) after group fusion induced by population decline.
SYNTHESIS OF PYRAZOLE CONTAINING AROMATIC HETEROCYCLES - Steven Farmer, Chemistry - It was discovered long ago that 2-methylaniline formed indazole in very low yield when diazotized in acetic acid. The unexpected conversion of isoquinoline into pyrazoloisoquinoline suggests that this method could be more versatile than previously thought. The present project explores the scope of this reaction.
PALEOENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM ESTUARINE SEDIMENT CODES, COASTAL ECUADOR - Dolly Friedel, Geography/ Global Studies - This research sought evidence of variations in climate and vegetation during the Preceramic and Formative periods on the Pacific Coast of Ecuador. Sediment sequences suggest a gradual rise in sea level in the earlier deposits, followed by rapid deposition during the mid-Holocene in some localities, and slow infilling of estuaries.
BOLLYWOOD AND PLATO'S CAVE - Ajay Gehlawat, Hutchins School of Liberal Arts - Gehlawat's research reconsiders the role of cinema, specifically, Bollywood cinema, as a supplement to the process of enlightenment. Whereas the typical approach, whether in classical film theory or Indian cultural studies, likens film viewers to the chained prisoners in Plato’s cave – and thus the film-as-shadow to "delusion" – his aim is to demonstrate how the Bollywood film experience comes closer to that of the prisoner who is thrust out of the cave, thus recognizing the integral role the Bollywood film can play in the process of "reorientation," itself a first step to enlightenment.
THE SUSTAINABLE ENTERPRISE CONFERENCE - Robert Girling, Business Administration - The Sustainable Enterprise Conference was initiated by Professors Robert Girling and Art Warmoth in 2006 in order to provide an avenue for SSU involvement in generating change in the business environment via a community-business-education partnership. Now in its fourth year the project has become an annual conference showcasing how business can become more sustainable. It has also incorporated a cadre of student volunteers and interns from SSU and working with business leaders from the community to learn valuable skills in business and community organizing.
STUDENT REACTIONS TO CLASSROOM DISCUSSIONS OF RACISM AND BIAS: STIGMA CONSCIOUSNESS AND TOKENISM - Diana Grant, Criminology and Criminal Studies - How do students react to classroom discussions of topics such as racial profiling by law enforcement and hate crimes? Given extant research on stigma consciousness and stereotype threat, how do such discussions affect students from underrepresented groups, in comparison with students from 'majority' groups? How does the demographic composition of the classroom influence the experiences of students in courses that address racism and other biases?
ROMANI SELF-EXPRESSION THROUGH PERFORMANCE AND VISUAL ART - Michaela Grobbel, Modern Language and Literature - Grobbel explores Romani artistic self-expression, including a Romani filmed musical "Gipsy Style: Alles andere als... Schnitzel" (2006), an exhibit of paintings by the Romani artist and writer Ceija Stojka and the Romani music ensemble, Ru_a Nikolic-Lakatos and her family.
RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION (RTI) PROCESS - Jennifer Mahdavi, ELSE - One key component of the Response to Intervention (RTI) process is collaboration among special and general education teachers. To examine the role that social validity and acceptability of the RTI process play in increasing professional collaboration, which in turn affects implementation fidelity, increases positive student outcomes, and sustains collaboration among educators, surveys were administered to teachers and administrators over a three year period. Results of these surveys were analyzed along with student outcome data to evaluate RTI models in 4 schools. The unique experiences of each school are discussed as a way to inform development of future models.
"LOS ENGANO DE UN ENGANOS" BY AGUSTIN MORETO- MANUSCRIPT REVSION - Tania de Miguel Magro - In the summer of 2008, de Miguel Magro reviewed and finished a manuscript for an edition of Los enga§os de un enga§o by Agust°n Moreto, one of the main Spanish playwrights of the seventeenth century.
QUANTIFYING THE AMOUNT OF THINNING A ZONE OF TRANSPRESSIONAL SHEARING: A KINETIC ANALYSIS OF A SECTION OF THE ROSY FINCH SHEAR ZONE - Matty Mookerjee, Geology - The Rosy Finch Shear Zone (RFSZ) is a zone of transpressional shearing belonging to the Sierra Crest Shear Zone extending along the eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The RFSZ trends roughly NNW and is approximately 3.5 km wide. Foliation in the RFSZ is NNW-trending and sub-vertical, with a dip, dip direction of 78, 241. The orientation of the mineral stretching lineations have a bimodal distribution, with the stronger of the two trending and plunging at 156, 60 and the weaker at 295, 71.
