Secretary of State Hilary Clinton with students from Cal State Northridge and Shanghai Normal University at the State Department’s Shanghai Expo gala dinner.

Perusing the list of performers scheduled for the Shanghai Expo’s US Pavilion in May, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton lit up when she saw the name Cal State Northridge. Clinton remembered Northridge from her husband’s speech here in 1995 and her own campaign stop in 2008.

The State Department called Peter Grego, chair of the Department of Theatre to ask if CSUN theatre students would present a performance for Clinton and her guests at a gala dinner she was hosting on May 22nd . Clinton, who personally spearheaded fundraising for the US Pavilion planned the celebration to thank donors whose contributions had made its construction possible. Grego’s response? A delighted “yes!”

China Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo.

Northridge students teamed up with students from Shanghai Normal University to perform “Meet Me at the Expo,” a song and dance medley. Their bilingual version of “City” the Expo’s official theme song turned out to be the show-stopping moment of the evening.

Most attendees had only heard “City,” performed in Mandarin by Jackie Chan.

“Waiters pouring coffee stopped midsteam,” said Grego “and Clinton’s guests, many of them CEOs of top American companies put their cell phones aside to listen. The room became dead silent as everyone heard in wonderment the English words of “City.”

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said senior theatre student Matt Hohmann. “We crossed cultural and language barriers to put on a show with the Shanghai Normal students and we brought down the house.

Students performing at America’s Square.

“The students later recreated their performance at the America’s Square outdoor stage in the US Pavilion for hugely appreciative crowds. Between performances, they visited the 1304-acre Expo, more than 15 times larger than California’s 83-acre Disneyland.

“China’s Pavilion was the most popular attraction,” said Hohmann “but the fair offered lots of variety including any kind of food you wanted from Turkish and Bulgarian restaurants to an Irish pub.

Hohmann’s most memorable meal? Ostrich wraps at the African Pavilion.

Ostrich wrap served at the African Pavilion.

To hear Jackie Chan performing “City,” go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ePOYVLSGVk

-Julia Venkateswaran

(Video by Krishna Narayanamurti)

Who are we away from work? Meet a cross-section of Cal State Northridge faculty and staff who are as interesting and involved off-campus as they are during working hours. At CSUN, their ideas and energy are in the mix! Second in a series.

Chaparral Hall Dedication

“Look up at the building and observe the windows,” College of Science and Mathematics Dean Jerry Stinner urged biology alumni, community members and other celebrants at the mid-April grand opening. The window placement, he explained, represents a kind of scientific/architectural “in joke”: their meticulous arrangement represents a DNA fingerprinting pattern on an electrophoresis gel.

“Isn’t that cool?” Dean Stinner grinned. “This building screams science.”

Architectural grace notes like the DNA sequencing windows, along with many more serious innovations, came together impressively to earn the four-story, 100,000-square-foot building two American Institute of Architects Awards for design, in 2007 and 2010.

A great strength of the new building’s design, Stinner points out, comes from the fact that “Chaparral Hall was designed by scientists with scientists in mind.”

Students like Hamid Davoudi, at work here in the Oppenheimer lab, demonstrate what President Jolene Koester meant with her comment that “the role of research in this university is special, unique and absolutely necessary. It means that our graduate, and most importantly, undergraduate students get experience in doing research.”

Biology Department chair Randy Cohen MS ‘80 (Biology) said much of the research and teaching space was designed by faculty and staff working directly with Cannon Design’s architectural team. “A faculty member would sit down with the architect and say, for example, ‘I like a low bench or a high bench, space for a refrigerator, an incubator, bio safety hoods,’ sketching out what they actually needed.”

Chaparral’s autoclave and centrifugation facilities, its histology section and radioactivity room were among the many features that evolved from the scientist/architect working relationship.

The passionate involvement of Stinner and Cohen, the architects, the faculty, and staff led by William Krohmer, the Biology Department’s technical services and safety manager, combined to produce a 161-room gem with 18 research labs, nine introductory teaching labs, 13 lecture rooms, a DNA sequencing lab, topflight computer labs, an abundance of eco-friendly features and a microscopy suite to house the university’s new confocal and electron microscopes.

