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 from June to October 2023.

Awards

Kiren Dosanjh Zucker (Accounting) won the American Bar Association’s ABA  Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction. She received the $5,000 prize for her short story “Memory of a Braid,” which addresses equal-employment opportunity laws and their limits. In 2021, Dosanjh Zucker’s first-person narrative “Lost in a Place Called Home,” was the basis for a Zoom production of the Los Angeles theater The Braid.

Publications

Zhaleh Semnani-Azad (Management) published an article with Academy of Management Proceedings entitled “American and Chinese Facework on tCMC in Organizational Contexts” and an article publication with Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Proceedings entitled “SocialDial: A Benchmark for Socially-Aware Dialogue Systems.”

Research and Sponsored Projects

Eduardo Amorim (Biology) received $342,644 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Characterizing Human-Pathogen Interactions and Natural Selection with Ancient DNA.”

Zhaleh Semnani Azad (Management) received $25,783 from Monash University, in support of a project entitled “Dialogue Assistance for Negotiations in Cross-cultural Settings: A Neuro-Symbolic Computational Approach.”

Annette Besnilian (Marilyn Magaram Center) received $650,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture, in support of a project entitled “Nutrition and Food Workforce Pathways for Underrepresented Students,” $161,210 from the Northeast Valley Health Corporation, in support of a project entitled “CIAO WIC Community Innovation and Outreach.”

Annette Besnilian (Marilyn Magaram Center) and David Boyns (Sociology)$30,000 from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, in support of a project entitled “CSUN CalFresh Healthy Living Program.”

Anna Bezryadina (Physics and Astronomy) received $10,000 from the California State University Office of the Chancellor, in support of a project entitled “Optical Studies of Microplastics with Optical Tweezers and Raman Spectroscopy.”

Kacie Blackman (Health Sciences) received $80,098 from Charles R. Drew University, in support of a project entitled “Augmented Reality Milk Flow.”

Melanie Bocanegra (Student Success), Shu-Sha Guan (Child and Adolescent Development), Dimpal Jain (Education Policy Studies), and Yolanda Salgado (Psychology) received $399,788 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “HSI Planning Project: CSUN START.”

Abdelaziz Boulesbaa (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $496,562 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “CAREER – Ultrafast Dynamics of Vibrational Energy Transfer and Redistribution in Interfacial Water” and $25,000 from Pasadena City College, in support of a project entitled “Utilization of Undergraduate Research to Promote Equity and Completion in Micro Nano Technology Professional Workforce Education.”

Ana Cadavid (Physics & Astronomy) received $42,985 from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, in support of a project entitled “Participation in Characterizing the Physical and Dynamical Properties of Coronal Holes and Adjacent Quiet-Sun Regions Program.”

Gabriela Chavira, Carrie Saetermoe (Psychology), Patchareeya Kwan (Health Sciences), and Crist Khachikian (Civil Engineering and Construction Management) received $1,003,352 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “BUILD II,” $328,514 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “BUILD II,” and $1,008,236 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “BUILD II.”

Mariano Loza-Coll (Biology) received $147,500 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Genetic Interactions Among Targets of Master Regulator Genes as Drivers of Complex Behavior in Drosophila Intestinal Stem Cells.”

Claudia Toledo-Corral (Health Sciences) received $184,225 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Allostatic Load in Latino Youth (ALLY) study: The Role of Discrimination and Environmental Racism” and $31,829 from the University of Southern California, in support of a project entitled ” Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES).”

Karin Crowhurst (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $108,750 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Synergy Between Acid Stress Chaperones HdeA and HdeB with Clients and Their Key Sites of Activity.”

Peter Edmunds (Biology) received $99,992 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “Collaborative Research: EAGER: The Next Crisis for Coral Reefs is How to Study Vanishing Coral Species; AUVs Equipped with AI May be the Only Tool for the Job.”

Rafi Efrat (Bookstein Institute) received $200,000 from the United States Department of Treasury, in support of a project entitled “The Bookstein Low Income Taxpayer Clinic” and $304,334 from the United States Department of Treasury, in support of a project entitled “The CSUN VITA Program.”

Maria Elizondo (Student Affairs) received $65,000 from California State University, Chico, in support of a project entitled “ECMC B.E.S.T. Program.”

Gilberto Flores (Biology) received $362,500 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Mechanisms and Consequences of Human Milk Oligosaccharide Growth and Bile Stress Across Diverse Strains of the Potential Therapeutic Bacterium, Akkermansia Muciniphila.”

