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former student Kelly Houston updates us: Hello, I just found a reference to myself on your News page that is somewhat out of date. Not sure if you are updating, but it says I am going to go to MIT, and I am long finished there. I started my career at CCSF in 1996 in the Environmental Horticulture program, transferring to Architecture in 1998 or thereabouts. I transferred to Berkeley from CCSF in 2000, graduated from Berekely in 2002 with a BA in Landscape Architecture with highest honors, and graduated from MIT (full fellowship with research assistanceship stipend) in 2004 with a Masters in City Planning (MCP). I am currently working at Sasaki Associates in Watertown, MA as an Urban Designer/Planner. Much of the work I do now at Sasaki is in institutional planning: I worked on a project for the last year or so that involved developing master plans for nine Massachusetts State schools, seven of which were community colleges. I have been able to bring a unique perspective to that work since I understand both the mission of these institutions and the potential embodied there. While the community colleges in MA pale in comparison to the size and capacity of CCSF, they are also working against amazing fiscal odds, with some of the highest community college tuitions in the country. As a high-school dropout, I really attribute my professional success and achievement to the amazing resources of City College. I would never have made it as far as I have without the opportunities and quality education I got there. Anyway, I wanted to clarify the bit I read on the news page. Thanks, -Kelly Houston
Update 2008: John Thomas is now a staff research associate at UCSF Cell Culture Facility. Mr. Thomas, a graduate of the 2003 Bridge to Biotech program, was awarded a scholarship to attend the NSF-ATE Principal Investigator Conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by the National Science Founation and the American Asociation of Community Colleges. He had the opportunity to participate in the student showcase poster session and a reception for students. Mr. Thomas also spoke on a panel on "Best Practices: Student Perceptions of Technological Programs." He was a mentor in the Bridge to Biotech program. He also won the Ed Ginn scholarship and several others.
	Latest news about alum Mark Lechner, M.D., MBA, JD 2008: Dr. Lechner is a UCLA-Kern Psychiatry Resident for 2008-2009. 2004: Mark Lechner e-mailed to thank the science departments for the preparation he received for the Medical College Admission Test. His MCAT score was in the 99.5th percentile. UPDATE: Mr. Lechner started medical school at the University of Cincinatti in the fall of 2004.
Biology faculty member Dr. Linda Bacon has a new book out, Health at Every Size: The surprising Truth About Your Weight. Dr. Bacon earned her doctorate in physiology from the University of California, Davis, specializing in weight regulation. She also holds graduate degrees in both psychology (specializing in eating disorders and body image) and exercise science (specializing in metabolism), and has professional experience as a researcher, clinical psychotherapist, exercise physiologist, and educator.
Dr. Raymond White of the Biology department lets us read his mail:
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 From: Michael Yee Subject: Update To: Raymond White Dear Dr. White, I just wanted to let you know that I have gained acceptance into the MD/PhD program at Boston University. Thank you for writing a letter of recommendation for me. It has been 4 years since I took the Biology class with you as a completion of one last requirement for my degree from UC Davis. Since then you have helped me gain acceptance not only to the Boston University Master of Arts in Medical Science but also to their medical school. I will be finishing up my thesis for the Master's degree this summer and entering Boston University Medical School this fall. Thank you for your support and encouragement through this portion of my journey. Cheers, Michael Yee
Alumni who participated in our NIH-Science Scholars Program continue to flourish. Catherine Lacayo now has her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford University and Carla Bonilla is currently a doctoral candidate at UCSF. Each of these students has returned to CCSF to speak to current students . May the tradition continue!
Our Faculty in the news: Sara Peterson, faculty member of the Mathematics Department was awarded the prestigious “Excellence in Teaching Award” by the California Mathematics Council, Community Colleges at the Council’s Northern California Conference in Monterey on November 30. “Only a handful of community college mathematics instructors receive the award each year,” says Dennis Piontkowski, Mathematics Department Chair. He points out, “Sara has been a full-time member of the Mathematics Department at CCSF since 2002. As faculty coordinator for the College’s Basic Mathematics program, Sara introduced a new course format that has led to a significant increase in student success by combining individualized study with small group lectures. She is currently leading the department’s participation in the Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) program by working to improve student success in Elementary Algebra. “Sara earned a BA from Webster University and a Master’s from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. She taught mathematics at the University of Missouri for seven years before embarking on a career in business, software engineering and technical product marketing in industries ranging from scientific and engineering software to real-time stock market information. During this time she earned an MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University,” Piontkowski continued. “Five years ago, Sara returned to her real love, teaching mathematics, when she joined the faculty of CCSF. She teaches the full range of courses with a personal emphasis on helping students who have had little previous success in mathematics,” Piontkowski said. (from Chancellor Griffin's E-Bulletin) Computer Networking and Information Technology instructor Sam Bowne was featured in an article in Security Focus magazine. He had given a talk about his new CCSF class, in computer hacking , at the DEFCON convention in Las Vegas. Part time Biology faculty, John Muir Laws was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle "Hot Stuff" column for his new field guide to the sierras.
