University Achievement Awards
We are proud of the accomplishments of ALL our 2025 University Achievement Award recipients.
Dr. Andreas Bill, Physics & Astronomy
Dr. Andreas Bill joined the Physics & Astronomy department at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) in 2005. With a strong background in theoretical physics, he has contributed extensively to research, teaching, and academic leadership.
Dr. Bill earned his Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in Theoretical Physics summa cum laude from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, after completing his diploma in Physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). His academic journey has taken him through various top-level institutions, including postdoctoral research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and research positions at the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, ETH Zürich, and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.
An expert in theoretical condensed matter physics, Dr. Bill has received multiple research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other agencies. He has served as a senior scientist in the CSULB-Ohio State University Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) and has conducted research at institutions such as the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid and Université Paris-Saclay. His work has led to significant contributions in superconductivity, magnetism, and materials science with nearly 60 publications.
Beyond research, Dr. Bill has played a key role in academic service and student mentoring. He served as the Chair of the CSULB Department of Physics and Astronomy from 2016 to 2022 and has been an integral leader in the American Physical Society (APS) Bridge Program, which aims to increase access for members of the population underrepresented in physics to graduate programs. His commitment to education includes playing a leading role in redesigning the master’s program in physics and astronomy, mentoring numerous master's and undergraduate students. He has supervised 17 master’s theses, 2 Honors theses, 16 undergraduate student projects and many summer and semester research projects. Two group alumni are now assistant professors at R1 universities and three are research scientists at National Laboratories.
Recognized for his excellence in teaching and service, Dr. Bill has received multiple awards, including the CSULB President's Award for Outstanding Faculty Achievement. His leadership, research, and dedication continue to shape the future of physics education and research at CSULB and beyond.
Submitted by Michael R. Peterson
Dr. Lijuan Li, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Dr. Lijuan Li joined the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at CSULB in 1998 and was promoted to associate professor in 2001 and full professor in 2005.
Dr. Li is an internationally renowned expert in bioinorganic chemistry. As a Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI, she has secured over $3.7 million in external research funding. Her research has resulted in 53 peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals and one issued patent. Dr. Li has delivered over 50 invited talks at institutions and national/international conferences. She has mentored 29 MS thesis students and over 80 undergraduate students in research, and they have presented 130 conference papers.
Dr. Li regularly serves as a reviewer for U.S. and international research funding agencies and as a referee for journals and books. She has been sought after as an external examiner for promotions and PhD theses at institutions and has served on American Chemical Society national award selection committees. Her scholarly achievements were recognized with the CSULB Distinguished Faculty Scholarly and Creative Achievement Award in 2010.
Dr. Li is deeply involved in her students' success, both in and outside the classroom. She received the Senior's Favorite Professor Award from the alumni association in 2009 and the Faculty Award of Excellence from the college in 2008. Dr. Li developed five new courses in inorganic chemistry, significantly enhancing the chemistry curriculum. For 15 years, she volunteered as a mentor for the University Partners for Success Program, supporting hundreds of first-generation students through one-on-one mentoring. Dr. Li has also mentored numerous students' research projects through programs such as President Scholars, Beckman Scholars, NIH-BRIDGES, NIH-RISE, and NIH-BUILD.
Dr. Li served as the Chemistry Graduate advisor from 2003 to 2017. Since 2021, she has served as the Department Chair, demonstrating exceptional leadership, dedication, and commitment to the department's growth and success. Her efforts have significantly enhanced the academic environment, fostering a culture of mutual support and collaboration. Under her leadership, the department has achieved significant milestones, including implementing curriculum changes, reorganizing labs and lecture courses, and expanding student scholarships and internship opportunities.
Submitted by Xianhui Bu
Dr. Lauren Heidbrink, Human Development
Dr. Lauren Heidbrink is an anthropologist and professor of human development at CSULB. Her research focuses on childhood and migration, Central America, immigration detention, and community-engaged research. Heidbrink is author of Migrant Youth, Transnational Families, and the State: Care and Contested Interests (University of Pennsylvania Press 2014), an ethnography on unaccompanied child migration and detention in the United States. Her second book Migranthood: Youth in a new era of deportation (Stanford University Press 2020; published in Spanish with UNAM-CIMSUR 2021) examines the deportation of Indigenous youth in Central America and its enduring impacts on young people, their families and transnational communities. Heidbrink’s research has been supported by a National Science Foundation, Wenner Gren Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies. She was awarded the Fulbright Schuman 70th Anniversary Scholar Award to conduct comparative research on child migration in Greece, Italy, Belgium, and the United Kingdom (2018). She received a second Fulbright Fellowship for community-engaged research in the western highlands o Guatemala (2024).