Brian Foley (Secondary Education) received $114,912 from the Regents of the University of California, in support of a project entitled “SFVSP From Phenomena to Model (Ph2M).”

Myriam Forster (Health Sciences) received $331,875 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Supporting Student Health and Resilience.”

Shu-Sha Guan (Child and Adolescent Development) Yolanda Salgado, Carrie Saetermoe (Psychology), and Cindy Malone (Biology) received $463,576 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Educational Modules to Broaden Academic Research Cultures (EMBARC).”

Richard Heermance (Geological Sciences) received $187,835 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “Collaborative Research: RUI: Glacier Resilience During the Holocene and “Late Pleistocene in Northern California.”

Ray Hong (Biology) received $362,500 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Mapping of Chemosensory Neuron Function to Uncover Changes in Neuronal Fates.”

Daniel Hosken (Arts, Media, and Communication Deans Office), Elizabeth Leister, Mark Farquhar, Joel Krantz, Nate Thomas, and Martin Jarmick Cinema and Television Arts) received $1,000,000 from the United States Department of Education, in support of a project entitled “Advancing Equity and Innovation in Entertainment and Information Media.”

Bradley Jackson (Electrical and Computer Engineering) received $25,000 from the Aerospace Corporation, in support of a project entitled “Systems, Subsystems, and Components of a Wideband Array Antenna with Digital Beamforming.”

Gregory Knotts (Elementary Education) received $330,000 from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, in support of a project entitled “Integrated Teacher Preparation Program Implementation and Expansion Grants.”

Claire Kravette (Religious Studies) received $85,723 from the Washington University in St. Louis, in support of a project entitled “The Persistence of Wild Religious Traditions: How the Handling of Misfortune Influences the Dynamics of Folk Religions.”

Amy Levin (Research and Sponsored Programs) received $92,000 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.”

Amy Levin (Research and Sponsored Programs) and Charlene Manzueta (Research and Sponsored Programs) received $49,000 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.”

Bingbing Li and Nhut Ho (Autonomy Research Center for STEAHM) have received $48,368 from the University of California, Irvine, in support of a project entitled “The Sustainable Manufacturing Alliances for Research and Training Industry Assessment Center (The SMART IAC)”.

Bingbing Li and Christoph Schaal (Autonomy Research Center for STEAHM) received $250,000 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in support of a project entitled “Consortium for High-volume Additive Manufacturing of Aerospace Heat Exchanger and Talent Development.”

Jacob Hinkel-Lipsker (Kinesiology), Stefanie Drew, Thomas Chan (Psychology), and Peter Bishay (Mechanical Engineering) received $16,000 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “RUI: Improving Motor Learning and Rehabilitation Via Experimental Bidirectional Dynamic Human-Virtual Reality Interaction System.”

Jason Lo (Mathematics) received $7,000 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “RUI: Symmetries, Stability, and Related Problems.”

Steven Loy (Kinesiology) received $21,274 from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, in support of a project entitled “3 WINS Fitness Physical Activity Classes.”

Gang Lu (W.M. Keck Computational Materials Theory Center) received $150,000.00 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “PREM: Partnership Between CSUN and Princeton for Quantum Materials.”

Tyler Luchko (Physics and Astronomy) received $50,000 from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, in support of a project entitled “Investigating the Effects of Low Ion Concentration on RNA Stability with Hybrid Monte Carlo and the Molecular Theory of Solvation.”

Kathleen Marsaglia (Geological Sciences) received $68,635 from Columbia University, in support of a project entitled “U.S. Science Support Program Office Associated with the International Ocean Discovery Program (USSSP-IODP).”

Jonathan Martinez (Psychology) received $181,250 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Co-Developing a Psychoeducational Mental Health Toolkit for Underserved Families to Navigate the Mental Health System.”

Dena Herman-Mendes (Family and Consumer Sciences) received $116,403.04 from the Office of Farm to Fork, in support of a project entitled “Produce Prescription Project: Ventura County WIC.”

Maosheng Miao (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received $701,943 from the United States Department of Defense, in support of a project entitled “Improving Design of Materials by Exploring and Utilizing Novel Chemistry.”

Majid Mojirsheibani (Mathematics) received $200,000 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “Predictive Models with Incomplete and Fragmented Observations, and New Advances in Virtual Re-Sampling for Big Data.”