For nearly a quarter of a century, Chaparral Hall was merely a gleam in the university’s eye, sidetracked by the 1994 earthquake and buffeted by California’s perennial budget crises. But the need for it only grew. The two original science buildings had been erected in the 1960s, said Stinner, followed by Science 3 and 4 in the ‘90s, just prior to the quake. “Since then, science has changed tremendously,” he said, “and so has CSUN.”

During Cohen’s graduate years in the late ‘70s, four science departments were crammed into two buildings, and research was not considered a top priority. “Now all of our labs are actively engaged in research,” he said.

So the time for a science building for the 21st century was past due, said President Jolene Koester. CSUN recognizes that its fundamental mission is teaching, she said, but “the role of research in this university is special, unique and absolutely necessary. [It] means that our graduate, and most importantly, undergraduate students get experience in doing research.”

Biology student Holly Hawk, currently engaged in research on the endangered giant sea bass, put her finger on Chaparral’s importance to her personally. “It is a representation,” she said, “of CSUN’s dedication to supply us as future students, teachers and scientists with the tools necessary to be successful.”

Hawk’s sentiments, say Stinner and Cohen, express best the intent of the new facility. Chaparral Hall’s advanced technological infrastructure bedazzles, but ultimately it has only one purpose: to serve the important work of CSUN’s students and scientists.

In this issue, Northridge Magazine presents three of the many outstanding research and mentoring efforts that regularly place Cal State Northridge among the top five U.S. institutions sending graduates on to pursue research doctorates in biology.

Biologist Steven Oppenheimer works with students in his state-of-the-art Center for Cancer and Developmental Biology laboratory, located in the newly opened Chaparral Hall science building at CSUN.

A 120-seat capacity "smart" lecture room, one of the three large lecture rooms and the second largest in the building.

The immunology teaching lab.

Dr. Peter Edmunds, a scientist at the Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research site discusses efforts to understand how climate change impacts coral reefs.

CSUN Researchers in Race to Save the Reefs

In the heart of French Polynesia, a motor boat glides across a crystal lagoon, stopping at the bay’s perimeter. As the vessel rocks gently in the subsiding wake, a handful of university scientists gear up for a dive into the shallow depths. The less experienced students among them, dazzled by the treasure below, wrestle on their scuba equipment, eager to explore the ridge of colorful marine life that stretches like a jeweled necklace around the mountain island of Moorea.

Now in their sixth year of study on Moorea, which is part of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) global network of Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites, the two reef experts are revealing a sea of data about the intricate processes that fuel these fragile ecosystems.

“At the rate we’re going, coral reefs could disappear by the next century,” says Edmunds, who is a lead investigator on the multi-million dollar grant. “And that’s a problem. On a crass economic level, they generate billions of dollars each year through tourism and fishing, so whole economies depend on them. But from a scientific perspective, the greater tragedy is in the devastating loss of biodiversity.”

A coral bommie graces the ocean bottom beneath three feet of sparkling water at the southern end of Moorea. At top is a branching coral called Pocillopora meandrina; the sphere to the right is massive Porites.

Coral reefs account for less than one percent of the ocean’s surface yet harbor nearly a quarter of all marine species. A breathtaking array of living corals form reefs that host a suite of exotic fish, plants, microbes, and invertebrates—from parrot fish, sponges and sea urchins, to squid, crabs and symbiotic bacteria. Their complex relationships form the matrix of healthy reef ecosystems, but shifting environmental conditions—including rising sea levels, warmer ocean temperatures, waste runoff, and destructive fishing practices—can trigger disease and decimate species, ultimately destroying the slow-growing habitats.

Understanding the dynamics of coral reef ecosystems, says Phil Taylor, director of the NSF’s biological oceanography program, “allows us to make more accurate predictions about how coral reef ecosystems respond to environmental changes, whether human-induced or from natural cycles.”

