Science and Technology – CSUN Today https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu California State University, Northridge Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:03:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.30 Fellowship Supports CSUN Prof’s Efforts to Improve Offshore Energy Safety https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/csun-leaders/fellowship-supports-csun-profs-efforts-to-improve-offshore-energy-safety/ Tue, 20 Feb 2024 18:59:56 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=55160

Maryam Tabibzadeh

Maryam Tabibzadeh

Maryam Tabibzadeh is in the process of developing a digitized, data-driven, early-warning system that could prevent disasters like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico — considered the largest marine oil spill in history — which devastated the Gulf Coast and killed hundreds of thousands of marine animals.

To help her achieve her goal, Tabibzadeh, an associate professor of manufacturing systems engineering and management at California State University, Northridge, has been named an Early-Career Research Fellow in Offshore Energy Safety by the Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

“It is quite an honor to receive the fellowship, and it is an affirmation that the work I am doing is important,” said Tabibzadeh, who teaches in CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.

The GRP Early-Career Research Fellowship helps researchers to further develop their professional career. Fellows receive a $76,000 financial award along with mentoring support to provide them with independence, flexibility and a built-in support network as they take risks to research ideas, pursue unique collaborations and build a network of colleagues.

Tabibzadeh and other recipients of the fellowship will be working to improve the understanding, management and reduction of systemic risk in offshore energy activities.

Her research focuses on risk analysis in complex safety-critical and technology-intensive industries such as the offshore drilling sector. Specifically, Tabibzadeh is investigating the roles human and organizational factors play, along with technological elements, in offshore drilling failures.

“When a disaster happens, such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, we tend to look at the ultimate, technical failures that led to the drilling accident,” Tabibzadeh said. “In many cases, we ignore the soft components, the human and organizational factors, that may have actually been the root causes of those incidents. Even the technical failures have roots in human and organizational factors, or those factors played a critical role in related errors.”

Tabibzadeh has developed both qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methodologies to analyze the critical role human and organizational factors, such as safety culture, business procedures or governmental policies, play in the safety of offshore drilling operations. In some studies, she specifically emphasized the risks involved in implementation and interpretation of a critical procedure called negative pressure test as a primary method to ascertain well integrity in offshore drilling. A negative pressure test involves lowering the pressure inside of a well by pumping fluid out in order to make sure that the well’s structure can withstand leaks. The misinterpretation of the negative pressure test was one of the major contributing causes of the Deepwater Horizon blowout.

“One of the issues with drilling accidents has been the misinterpretation of negative pressure tests,” she said. “I want to develop a conceptual risk-assessment framework that captures the role the human and organizational factors play in the interpretation of such tests. The goal is to understand where the first error is made. One error can lead to other errors, which in turn can lead to an accident if they aren’t caught in time.

“One of the ideas I have is to look into several offshore drilling incidents, identifying their contributing causes across the AcciMap (a systems-based technique for accident analysis) framework, which is a systematic accident investigation methodology,” Tabibzadeh continued. “I would then identify the common contributing causes of all those accidents and use that as a foundation to develop a list of leading indicators that could be used to predict and prevent future accidents. That can then be digitized and automated through an interface such as a dashboard to help safety managers better monitor the safety of their offshore operations.”

Tabibzadeh said one of her biggest obstacles is collecting the relevant data from energy companies that are reluctant to share that information. She is hoping that the Offshore Energy Safety fellowship will help open doors so she can gather hard data from their systems.

If her research is successful, it could have long-term impact, both ecologically and economically, on the human and marine communities that rely on the Gulf of Mexico for survival. It could also help oil companies save money by improving offshore drilling safety and preventing future accidents in this field.

“We really do not want another Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico or anywhere else in the world,” she said.

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CSUN Reopening Planetarium Stars Show to the Public https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/uncategorized/csun-reopening-planetarium-stars-show-to-the-public/ Wed, 07 Feb 2024 18:35:26 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=55011

Photo of the Spitz 512 Star Projector used by CSUN's Planetarium.

Photo of the Spitz 512 Star Projector used by CSUN’s Planetarium. Photo taken by Kaley Block.


The reopening of California State University Northridge’s planetarium offers visitors a chance to look up at the stars and track the constellations, something not everyone can do in a big city like Los Angeles.  

This February, the university’s Donald E. Bianchi Planetarium is again hosting star shows for the public for the first time since the COVD-19 pandemic closed the program in 2020. CSUN’s Department of Physics and Astronomy is hosting shows on Fridays this month, on Feb. 9, Feb. 16 and Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. and 7:15  p.m.  

Debbie Klevens in the Department of Physics and Astronomy said anyone familiar with previous shows will notice some changes in the new offerings. 

“They’re using all the same equipment, it’s just that the hosts are different,” Klevens said. “It’s more refined. The host has a bright personality, so she gets everybody going and excited about the show.”  