Another alumnus heard from, David Edelshtein: CCSF 1997-2000, UC Berkeley: 2000-2002 (BA Molecular and Cell Biology), UCSF Immunogenetics and Transplantology Laboratory 2002-2004: Under guidance of Dr. Baxter-Lowe Ph.D. identified two novel alleles (HLA-DRB 0827 and HLA-DPB 9901) a poster was presented at a conference at Miali, FL 2003. Medical College of Wisconsin: 2004-present Completed summer research project. During our project, under guidance of Dr. Jackson Ph.D., we were studying histone protein complex H3 H4 tetramer and its unique ability to undergo chiral transition. Special mutant with distabilized H3-H3 interphase was used to demonstrate dependance of chiral transition on stability of that interfase. The global aim of the project is to identify mechanism which is responsible for interactions of the histones and DNA molecule that changes its topological stress during various DNA related processes such as transcirption, repair and replication. Planned specialty: Surgery It is a great honor to be CCSF alumnus. CCSF is much more than just a college, it is a foundation upon which we build our lifes. I have special thanks to say to Dr. Wetzel, Dr. Griffin, Dr. Fong L and Dr. Fong R, Dr. Su, Dr. Herrmann, Dr. Lin, and many more. Those people influenced many lifes of CCSF alumni, without them our dreams would never be on the way of becoming reality.
Paul Hewitt, Physics Instructor Emeritus, is author of Conceptual Physics, now in it's tenth edition. The publishers website describes the book: Since defining this course 30 years ago, Paul Hewitt’s best-selling text continues to be the benchmark book that two-thirds of professors use and by which all others are judged. In the Tenth edition of Conceptual Physics, Paul Hewitt shows how a compelling text and the most advanced media can be integrated to empower professors to bring physics to life for non-science majors in and out of class. For the Tenth edition, Hewitt helps students connect physics to their everyday experiences and the world around them with additional help on solving more mathematical problems. Hewitt's text is famous for engaging students with analogies and imagery from real-world situations that build a strong conceptual understanding of physical principles ranging from classical mechanics to modern physics. With this strong foundation, students are better equipped to understand the equations and formulas of physics, and motivated to explore the thought-provoking exercises and fun projects in each chapter. Icons in the text direct students to fun and effective interactive on-line activities on The Physics Place website. This highly acclaimed website now features, by popular demand, three new interactive and animated tutorials (bringing the total to 20) that coach students through core topics, as well as video demonstrations, and hundreds of problems and activities to help students effectively review the material.
Darrel Hess, Earth Science, has the eighth edition of his textbookh, Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation out now. The book is one of the top selling physical geography books nationwide. It is also available in an online version. The study guide and lab manuals are top sellers.
Dr. Claia Bryja, Astronomy, presented a paper to the 13th General Conference of the European Physical Society in Bern, Switzerland, July 11-15, 2005. The title of the presentation was: "Curvature Quanta and the Value of the Cosmological Constant".
Dr. Linda Bacon, Biology instructor, was the lead author on a scientific publication in the June 2005 Journal of the American Dietetic Association, called “Size Acceptance and Intuitive Eating Improves Health of Obese, Female, Chronic Dieters.” While the journal article is not yet freely available online, a description of the study is available at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=25384
Student Meiching Fong has transferred to UCLA where she has been awarded a Regents Scholarship.
Biology Instructor Cherie Wetzel has just had a new book published: Study Guide and Workbook for Rost, Barbour, Stocking & Murphy's Plant Biology, Second Edition, published by Thomson Brooks/Cole
CCSF Biology student Lawrence Chyall has accepted an offer to intern this summer in Dr. Amy Kronenberg's lab at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Kronenberg lab is interested in how the stability of the genome is ensured and is characterizing proteins that help regulate genome integrity. This research has wide ranging applications: from gaining a basic understanding of the role of apoptosis in carcinogenesis to quantifying the risks of long term exposure to radiation during spaceflight. During his internship, Chyall will learn mammalian tissue culture, how to do mutation experiments and how to isolate individual cell lines with mutations in specific genes. He will also have the opportunity to learn isolation of protein from mammalian cells and characterization of specific protein expression using Western blotting techniques. He will also undertake a research project and present a poster at the conclusion of the session. Chyall, a re-entry student who plans to transfer to UC this fall, reports that he is extremely excited about interning in a world class research lab. He notes that he is deeply appreciative of the encouragement he has received from the CCSF faculty, especially Philip Jardim and Golnar Afshar. Interested students may apply for stipendiary internship at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab through the Department of Energy's Community College Initiative. Information can be found at http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/scied/sci_ed.htm
Crima Pogge, Biology instructor, has been selected as a 2005 Carnegie Scholar, and will be joining twenty colleagues in The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL). The letter of acceptance states "This year’s review process was the most rigorous to date, with more than 300 international applicants, forcing us to pass over many gifted scholars in order to assemble a combination of disciplines, projects, and educational contexts. ...While we would like to work with all faculty who submitted applications, we are confident that the 2005 cohort represents some of the most promising work in the scholarship of teaching and learning, and that each of you will become a leader in this growing and important movement." More information about the program can be found at http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/CASTL/highered/scholars_program.htm
NIH Scholars program Alum Jorge Navarrete has graduated from UC Davis and has begun his first year of medical school at the University of Illinois in Chicago. His brother Edward, and sister Diana were also NIH Scholars. Edward is now in his fourth year of medical school at UCSF. Diana is finishing her neurobiology major this year at U.C.Santa Cruz and planning a career as a patent attorney.