The Moorea LTER is a joint program between CSU Northridge and UC Santa Barbara. It represents the only coral reef project in the 26-site LTER network, which the NSF established to document changes over time (from six to 30 years) in the processes that fuel the world’s biomes. In turn, this rich archive of baseline information is used by other scientists studying these ecosystems.

To date, Edmunds and Carpenter have amassed a wealth of data about the dynamic ecology of Moorea’s reefs—from how corals recover after outbreaks of predatory starfish, to the temperature threshold under which a stony coral’s symbiotic algae can survive.

But Moorea’s not their only hot spot. These intrepid scientists are all over the map—often in tandem and with a posse of CSUN students in tow.

In 2008, they combined their scientific expertise with their academic acumen and traveled to the southern coast of Taiwan, which is believed to have the highest density of marine species. There they helped launch a new coral reef research center at Taiwan’s National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, and were instrumental in cementing a partnership between CSUN and National Dong Hwa University to link students and researchers from both institutions. This fall, they’ll collaborate closer to home, tag-teaming as faculty members for California State University’s annual Marine Biology Semester on Catalina Island.

“Working together is fun and rewarding,” says Carpenter, who’s been with CSUN since 1988. “We share a commitment to doing good science, training dedicated students, and working with our colleagues to maintain our marine biology program’s reputation of excellence.”

One meter deep, a fringing reef on the southeast side of Moorea hosts a community of creatures. Ecosystems of fish, sponges, symbiotic bacteria and other undersea dwellers depend on reefs like this one, imperiled by shifting environmental conditions.

On a sampling mission near Moorea’s southwest shore: (from left) CSUN students Caitlin Cameron, Darren Brown and NSF technician Vince Moriarty.

But any healthy relationship requires breathing room, so they annually retreat to their own island getaways to conduct independent research: Edmunds to the protected coastline of St. John in the Virgin Islands and Carpenter to Oahu, Hawaii.

This time of year, Moorea is the primary blip on their island radar. Both recently returned with a handful of inspired students and a wealth of field data that will enhance our understanding of these beleaguered marine habitats.

“Rain forests are the only things that come close to reefs in their beauty and biodiversity,” says Edmunds, who as a child counted Jacques Cousteau among his heroes. “Corals are such fascinating animals. It would be a massive tragedy to sit by and let them go extinct. For me, this is not simply a job. It’s my life.”

Illustration by CSUN student Kirsten Ushijima

CSUN, UCLA Pair Up to Prepare Stem Cell Researchers

Damaged hearts regenerate. Paralyzed children run again. The blind regain vision, and cancer is eradicated.

It may sound like the stuff of miracles, but it’s also the future of medicine, and based on recent breakthroughs in stem cell science, researchers are closing fast on this life-saving era. So fast, in fact, that California—a leader in regenerative medical science—expects a shortage of qualified people to elucidate the nearly boundless potential of these deceptively simple cells.

“Name any disease, and there could be a relevant stem cell therapy,” says CSUN assistant professor of biology Cindy Malone, who specializes in genetics and molecular biology. “The push right now is for universities to produce skilled scientists who can do this kind of work. But the bulk of California’s students are at teaching universities, and they’re not being exposed to this cutting-edge research.”

To meet the challenge, Malone and biology professor Randy Cohen are launching their own experiment in accelerated results: the CSUN-UCLA Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program. The Bridges program pairs select students with premiere research scientists from the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research (Broad Stem Cell Research Center) at UCLA.

Funded by a $1.6 million grant from The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), these full-immersion internships allow 10 CSUN students each year to conduct independent research under the guidance of scientists and medical doctors who are conducting groundbreaking experiments in adult and embryonic stem cell research. The goal: to leave the novice at the door and shape each student into a skilled researcher who will be an immediate asset to any biotech company, graduate program, or research institution.

“Training is critical to our mission of developing new therapies,” said Robert Klein, chair of CIRM’s governing board. “During a time when the state is forced to cut funding to higher education, our agency wants to ensure that highly qualified students receive the training necessary to fill the high-tech stem cell research jobs of the future.”