“Star Shows” offers a basic introduction to the stars, providing a tour of where familiar stars are located, as well as a look at some interesting constellations. 

The show includes overlay projections of famous constellations and a discussion about the historical lore surrounding those constellations, including stories that have been passed down through generations originating with tales from ancient Greece. The show also offers information about the planets and their annual motions, sharing insights on how to find stars, constellations and planets in the night sky.  

A deep purple poster with two astronauts standing on the moon. There are planets and comets filling the sky around them and white text between them that reads: "THE GRAND REOPENING OF THE DONALD E BIANCHI PLANETARIUM STAR SHOWS 9, 16 & 23 FEBRUARY 2024 SHOWS AT 6 PM AND 7 PM" Additional important writing reads "Free admission for the month of February" and "DOORS OPEN 15 MIN BEFORE SHOW SEATS LIMITED - NO LATE ENTRY * RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 8+"

An image of the “Stars Show” poster. Image courtesy of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

“The projector that we have is a Spitz 512 Star Projector,” said Tanner Rosenberg, an instructional support technician in the physics and astronomy department. “It’s totally analog. There’s a bulb in the center of a big ball that projects stars onto our 40-foot Dome. 

“It can do more than just show the stars,” Rosenberg continued. “It can show some of the coordinate systems we use in the sky, the path the sun takes, how the planets and sun move throughout the year and how the stars move throughout the day and night, providing a visual perspective of what the sky would look like from different points on the Earth.” 

The Department of Physics and Astronomy is hosting its grand reopening shows this month, but is also offering the planetarium doors for education purposes. Department officials hope that CSUN students, along with members of the greater community, will use the planetarium as a resource, and are inviting private groups or schools to book appointments to view planetarium shows free of charge.  

“When I was a kid, I didn’t get to go to a planetarium show,” said Rosenberg. “I got to go to science museums and things like that though, and that was really inspirational for me to see. We’d like the planetarium to bring in community members and inspire them.” 

Admission for the February shows is free. Doors open 15 minutes before the show and seating is limited.  

Those interested in scheduling a group visit, email planetarium@csun.edu or check the planetarium’s website for more information. A list of the planetarium’s shows can also be found on that website

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Kaley Block
New Research Conducted by CSUN Prof Reveals Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/education/new-research-conducted-by-csun-prof-reveals-impacts-of-ocean-acidification-on-coral-reefs/ Tue, 06 Feb 2024 02:37:44 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=54959

Coral Reef photographed in Mo'orea, French Polynesia. Photo courtesy of Nyssa Silbiger

Coral Reef photographed in Mo’orea, French Polynesia.
Photo courtesy of Nyssa Silbiger


A years-long study focused on the climate effects on coral reefs by California State University, Northridge marine biologists Peter Edmunds and Robert Carpenter reveals concerns for their future survival.

The new study, published in Limnology and Oceanography and led by Edmunds and Carpenter – who have more than 30 years of experience researching coral reefs – shows the long-term consequences of ocean acidification for coral reefs in Mo’orea, French Polynesia. Combined with rising seawater temperatures, the coral reef structures may not be able to grow and reproduce as climate change continues.

Flumes used to conduct corral reef research

The four flumes that were used to complete the recently published study. The flumes were built with the help of the CSUN Science Shop and each is 5 m in length (~16 ft), and they are located at the UC Berkeley, Richard B. Gump research lab. Over the course of 3 years, they were used to complete year-long experiments in which replica coral reefs were built in each flume and incubated under conditions simulating future predicted levels of ocean acidification. Photo provided by Peter Edmunds.

Ocean acidification is a reduction in the ocean’s pH over an extended time — with its root cause being the uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere, which is increasing through the burning of fossil fuels, cement production, and numerous other human-related practices. Some ecosystem components directly impacted are organisms that utilize carbonate ions to build their shells and skeletons — such as coral, oysters, sea urchins, and plankton — putting many organisms at risk from ocean acidification.

Commercial and recreational managed fisheries depend on coral reef habitats for many important fishes, shellfish and other invertebrates that are targeted for fishing. Coral reef fisheries are worth $5.7 billion globally, according to the Reef Resilience Network.

Edmunds warned that the research, which began in 2015 and was supported with grants from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), suggests that if ocean acidification trends continue the way they have over the last 20 years, the long-term survival of coral reefs is in jeopardy.

“The oceans are getting a little bit more acidic and because they’re getting a little bit more acidic, corals and coral reefs are growing more slowly, and that slower growth is unlikely to be changed by adaptation or acclimatization,” Edmunds said. “The reefs in the future are going to get more and more delicate and we’re not going to solve that problem unless we start to do something about the high concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”

Coral reefs play a critical role in the economy and human welfare, including food security and shoreline protection to coastal communities. However, for coral reefs to thrive, the coral must be able to grow and reproduce faster than they are being killed.

