COSAM Alumni in the News - 2011

Math Alum Named VP at Neustar Labs

(November) Joe Pasqua (B.S., Math, '81, B.S., Computer Science, '81) was named vice president of Neustar Labs. Before taking the newly created position, Pasqua served as chief technology officer of Symantec's $2 billion data center business. He also led Symantech's global research operations, producing technologies for security and storage products. As vice president of Neustar Labs, he will be responsible for applied research and innovation.
Read the announcement on PRNewswire

Biology Alumnus Dies in Wind Storm While Protecting Condors

(November) Cal Poly alumnus and wildlife biologist Michael Tyner (B.S., Ecology and Systematic Biology, '04) was killed by a falling branch in Big Sur in November 2011 after caring for one of the California condors he was dedicated to saving. Tyner worked for the Ventana Wilderness Society as a field supervisor for its California Condor Recovery Program. On Nov. 30, Tyner went into the Los Padres National Forest with colleagues to check on a young condor recently released to the wild. While there, the winds picked up. Meteorology reports said gusts of up to 70 mph were recorded in the area that afternoon. After checking on the condor, Tyner was driving an ATV out of the wilderness area when he was struck by a falling oak branch. His colleagues traveling in a separate ATV came upon the scene and found him. Colleagues called his loss "catastrophic."
Read more about Michael Tyner

Cal Poly Couple Profiled for Their Adoptive Family

(November) School of Education alum James Barnett (B.S., Applied Art and Design, '94, M.A., Education Administration, '06) and his wife Jacque (B.S., Applied Art and Design, '94) were profiled about their adoptive family. The couple met while studying applied art and design at Cal Poly. She was from the San Joaquin Valley, he hailed from the Bay Area, and they settled on the Central Coast as a couple in their early 20s, ready to start a family. After seven years of trying to get pregnant, the couple turned to private adoption and now have four children and a happy home.
Read more about the Barnetts

Bio Grad Goes On to Med School, Comes Back to Practice Medicine, Rebuild a Craftsman Home

(November) After J. Trees Ritter (B.S., Biological Sciences, '96) graduated from Cal Poly, he left San Luis Obispo to attend medical school. When he and wife Tamzin returned nine years later, they wanted to experience the city to its fullest by living close to downtown. They found a 1918 Craftsman bungalow in desperate need of a major remodel. The three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,400-square-foot home seemed like a snug fit for a family of five and their two dogs -- and the youngest of their three daughters was just 2 months old.
Read about the Ritters and the remodel in the Homes section of the SLO Tribune

Ecology Alum Brings Urban Farming to Morro Bay

(November) Tyler Newton (B.S., Ecology and Systematic Biology, '00) returned to Morro Bay with his wife Jennifer in 2005 to start Newton Cultivation. Before that, he was awarded a grant from UC Davis to sail around the world, testing and collecting water. Now, he raises plants and produce on about an acre of land at the main entrance to Morro Bay, and is helping the city plant trees and create a garden at St. Timothy's Church. Oh, and also trying to keep the town's Guerilla Gardeners under control.
Read about Newton in the SLO Tribune

Math Alum Named President at Cuesta College

(November) The Cuesta College Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Gilbert H. Stork (B.S., Math, '63; M.S., Math, '66) as the community college's new superintendent/president in November 2011. Stork has been serving as Cuesta College’s interim superintendent and president since January 2010. He has a longstanding relationship with Cuesta College dating back to 1967: he has served as an assistant football coach, mathematics instructor, division chair, associate dean, dean, and assistant superintendent/vice president of student services. Stork earned his master’s degree in mathematics from Cal Poly and his doctorate in educational administration from Brigham Young University.
Read the SLO Tribune coverage
See the KSBY TV-News coverage
Read more in the Paso Robles Press

Molecular Bio Grad Receives Scholarship from Human BioMolecular Research Institute