Heidbrink is co-founder and editor of Youth Circulations, a nexus for research, art and activism dedicated to examining the real and imagined circulations of global youth. She is co-founder and editor of Columbia University’s Center for Mexico and Central America’s Regional Expert Papers Series. She serves on the Editorial Board for NYU Press’ Critical Perspectives on Youth Series, as Board President of Colectivo Vida Digna-Guatemala, and on the steering committee for Anthropologist Action Network for Immigrants and Refugees. She frequently serves as a country conditions expert in U.S. immigration proceedings.
Since joining the CSULB community in 2016, Dr. Heidbrink has been an invaluable ally of the Dream Success Center (DSC). Her contributions have been numerous and impactful including being an UndocuAlly Trainer, serving in several hiring committees, establishing the inaugural UndocuConference, serving as an advisory board member, and mentoring countless students interested in research.
Submitted by Norma Salcedo
Dr. Fangyuan Tian, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Dr. Fangyuan Tian is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at California State University, Long Beach. She was born and raised in Jilin, China. She received her BS degree in Polymer Chemistry from Jilin University in 2008. She earned her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Delaware and completed her postdoctoral work at the University of San Diego before joining CSULB in August 2015. She received her tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021.
Dr. Tian teaches Instrumental Methods of Analysis, Quantitative Analysis, Materials Science, and Surface Chemistry. Her lab has a broad research interest in the interdisciplinary area of surface and interface chemistry of solid materials, with a focus on environmental and biomedical related questions. Specifically, she studies the fundamental properties and chemical reactivities of nanostructured solid hybrid materials for applications in greenhouse gas capture, photocurrent conversion, water remediation, and drug delivery.
Dr. Tian is a proud Beach Mentor; she has mentored over 40 undergrad and 10 graduate students since she joined CSULB. She has received several university and national awards, including 2020 CSULB Early Academic Career Excellence Award, 2016 Environmental Research and Education Foundation Research Award, 2018 American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Undergraduate New Investigator Award, 2020 NIH SCORE Award, and 2022 NSF CAREER Award. Now she lives with her husband, their son, and four cats in Long Beach. In her spare time, she likes reading, cooking, and solving puzzles.
Submitted by Lijuan Li
Dr. Ted Stankowich, Biological Sciences
Dr. Stankowich joined the CSULB faculty and established the Mammal Lab in 2012, making significant contributions to evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, and urban mammalian ecology. In that time, he has published 44 papers, delivered 63 oral presentations, including 41 invited seminars at national and international universities and conferences, and secured nearly $500,000 in funding. His research has advanced scientific understanding and elevated CSULB's profile through high-impact publications and successful mentorship of graduate students.
Dr. Stankowich’s primary research focus is on the evolution of antipredator defenses and coloration in mammals, publishing numerous papers on the evolution of body armor, spines, quills, and warning coloration. This research involves advanced comparative phylogenetic analyses and original behavioral research on live animals. Notable projects include studies on the evolution of stripes in zebras, black and white coloration in giant pandas, and the factors driving spatial variation in skunk stripes.
In addition to his work on antipredator defenses, Dr. Stankowich has made significant contributions to urban mammalian ecology. The Mammal Lab was a founding member of the Urban Wildlife Information Network in 2017, which now has over 60 global partners focusing on the effects of urbanization on wildlife. He established an urban-to-rural transect of 42 wildlife camera traps in Orange County. This work has led to several Master’s theses and publications, significantly advancing our understanding of how mammalian behavior and ecology are impacted by urbanization, wildfire, and gentrification.
As the Curator of the CNSM Vertebrate Collections, Dr. Stankowich has worked to expand and digitize the collections, enhancing their use for public education and research. His efforts have included public exhibits and K-12 classroom visits.
Dr. Stankowich's research has garnered significant attention in both the scientific community and the general public, with extensive media coverage and public outreach efforts. His work has been featured in major news organizations and public science events, highlighting the important research being conducted at CSULB. Dr. Stankowich says he is deeply honored to receive this award and looks forward to continuing his impactful work at CSULB.
