Several events took place over the weekend. Here’s a summary in brief and photos.
Play the slider to see photos of the following:
Solar eclipse 2023
Hundreds of students from local schools attending the STEM for Girls Conference at Fresno State also got a chance of a lifetime to experience the solar eclipse while on campus.
The students used special goggles to view the annular solar eclipse, as it happened for more than an hour, from 9:14 a.m.
When viewing through the goggles, the sun appeared as a black ball with orange edges that some call the “ring of fire.”
An annular solar eclipse is a type of solar eclipse that occurs when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, but the moon’s apparent size is smaller than that of the sun. This results in the sun appearing as a bright ring, or “ring of fire,” surrounding the moon’s dark disk.
NASA provided a moment-by-moment capture of the event. View it here.
Feria de Educacion
Feria de Education resource fair brought more than 1000 young students, parents, and community members to campus.
The College of Science and Mathematics was represented by the Earth and Environmental Sciences and Building Opportunities through Networks and Discovery (BOND).
In his message to the attendees, University President Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval encouraged the students to seek a degree from Fresno State and urged parents to support them.
“A Fresno State degree is the key to a better future. With a Fresno State diploma, your daughter or son will become a professional -a leader in our community,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “Also, they will live a better life, with a better salary. Support your daughter or son to cross the finish line.”
In September, The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse 2024 Best Colleges ranked Fresno State 6th best in the nation among private and public universities in promoting social mobility among its students.
The top ranking is not the first time Fresno State has towered above other universities.
A Fresno State News report published September 6th, noted:
Fresno State consistently ranks among the nation’s best for affordability, outcomes, and social mobility. Last month, the university rose to No. 26 nationally in Washington Monthly’s 2023 list of top universities and No. 13 in the Best Bang for the Buck: West category.
In June, Fresno State received a 4.5-star rating on a 5-star scale in Money’s new 2023 Best Colleges rating of the nation’s best colleges for quality and affordability.
STEM for Girls
Organizers estimate that over 500 girls attended the STEM for Girls conference organized by the Fresno County Board of Education.
The students attended workshops, enjoyed scientific demonstrations mounted by the Physics Outreach team, and attended the Edge: Pluto and Beyond, a Downing Planetarium show highlighting the 2015 New Horizons Spacecraft voyage that gave the world a glimpse of Pluto, once considered the farthest planet but demoted to dwarf planet status.
Chemistry Seminar Series presenters
The weekly Chemistry Seminar Series continues to showcase some of the best Fresno State students within the College of Science and Mathematics, presenting provoking and enlightening research to an audience of students, faculty, and the university community.
Last Friday’s seminar, dubbed the two Aaron’s presentations, coincidentally featured two namesake speakers, Aaron Asparin, popularly known as AJ, and Aaron Chhun.
Asparin gave a talk entitled An Investigation of Effective Natural Supplements in Promoting Ethanol Soberness via Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies), a study on how certain natural supplements can help fruit flies sober up after “consuming” alcohol.
On the other hand, Chhun shared his research about the history and contemporary application of the Mitsunobu reaction, named after its developer, Oyo Mitsunobu, a Japanese chemist.
The process converts alcohols into substances like esters, found in fragrances and flavors, or amines.
The Chemistry Seminar Series continues this Friday with a a presentation from Fresno State professor Dr. Kalyan Munshi entitled “Triterpenoid-Based Natural Products for Antiviral Prodrugs.”
