Alumni Updates
Michael M O'Boyle, Forestry & Wildland Resources, June 1971
Submitted: February 14, 2020
Michael O'Boyle, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1971, spent 16 years with the USDA Soil Conservation Service, and ended up as a district conservationist. He then served in New Mexico and California. Afterward, O'Boyle completed 20 years with the Madera County Animal Control Department in California, retiring in 2010.
Aneesh Kumar KV, Fisheries Biology, 2014
Submitted: February 14, 2020
Aneesh Kumar, Fisheries Biology, 2014, is currently working as Project Scientist at Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology. Their area of research is Eco-morphology of deep sea fishes and Otoliths.
Julianne Fernandez, Oceanography, 2014
Submitted: January 28, 2020
After earning her degree, Julianne Fernandez, Oceanography, 2014, interned with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District in Illinois. As a Physical Science Technician in Water Quality she assisted in monitoring the upper Mississippi River. Fernandez worked on her M.S. in Geology at the University of Cincinnati, where her research focused on methane emissions from Lake Erie. Fernandez completed her M.S in 2017 and soon decided to pursue a PhD. She’s currently a Marie Slodowska-Curie Postgraduate Research Assistant in the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway University of London, UK. She studies urban methane emissions from London and other European metropolitan areas.
Janelle Thompson, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1993
Submitted: January 13, 2020
In 2019, after 28 years with the U.S. Forest Service in a position as a timber sale administrator, Janelle Thompson, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1993, was promoted to Tahoe National Forest, Sierraville Ranger District Timber Management Officer. Thompson began her career in 1987 as a temporary employee on the timber marking crew at Sierraville. She received a permanent career appointment in 1991 as a forester with an emphasis in timber sale administration. During the last 20 years she has also worked as a support dispatcher (EDSD) for major wildland fires and other incidents across the United States. September of 2022 Thompson will be eligible to retire with over 31 years with the U.S. Forest Service.
David Justice, Fisheries Biology, 1995
Submitted: January 10, 2020
David Justice, Fisheries Biology, 1995, was promoted to CEO of Alta Vista Credit Union in Redlands, California in November of 2019. Justice married a College Professor who teaches Geography and they have two adult boys who are off to college next year.
Judith Stone-Hulslander, Biological Sciences, 1992
Submitted: January 8, 2020
Judith Stone-Hulslander, Biological Sciences, 1992, was promoted to partner at the law firm Lathrop GPM. With approximately 20 years of intellectual property experience, Stone-Hulslander focuses her practice on patent preparation, prosecution and client counseling in all areas of biotechnology. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and prior to obtaining her law degree, she worked more than five years as a technical specialist and patent agent. Stone-Hulslander has particularly strong patent experience with therapeutic antibodies and antibody-like molecules for a variety of disease indications.
Leona Evans, Natural Resources, 1983
Submitted: January 5, 2020
Leona Evans, Natural Resources, 1983, retired from the Lake Valley Fire Protection District (Lake Tahoe) in 2015. She is now transitioning into retirement from her second job as Coordinator for the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy through Lake Tahoe Community College where she served for 14 years. She continues to work on-call for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (Forest Service).
Tyler Smurr, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1995
Submitted: January 1, 2020
Tyler Smurr, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1995, worked for Sierra Pacific Industries after graduating from Humboldt State but then met a girl and followed her to Texas. He taught middle school science for 14 years, and is currently an Assistant Principal for a San Antonio Middle School. Smurr says he uses his experience at Humboldt State to talk to students about finding the right place for them and seeing the beauty in the world.
William Chilson, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1967
Submitted: December 29, 2019
For the past 10 years, William Chilson, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1967 has been working in the renewable energy industry with a focus on development of utility scale power plants. His current position is Director of Siting and Real Estate with Candela Renewables. Candela Renewables develops solar power plants throughout the United States.
Stephen Bowlus, Chemistry, 1970
Submitted: December 24, 2019
After graduation, Stephen Bowlus, Chemistry, 1970, attended University of Illinois (MS '72, PhD '74, postdoc entomology '75), and went into industrial research. He worked primarily in the agricultural chemistry field, starting as a synthesis chemist, then migrating to computational chemistry, molecular modeling and statistics. He retired from industry in 2003. In 2006, Bowlus started teaching as an adjunct instructor at Columbia College in Sonora, California, before retiring in 2019.
Colin Savage, Fisheries Biology, 2018
Submitted: December 21, 2019
Shortly after graduating, Colin Savage, Fisheries Biology, 2018, started working with Washington Fish and Wildlife as a hatchery specialist. During his senior year he worked in rearing many species of salmonids and White Sturgeon.