Submitted by Jesse Dillon
Dr. Bengt Allen, Biological Sciences
Dr. Bengt Allen joined the Department of Biological Sciences in 2007 after earning a BA from Pomona College, MS from San Diego State University, and PhD from Stony Brook University. Dr. Allen was hired to teach General Ecology, Marine Biology, and Marine Community Ecology and has done so regularly since. Every other year, he also teaches a 4-week long field course and supervises undergraduate directed research on Catalina Island as part of the Ocean Sciences Institute’s CSU Catalina Semester. This unique program provides marine biology students with hands-on, field-based experiences in an intensive, small-class manner.
In 2013, he converted General Ecology to an online format so he could teach remotely during the summers while doing research with CSULB students at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, CA. After extensive professional development in best practices in online course design, he oversaw the revision and updating of the university policy on online and hybrid teaching as Chair of the Academic Senate Faculty Advisory Committee on Technology (FACT). PS 20-01 was approved in February 2020, just in time for the abrupt switch to remote learning due to the COVID pandemic. He then served as CNSM Faculty Champion from Summer 2020-Spring 2022, facilitating training in online instruction across the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. He continues to assist Academic Technology Services as a peer reviewer for various workshops on course design.
His on-campus courses emphasize “learning by doing,” facilitating student success via hands-on engagement with the scientific literature, data, and theoretical models in Active Learning Classrooms. Realizing that science is a process for understanding the world, as opposed to a collection of facts to be memorized, is an incredibly important breakthrough for our students to make. Student comments in post-course evaluations routinely mention how his teaching changed the way they view learning, and that they have applied tools and skills they gained in his classes to other courses. Dr. Allen’s enthusiasm, inclusivity, and dedication to developing engaging and accessible teaching strategies has benefited both students and faculty colleagues in the Department.
Submitted by Bruno Pernet
Dr. Deepali Bhandari, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Dr. Deepali Bhandari, an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, exemplifies the highest standards of excellence in teaching. Over nearly a decade, she has inspired countless students with her dynamic and inclusive teaching style, fostering a deep appreciation for biochemistry while creating an engaging and supportive learning environment.
Dr. Bhandari has taught a diverse range of undergraduate and graduate courses, consistently receiving outstanding student and peer evaluations. Her classrooms are known for their energy, inclusivity, and innovative teaching methods. Her impact is evident in her oversubscribed courses and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from students, culminating in her receipt of the 2019 Mayfield Award for Outstanding Faculty - an honor bestowed by CNSM students in recognition of exceptional teaching.
Beyond the classroom, Dr. Bhandari has significantly contributed to curriculum development in our department and led faculty learning communities in our college. As the graduate advisor for Biochemistry, she has spearheaded changes to improve student retention and streamline the path to graduation.
Her dedication to student success extends to her mentorship of research students, where she has guided 35 undergraduates, 19 graduate students, and two high school students. Her mentorship has resulted in numerous student awards, research fellowships, and publications, with many of her students advancing to prestigious Ph.D. programs.
Dr. Bhandari’s passion for teaching and mentorship has left an indelible mark on her students, many of whom credit her with instilling resilience and self-confidence. This well-deserved recognition highlights her contributions to educational excellence at CSULB, making her a truly deserving recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award.
Submitted by Lijuan Li
Hugh O'Gorman, Theatre Arts
Hugh O’Gorman is an actor, director, author and teaching-artist active in professional theatre for over 40 years. Since 2002, he has been the Head of Acting at California State University, Long Beach, where he oversees the BA, BFA, and MFA actor training programs.
Hugh is the author of “Acting Action: A Primer For Actors” and “The Keys To Acting” and the forthcoming “The Art of Teaching The Art of Acting” from Routledge Publishing. He is a faculty member of MICHA: the Michael Chekhov Association, as well as MCE Michael Chekhov Europe, and runs his own acting studio in Los Angeles, The Praxis Studio. He is a Co-Executive Director of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers.
Hugh has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and at over a dozen of the nation’s most respected Regional Theatres and Shakespeare Festivals. He is a founding member of New York City’s Mint Theatre Company (2002 Drama Desk Award). Hugh portrayed Jeff Singer on AMC’s critically acclaimed, Emmy and CableACE award-winning show Remember WENN (SAG Award nomination).
Hugh earned a BA from Cornell and MFA in Acting from the University of Washington.