After more than three years of study, Edmunds said his research team found that coral reefs “did not show any ability to reduce their susceptibility to these more acid conditions.”

“This is something we would not have found from short experiments conducted over weeks or months,” Edmunds said. ‘So, pretty quickly, we knew that ocean acidification is going to be bad news for coral reefs, because even early experiments showed they were not able to do well at more acidic conditions, and our latest experiments show that corals and coral reefs do not change their response over a year.”

Peter Edmunds heading out to do research on the coral reefs of French Polynesia near Tahiti. Photo courtesy of Robert Carpenter.

Peter Edmunds heading out to do research on the coral reefs of French Polynesia near Tahiti. Photo courtesy of Robert Carpenter.

However, there is still hope that the long-term survival of coral reefs can be remedied by making investments to curtail the effects of climate change, Edmunds said.

“I remain optimistic, but I think we’re not going to solve this problem unless we start to do something about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” Edmunds said. “Or else, in 50 years’ time, we will barely recognize tropical corals reefs. They’ll still be corals and fishes down there but they’re just going to be very different to those that we see now.”

The research was conducted with marine biology professor Steve Doo of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (formerly a postdoctoral researcher at CSUN) and within the Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research program, which is the flagship coral reef project of NSF, with the project shared between CSUN and UC Santa Barbara.

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Javier Rojas
Did You Know? Stars Near and Far Reveal Their Secrets to CSUN Scientists https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/science-and-technology/did-you-know-stars-near-and-far-reveal-their-secrets-to-csun-scientists/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 16:58:51 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=54941

 

CSUN Observatory nestled amongst orange trees.

One of CSUN’s two observatories peeks through the trees in the Orange Grove. Photo by Lee Choo.


Did you know that CSUN students can set their sights on the stars AND the sun with two on-campus observatories? If you’ve walked through the Orange Grove, you’ve likely seen the bright white half-domes of the stellar and solar observatories nestled among the trees. These two important resources offer a gateway to remarkable data and views for students, faculty and researchers.

The stellar observatory houses a 14-inch Celestron telescope that was installed in 2016. The observatory, closest to the duck pond facing Nordhoff Street, is open to CSUN physics and astronomy students in the College of Science and Mathematics for telescope training with faculty members. In the 1990s, the department hosted open houses at the facility, and faculty hope to bring back public open houses this spring.

Over the years, the telescope has been used to observe planets transiting their host star and gather information about comets and our solar system’s planets.

The solar observatory, also known as the San Fernando Observatory, was originally built by The Aerospace Corporation in the 1960s to support NASA research. It was damaged in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and required extensive repair. In the 1970s, the company donated the facility (located on land owned by the Metropolitan Water District) to CSUN — which used the site for decades of research. In 2016, with the help of donors, the university moved the observatory to the Orange Grove when the district found other uses for the original site. Today, it sits adjacent to the stellar observatory, for student and faculty use.

Solar researcher Angela Cookson ’86 (Biology), ’90 (Applied Physics & Astronomy) collects data from the observatory on a daily basis that contributes to important ongoing research on the sun’s activity.

“Because the sun is ever-changing, it’s always cool to look at our own daily images, to watch and record how the surface of the sun changes day to day, then adding that information to the multi-year data record to eventually understand how the sun works,” said Cookson, the longtime research associate for the observatory.

The observatory is used for photometry, which “is basically a photograph of the sun in a particular wavelength,” she said. “The different wavelengths give you different information about the sun.”

The solar observatory also feeds data to outside solar and climate researchers. Studying the sun and its radiation allows them to better understand our nearest star’s effects on the Earth’s climate. Many scientists are particularly interested in the observatory’s data on an ultraviolet light known as the Calcium K line.

The observatories are not open to the public, but student tours are available upon request. Physics and astronomy majors are welcome to contact Angela Cookson or Gary Chapman, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy and solar observatory director, to receive training, ranging from opening up and aligning the telescopes to operating systems, studying data and understanding how different processes on the sun contribute to changes in the amount of energy.

The small solar observatory provides students a unique opportunity to experience hands-on aspects of astronomy, Cookson said.”To have a student look at [observatory] images for the first time and say, ‘Wow, I never knew that’ about sunspot activity, is always fun,” she said.

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Ruby Durant
CSUN Prof’s Research Efforts May Solve Solar Mystery in the Sun’s layers https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/media-releases/csun-profs-research-efforts-may-solve-solar-mystery-in-the-suns-layers/ Mon, 22 Jan 2024 18:43:19 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=54763

Using the world’s most powerful ground-based solar telescope, astronomers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at California State University Northridge are one step closer to understanding one of the most enduring solar mysteries.

Captured images show the highest-resolution representations of the magnetic field of the so-called “quiet” surface of the sun. They reveal a new, complex, snake-like pattern of energy in the magnetic field, in addition to “loops” observed previously. Researchers collected ground-breaking data with the US National Science Foundation’s new Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) in Hawaii.