Leonard A Brennan, Wildlife, 1984
Submitted: December 21, 2019
Leonard A Brennan, Wildlife, 1984, is in his 19th year as the C.C. Winn Endowed Chair for Quail Research at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University - Kingsville. His seventh book, Quantitative Analyses in Wildlife Science, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press this fall, and was co-edited with another Humboldt Alumnus, Dr. Bruce Marcot.
Claudia Carlson Cottrell, Fisheries Biology, 1974
Submitted: December 21, 2019
In 1991 16 years after graduating from Humboldt State, Claudia Cottrell, Fisheries Biology, 1974, graduated from Northwestern Health Sciences University with a doctorate in Chiropractic. After 23 years of running a human chiropractic practice, she went to Options for Animals School of Animal Chiropractic. She now practices exclusively on horses, dogs, cats, and any other animals that are presented to her. Cottrell, says she feels like she has come full circle. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota (her native state) with her husband, Harry Cottrell, who is a native of Arcata, California, and is also a graduate of Humboldt State. They have two adult sons, have always had pets, and still visit Humboldt County.
Andre Degeorges, Natural Resources, 1973
Submitted: December 21, 2019
Andre Degeorges, Natural Resources, 1973, is retired and is living on the Eastern Shore of Virginia hunting & fishing. Degeorges has several publications on researchgate.net under his name that are available to download for free. Publications include a seven volume book on conservation & development in Sub-Saharan Africa, one on the Taliban, many peer reviewed documents, gray literature & PowerPoint presentations on coral reefs, community based natural resource management (CBNRM), dams, wildlife management & hunting issues, and development/foreign aid, etc.
John R. Hawkins, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1969
Submitted: December 20, 2019
John Hawkins, Upland, 1969, retired from CAL FIRE in December 2018 after serving 55 fire seasons and finishing his career for the last 12 years as the CAL FIRE Riverside Unit/Riverside County Fire Department Fire Chief. Hawkins commanded many of California's major fires over his career, served as a Type 1 Incident Commander on 3 teams and an Operations Section Chief on a federal Type 1 team. Hawkins was recognized as a Certified Fire Chief and graduated from the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program. He is living in SoCal and working part-time as a Wildland Fire Consultant for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Gary Newman, Environmental Resources Engineering, 1977
Submitted: December 20, 2019
After graduation, Gary Newman, Environmental Resources Engineering, 1977, went to Utah State University and earned a Masters in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Upon graduation from USU, he was hired by Brown and Caldwell Consulting Engineers (BC), in their Pasadena, California office. Newman has continued working with BC for the past 41 years saying "they have treated me well and provided some wonderful professional opportunities." His specialty has been wastewater treatment. Besides, Pasadena, he has lived and worked in Salt Lake City, Dallas, Seattle, and now Phoenix. He has also worked on projects in Vancouver, B.C., Washington D.C, New York, Nashville and San Francisco. Newman says he will be mostly retiring in the next year or so but will continue working part-time.
Drew Coe, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1996
Submitted: December 20, 2019
Drew Coe, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1996, began working in the forest industry following graduation. After several years he returned to school, graduating with a MS in Watershed Science from Colorado State University. Coe currently works as the Forest Practice Monitoring Coordinator/Hydrologist in CALFIRE's Watershed Protection Program. He lives with his wife and two children in Redding, California.
Cristine Gill, Natural Resources, 1989
Submitted: December 20, 2019
Cristine Gilliland, Natural Resources, 1989, moved to New York City and worked as the Adult Development & Training Administrator for the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York. She left to become a Senior Administrator for a private independent camp in the Adirondacks. During that time, she worked on her Master of Arts in teaching and biology 7-12 credential. Gilliland spent the last 20 years in New York teaching science and ecology, in middle schools . She has now retired to Western Washington, where she has been working with the local college in their fish lab. Gilliland says she has mostly been enjoying retirement and exploring her new environment with her adventure cat and kayak.
Kaelie Pena, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 2017
Submitted: December 20, 2019
Kaelie Pena, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 2017, converted to a full-time permanent position with the Forest Service upon graduating and is coming up on her two year anniversary as a Rangeland Management Specialist with the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in the Bridgeport Ranger District.
Garrett John Costello, Environmental Science & Management, 2014
Submitted: November 17, 2019
Over the last two years Garrett Costello, Environmental Science & Management, 2014, and his wife (fellow alumni) got married and started an environmental consulting business. As the business has grown they have turned their attention to constructing low-tech beaver dam analogs to help restore critical stream and meadow ecosystems. This year Symbiotic Restoration installed over 100 beaver dams across north-eastern California. As the business expands they hope to be able to employ and incorporate Humboldt State students in to these programs. Their current plans include looking for land so that they can move back to Humboldt County and build their home back where their journey began.