The work of CSUN faculty and staff members is recognized in a variety of ways, including:

• Funding from outside organizations to support unique programs and cutting-edge research facilitated on campus.
• Publications of books or articles.
• Professional awards.
• Presentations at conferences.
• Appointments and elections to governing boards.

Please use this link to announce your achievements for publication in CSUN Today. 

Below is a list of the individuals whose work was recognized during the fall 2020 semester.

Publications

Presentations

Subhradeep Roy (Mechanical Engineering) presented “Study of Interactions in Complex Dynamical Systems,” an invited talk at the CSU Office of the Chancellor ”Exemplars in Engineering Research,” a webcast, in September.

MariaElena Zavala (Biology) delivered the prestigious mentoring keynote address at the annual international conference of the American Society for Cell Biology and the European Molecular Biology Organization.

Research and Sponsored Projects

Andrew Ainsworth (Center for Assessment, Research and Evaluation) received $77,200 from the City of Los Angeles, in support of a project titled “Program Evaluation and Customer Satisfaction Surveys.” He also received $42,144 from the Education, Training and Research (ETR) Associates, in support of a project titled “Delivery Context, Youth Characteristics and Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Secondary Analyses.”

Chhandak Basu (Biology) received $95,466 from the Alabama A&M University, in support of a project titled “Development of high curcumin containing turmeric varieties for production in Alabama.”

Annette Besnilian (Family and Consumer Sciences) received $60,000 from the Northeast Valley Health Corporation, in support of a project titled “WIC-based Dietetic Internship Program.”

Annette Besnilian (Family and Consumer Science) and David Boyns (Sociology) received $24,333 from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, in support of a project titled “Champions for Change: Healthy Communities Initiative.” They also received $317,500 from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, in support of a project titled “CSUN CalFresh Healthy Living Program.”

Igor Beloborodov (Physics and Astronomy) received $96,779 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in support of a project entitled “NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems TANMS.”

Abdelaziz Boulesbaa (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $46,271 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project titled “BUILD: Evaluation and Research on Utilization of Targeted Nanoparticles for Use as Cancer Therapies.”

Jodi Brown (Social Work) received $217,937 from the University of California, Los Angeles, in support of a project titled “University Consortium for Children and Families (UCCF).”

Nancy Burstein (Special Education) received $148,500 from the Los Angeles Unified School District, in support of a project titled “Teacher Residency Grant.”

Zhen Chai (Special Education), Tara Fahmie (Psychology) and Michele Haney(Special Education) received $193,552 from the U.S. Department of Education, in support of a project titled “The Bridge Project: Bringing Early Childhood Special Educators and Behavior Interventionists Together Through Interdisciplinary Evidence-Based Preparation to Serve Young Children with High-Intensity Needs.”

Robert Carpenter (Biology) received $128,662 from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in support of a project titled “LTER: MCR III: Long-Term Dynamics of a Coral Reef Ecosystem.”

Maria-Rita D’Orsogna (Mathematics) received $279,973 from the University of California, Los Angeles, for her role as “Associate Director — Visiting Researcher (Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics).” D’Orsogna also received $36,631 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project titled “Collaborative Research: Understanding Generation, Maintenance, and Dynamics of Immune Diversity via Clone-Count Models.”

Peter Edmunds (Biology) received $705,074 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project titled “RUI: Pattern and process in four decades of change on Caribbean reefs.” He also received $128,663 from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in support of a project titled “LTER: MCR III: Long-Term Dynamics of a Coral Reef Ecosystem.”

Joyce Feucht-Haviar (Tseng College) received $125,000 from the City of Los Angeles, in support of a project titled “ReLAY Institute.”

Martha Escobar (Chicana/o Studies) received $90,000 from the California State University Chancellor’s Office, in support of a project titled “Project Rebound at CSU Northridge.”

