March 2011
March 28
On Wednesday, March 30, David Bowman, Geological Sciences, Greg Childers, Physics, and Binod Tiwari, Civil and Environmental Engineering, will discuss the March 11 Japan earthquake and what happened in its aftermath at the Fullerton Public Library. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. and will explore the damage to Japan's nuclear power plants and its implications for California, as well as risks from earthquakes in Southern California.
Raphael Sonenshein, Political Science, was reappointed chair of the Division of Politics, Administration and Justice for a three-year term effective Aug. 18.
March 25
William Haddad, History, was appointed coordinator of the Asian American Studies Program for a one-year term effective Aug. 18.
James R. Hofmann was reappointed to a three-year term as chair of Liberal Studies effective Aug. 18.
Heather D. Battaly was appointed chair of Philosophy for a three-year term effective Aug. 18.
John D. Mearns was reappointed chair of Psychology for a three-year term effective Aug. 18.
Joshua Smith, Physics, will join three physics students in presentations on their gravitational-wave research at the April 30-May 3 American Physical Society meeting in Anaheim. Smith will discuss “Exploring the Transient Universe With Gravitational Waves”; Thomas Abbott will address “Reducing the Effects of Noise Transients in Gravitational-Wave Searchers” and Cinthia Padilla and Jacqueline Lee will present posters on “Identifying Electromagnetic Transients Related to Gravitational-Wave Emission” and “Gravitational-Wave Directed Multi-Messenger Astronomy: EM Follow-Up.“
March 22
Jill Hicks, head coach of the Titan gymnastics team, was named Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. It is the second time that she has earned the honor in her five years at CSUF.
Doug Eernisse, Biological Science, recently gave a talk on “Limpets: 31 Local Flavors in Cones” at the Pacific Northwest Shell Club in Seattle.
Zair Ibragimov, Mathematics, will present a talk on “Hyperbolization of Metric Spaces” at the March 24-27 Triennial Ahlfors-Bers Colloquium at Rice University.
March 11
In Memoriam — Arthur D. Earick, emeritus professor of geography, died March 2 at the age of 95. A founding member of the Geography Department, Earick joined the university in 1960 after teaching at Eastern Michigan and Oklahoma State universities. He served as department chair for six consecutive years and helped plan the Environmental Studies Program. He also was a member of the planning committee in the renovation of Mahr House (now called the Golleher House) and served as first president of the Faculty Club. Although he retired from teaching in 1983, he returned a decade later to serve as director of the Fullerton Arboretum for three years. The specialist in urban geography and planning earned his doctorate in geography from the University of Michigan and served a stint as a ranger-naturalist at Mount Ranier National Park. Earick is survived by his three children: Jill Earick Ananyi of New York and Dianne and David of Fullerton. A memorial service is being planned for Saturday, March 19.
March 10
In Memoriam — Ruth Schermitzler, honorary chair of Vision & Visionaries for three years, recipient of the Vision & Visionaries Honorary Alumna Award in 1997, and longtime member of the University Advisory Board, died Feb. 25, after a long illness, at the age of 87. She was a veteran philanthropic supporter when she met the university's second president, L. Donald Shields, in 1972 and became involved with the campus in 1973. Shields named her to the first executive committee of President’s Associates, the university's premier support group. “It all boils down to the students,” she explained in 1997. “The university’s most important commodity is the student.” Schermitzler is survived by her son, Neil, and his wife, Diane; her daughter, Susie Donaldson; and granddaughter, Rachael Schermitzler.
March 9
Bill Dickerson was awarded the title of emeritus executive director, Auxiliary Services Corp. effective March 1. Dickerson served the campus for 23 years during which the ASC acquired College Park, built faculty housing at University Gables and University Heights, provided financing for the construction of the University Police Building, funding for an upcoming photovoltaic project and assistant in funding construction of Mihaylo Hall.
Sean Gil, Career Center, was awarded the Rising Star Award from the Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers . The award is presented in recognition of Gil's efforts in planning and organizing MPACE workshops and employer open houses. Gil also was nominated to the organization’s board of directors as regional director for the Pacific South area.
Mohinder S. Grewal, Electrical and Computer Engineering, authored “Kalman Filter” in the International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science published in December by Springer.
In January, Michael Loverude, Physics, presented a poster on his current National Science Foundation grant “Research on the Learning and Teaching of Thermal Physics” during the 2011 Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics conference in Washington, D.C.
Physics faculty members Murtadha A. Khakoo authored “Near-Threshold Electron Impact Excitation of the Argon 3p54s Configuration — New and Revised Normalized Differential Cross Sections Using Recent Time-of-Flight Measurements for Normalization” and James M. Feagin, Physics, wrote “Vortex Kinematics of a Continuum Electron Pair” published in the Jan. 14 issue of the Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics.
March 3
Angel Pineda, Mathematics, was selected to serve on the Mathematical Association of America’s National Subcommittee on Research by Undergraduates.
Bogdan Suceava, Mathematics, wrote “Distances Generated by Barbilian’s Metrization Procedure by Oscillation of Sublogarithmic Functions” in Vol. 37, No. 1 of the Houston Journal of Mathematics. Suceava also is author of a novel “Coming From An Off-Key Time” published in January by Northwestern University Press.