Biology department faculty member Niccollo Caldararo has a new book published this year, Sustainability, Human Ecology, and the Collapse of Complex societies.
Alumni Matt Blanchong, (CCSF Spring and Fall, 2002) has completed his first year at the Veterinary School at Ohio State. He has received a T-32 grant from NIH to fund research for next year, creating a measles virus mutant to study the role of Heat Shock Protein (HSP72) in measles virus clearance and induction of antiviral immunity in vivo. If successful, the definition of the role of HSP72 protein in vivo could have broad applications to many other virus constructs, ultimately resulting in a possible pharmacologic target in antiviral immunity. He has decided to pursue both the VMD and Masters (maybe a PhD) in virology in Ohio. (This information gleaned from an email to Dr. Toebe (Biology) saying “Thanks again for your awesome instruction and mentorship.”
In May of 2004, former student Christine Mauro emailed instructor Ray White (Biology) to share the good news that she was accepted by the medical schools at the University of Minnesota, the Medical College of Wisconsin, and the University of Southern California. She has decided to attend the University of Minnesota.
Alum Nancy E. Ramos Castro, is an author of the article Malignant Mammary Cells Acquire Independence from Extracellular Context for Regulation of Estrogen Receptor α in the Journal Clinical Cancer Research. Ms. Ramos is currently a student at the University of California, Berkeley
Ho Yoon Na is the 2004 winner of the $2,500 Chong Partners Architecture Community Design Scholarship is . He has been admitted to UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design for Spring 2005. Mr. Na is also this year's recipient of the W. Merle Weidman Endowed Alumni Scholarship. John Xiaobin Hsu is this year's winner of the California Building Industry Foundation Scholarship.
Architecture Department Students transferring in Fall 2004: to University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design: Annie Abbott, Linda Chu, Mercedes Ha, Jeanette Hom, John Hsu, Mizuki Ozawa, Carlos Rojas, Lynn Thut, Charles Yang, Vicky Zeng. to Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, B.Arch Program: Yi Mon Aye, Ayse Sercan, Sergio Ramirez. to Cooper Union, B.Arch Program: Kalle Lindgren. Admitted to University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design for Spring 2005: Albert Adams, Dustin Foster, Ha Yoon Na.
Astronomy Student transfers for Fall 2004: To University of California, Berkeley for Fall 2004: *Chit Thu Hlaing, Addison Huegel, and Evan Sperber, all majoring in Astrophysics/Physics Other Transfers: Maureen Petterson Astrophysics UC Santa Cruz, Fall 2003. Eric Thoreson Astrophysics/Music UCB, Spring 2004. *CCSF Nominee to the B. Goldwater Scholarship for 2003-2004 CCSF Nominee to the B. Goldwater Scholarship for 2004-2005
> Morgan Burke, a CCSF alumnus, has recently been awarded a $12,000 2004-2005 Robert & Colleen Haas Scholarship. The Haas Scholarship was established with a 3.9 million gift by Robert Haas, a Cal alumnus and former CEO of Levis Strauss, in July 1998. Each year, twenty Haas scholars receive funding to conduct an independent study and write a senior thesis. Morgan completed her pre-med curriculum at CCSF, was a participant in the NIH Bridges Program, and transferred to the University of California at Berkeley in the Fall of 2003. She is now pursuing a double major in Biochemistry and Integrative Biology. During her senior year, Morgan will be carrying out a nine month study, entitled "The Role of the Dorsomedial Hypothalamic Nucleus in Mediation of Seasonal Reproductive Rhythms in the Siberian Hamster," in the laboratory of Dr. Irving Zucker, a Professor of Psychology and Integrative Biology. Upon completion of her study, Morgan hopes to publish her results in a peer-reviewed journal and present them at an international conference. Following graduation next spring, Morgan plans to attend medical school.
The California Community College Association for Occupational Education has selected Dr. Edith Leonhardt of the Biology department as the winner of their Outstanding Faculty award for 2004. In addition, the Bridge to Biotech program is a nominee for the Outstanding Program award, and the partnership with SFWorks, which administers the On-Ramp to Biotech program, is a nominee for Excellence in Partnership.		Dr. Edith Leonhardt, left, receiving award
Dan Sudran, director of the Mission Science Workshop at City College of San Francisco, has an article published in the magazine of the California Academy of Sciences, California Wild.