Small-scale magnetic structures of the ‘quiet sun’ at high resolution. Credit: DKIST

Small-scale magnetic structures of the ‘quiet sun’ at high resolution. Credit: DKIST

The analysis was carried out in partnership with an international group of experts from: the Queen’s University Belfast, UK; the National Space Observatory, USA; the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, USA; the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany; Sheffield University, UK; Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary and CSUN.

There is belief among the international team of scientists that includes CSUN solar astronomer Damian J. Christian that the new discovery has implications for how we model energy transfer between the layers of the sun.

It might also help explain why the outermost layer of the sun (‘corona’) is millions of degrees, but the sun’s surface (‘photosphere’) is only about 6000 degrees, even though the opposite would be expected, according to Christian, co-investigator the project.

“Typically, you buy a cup of coffee, and it cools off after a while but here, you have some heating mechanism inside the sun that’s heating this outer atmosphere, and it’s just not important for the sun,” Christian said. “There are billions of stars that have a corona like our sun and they’re being heated by this or some type of magnetic waves.”

Previously, much of the research into the heat variations between the sun’s corona and photosphere has focused on “sunspots” – large, highly magnetic and active regions, often comparable to Earth in size – that can act as conduits for energy between the Sun’s outer layers, Christian said. However, for the new study, the team looked away from sunspots and focused on quieter regions of the sun.

These quiet areas of the photosphere are covered by convective cells called granules that are host to weaker but more dynamic magnetic fields than found around sunspots. Previous observations have indicated that these magnetic fields are organized in small loops, but researchers found a more complicated underlying pattern for the first time, with the orientation of these magnetic fields showing a “serpentine variation,” Christian said.

CSUN solar astronomer Damian J. Christian, left, discusses solar flare data with physics graduate student Menoa Yousefi. Photo by Ruth Saravia.

CSUN solar astronomer Damian J. Christian, left, discusses solar flare data with physics graduate student Menoa Yousefi. Photo by Ruth Saravia.

To measure the sun’s weak magnetic fields, he said, overly sensitive instruments are needed. Since the magnetic fields cannot be directly measured, researchers instead measured the imprint they leave on the light emitted in their presence. The magnetic fields polarize the light, generating signals that are less than half a percent of the size of intensity measurements. High-resolution observations are required to see this, which is where DKIST comes in.A key question, Christian said, is then, “how common serpentine magnetic-field configurations are and how far they can permeate into higher layer?, If we know this, we can assess their contribution to chromospheric heating. To do this, more observations are needed, like those possible with the DKIST.

“The sun is the most important astronomical object for humankind with solar activity driving space weather and having possible devastating effects on our technological grid and infrastructure,” Christian said. “This discovery is huge and will lead us closer to understanding one of the biggest conundrums in solar research.”

The research has been published in Astrophysical Journal Letters and was supported by research funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council which is part of UK Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020 and the NSF.

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Javier Rojas
CSUN Receives $3 Million Grant to Increase Number of Underserved Students in STEM, Arts Disciplines & Close Equity Gap https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/university-news/csun-receives-3-million-grant-to-increase-number-of-underserved-students-in-stem-arts-disciplines-close-equity-gap/ Tue, 09 Jan 2024 18:48:08 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=54767

CSUN has received a five-year, $3 million federal grant for the creation of a new project to increase the number of underrepresented students studying science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and the arts, and health sciences and to close equity gaps. Photo by Ringo Chiu.

CSUN has received a five-year, $3 million federal grant for the creation of a new project to increase the number of underrepresented students studying science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and the arts, and health sciences and to close equity gaps. Photo by Ringo Chiu.


California State University, Northridge has been awarded a five-year, $3 million Title V grant from the U.S. Department of Education DHSI (Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions) program for the creation of a new project to increase the number of underrepresented students studying science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and the arts, and health sciences and to close equity gaps.

The money will support cross-divisional and multi-disciplinary “Strengthening Equitable Culturally Responsive Environments (SECURE) for Student Success (SfS2),” a collaborative effort between CSUN, Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills and College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita.

“Our goals are quite simple, but impactful,” said CSUN electrical and computer engineering professor S.K. Ramesh, director of SfS2. “We hope to increase enrollment, improve academic performance — including retention and graduation rates — and reduce equity gaps. To that end, the project will expand and enhance curriculum, research fellowships and culturally-responsive, work-based learning experiences in in-demand industry sectors for our students.

“For the project to be successful, and this is key, we are providing support and increasing faculty capacity to plan and implement culturally-responsive pedagogies, proactive advisement and mentoring,” Ramesh continued. “To put it simply, our students cannot succeed to the best of their abilities unless we give the faculty the tools they need to help our students succeed.