Abhijit Mukherjee and Vinicius Maron Sauer (Mechanical Engineering) received $25,000 from the Orange County Sustainability Decathlon, in support of a project entitled “Orange County Sustainability Decathlon.”

Jennifer Pemberton and Kim Goldberg-Roth (Strength United) received $1,174,046 from the California Victim Compensation Board, in support of a project entitled ” Trauma Recovery Center Grant.”

Radha Ranganathan (Physics and Astronomy) received $108,750 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Intrinsic Curvature Induced Packing Heterogeneity and Non-Uniform Distribution of Cholesterol and Abeta Peptide in Lipid Bilayers.”

Kim Goldberg-Roth (Strength United) received $150,000 from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, in support of a project entitled “Master Agreement Work Order for SPA2 RVPC,” $530,198 from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, in support of a project entitled “Family Preservation – San Fernando Valley,” and $310,200 from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, in support of a project entitled “Family Preservation – San Fernando Valley.”

Michelle Rozic (Art and Design) received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, in support of a project entitled “Remaking the Discarded: Papermaking and Collaborative Installation.”

Yolanda Vasquez-Salgado (Psychology) received $181,250 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Investigating Cultural Mismatch and its Associations to Health and Academic Outcomes Among Latinx Students During the Transition to College: The Moderating Role of Education Context and Resilience.”

Yolanda Vasquez-Salgado (Health Equity Research and Education Center), Claudia Toledo-Corral (Health Sciences), and Shu-Sha Guan (Child and Adolescent Development) received $25,000 from the University of California, Los Angeles, in support of a project entitled “Cultural Mismatch “Gets Under the Skin”: An Investigation of Mismatch, Allostatic Load and Epigenetic Age During the Transition to College.”

Tohid Sardarmehni, Vidya Nandikolla (Mechanical Engineering) and Mohammad Rasoul Narimani (Electrical and Computer Engineering) received $999,807 from the United States Department of Homeland Security, in support of a project entitled “Enhancing Border Security Using Heterogeneous UV Swarm with AI and Graph Theory.”

Vinicius Maron Sauer (Mechanical Engineering) received $199,993 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “ERI: Stretch Effects on Combustion Characteristics of Flames with Non-Uniform Curvature.”

Dong-Ning Sheng (Physics and Astronomy) received $140,000 from the United States Department of Energy, in support of a project entitled “Global Quantum Phase Diagram and Topological Superconductivity in Strongly Interacting Systems.”

Karin Stanford, W Gabriel Selassie, Marquita Gammage (Africana Studies), Danielle Bram (Geography and Environmental Studies), and Brianne Posey (Criminology and Justice Studies) received $189,186 from the City of Los Angeles, in support of a project entitled “Los Angeles Civil Rights Study on Reparations for African Americans.”

Csaba Toth (Mathematics) received $11,520 from the National Science Foundation, in support of a project entitled “RUI: Optimization on Geometric Spanner Networks from a Combinatorial Perspective.”

Juana Maria Valdivia and Evelyn Garcia (Student Outreach and Recruitment) received $267,601 from the United States Department of Education, in support of a project entitled “Upward Bound – San Fernando Valley Northeast.”

Ivor Weiner (Special Education) received $113,948.64 from the North Los Angeles County Regional Center, in support of a project entitled “Van Nuys Family Resource Center and Library.”

Hui Xie (Recreation and Tourism Management) received $181,250 from the National Institutes of Health, in support of a project entitled “Senior Centers and Older Adults’ Health Outcomes.”

MariaElena Zavala (Biology) received $21,686.00 from the American Society for Cell Biology, in support of a project entitled “Improving Diversity and Career Transitions through Society Support (ASCB IPERT Subaward to MariaElena Zavala, Co-PI).”

MariaElena Zavala, Ray Hong, and Cheryl Hogue (Biology) have received $564,133 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, in support of a project entitled “Bridges to the Doctorate Research Training Program at CSUN.”

Biology, Child Development, College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Health and Human Development, College of Science and Mathematics, Department of Biology, Department of Cinema and Television Arts, Department of Criminology and Justice Studies, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, Department of Geological Sciences, Department of Health Sciences, Department of Kinesiology, Department of Psychology, Department of Religious Studies, Department of Secondary Education, Education, education policy studies, Management, Marilyn Magaram Center, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Mike Curb College of Arts Media and Communication, Physics and Astronomy, Research, Special Education, Strength United, Student Success