CSUN biologist Cindy Malone (far right) works with students in the CSUN-UCLA Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program. From left, Joseph Mendelis, Tasneen Koleilat and Bansari Shah (in background).

One of the nation’s largest teaching universities, CSUN also has a big-league reputation for preparing highly diverse students for advanced degrees in the sciences. According to Bridges collaborator Dr. Michael Teitell, chief of Pediatric and Developmental Pathology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, the intellectual edge of CSUN’s students was not lost on the Broad Center’s outreach faculty. When CIRM announced the Bridges grant, courting CSUN for the partnership was a no-brainer.

“We specifically targeted Northridge so we could build our relationship with them,” says Teitell, who will be among 40 world-class scientists CSUN students can work with as interns this fall under the CSUN-UCLA Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program. “They have really strong students from a wonderful array of backgrounds and ethnicities. When they’re finished here, I’m sure some will be hired on as technicians or transition into UCLA’s graduate programs.”

Destaye Moore and Joseph Mendelis are among this fall’s cohort of six graduate and four undergraduate students who were selected for the coveted 40-hour-week internships. Like other Bridges awardees, says Malone, they represent the promise of what she, Cohen, and Teitell envisioned for the program.

Moore is a graduate student in biochemistry who earned a BFA in fashion design, then realized she wanted to pursue a career where her capacity to enhance people’s lives went beyond mere window dressing.

Mendelis, who’s mastered an exceptional academic life while simultaneously running his family’s cabinetry business, is the first in his family to go to college, and is set on trading his table saw for a stethoscope. He knocked on Malone’s lab door last year, asking if he could join her small research team.

“That’s something you can’t do at larger research universities,” says Mendelis, who’s currently applying to medical school. “Here we have access to faculty, research, and amazing opportunities like Bridges. I’m just humbled to have made the cut.”

Final selection came down to research experience, says Malone, who’s enhancing the students’ base skills this summer with a crash course in cell and tissue culturing. “When they enter these labs,” says Malone, “they’ll be more prepared than some Ph.D. students. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up mentoring UCLA undergrad students working beside them.”

The CIRM grant also funds new semester-length courses in regenerative medicine and the Full Immersion Research Experience (FIRE) class, which teaches students high-tech laboratory skills—such as tissue culturing and DNA sequencing—that standard lab courses don’t generally offer.

Three cohorts will be funded over three years. Each recipient receives a hefty stipend and lab material allowance that equals what an entry-level lab technician might make in a year, says Malone (about $2,500 per month).

“There is no question that when these kids are done, they will be in high demand—whether in academia or…the work place,” says Cohen.

In the emerging field of regenerative medicine, adds Malone, “it’s an asset to have tomorrow’s technology in your back pocket.”

Zavala and students observe a tomato plant that has been exposed to ethylene gas given off by the apple chunks sharing the bell jar. From left: Keri Silva, Elon Hartman, Melissa Dennison, Gisela Ayala, Mario Manolo, Alejandra Young (foreground), Kiyoki Clemons and Zavala.

Biologist Ushers Protégés into Science Careers

“I can honestly say that without the MARC program and Dr. Zavala’s mentoring, I…would not be where I am today.”
—Jessica Diaz, graduate student, UC Riverside

“The confidence I received from participating in MARC has already been perpetuated. I mentored undergraduate students at UC Berkeley and continue to do so at UCLA.”
—Annette Alicia Angus, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, UCLA

“The financial support of the MARC program has allowed me to both contribute to my family’s financial stability and achieve the level of academic excellence I desired.”
—Kathy Espino Perez, undergraduate student, CSUN

MARC (Minority Access to Research Careers), mentoring and MariaElena Zavala were made for each other.

"Our MARC students are amazing kids who have taken a chance on themselves,” says CSUN biologist MariaElena Zavala, a winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. “You have to believe in what you’re doing and that the experiments you’re doing are important, or you’ll quit.” Here, Zavala and student Armin Johhatt examine pieces of African Violet leaves, used in a technique for cloning plants from the leaves’ cut surfaces.

