The Division of Graduate Studies at California State University, Fresno will host Graduate Student Recognition Week, April 23-27. The event will acknowledge the contributions of the university’s graduate students.

The highlight of the week is Wednesday, April 25, the Recognition Expo and Reception. It will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Gottschalk’s Gallery of the Peters Business Building. The expo will feature poster presentations of student research in addition to examples of student creative work, leadership and community service. David Stewart, a graduate student in music performance, will provide live entertainment.

Highlights of the event include the following:

Health promotion in the Valley. Tona Soto, who is earning her master of public health (MPH), has done research at the Central Valley Health Policy Institute on health issues such as diabetes and maternal risk factors associated with prenatal care. Soto has also interned at the prestigious Harvard Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she examined cancer risk factors among residents of low-income housing.

Agricultural advancement. Megan McCullough, who is one of the first students to graduate with a master of biotechnology from Fresno State, is currently researching the effects of environmental stress on two brands of transgenic cotton in her work at Dow AgroSciences, an agricultural research company. The project is of vital interest to the agricultural and biological science communities and is expected to be published soon in a peer-reviewed journal.

Training counselors. Timothy Denney, who is earning a master’s in rehabilitation counseling, is redefining the way rehabilitation counselors handle their caseloads by developing a training program to help counselors identify common personality disorder traits in clients. Denney has been active this semester presenting his research at national meetings.

New theories in space. Daniel Tennant, who is earning a master’s in physics, is working on a new calculation of quantum fields based on approximations of Einstein’s theory and work done by Stephen Hawking. Tennant hopes to discover something new about black hole radiation for black holes of all sizes.

In addition, the Craig Graduate Program will honor a team of three students in recognition of their award-winning project, “Food Services Facility and Services Replacement Superior Services Inc. Business Plan.” The project was part of bidding process for a $10 million contract with a U.S. Army training installation in Fort Lee, Va.

More information about Graduate Student Recognition Week can be obtained from Chuck Radke in the Graduate Office, 559.278.2448.

For more information contained in this release, please go to the following Web site(s):

www.csufresno.edu/gradstudies