“This is an exciting new approach that we hope will serve as a model, not just for the rest of the CSU, but for institutions of higher learning across the country,” he said.

SfS2 is patterned after CSUN’s acclaimed AIMS2 (Attract, Inspire, Mentor and Support Students) program in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, also the brainchild of Ramesh, which launched 2011 with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. AIMS2 students work in cohorts and have access to a wide range of academic resources such as faculty and peer mentors, tutors, educational field trips, workshops, career opportunities and travel grants to participate in conference.

With a student retention rate of more than 90 percent, and a three-year transfer graduation rate of more than 70 percent, AIMS2 was hailed by Excelencia in Education as a national example of an evidence-base program that advanced Latino student in higher education.

Ramesh said he expects SfS2 — which, in addition to STEM majors will include students studying the health sciences and the arts— to have similar success.

“We anticipate that the project will positively impact approximately 6,000 students at CSUN and our partner community colleges over the five-year duration of the grant at an average cost of less than $500 per student,” he said.

He said he hopes the programs and services envisioned through the project will be institutionalized across the CSUN campus “with measurable and accountable goals and aligning resources to ensure long-term collective success.”

Ramesh said SfS2 will be “all encompassing” when it comes to students. The project includes support for community college students before and after they transfer to CSUN; summer workshops; internships, industry engagement and career advisement; research opportunities with stipends; faculty and industry mentors; peer mentors; and undergraduate research symposiums, as well as ways to involve family members.

For participating faculty, the project includes curriculum enhancement and development support, workshops on multi-cultural competency and other forms of professional development.

SfS2  is closely aligned and complements CSUN’s Road Ahead Strategic plan under the able leadership of President Beck and colleagues campuswide.  “. “If we want our students to truly succeed, then we take and explore different approaches to education — different approaches to how we teach and a deeper appreciation for how our students learn.”

]]> carmen CSUN Professor Singled Out for One of Geological Society’s Top Honors https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/csun-leaders/csun-professor-singled-out-for-one-of-geological-societys-top-honors/ Mon, 06 Nov 2023 18:04:39 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=54273

CSUN structural geologist Elena Miranda accepting the Geological Society of America’s Structural Geology and Tectonics Division for its highest publication honor, the Structural Geology and Tectonics Division Outstanding Publication Award, from Eric Cowgill of UC Davis. Photo courtesy of Elena Miranda.

CSUN structural geologist Elena Miranda accepting the Geological Society of America’s Structural Geology and Tectonics Division for its highest publication honor, the Structural Geology and Tectonics Division Outstanding Publication Award, from Eric Cowgill of UC Davis. Photo courtesy of Elena Miranda.


As a student working on her doctorate in geology nearly 20 years ago, Elena Miranda was excited at the prospect of exploring a burgeoning new field of research that could provide insights into the causes of the Earth’s faults and shear zones, key information for understanding earthquakes and other tectonic movements.

But Miranda, one of only a handful of Latinas in such a Ph.D. program at the time, was discouraged from pursuing that field of study. Advisors said she didn’t have what it took to succeed. Miranda, now a professor of geological sciences at California State University, Northridge, disagreed.

She taught herself the subject and is now considered a leading structural geologist in the field of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD)—a scanning electron microscopy technique used to study the crystalline structure of materials. One of her papers, published in 2016, was singled out last month (October) by the Geological Society of America’s Structural Geology and Tectonics Division for its highest publication honor, calling it “of exceptional distinction that clearly advances the science of structural geology or tectonics.” The paper features the first EBSD data to come out of Miranda’s lab at CSUN. Miranda is the first Latina and only the seventh female lead author to receive the award.

“I am over the moon about this honor because the paper on which it was based has a back story,” Miranda said. “I am one of the most stubborn people I know. I found it unacceptable to be treated like an incapable Ph.D. student, that my advisors did not expect much of me. I knew I would be capable of great work if I was just given the chance. If no one was going to teach me, then I was going to teach myself. I wanted to show that I could become an expert despite everything that was thrown at me.”

Miranda’s paper—“Microstructural evidence for the transition from dislocation creep to dislocation-accommodated grain boundary sliding in naturally deformed plagioclase” was published in the Journal of Structural Geology—was nominated by geologists across the country who said it was integral part of their teaching and provided a foundation for their own research. It was awarded the Geological Society of America’s Structural Geology and Tectonics Division Outstanding Publication Award. The society was founded in 1888 and is the oldest and the largest geological professional society in North America, with more than 22,000 members. The publication award was first given in 1984.

“To see the list of previous awardees is quite humbling,” Miranda said. “Some of the greatest and most impactful papers in my discipline are listed as awardees on the society’s website, and my publication is now among them.”

Miranda originally trained as a marine geologist, and spent time doing submersible dives on the ocean floor studying mid-ocean ridges and ocean basins to understand tectonic deformation. While doing this research, she learned about a relatively new field of study involving electron backscatter diffraction analysis.