Rafi Efrat (Accounting and Information Systems) received $16,750 from the Volunteers of America, in support of a project titled “CSUN VITA Clinic @ Volunteers of America of Los Angeles.” He also received $150,000 from the U.S. Department of Treasury, in support of a project titled “The CSUN VITA Program.” Efrat also received $1,050 from the Friends of the Family, in support of a project titled “The CSUN VITA Clinic @ Friends of the Family.”

Eileen Evans (Geological Sciences) received $60,880 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in support of a project titled “Imaging the next great Cascadia earthquake: Optimal design for a seafloor acoustic-GNSS network.”

Paula Fischhaber (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $350,008 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project titled “SLX4 in Nuclease Recruitment.”

Farshad Ghodoosi (Business Law) received $10,000 from the Knight Foundation, in support of a project titled “Internet Governance, Digital Manipulation, and Textual Deception.”

Kim Goldberg-Roth (Educational Psychology and Counseling) received $2,600 from the Children’s Advocacy Centers of California, in support of a project titled “CACC Technology Stipend”; $17,000 from the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department, in support of a project titled “Project Safe Haven”; $75,000 from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, in support of a project titled “LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund”; $27,990 from Friends of the Family, in support of a project titled “Friends of the Family: Prevention and Aftercare Services/Activities,” and $2,300 in support of a project titled “Friends of the Family: Prevention and Aftercare Services/Activities”; and $97,664 from the California Office of Emergency Services, in support of a project titled “LA City Victim Services (XC) Program.” She also received six donations from the City of Los Angeles: $60,000 in support of a project titled “Domestic Response Abuse Team (DART) – Family Justice Center (FJC),” $62,585 in support of a project titled “Domestic Response Abuse Team (DART) – Foothill,” $62,585 in support of a project titled “Domestic Response Abuse Team (DART) – North Hollywood,” $62,585 in support of a project entitled “Domestic Response Abuse Team (DART) – Van Nuys,” $62,585 in support of a project titled “Domestic Response Abuse Team (DART) – West Valley,” and $6,250 in support of a project titled “Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Program.”

Pete Goldschmidt (Educational Psychology and Counseling) received $290,185 from the state of Mississippi, in support of a project titled “Evaluating English Language Progress Models: The Sensitivity of Claims about Progress Across State Models.”

Christine Hayashi (Educational Leadership and Policy Studies) received $2,082 from the Los Angeles Unified School District, in support of a project titled “Professional Development Services in Support of Private Schools.”

Nhut Ho (Autonomy Research Center) received $64,226 from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, in support of a project titled “Dynamics of Trust Evolution and Calibration: A Field Study of Heterogeneous Human-Machine Teams with High Levels of Autonomy Operating in Contexts with Real Users, Real Systems, and Real Consequences.” He also received $927,393 from NASA in support of a project titled “Autonomy Research Center for STEM.”

Nhut Ho and Li Liu (Autonomy Research Center) received $32,000 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in support of a project titled “Enabling Artemis and STMD Mission with Autonomy-Based Convergence Research and Literacy.”

Nicholas Kioussis (Physics and Astronomy) received $61,999 from Northwestern University, in support of a project titled “Partnership for development of high-performance magnetic memory technology.” He also received $209,779 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in support of a project entitled “NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems TANMS.”

Amy Levin (Social Work) received $1,868,520 from the University of California, Berkeley, in support of a project entitled “CalSWEC Title IV-E Social Work Training Program.”

Li Lui (Autonomy Research Center) received $68,715 from the Rocket Studios, in support of a project titled “Hierarchical State Machine Visualization in Multi-robot System.” Liu also received $49,680 from NASA, in support of a project titled “Growing Engineering Engagement in Underrepresented Populations (GrowUP).”

Regan Maas and Danielle Bram (Geography) received $100,000 from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, in support of a project titled “Adding Fisheries and other Data Analyses and Geospatial Training to the Geological and Geophysical (G&G) Dataset Improvement Coop Agreement.”

Thomas Minehan (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $330,662 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project titled “RUI: Exploring Shape-selective Binding of the DNA Major Groove by Haiprin bis (diarylmethylene) Hydrazides.”

