October 5-9 Research Week features speakers, discussions, tours, exhibits

California State University, Stanislaus faculty, who are engaged in research and creative activities all over the world, will put their work on display the week of October 5-9.

Anthropology and Geography Professor Ellen Bell spent the summer conducting archeological research in the Mayan city of Copan in Honduras where ancient royal tombs have been discovered. Biological Sciences Professor Marina Gerson focuses her work on horned lizards in the Central Valley and turtles in a CSU Stanislaus lake. Nursing Professors Mechelle Perea-Ryan, Luzmaria Alcala-Van Houten, and Judy Keswick have teamed with College of Health and Human Sciences Dean Gary Novak and visiting Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Giovambattista Presti of Italy on a “Food Dudes” project at local elementary schools and pre-schools that fosters increased student consumption of healthy fruits and vegetables.

Their work will be among the 35 faculty displays included in the Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (RSCA) Week activities at California State University, Stanislaus. The event will feature a variety of daily presentations, panel discussions, tours, and special programs.

Highlights will include a poster display each day in the University Union Event Center featuring faculty research and creative activities; a keynote address by award-winning Psychology Professor Dr. Harold Stanislaw at noon on Friday, October 9 in the Event Center; noontime seminars with faculty experts; tours of CSU Stanislaus research laboratories and facilities; faculty panel discussions and seminars; and an Astronomy Night at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7; and a concluding recital featuring Music faculty clarinet player John Weddle at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 9 in Snider Music Hall.

All of the programs, which start with an opening social and talks at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, October 5 in the Event Center, are free and open to the public. For more detailed information and a schedule of programs, see the University Web site at www.csustan.edu/events/rsca/. For more information, call (209) 667-3493.

Keynote speaker Stanislaw, who has brought nearly a million dollars in grant funding to CSU Stanislaus for his research projects, was named the University’s Outstanding Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Professor in 2009. He will talk about research opportunities and cite some personal examples of his studies that have ranged from traffic safety and industrial inspection to autism treatment methods and medical research regarding diabetes detection in pregnant mothers and birth weight processes.