“I came from marine geology, so I knew how to identify microstructures really well with light microscopes,” Miranda said. “But this electron backscatter diffraction analysis was something else. I knew this technique was the future of being able to do microstructural analysis.”

Miranda spent hundreds of hours on her own, learning EBSD. Eventually, with the support of Jerry Stinner, dean of CSUN’s College of Science and Mathematics, she established the Department of Geological Sciences’ Scanning Electron Microscopy Lab as a collaborative user facility with EBSD analysis capability. There, she uses EBSD to understand the causes of movement along faults and shear zones that can cause earthquakes and other tectonic movements.

“We use this technique to look at how strong or weak fault rocks are within a fault or shear zone because that’s where a break in the material can lead to earthquakes,” she said. “By using EBSD, we have some insight into seismic risk. We can interpret the ways in which these shear zones have moved in the geologic past. We can use it to interpret past plate motions, past movements along fault lines and the character of the deformation that we find. The technique allows us to interpret temperature, the stresses being put on the rock and how large those stresses are. We can quantify and use equations that describe the behavior of these materials to predict how strong and how fast that material is going to move.”

Miranda said she is particularly proud to receive the honor as a member of the California State University faculty.

“I might be one of the only recipients who did the work at a master’s-granting institution,” she said. “People like us don’t usually get awards like this. But I did, and I hope there will be others like me—Latinas, women and people of color working at master’s-granting institutions—who will get recognized in the future for their work, too.”

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carmen
Profesor de CSUN distinguido con uno de los máximos honores de la Sociedad Geológica https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/csun-leaders/profesor-de-csun-distinguido-con-uno-de-los-maximos-honores-de-la-sociedad-geologica/ Mon, 06 Nov 2023 18:03:17 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=54336

CSUN structural geologist Elena Miranda accepting the Geological Society of America’s Structural Geology and Tectonics Division for its highest publication honor, the Structural Geology and Tectonics Division Outstanding Publication Award, from Eric Cowgill of UC Davis. Photo courtesy of Elena Miranda.

CSUN structural geologist Elena Miranda accepting the Geological Society of America’s Structural Geology and Tectonics Division for its highest publication honor, the Structural Geology and Tectonics Division Outstanding Publication Award, from Eric Cowgill of UC Davis. Photo courtesy of Elena Miranda.


La geóloga estructural de CSUN, Elena Miranda, acepta la División de Geología y Tectónica Estructural de la Sociedad Geológica de Estados Unidos por su más alto honor de publicación, el Premio a la Publicación Sobresaliente de la División de Geología y Tectónica Estructural, de manos de Eric Cowgill de UC Davis. Foto cortesía de Elena Miranda.

Como estudiante que trabajaba en su doctorado en geología hace casi 20 años, Elena Miranda estaba emocionada ante la perspectiva de explorar un nuevo campo de investigación que podría proporcionar información sobre las causas de las fallas de la tierra y las zonas de cizallamiento, información clave para la comprensión de los terremotos y otros movimientos tectónicos.

Pero Miranda, una de solo un puñado de latinas en un programa de doctorado en ese momento, se desanimó de perseguir ese campo de estudio. Los asesores dijeron que no tenía lo que se necesitaba para tener éxito. Miranda, ahora profesora de ciencias geológicas en la Universidad Estatal de California, Northridge, no estuvo de acuerdo.

Ella se enseñó el tema y ahora es considerada una geóloga estructural líder en el campo de la difracción de retrodispersión electrónica (EBSD), una técnica de microscopía electrónica de barrido utilizada para estudiar la estructura cristalina de los materiales. Uno de sus artículos, publicado en 2016, fue señalado el mes pasado (octubre) por la División de Geología Estructural y Tectónica de la Sociedad Geológica de América para su más alto honor de publicación, calificándolo de “de distinción excepcional que claramente avanza la ciencia de la geología estructural o la tectónica”. El documento presenta los primeros datos de EBSD que salen del laboratorio de Miranda en CSUN. Miranda es la primera latina y la séptima autora principal en recibir el premio.

“Estoy encantada con este premio porque el artículo en el que se basa tiene una historia de fondo,” dijo Miranda. “Soy una de las personas más obstinadas que conozco. Me parecía inaceptable que me trataran como a una estudiante de doctorado incapaz que mis asesores no esperaran mucho de mí. Sabía que sería capaz de hacer un gran trabajo si me daban la oportunidad. Si nadie iba a enseñarme, iba a hacerlo yo misma quería demostrar que podía convertirme en un experto a pesar de todo lo que me echaran encima.”