Other television: HBO’s Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning John Adams, for CBS Still Standing, That’s Life, and for NBC The 10th Kingdom, Law & Order and ER.
Film: Killers, Upstate, The Bend.
Submitted by Josh Nathan
Dr. Deborah Fraser, Biological Sciences
Deborah Fraser, PhD. Is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at CSULB. She completed her BSc. In Cellular and Molecular Pathology at the University of Bristol (Bristol, England) and a PhD in molecular medicine at the University of Wales College of Medicine (Cardiff, Wales). Dr. Fraser’s research interests are in the field of immunology, and her lab strives to understand the molecular mechanisms of inflammatory diseases.
Dr. Fraser mentors students in multiple ways in the department. She is currently mentoring 15 laboratory research assistants in her NIH-funded research program, and training them in cellular, molecular, and immunological techniques. Since starting at CSULB in 2011, she has mentored over 100 students in her research program, with many students presenting their work at local and national meetings, and publishing peer-reviewed manuscripts. Many of these students have gone on to graduate and professional schools.
Dr. Fraser also currently serves as an advisor for approximately 200 Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology and Physiology undergraduate majors. Upper division faculty advising is essential to ensuring students success and timely graduation in these challenging, high unit requirement majors. Dr. Fraser was also a program director for the CSULB NIH-funded RISE (Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement) program until 2024, advising 20 students per year in this program. She is currently the Director of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Bridges Program and advises over 20 students per year through the Internship program and Biotechnology Certificate. Overall, Dr. Fraser takes her advising and mentoring responsibilities very seriously and strives to build personal relationships with each student in order to assist them in achieving their educational and future career goals.
Submitted by Jesse Dillon
Dr. Jeffrey Pair, Mathematics & Statistics
Dr. Jeffrey Pair joined our faculty in 2017 after earning his Ph. D. in Mathematics and Science Education at Middle Tennessee State University. He advanced to Associate Professor in 2023. Since 2019, he has been the undergraduate advisor for B.S. programs in both Mathematics and Mathematics Education, annually comprising about 200 major advisees. However, these numbers vastly understate his workload, which also involves evaluating transfer credit and serving as the point of contact in a major service department for inquiries and curricular needs of departments in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the College of Engineering.
Dr. Pair very often teaches outside of his nominal specialty, contributing to his advisees’ learning in the core upper-division mathematics courses required in both programs. He received a KURE Incubator Award in the Summer of 2023 to develop a graph theory research module for one of these courses, Math 233 – Fundamental Concepts of Advanced Mathematics. His teaching and advising activities are also synergistic with his research: Among his 24 peer-reviewed published research articles is an extensive body of work on the nature of mathematical knowledge and its acquisition, an area directly relevant both to the university and professional experiences of his advisees.
Dr. Pair has invited his advisees to participate in several enrichment projects as part of RSCA. For instance, in Spring 2023 he facilitated multilingual (Spanish/English) proof-writing groups. As part of this project, undergraduate mathematics majors wrote and spoke Spanish together as they worked on advanced mathematics problems. During Spring 2024, Dr. Pair facilitated a musical/mathematical connections group—during which mathematics majors explored the mathematical aspects of music, and even listened to and played music together.
Dr. Pair has also directed undergraduate research or theses for seven undergraduates and chaired a Master’s thesis committee. His professional memberships have included: the Mathematics Association of America’s Special Interest Group on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. Through his advising, teaching, and scholarly efforts, Dr. Pair has been a tremendous benefit to our students and to our department as a whole.
Submitted by John Brevik
Dr. Judy Brusslan, Biological Sciences
Dr. Judy Brusslan is a Professor of Biological Sciences at CSULB, where she has been a faculty member since 1995. She earned her PhD from the University of Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA. Dr. Brusslan was hired to teach General Genetics, which she teaches annually. She has also consistently taught Molecular Plant Physiology and the Genomics module of the Cell and Molecular Biology lab course. Dr. Brusslan incorporates primary literature and research design into all her courses. Dr. Brusslan also teaches a summer incubator course, “Getting to Know DNA” for second-year and transfer students.