THE WISHING YEAR - Noelle Oxenhandler, English - In her recently released memoir, The Wishing Year: A House, A Man, My Soul (Random House:2008) Noelle Oxenhandler explores the history and meaning of wishing. The book is a chronicle of her own year-long attempt to set aside her doubts and launch a year's "experiment in desire." It is simultaneously the exploration of wishing as a very ancient human practice.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF HEINLENVILLE-NIHONMACHI, SAN JOSE - Adrian Pratzellis, Anthropology - Before it is destroyed by imminent development, the Anthropological Studies Center (ASC) is excavating the site of San Jose, California's historic Chinese and Japanese settlement. Located in the city's predominantly Asian-American Japantown district, the five-acre site of Heinlenville-Nihonmachi was occupied from the 1880s through the 1930s.
SAFE HARBOR? CULTURAL PLURALISM AND CONTEXTED LANDSCAPES IN A HISTORICAL FIJIAN PORT-O-CALL - Margie Purser, Anthropology - The cultural landscape of Levuka, Fiji demonstrates the complex development history of one 19th century Pacific port of call in the context of later British colonialism.
SSU ENTOMOLOGY OUTREACH PROGRAM - Nathan Rank, Biology - Sonoma State University possesses biological collections of plants, vertebrates, insects, and other organisms. It uses these collections regularly in courses, but has recently begun to use them in community-based education and outreach programs. Currently, SSU is bringing informational materials and insect specimens to elementary school children at public events and classrooms.
RESEARCH IN ALGORITHMS AND HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACE - Bala Ravikumar, Engineering Science - Ravikumar presents recent research work in the following areas: (a) pen-based computing, (b) algorithm design and analysis and (c) data mining.
BLACK-BOX POWER MODELS FOR COMPUTER SYSTEMS - Suzanne Rivoire, Computer Science - Rivoire looks at maximizing a computer's energy efficiency during use by understanding the relationship between usage patterns and power consumption. Her modeling infrastructure allows computer operators to create and apply models of system-level power consumption based on commonly available software metrics for resource utilization These models provide accurate estimates of the power consumed by a wide variety of computer systems.
MOSQUE ARCHITECTURE & KING MOHAMED VI OF MOROCCO - Jennifer Roberson, Art & Art History - Roberson studied contemporary mosque architecture in Morocco, examining the legacy of King Hassan II's architectural program which included buildings such as his Hassan II Mosque (1986-93) in Casablanca. In particular, she considers the extent to which Hassan II's notions of a Moroccan identity have remained evident under his son, King Mohamed VI.
ADAPTIVE OPTICS AT SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY - Scott Severson, Physics & Astronomy - The science of measuring optical distortions and correcting them in real-time is called "Adaptive Optics". The Adaptive Optics Laboratory in the Department of Physics and Astronomy is home to experiments in the sensing and correcting of these distortions. Recent work has included the use of these "wavefront sensing" techniques to monitor the Earth's atmosphere during astronomical observations. This is, in essence, measuring the "twinkling" of stars.
NANOMETER SCALES POROUS ALUMINUM OXIDE TEMPLATES - Hongtao Shi, Physics & Astronomy - Ordered nanometer scaled materials, such as porous aluminum oxide, have attracted much attention recently due to their potential applications in microelectronics and data recording industry. In this work, Shi reports how electrochemical reaction to fabricate nanometer scaled porous aluminum oxide templates (1 nm = 10-9 m) are used.
GROUP INJUCTIVE NORMS AND MEMBER PROTOTYPICALITY INFLUENCE INTENTIONS TO DRINK ALCOHOL - Heather Smith, Psychology - Given that most undergraduate students overestimate how much their peers drink alcohol, if they learn the true norm, they, in turn, should drink less. However, interventions based on a "social norm" approach have mixed success. Smith presents data from an experimental investigation of sorority members' drinking attitudes and intentions that suggest when social norm interventions could be more effective.
ACTIVITY OF A PH NEUTRAL SUPER_OXIDIZED SOLUTION AGAINST BACTERIA SELECTED FOR A SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE RESISTANCE - Eileen Thatcher, Biology - Due to use of chlorine compounds for water and surface disinfection, it is easy to isolate bacteria with resistance to these compounds. This study's purpose was to examine the activity of a pH neutral super-oxidized solution (SOS), Microcyn(tm), against bacteria selected for high resistance to domestic bleach containing sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl).
WHAT DO TEACHERS DO WHEN THEY HAVE PRESCHOOL AGE CHILDREN WITH BEHAVIORAL AND EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS? - Elisa Velasquez-Andrade, Psychology - This research examines the strategies used by child care providers to help preschool age children with identified behavioral and emotional problems. Teachers were very resourceful and acknowledged that the solution to a child's behavioral problem resided at multiple levels, including their personal characteristics and interactions with the child.