The Cal State Northridge biologist has shepherded nearly 50 CSUN students through MARC, the National Institutes of Health-funded program designed to give minority students the mentoring and research experience needed to compete in the sciences at the graduate level. The overwhelming majority have entered advanced degree programs.

MARC mentees Diaz, Angus and Perez (quoted above) can vouch for Zavala’s determination. The first Chicana in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in botany, Zavala eagerly recruited talented but underfunded students and guided them to success as scientists. Along the way, she became the first of CSUN’s two winners of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (Biologist Steven Oppenheimer was the second, in 2009).

As CSUN’s only MARC director to date, Zavala is well-positioned to discuss the program’s reach and effect:

Northridge Magazine: Building each group of MARC students is no simple task, is it?

Zavala: In any given year, 300-400 students are eligible for MARC…Few students who are invited to compete for a spot take us up on it. They have to apply, get interviewed and complete an intense summer orientation in addition to spending extracurricular time in labs. Most cohorts are small, about seven students.

NM: What goes on during the orientation?

Zavala: We learn about each other, four hours a day, for two weeks. We work in teams and independently, doing exercises to develop the cohort’s bonding, trust, and leadership. The students receive extensive training on responsible conduct of research (i.e. ethics), including training in human subjects and using animals in research. I also tailor activities to help each student overcome deficiencies and boost their strengths.

NM. What special challenges do MARC students face?

Zavala: MARC students can struggle with identifying themselves in this kind of career because most of them don’t have parents who went to college or even graduated from high school. For these students to see themselves as professors or in professions where they spend their time thinking and researching is a great achievement and a great challenge…It requires further education; some families don’t really understand why their sons or daughters should pursue [it], especially when it may require moving away from home while single.

NM. You’re recognized nationally as a model mentor. What does it take to do it well?

Zavala: A mentor is someone who provides guidance and can help you learn how to think things through. He or she doesn’t give you the answer, but may provide you with different ways of looking at things. A mentor will always point out both the options and the consequences. Our MARC students are amazing kids who have taken a chance on themselves. You have to believe in what you’re doing and that the experiments you’re doing are important or you’ll quit.

NM: So your students learn to believe in themselves. Is that attitude paying off?

Zavala: Since 2000, 66 students have been funded through the MARC program. As of today, 48 have completed the program, and 65 percent of those entered Ph.D. programs. We have a completion rate of 89 percent, meaning that these students…stayed in the [MARC] program for a full two years, and graduated with a B.S. or a B.A. in biology, psychology or kinesiology, or a B.S. in chemistry.

NM: How do you prepare your MARC students for the tough environment of doctoral research?

Zavala: You teach students how to ask questions. It’s a process of learning how to sort things out; it takes time. Students often want to rush it. We also teach them to use critical comments to good effect, to learn from mistakes, and to be willing to take intellectual risks.

NM: What happens after students complete their junior year as MARC students?

Zavala: Before their second summer, they have to apply to do an extramural research program on another campus. We have placed students in labs at Cal Tech, UC San Diego, USC, Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins in recent years.

NM: What impact has MARC had on Cal State Northridge?

Zavala: CSUN is among the top comprehensive universities in producing students who go on to earn doctorates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics…The success of our MARC students in graduate programs paves a path for other CSUN students applying to graduate programs.

For the Kids, He Takes On the Baddest Marathon of All

Arthur Webb ’70 (Political Science) seems normal. At 5’ 9”, his stance and gait are straight-arrow, his sun-weathered face home to a pair of penetrating eyes, his tone gruff but friendly.

Trust us. Webb is not normal. Since graduating from Cal State Northridge in 1970, he has taken a path few others have even attempted, and he’s done it 12 times in a row, more than any save two, and at a season in life when a slower pace seems a not unreasonable expectation.

In July, the 68-year-old Santa Rosa resident will run his 13th consecutive Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile footrace across Death Valley that is considered the world’s most difficult running event.