Dr. Brusslan’s research focuses on leaf senescence, the process in which older leaves slowly die, allowing recycling of their nutrients to nourish younger portions of the plant. Dr. Brusslan routinely mentors a large cohort of Molecular and Cell Biology students, providing high impact experiences for hundreds of students over the years. Fifteen students from the Brusslan lab are either currently pursuing or have completed PhD programs. Many of her other mentees have gone on to work in government labs, local industry, or teach at community colleges. In their first experiments, students in the Brusslan lab use positive and negative controls, evaluate their data, and begin troubleshooting. This helps students gain confidence and become rigorous scientists who value reproducibility; skills that will support them throughout their career.
Dr. Brusslan also provides important mentoring beyond her own research lab. She is currently the PI of the NIH-funded Bridges to the Doctorate program which provides support for MS students who aim to earn a PhD. Dr. Brusslan brought this program to CSULB and has carried to fruition the proposed activities which prepare students for this challenging and competitive endeavor. Dr. Brusslan is a member of the Faculty Formative Feedback Project (FFFP) where she works with faculty from other colleges to help them assess and improve student engagement, fostering their own mentorship skills. Overall, Judy has provided highly impactful mentorship for students as they pursue cutting edge research in the field of biomedical research.
Submitted by Jesse Dillon
Dr. James Binnall, Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Emergency Management
Dr. Binnall’s research focuses on the civic marginalization of those with criminal convictions, parole and post-release restrictions, and conditions of confinement. His primary research focus examines the exclusion of individuals with a felony conviction from the jury process.
The nation’s leading scholar on the topic, Dr. Binnall has testified for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the California Senate and Assembly, and presented his research to the American Bar Association Jury Commission. He has published numerous articles in both law reviews and social science journals, spoken at venues across the country, and is the author of the first book devoted to the issue of record-based juror exclusion: Twenty Million Angry Men: The Case for Including Convicted Felons in Our Jury Process (University of California Press, 2021).
At CSULB, Dr. Binnall is also the Executive Director of Project Rebound and the Faculty Advisor for Rising Scholars – organizations that work to ensure the success of formerly incarcerated and system involved students on campus. A practicing attorney, he also represents law students in the State Bar of California Moral Character and Fitness Determination process and is the co-founder of the California System-Involved Bar Association (CSIBA) – an organization comprised entirely of formerly incarcerated and system involved lawyers.
Submitted by Irene Sotelo
Dr. Guido Urizar, Psychology
Dr. Guido Urizar Jr. is a professor at California State University, Long Beach, specializing in Clinical and Health Psychology. He earned his PhD in Clinical and Health Psychology and completed postdoctoral training in minority mental health and chronic disease prevention at UCSF and Stanford University. In 2006, he founded the PRO-Health Research Program to collaborate with community stakeholders in improving health outcomes for underserved populations.
Dr. Urizar’s research focuses on the effects of chronic stressors, such as poverty, food insecurity, housing instability, and racism, on health outcomes, particularly among low-income and ethnic minority families. His work has shown links between these stressors and increased risks for postpartum depression, cardiovascular disease, birth complications, and infant mortality. He aims to reduce health disparities and improve care by providing innovative health programs during critical periods, like pregnancy, in collaboration with community leaders.
For 18 years, Dr. Urizar’s team has worked with local hospitals, clinics, and community organizations to implement health promotion programs, such as stress management and exercise, in low-income neighborhoods. These community collaborations have been the core to PRO-Health’s success and have provided research training opportunities for CSULB students, resulting in numerous publications, conference presentations, treatment manuals, and federally funded grants, expanding their impact both locally and internationally, particularly in Bolivia.
Dr. Urizar has also contributed to the development of research infrastructure and support for underrepresented students through initiatives like the BUILD Initiative ($24.1 million funding) and the McNair Scholars Program. He has served on national and international committees and advisory boards promoting health equity. His extensive contributions in research, mentorship, teaching, and service reflect his commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion at CSULB and beyond.
Submitted by Amber Johnson
Dr. Kathryn McCormick, Mathematics & Statistics
Dr. Kathryn McCormick is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. She does theoretical mathematics research in functional analysis, specifically studying groupoid algebras and nonselfadjoint operator algebras.
Her research forges connections between the mathematical subfields of analysis and algebra. She has published several single-author papers while also maintaining active international research collaborations. This includes giving more than 10 invited talks on her research in Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and across the United States. Her students have presented at the College of Natural Science and Mathematics Research Symposium, the CSULB Research Competition, and local Mathematics Association of America sectional conferences, and she has organized many student group conference trips to local MAA conferences and to LatMath.