(November) Emily Smith (B.S., Biological Sciences, '11) has received a scholarship award from the Human BioMolecular Research Institute (HBRI) in San Diego for her work as a summer intern in 2011. Award winners must excel in the classroom and in the lab. HBRI is a non-profit research institute doing fundamental and practical research for the common good. Smith joins 71 fellow interns who have done cutting edge research at HBRI over the past 13 years.
Read the full story in the Del Mar Times

National Restaurant Association Names Bio Alum Senior Manager for Food Safety and Quality Assurance

(October) The National Restaurant Association named Christopher Melchert as Senior Manager for Food Safety and Quality Assurance. The new position is part of the association's government affairs and policy team. Its creation illustrates the importance of these critical issues to the association, as well as the association’s strength in policy and regulatory affairs. Melchert (B.S., Biological Sciences, microbiology concentration and chemistry minor, '80) brings more than 27 years of food safety and protection experience to this role, where he will help develop, manage and implement the Association’s agenda on food safety and quality assurance issues.
Read more about Melchert

Chemistry Alums Make a Good Mix: They're Now Married

(September) Christina Karplus (B.S., Chemistry, '07) of and Caleb Hunt (B.S., Chemistry, '07) were married in September in Fremont, where they plan to make their home. The bride is the daughter of Andy and Karen Karplus of Corvallis. She works at Schmahl Science Workshops in San Jose, Calif. The groom is the son of John and Gail Hunt of Granite Bay, Calif. He works at Seneca Center in Fremont.
Read the wedding announcement

Bio Alumna Creates 'World of Wonders' Science Museum

(September) After being chosen as the president of the World of Wonders Science Museum in Lodi, Calif., Sally Greenley Snyde (B.S., Biological Sciences, '73) took the idea and ran with it. For four years, she worked to obtain funding for the museum and helped to promote the idea. For her contributions in community service, Snyde was chosen recently as an inductee for the Lodi Community Hall of Fame.
Read more in the Lodi News
Photo courtesy Sally Snyde

Liberal Studies & Education Alum Comes 'Home' to Serve as Principal at Underprivileged School

(September) Sal Reynoso (B.S., Liberal Studies, '01; Credential '02; M.A., Education, '06) has walked in his middle school students' footsteps -- and hallways, and classrooms. Minus portables, the Kermit McKenzie Junior High School campus in Guadalupe, Calif., looks a lot like it did when the 37-year-old principal walked the campus as a student. He returned first as a custodian and then as a teacher before becoming the school's top administrator. Reynoso grew up in a Spanish-speaking household, like many students in the Guadalupe Union School District. He told the Santa Maria Times that when he was a McKenzie student, he got into the same kinds of trouble as some of his current students do, and didn’t know what he wanted to do with his future. That gives him a good understanding of the social and academic challenges faced by the school's 350 small-town students, he said.
Read about Reynoso in the Santa Maria Times
Photo courtesy Kermit McKenzie Junior High School

Chem Alum's Business Re-Sold to Warren Buffett

(September) A Paso Robles specialty chemical manufacturer co-founded by Cal Poly graduate William Frost (B.S., Biochemistry, '72) is now owned by business magnate Warren Buffet. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has completed its $9 billion purchase of the Ohio-based chemical maker Lubrizol Corp., which owns and operates a 60-employee plant in Paso Robles in addition to manufacturing facilities in 17 countries. The Paso Robles plant was once Chemron Corp., co-founded by Frost and a partner in 1977. The company specialized in chemicals for personal-care products, including soaps, detergents and shampoos. The Paso Robles manufacturing plant opened in 1981. By 2002, it had 100 employees and was sold to Lubrizol for approximately $60 million.
Read more about Frost's business success in The Tribune

Bio Alum Writes the Book on 'Humorous' White-Collar Crime

(September) Patrick Michael Edwards (B.S., Biological Sciences, '75) explains the connection between the seriousness of white-collar crime and the satirical phrases that he uses to explain them in "They Cooked The Books: A Humorous Look at the World of White-collar Crime." Edwards, a Coast Guard recruit who served on search and rescue missions in Vietnam, combines historical references with opinionated satire to present both the origin and meaning of popular sayings and how they apply to the recent rampant crime wave on Wall Street.
Photo courtesy Patrick Edwards and CreateSpace Publishing