But wait; there’s more. Webb has “fought off numerous and lengthy bouts of stomach problems,” nausea, diarrhea, “a mean spirited kidney stone” making war on his plumbing system, cooked hamstrings that misfired with every step, cramps so severe they’ve bent him “like a pretzel,” blackouts, pulled muscles, strained muscles, and swollen extremities.

Not to mention “toe nails exploding like popcorn” on the smoldering pavement. “Now, for comfort, I kill and yank them off before the…race,” said Webb, who has worn out about 70 pairs of shoes at Badwater Ultramarathons.

After breaking a toe the day before his first Badwater race, he cut a hole on the side of his running shoe “to let it hang out to help ease the pain and swelling.” During Webb’s third race, Prednisone saw him through an excruciating ten rounds with sciatica, and he could give you 20 pages on blisters alone.

“I’ve had so many huge and irritating blisters that I have to soak my feet after the race in order to peel off the socks that are glued to my hamburger-like feet,” said the retired postal service electronic technician and former U.S. Air Force serviceman.

Blisters heal and blood-soaked socks can be tossed, but hallucinations are another matter. Once, on a night when the malignant heat got wicked with his mind, Webb was menaced by an Ultramarathon crew vehicle. Its headlights flashing with anger, it clearly was ready to devour him for dinner. “It didn’t happen,” Webb said, his lean face deadpan. “But honestly, it was a close call.”

Webb has learned to look forward to the hallucinatory dinosaurs, Yetis and “other creatures that crawl out of the dark crevices” of his mind during the harrowing night runs. They distract him, after all, from the pain of his struggle across the desert.

The question is, why go through the pain at all? Why so far, so hard, so many races?

There are scores of answers to that, and they all live at The Valley of the Moon Children’s Home, in Webb’s words “a safe and secure haven for abused and abandoned youngsters in Santa Rosa.”

Uprooted from his environment a dozen times before he was sent to a foster home, the indomitable marathoner had a full time job as a busboy at 13. “I share roots…and have a unique bond with these youngsters, ranging from infants to teenagers,” said Webb, a motivational speaker (www.commitandfinish.com) whose life mirrors his teaching. “I visit their classrooms before every Badwater race to help motivate and inspire them.

“Everyone is excited and thankful,” he grinned, “that some old guy is about to attempt something extraordinary in their name.”

Strict county rules and the unforgiving desert heat prevent the Valley of the Moon children from coming out to cheer Webb on, but he heads for the home after each Ultramarathon, “to rehash the race” and to thank them for the inspirational drawings that he tapes to the side of his support van during each run.

“I only hope that some day, each child will understand that my gift to them was that it’s not always about winning…but it’s always about not quitting. It’s about becoming a better person by respecting the dignity and honor of the human spirit, by finishing whatever we start, regardless of the outcome. Period.”

Readers can follow Webb’s next race—the July 2010 Badwater Ultramarathon—online at www.badwater.com.

A tiny global navigation system with an attached camera tells cohort student Louis Herrera how to plot a route and traverse unknown areas.

CSUN’s training pros to demystify technology that can help the disabled

Herrera’s mind is flying as fast as his fingers, sizing up what the machine can do, how fast it is, how serviceable. What he learns will be put to good use. Herrera, who worked for many years as a computer engineer at Litton Industries, is among the first 13 students in a pioneering master of science degree program at Cal State Northridge, one that will introduce something new into the workforce: a wave of biomedical engineers and human service professionals who can help aging baby boomers use the sometimes complicated assistive technology more and more of them need.

The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that, by 2018, the U.S. will have experienced a 72 percent jump in employment for biomedical engineers. At the same time, the country’s baby boomers are aging, and their need for assistive technology is growing.

Herrera demonstrates a keyboard with raised symbols that he invented for a variety of impaired users. He has won a grant from the National Science Foundation to help produce 25 more keyboards.

Herrera, blind since he was three, will be one who helps fill the need. As part of the CSUN degree program—offered jointly by the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the College of Health and Human Development and the Tseng College—he represents the kind of student the program hopes to attract: mid-career professionals with a keen interest in understanding and working with the new assistive technologies, all the way from concept and design to use and instruction.

