This project will be conducted by Sonoma State University to support restoration of kelp forests by the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Building on our decades of experience in kelp forest ecology, aquaculture and restoration with our partners at Moss Landing Marine Labs, we will help GFNMS to build scientific and restoration capacity for kelp forests in the northern California region.

Professor Lynn Cominsky will oversee the work done at Sonoma State University, as well as coordinating the efforts with CSU east Bay and CSU Chico. She will oversee the budgets, provide administrative support to execute the subawards to each institution, and work collaboratively with Profs. Blagrave and Kashinath to identify suitable STEM students at each institution for input into the study, and collate the results of the working groups at each campus. Prof.

This grant will fund a traineeship in High Energy Physics for three SSU Students. This traineeship will include an hourly salary for the students to work on research and professional development activities. They will also be funded to participate in a Summer research internship at one of our participating DOE national labs. Additionally, this grant will provide funding for Dr. Miller to mentor students and pursue her own research activities.

This continued funding for estuarine Marine Protected Area (MPA) monitoring will allow for further refinement of pilot protocols and support critically important long-term monitoring of an understudied suite of MPAs in California's Network. Data collected during the 2023 season will inform the development of the MPA Monitoring Action Plan and provide insight into climate impacts and resiliency of the MPA Network to climactic perturbations within estuarine systems.

This continued funding for estuarine Marine Protected Area (MPA) monitoring will allow for further refinement of pilot protocols and support critically important long-term monitoring of an understudied suite of MPAs in California's Network. Data collected during the 2023 season will inform the development of the MPA Monitoring Action Plan and provide insight into climate impacts and resiliency of the MPA Network to climactic perturbations within estuarine systems.

Sonoma State University (SSU)’s EdEon STEM Learning team and Physics and Astronomy Department, together with the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, will enlist a team of citizen scientists to explore and characterize how superheated gas (plasma) flows through the corona and chromosphere. Over 100 citizen scientists will be trained to take photographs of the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. After the eclipse, the project will provide over 1,200 eclipse photos to scientists and the public.

The 2023 Summer Tinker Academy is a two-week program designed to engage and inspire middle school students through Maker principles, to encourage the exploration and development of technical, mathematical and artistic abilities. For Summer 2023, twenty-four middle school students from across Sonoma County have been selected by CTE Foundation to attend the hands-on sessions to be taught by SSU professors and student assistants in the SSU Makerspace. They will participate in a variety of activities including coding, modeling, crafting, sewing, and building.

Kelp forests in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS), specifically Sonoma and Marin Counties have declined dramatically over the last decade due to climate change and the cascading legacy effects of overhunting of sea otters in the 19th century. We and our partners at GFNMS and Moss Landing Marine Labs have developed techniques to successfully restore lost kelp forests.

The Family Nurse Practitioner Program at SSU offers a Master of Science as well as a Post Masters Certificate Program with a full and part-time option.  The mission of our program is to serve the underserved populations in Northern California. With the help of grant funding we are able to provide an opportunity for Advance Practice Nurses in rural areas to become nurse practitioners while staying in their community to provide the care to those patients in need.

The Family Nurse Practitioner Program at SSU offers a Master of Science as well as a Post Masters Certificate Program with a full and part-time option.  The mission of our program is to serve the underserved populations in Northern California. With the help of grant funding we are able to provide an opportunity for Advance Practice Nurses in rural areas to become nurse practitioners while staying in their community to provide the care to those patients in need.