El artículo de Miranda —“Evidencia microestructural para la transición de la fluencia por dislocación a la frontera de grano acomodada por dislocación deslizándose en plagioclase naturalmente deformada” — fue publicado en el Journal of Structural Geology, fue nominado por geólogos de todo el país que dijeron que era parte integral de su enseñanza y proporcionó una base para su propia investigación. Fue galardonado con el Premio a la Publicación Excepcional de la División de Geología Estructural y Tectónica de la Sociedad Geológica de América. La sociedad fue fundada en 1888 y es la sociedad profesional geológica más antigua y más grande de América del Norte, con más de 22.000 miembros. El premio a la publicación se otorgó por primera vez en 1984.

“Ver la lista de premiados anteriores es muy humilde,” dijo Miranda. “Algunos de los artículos más grandes y más impactantes de mi disciplina están listados como premiados en el sitio web de la sociedad, y mi publicación ahora está entre ellos.”

Miranda se formó originalmente como geóloga marina, y pasó tiempo haciendo inmersiones sumergibles en el fondo del océano estudiando las crestas y cuencas oceánicas del medio océano para entender la deformación tectónica. Mientras hacía esta investigación, aprendió sobre un campo relativamente nuevo de estudio que involucra el análisis de difracción de retrodispersión de electrones.

“Venía de la geología marina, así que sabía cómo identificar las microestructuras muy bien con microscopios de luz,” dijo Miranda. “Pero este análisis de difracción de retrodispersión de electrones era otra cosa. Sabía que esta técnica era el futuro de poder hacer análisis microestructurales”.

Miranda pasó cientos de horas por su cuenta, aprendiendo EBSD. Finalmente, con el apoyo de Jerry Stinner, decano de la Facultad de Ciencias y Matemáticas de CSUN, estableció el Laboratorio de Microscopía Electrónica de Escaneo del Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas como una instalación de usuario colaborativa con capacidad de análisis EBSD. Allí, utiliza el EBSD para entender las causas del movimiento a lo largo de fallas y zonas de cizallamiento que pueden causar terremotos y otros movimientos tectónicos.

“Usamos esta técnica para observar qué tan fuertes o débiles son las rocas de falla dentro de una falla o zona de cizallamiento porque ahí es donde una ruptura en el material puede provocar terremotos,” ella dijo. “Al usar EBSD, tenemos cierta visión del riesgo sísmico. Podemos interpretar las formas en que estas zonas de cizallamiento se han movido en el pasado geológico. Podemos usarlo para interpretar los movimientos pasados de la placa, los movimientos pasados a lo largo de las líneas de falla y el carácter de la deformación que encontramos. La técnica nos permite interpretar la temperatura, las tensiones que se ponen en la roca y cuán grandes son esas tensiones. Podemos cuantificar y usar ecuaciones que describen el comportamiento de estos materiales para predecir qué tan fuerte y qué tan rápido se moverá ese material.”

Miranda dijo que está particularmente orgullosa de recibir el honor como miembro de la facultad de la Universidad Estatal de California.

“Podría ser uno de los únicos beneficiarios que hizo el trabajo en una institución de concesión de maestría,” ella dijo. “Las personas como nosotros no suelen recibir premios como este. Pero lo hice, y espero que haya otras como yo —latinas, mujeres y personas de color que trabajan en instituciones de otorgamiento de maestrías— que también sean reconocidas en el futuro por su trabajo.”

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Addressing the Disconnect on Electric Vehicle Access https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/science-and-technology/addressing-the-disconnect-on-electric-vehicle-access/ Fri, 03 Nov 2023 18:25:06 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=54316

From Teslas to Toyotas, Californians have embraced zero-emission vehicles (also known as”ZEVs”): State analysts say we’ve already surpassed the original goal of having 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025. 

However, electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure has not kept up with drivers’ need to power up. The California Energy Commission estimates that based on current sales trends, more than 1 million chargers will be needed by the year 2030. Currently, the state agency estimates there are less than 95,000 public and private chargers throughout the state. 

On Oct. 24, state lawmakers convened an informational hearing at CSUN, to hear from experts in local governments and state agencies, to address this supply-demand imbalance. CSUN was a logical choice as the location for the hearing, as the university has long been a leader in sustainability efforts, including the work done by the Institute for Sustainability. The Institute also recently launched a new Road Map to Sustainability that sets goals for the next ten years to continue reducing greenhouse gas emissions; increase energy efficiency in buildings and bring cleaner electricity sources to campus. In 2022, CSUN expanded the number of electric vehicle chargers available on campus, and for the last two years, has hosted an electric vehicle car show on campus. 

The legislative hearing was organized by the state Assembly Select Committee on Electric Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure, represented by Assemblymember Pilar Shiavo (D-Chatsworth), committee chair, and Assemblymember Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael). 

There were two panels of experts, including specialists from the California Energy Commission and the L.A. Mayor’s Office of Energy and Sustainability. The first panel addressed statewide programs and perspectives. The second panel included local solutions and innovative practices.  Stevie Ruiz, associate professor in CSUN’s Department of Chicana/o Studies, was part of the second panel. His research focuses on environmental justice. Ruiz emphasized the need to consider what will benefit all communities — including new investments in public transportation. 