Bio Alum Launches Dental Health Initiative

(September) Robert Parminter, DDS (B.S., Environmental and Systematic Biology, '87) is blending technology with his family dental practice in Whittier. He's launched a patient-focused website. Parminter’s practice is using the website to educate the community on the importance of oral health. The website includes a links page with informative dental resources as well as a frequently asked questions page to address common concerns on topics ranging from sedation dentistry in Whittier to difficult dental procedures.
Read about it on ITnet

Forbes Magazine Names Bio Minor A.J. Forsythe One of Nation's Top Student Entrepreneurs

For most people, breaking a new iPhone twice in two days would be a tragedy. For 2011 Cal Poly grad A.J. Forsythe (B.S., Psychology, Minor, Biological Sciences, '11), it was the start of iCracked, an iPhone repair business with approximately $200,000 in projected annual revenues. What he started in 2009 as a student, he's now expanding across the nation as a grad. For his success, Forbes Magazine named him one of the country's "All Star Entrepreneurs."
Read the Forbes Article
Photo courtesy iCracked

Chemistry Alum is Sonoma Winemaker

(August) Chemistry alum Eric Aafedt (B.S., Chemistry, '90) is now a winemaker at Bogle Vineyards. His 2010 Sauvignon Blanc was the wine-of-the-week pick recently in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Tasters described it as tropical, boxwood and crisp. “A long, cool growing season gave fruit with intense sauvignon blanc character,” Aafedt told the newspaper. “We implement a reductive winemaking style on the sauvignon blanc. Avoiding oxidation of sauvignon blanc grapes and juice preserves the unique flavors of this varietal.”
Read the full story in the Press Democrat
Photo courtesy Bogle Vineyards

Chemistry Alum Joins Neutraceuticals Company

(August) Alison Raban (B.S., Chemistry, '05) has joined BI Nutraceuticals, the largest supplier of botanical ingredients in the U.S. Raban has joined the team as a food technologist charged with product development and creating custom solutions for BI's food and beverage clients.
Read more in Food Development.com

Alumna Teacher Earns $1,000 for Her District

(August) Marilyn Lewis (M.A., Education, '81), an active Wakulla School District substitute teacher and school volunteer since August 2008, is the recipient of a $1,000 award from the 2011 National American Library Association Conference. Lewis attended the conference in New Orleans and was one of only three winners of the prize, sponsored by Dollar General. She made sure the money was sent directly to the Wakulla School District. Lewis grew up in Oxnard, Calif., and received her bachelor’s degree from Le Moyne College and her master’s degree from Cal Poly.
More about Lewis

Del Mar Wine Director Earns Top Score and Rudd Scholarship at the Court of Master Sommeliers Advanced Exam

(June) Joshua Orr (B.S., Kinesiology, '07) was one of 49 accomplished professionals from across the U.S. who took part in the Court of Master Sommeliers’ Advanced Exam. Orr was one of the 14 who passed the five-day exam. He was also awarded the Rudd Scholarship for earning the top score at the exam.
Read more about Orr in the Del Mar Times

Chico State University Faculty Honor Sociologist

(June) Tony Waters (M.S., Biological Sciences, '86) was recently honored as Outstanding Professor for 2011 by his fellow faculty members at Chico State University. Waters has made a career of studying how the world's problems got to be how they are. Waters has been on the faculty in the Department of Sociology at CSU Chico since 1996. He came to the university following years of working with refugees in Thailand and Tanzania. He has published four books, including Crime and Immigrant Youth (1999), Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan (2001), When Killing is a Crime (2007), and The Persistence of Subsistence Agriculture: Life Beneath the Level of the Marketplace (2007).He earned a and a Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Davis and has taught in China and Germany.
Read about Waters' award
Photo Courtesy CSU Chico