Dr. McCormick is a department leader in active learning and alternative assessment strategies across the curriculum. She has developed more than 9 unique courses for non-majors, undergraduate majors, and graduate students, including co-developing a new course for supporting mathematics and statistics students in career exploration. She has supported departmental and college goals through committee work, including through being on a tenure-track hiring committee and regularly chairing comprehensive exam committees in multiple mathematical sub-disciplines.
She is also a mentor of students across different academic stages, topics, and disciplines. This includes supervising a variety of mathematics research projects and/or theses, providing career mentorship to her Math Alliance student mentees, organizing student info sessions and conference trips, running independent studies in mathematics for CSULB students (including graduate Physics students), and mentoring early career women in operator algebras across North America for the international organization Operator Algebras Mentor Network.
Submitted by Josh Chesler
Dr. Laurie Huning, Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management
Since joining the University in Fall 2020, Assistant Professor Laurie Huning has led the Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering program in the Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management.
Dr. Huning has produced influential publications in her areas of expertise: hydrology, climatology, extreme events, and water resources. Dr. Huning has published 29 peer-reviewed articles. Her publications have appeared in prestigious journals such as Nature, the world's most influential multidisciplinary science journal, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Reviews of Geophysics, and Nature Climate Change. In total, her publications have more than 3,300 citations. Since starting at CSULB, she has secured over $2 million in awarded research funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Energy (DOE), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as the lead PI. Notably, she received the prestigious NASA Early Career Investigator Award.
Dr. Huning developed two new courses at CSULB. Water, Engineering, and Society is a new undergraduate class that introduces important topics related to climate and extreme events to a wider audience. Data Analysis for Hydrologic and Water Resources Applications is a new graduate class for more seasoned students to build data and analytical skills needed to address water challenges. Moreover, Dr. Huning integrated current events and innovative modeling for analysis of real-world data and challenges in her classes. Dr. Huning motivates her students’ class engagement by implementing the latest research and current/recent water and environmental challenges into activities and discussions.
Dr. Huning is active in the broader community. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for two journals, Water Resources Research and Journal of Hydrology. Dr. Huning is a member of a group of global experts at the United Nations University (UNU) Sustainability Nexus Analytics, Informatics, and Data (AID) Programme Drought Committee that supports the United Nations (UN). In addition, Dr. Huning was one of only two early career academics appointed to the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Partnership Taskforce that created guidelines for AGU to build sustainable partnerships and translate science into action. She is currently part of the NOAA Drought Taskforce.
Submitted by Pitiporn Asvapathanagul and Lisa Star
Dr. Seung-hoon Jeong, Cinematic Arts
Dr. Seung-hoon Jeong joined the Department of Cinematic Arts (then Film & Electronic Arts) in 2021 and is the co-area head in Critical Studies: International Cinema.
A former film critic in South Korea, he joined CSULB after working as an assistant professor at New York University Abu Dhabi and has held a visiting professorship at Columbia University and a few Korean universities. He has worked on film theory and critical issues through diverse films, focusing on global cinema related to multiculturalism, abjection, catastrophe, and networking with biopolitical, ethical, and psychoanalytic philosophies.
Jeong received Korea’s Cine21 Film Criticism Award (2003) and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Dissertation Award (2012). He wrote Cinematic Interfaces: Film Theory after New Media (Routledge, 2013), co-translated Jacques Derrida’s Acts of Literature into Korean (Moonji, 2013), co-edited The Global Auteur: The Politics of Authorship in 21st Century Cinema (Bloomsbury, 2016), guest-edited the special double issue of Studies in the Humanities titled “Global East Asian Cinema: Abjection and Agency” (2019), co-edited Thomas Elsaesser’s posthumous book The Mind-Game Film: Distributed Agency, Time Travel, and Productive Pathology (Routledge, 2021), and wrote Biopolitical Ethics in Global Cinema (Oxford University Press, 2023).
He has also published on diverse directors, including Werner Herzog, Peter Greenaway, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Bong Joon-ho, in addition to various topics such as the animal, female domination, the mind-game film, and Korean cinema. His dedication to the students in Cinematic Arts makes him a wonderful example of early career excellence at CSULB.
Submitted by Adam Moore and David Waldman
Adebimpe Akinwalere, Health Science
Adebimpe “Bimpe” Akinwalere is a graduate student in the Master of Public Health program at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) and a Medical Doctor from Nigeria. She has dedicated her academic and professional career to advancing public health research, addressing health disparities, and improving health outcomes.