Frank Muñiz and Shiva Parsa (Educational Opportunity Program) received $261,888 from the United States Department of Education, in support of a project titled “CSU, Northridge Student Support Services Program.”

Virginia Oberholzer-Vandergon (Biology), Matthew d’Alessio (Geological Sciences), Brian Foley (Secondary Education), Norman Herr (Secondary Education) and Li Ye (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $39,000 from The Regents of the University of California, Office of the President, in support of a project titled “San Fernando Valley Science Project ESSA.”

Kathryn Peckham-Hardin (Special Education) received $249,734 from the United States Department of Education, in support of a project titled “Project I-PREP: Inclusive Preparation for Resourceful and Effective Professionals.”

Hendrik Postma (Physics and Astronomy) received $44,524 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project titled “Covid Supplemental Request.”

SK Ramesh (Electrical and Computer Science) received $100,936 from the US Department of Education, in support of a project titled “Bridging the Gap: Enhancing AIMS2 for Student Success.”

Emily Russell (Child and Adolescent Development) received $90,026 from Jumpstart Inc, in support of a project titled “Jumpstart Northridge.”

Joshua Schwartz (Geological Sciences) received $162,487 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project titled “Evaluating the Role of MASH Processes and the Growth of Continental Crust.”

Sue Sears (Special Education) received $25,000 from the Napa County Office of Education, in support of a project titled “California Adolescent Literacy Initiative (CALI).”

Suzanne Spear (Health Sciences) received $145,000 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project titled “A systems science approach for improving continuity of service in substance use disorder treatment.”

Timothy Tiemann (College of Business and Economics) and Crist Khachikian(Civil Engineering and Construction Management) received $99,667 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project titled “I-Corps.”

Teri Todd (Kinesiology), Nathan Martin (Recreation and Tourism Management) and David Boyns (Community Health and Wellbeing) received $85,962 from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, in support of a project titled “Valley Go! Adaptive Handcycling, Boating, and Waterskiing.”

Claudia Toledo-Corral (Health Sciences) received $17,525 from the University of Southern California, in support of a project titled “Echo (LA-Dreamers).” She also received $32,813 from the University of Southern California, in support of a project titled “Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES).”

Juana Maria Valdivia (Student Outreach and Recruitment) received $328,413 from the U.S. Department of Education, in support of a project titled “Talent Search San Fernando Valley North Central.”

Juana Maria Valdivia and Evelyn Garcia (Student Outreach and Recruitment) received $312,480 from the U.S. Department of Education, in support of a project titled “Upward Bound – San Fernando Valley North Central.”

Yolanda Vasquez-Salgado (Psychology) and Shu-Sha Guan (Child and Adolescent Development) received $50,000 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project titled “BUILD: Investigating Social Class Disparities in Health and Academics Among Underrepresented Minority Students During the Transition to College: The Role of Cultural Mismatch.”

Ivor Weiner (Special Education) received $144,925 from the North Los Angeles County Regional Center (NLACRC), in support of a project titled “Van Nuys Family Resource Center and Library.”

Jennifer Wolfe (Secondary Education) received $69,750 from UC Regents, in support of a project titled “CSUN Writing Project CSMP Supplemental Funding Grant.” Wolfe also received $39,082 from The Regents of the University of California, Office of the President, in support of a project titled “California Subject Matter Project Grant for the Cal State Northridge Writing Project.”

Li Ye (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $15,636 from the University of California, Riverside (UCR), in support of a project titled “Design and evaluate the effectiveness of online formative assessments and feedback with simulations in supporting student understanding of molecular structures and properties.”

Li Ye (Chemistry and Biochemistry), Virginia Oberholzer Vandergon (Biology), Brian Foley (Secondary Education) and Matthew d’Alessio (Geological Sciences) received $88,388 from the University of California, in support of a project titled “San Fernando Valley Science Project One Time Allotment.”

Natale Zappia (Institute for Sustainability) received $71,400 from the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA), in support of a project titled “Building Resilience for Socially Disadvantaged and Beginning Farmers via Training, Mentorship and Urban-Rural Network.”

Achievements