“You can have EV charging stations, but if you don’t have a car … what’s the point?” Ruiz said. “I’m really happy that you’re here, and talking [also] about public transportation, because we need to be incentivizing people who are taking public transportation and not just giving out incentives (zero-emission vehicle rebates) to the richest.” 

California has implemented numerous policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state. In 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that would ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles starting in 2035. By the year 2030, the statewide goal is to have greenhouse gas emissions 40% below what they were in 1990. 
 

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Jenny Omara-Steinbeck
Gut Bacteria Research Grows with New Equipment in CSUN Microbiology Lab https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/science-and-technology/gut-bacteria-research-grows-with-new-equipment-in-csun-microbiology-lab/ Thu, 05 Oct 2023 18:38:06 +0000 https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/?p=53946

CSUN Professor Gilberto Flores and graduate student Luis Duran work with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography system (HPLC), which arrived at CSUN in May.

CSUN Professor Gilberto Flores and graduate student Luis Duran work with a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography system (HPLC), which arrived at CSUN in May. Photo by David J. Hawkins


Luis Duran ’23 (Biology) spent this summer, before he started his master’s program at California State University, Northridge, learning how to use a new, high-tech machine that measures the byproducts of bacterial growth.

Now he’ll be able to teach other students to use the machine, a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography system (HPLC), which arrived at CSUN in May. It’s part of a series of high-tech upgrades in professor Gilberto Flores’ microbiology lab, where the professor and students research the bacterial community called the human gut microbiome — and how these communities contribute to human health. 

The HPLC and other upgrades will have a massive impact on the research opportunities related to microbial physiology available to students and faculty.

“Being able to understand how the machine works and understand what we’re getting out of it, and what the results mean for us, I think that helps a lot,” Duran said. “It’s a great addition to the lab, and is going to help us move forward in several projects that we have.”

The HPLC was one of two new cutting-edge pieces of equipment made possible by a $250,000 anonymous donation to the laboratory of professor Flores in the Department of Biology in the College of Science and Mathematics, which was matched by the CSUN Foundation as part of its 2022 Matador Match Challenge initiative — totaling $500,000 for lab enhancements. 

“It expands our capabilities of what we can do,” said Flores, a microbial ecologist. “It should also be able to accelerate our research, and expand the type of studies that we can do. It should open new avenues of getting grant funding, enabling us to attract more research dollars, and hopefully enabling us to attract more students.” 

The work Flores and his students do have applications for probiotics, including treatments for Type 2 diabetes and obesity. The new lab capabilities will help students develop marketable skills for the biotech industry.

Microbes in the large intestine help digest fibers from foodstuffs, a process called fermentation. The HPLC can measure the byproducts of fermentation in a culture of bacteria, such as fatty acids. These are waste products for the bacteria, but some can be absorbed by the human body for beneficial purposes, including energy.

Before the HPLC was installed, Flores had to outsource measurements of these byproducts, adding time and money to the research process.

A second piece of equipment made possible by the gift, which will be installed later this year, is an anaerobic bioreactor. Without the bioreactor, Flores and other researchers can only study bacteria inside a test tube, which is a closed system — once the culture is in the tube, the bacteria can run out of food or the waste products of growth eventually inhibit growth or kill the bacteria — for example, at a certain point, production of too much fatty acids acidify the culture medium and inhibit further bacterial growth.

Postdoctoral researcher Ashwana Fricker. transfers a bacterial culture in an anaerobic glove box.

Postdoctoral researcher Ashwana Fricker. transfers a bacterial culture in an anaerobic glove box. Photo by David J. Hawkins


The bioreactor will be used to study an organism or a mixture of organisms in a continuous way, so there’s new food coming in and  waste coming out. The bioreactor helps modulate the environment so the bacterium or community can sustain itself. For example, if a culture is getting too acidic, the bioreactor can help balance the pH levels.

The bioreactor isn’t a perfect analog for a live human gut, but it makes for a more realistic environment to study the complexities of bacterial growth.

The new equipment enables Flores and his students to combine traditional microbiology — growing an organism to understand what it eats and what waste it produces — with more recent techniques of examining communities of microbes with DNA and RNA sequencing.

The two machines can also work together.

“The products that are being made in real-time in the bioreactor, we can measure some of those with the HPLC that is right there next to it,” Flores said. “Having both of those in-house now is pretty important, and at the cutting edge of the science.”

The gift is already having a significant impact on student learning, Duran said. 

His goal is to be a middle school science teacher, but he is enjoying his research and said he could consider switching to a more research-focused career.

“It’s been a fantastic experience,” Duran said. “I’ve been learning a lot.”

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Jacob Bennett