At CSULB, she has contributed to groundbreaking research on the HIV epidemic in Tajikistan working alongside Dr. Kamair Alaei, Dr. Arash Alaei, and Dr. Brian Kwan, leading to her first three academic publications in leading journals. Since this publication, the research project has supported the launch of the Center for Global Health here at CSULB.
Bimpe is also a graduate research assistant on Dr. Niloofar Bavarian’s team, contributing to an NIH/NIDA-funded project, an intervention focused on prescription stimulant misuse among college students. This research bridges the gap between understanding public health challenges and implementing evidence-based solutions to improve behavioral health outcomes. Her dedication to research and academic excellence earned her the CSULB Graduate Equity Fellowship and selection as a student participant at the CSU Health Policy Conference.
Beyond research, Bimpe is passionate about health equity, maternal and child health, and public health information technology. Her long-term aspiration is to become a physician who integrates clinical practice, research, advocacy, and public health information technology initiatives to drive meaningful, innovative, and sustainable healthcare improvements.
Outside of research and academics, Bimpe enjoys fashion, music, and traveling, as well as exploring creative and entrepreneurial pursuits. She is passionate about global cultures and enjoys discovering new cuisines and perspectives through her travels.
Submitted by Brian Kwan
Nicholas Chow, Computer Engineering and Computer Science
Nicholas Chow holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from UCI and is a graduate student in the M.Sc. in Computer Science program at CSULB. During his graduate studies at CSULB, he also served as a research assistant in the Data Semantics & Human Data Interaction (D2) Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Bo Fu.
His graduate research focused on developing novel physiologically adaptive visualizations that dynamically tailor to individual users in real time. More specifically, the adaptative visualization utilizes eye gaze to predict a user’s success in a given task, and in the event of a predicted failure, real-time visual interventions in the form of highlighting and deemphasis are deployed to direct user attention and assist with task completion. The evaluation of such an adaptive visualization, when compared to a non-adaptive baseline, showed statistically significant increases in user success without tradeoff in cognitive workload or task speed.
Throughout his time at the D2 Lab, Nicholas consistently demonstrated remarkable dedication, outstanding scientific rigor, and excellent work ethics. His ability to resolve complex technical problems is a testament to his scholarly excellence. The significance of his research contributions is reflected in two peer-reviewed publications at highly prestigious and competitive scientific venues. Nicholas is currently a Software Engineer specializing in accounting and project management software and is actively engaged in research engineering.
Submitted by Bo Fu
Maya Rogalski, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Maya Rogalski will graduate from California State University, Long Beach in May 2025 with a BS degree in Chemistry and minor in Mathematics.
In her freshman year, Maya joined the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Mezyk, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, initially working on research projects related to used nuclear fuel recycling. In her three years of undergraduate research, she achieved three peer-reviewed journal articles in this area, including one as the first-author. In these papers she collected her experimental data at two national Department of Energy laboratories, where she holds her own Visiting Scientist appointments, using their electron accelerator and laser facilities, analyzed these data, and then wrote full drafts and subsequent revisions of these manuscripts.
In addition, Maya became an expert in using two state-of-the-art instruments at CSULB in our IIRMES facility, which she is now using to collaborate on nuclear recycling projects with other faculty around the United States. Maya has also presented her research in this area at four international American Chemical Society conferences in the past two years. In her Senior year, Maya shifted her research focus to environmental chemistry, applying her studies to the remediation of chemically-contaminated wastewaters. She has recently worked to determine the radical-based kinetics for the removal of explosives and their residues, opioids, halogenated acetonitrile byproducts, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) chemical contaminants from water. This work has resulted in two more journal manuscripts for her, that were submitted in February 2025.
In addition, the opioid research she conducted was the basis of her Graduate Research Fellowships Program scholarship application. Maya has also been coordinating the research efforts of more junior students in the laboratory, assisting them with data analysis and conference presentation preparation, which will ultimately provide her with even more scholarly successes.
Lastly, from the five Ph.D. school offers Maya received she accepted a fully-funded offer from the University of California-Davis Agricultural & Environmental Chemistry Group working with Dr. Thomas Young on non-targeted analyses of perfluorinated compound contaminants.
Submitted by Stephen Mezyk