Bio Alumna Profiled in Native American Journal

(June) Alumna Serra Hoagland (B.S., Ecology and Systematic Biology, '08) was profiled in the June edition of Winds of Change, the publication of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. She just graduated from UC Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science and Management with her master's degree in June. The feature article outlines her experiences as a Cal Poly undergrad working at Yellowstone National Park, and her post-Cal Poly job as a biological technician at Padre Island National Seashore in south Texas. She says her field classes at Cal Poly gave her great mentors and experience.
Read the story on Hoagland (pdf)
Photo courtesy Serra Hoagland

Bio Alumna Named Cal Poly Female Athlete of the Year

(June) Biology grad Rachel Clancy (B.S., Biological Sciences, '10) was named Cal Poly's Female Athlete of the Year. Clancy was named the NCAA's Big West Player of the Year in Women's Basketball in March. It was the second top honor of the season for Clancy, who also received NCAA's Academic All-America team honors. Clancy was named to the Big West Conference 2010-11 Scholar Athletes of the Year in March. A native of Limerick, Ireland, she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Biological Sciences in 2010 and was a standout player on the Cal Poly women’s basketball team as a bio grad student. She ranked in the top 10 in the Big West in scoring, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage and three-pointers made per game.
Read the story in The SLO Tribune | See the KSBY TV-News Story

Physics Alumna Turned San Jose Teacher Will Work with NASA

(May) San Jose science teacher Marita Sablan Beard (B.S., Physics, '95) has reached new career heights. Beard is one of just six classroom educators nationwide selected to work with scientists aboard NASA's flying Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy during summer 2011. Growing up, Beard discovered a love of astronomy at Vallejo's St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School. When she graduated from Cal Poly, she recalled, she was one of just three women to complete the physics program that year. Before becoming a teacher six years ago, Beard worked for the SETI Institute in Mountain View conducting astrophysics research for NASA (SETI stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). From 2000 to 2005, she worked for the institute's public outreach arm.
Read more about Beard in the San Jose Mercury News

Teacher Earns Presidential Recognition

(May) Anne Marie Bergen (B.S., Biological Sciences, '85) has earned the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science. She will travel to the White House to receive the honor in May. Bergen is one of 85 teachers chosen by President Obama. It’s not the first recognition for Bergen, who was named California’s Teacher of the Year in 2003, and Stanislaus County Teacher of the Year in 2002. In 2006, she received the Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence. She was hamed a Cal Poly Honored Alumna in 2008. Last fall, she came to Cal Poly to serve as a Teacher in Residence in the Biological Sciences Department, instructing science classes and labs required for the university’s Liberal Studies students – the undergraduates seeking to become K-6 teachers. Bergen is helping the university reshape the curriculum in several courses targeted to future classroom teachers.
Read more about Bergen on KCOY | Read the story about Bergen in the SLO Tribune

Math Alumnus Named Head Of New Genomics Institute

Eric Schadt (May) Eric E. Schadt, Ph.D. (B.S., Mathematics, '91) has been appointed to lead the new Mount Sinai Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology. The institute is a partnership between the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. The institute will perform clinical research and is intended to be the hub of genomics research at Mount Sinai, collaborating with 13 other disease-oriented and core technology-based Institutes at Mount Sinai. Schadt, one of the world's foremost experts in computational biology, will direct the institute. He will also continue in his role as chief scientific officer of Pacific Biosciences. Schadt is also a founding member of Sage Bionetworks, an open access genomics initiative designed to build and support databases and an accessible platform for creating innovative dynamic disease models. In addition to his Cal Poly degree, Schadt earned his Master of Arts degree in Pure Mathematics from UCLA and his doctorate in Bio-Mathematics from UCLA.
Read about Schadt on hpcwire.com | Read about Schadt on eon.businesswire.com | Read about Schadt on Newswise.com
Photo courtesy Pacific Biosciences