“We need professionals who understand the culture of disability,” said Mary Ann Cummins Prager, associate vice president for Student Affairs and former director of the Center on Disabilities. “The biggest hurdle in assistive technology is user abandonment. Devices are so cumbersome or complicated that people end up not using them.”

More than 60 Northridge faculty, including some from the university’s nationally acclaimed Center on Disabilities, “worked across disciplines and with input from industry colleagues” to design two master degree programs, the Master of Science in Assistive Technology Studies and Human Services (ATHS) and the Master of Science in Assistive and Rehabilitative Technology (ATR), said S.K. Ramesh, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Kinesiology professor Vicky Jaque, ATHS academic director in the College of Health and Human Development and the mother of a child with disabilities, noted the crucial need for professional help in using assistive technology across the age spectrum.

Student Stephanie Rood uses a Zoom-Twix,a device with two cameras that can take pictures and read back images to the user. It can also enlarge and transfer images to a computer monitor.

“Many people don’t understand the use of assistive technology in children,” said Jaque. “As the mother of a special needs child, I can tell you that expert help is critical. There are many diseases that you can’t cure, but with the help of assistive devices, they can be made more manageable.”

Jaque said the chronic conditions that cause disabilities are isolating because, outside of the medical community, not many people understand them. “The culture of disability is poorly understood, especially behavioral issues and daily challenges. We believe this is the first such degree program in the country; it’s a profound thing.”

Andrew Bowker ’09 (Engineering and Computer Science), a process engineer at 3M, is excited to be among CSUN’s first professionals to address the needs pointed out by Jaque. “There is lots of opportunity in medical device engineering,” he said. “I was drawn to the [CSUN] program because it focuses on going from a need to a concept to the creation of a useful device.”

Stephanie Rood ‘93 (Child Development and Liberal Studies) believes the goal of the ATHS program is to help people be successful regardless of their disability. Sight-impaired like classmate Herrera, Rood teaches assistive technology to blind adults at the Junior Blind of America.

Program designers divided the curriculum into two tracks, with some students concentrating on human services and others on engineering. “I love that the programs are ‘married,’ so to speak,” said Jennifer Kalfsbeek, senior program director in the Tseng College, “with human services people in the assistive technology field benefiting from the knowledge of engineers and vice-versa.”

Louis Herrera takes notes on his Braille Sense, a two lb. device for sight-impaired users with the functionality of a laptop computer.

The hands-on nature of the program also will give students in its engineering track the chance at internships with off-campus employers or with on-campus organizations like the Center on Disabilities. This unique program enables engineers to design assistive technology devices including the important perspectives of the end user. The ATR track is coordinated by professor C.T. Lin in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

“People want and expect a better quality of life, which can be made possible with the right devices,” said Cummins Prager. Pacemakers, motorized wheelchairs and voice recognitions systems have paved the way, she said, but the potential is waiting to be tapped.

For more information on the program, visit http://tsengcollege.csun.edu/aths/aths.html and http://tsengcollege.csun.edu/atr/atr.html

Dr. Piper’s death on May 13, days before commencement and its celebration of student achievement, was difficult for graduating seniors and undergraduates alike. The entire university deeply felt—and feels—the loss.

But CSUN’s students had never left his thoughts. His creation of the Terry D. Piper Endowment at California State University, Northridge, said President Jolene Koester, “is yet one more way that his efforts will live on and the effects of his dedication to Cal State Northridge and our students will be continued.”

The endowment, which will support student leadership and other division priorities, will enable Student Affairs to continue serving all CSUN students with the vision Dr. Piper left as his legacy.

In lieu of flowers, the Piper family has asked that donations be made to the Terry D. Piper Endowment at California State University, Northridge. Individuals may do so with a check or money order made payable to the “CSUN Foundation,” noting the “Terry D. Piper Endowment” in the memo line. Donations should be sent to California State University, Northridge—Student Affairs, Attn: Jerry De Felice, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330-8239.