After almost a decade studying and researching the evolution of snakes, CSUDH Biology Professor Sonal Singhal has come to one undeniable conclusion. “Snakes are so cool!” Since 2014, Singhal has been one of the leaders of a project attempting to discover why snakes have been so successful in evolving traits that allow them to survive and thrive almost anywhere in the world. Their findings were published as the cover story of the February 24 issue of Science magazine. “Snakes are actually lizards if you use a technical definition,” says Singhal. “But if you look at them from an evolutionary perspective and how aspects of their biology are changing —what they eat, what they look like, ... Read More
Biology
Biology Student Named Aquarium of the Pacific African American Scholar
Fourth-year biology student Kimberly Randolph is the first CSUDH student to be named an African American Scholar of the Aquarium of the Pacific, an honor which includes a $10,000 scholarship and educational opportunities with the Aquarium. Randolph, originally from Modesto, Calif., is among ten exceptional California university students chosen for the 2023 award. Though she didn't grow up on the coast, as a child Randolph became interested in marine biology thanks to the BBC Planet Earth series and the gift of a pet hermit crab. “I started doing my own research on how to recreate hermit crabs' natural environments, and how it helps them thrive” she says. “It made me think that people ... Read More
CSUDH Biology Professor Recognized for Research
CSUDH Associate Professor of Biology Sonal Singhal has been honored by the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) for her research work on lizard speciation. Her paper “Strong Selection Against Hybrids Maintains a Narrow Contact Zone Between Morphologically Cryptic Lineages in a Rainforest Lizard” was named one of the 25 top works in speciation research by women authors by Evolution, SSE's prestigious international journal. Singhal co-authored the paper in 2011 with Craig Moritz, who at the time was director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. Singhal's research focused on a pair of lizard species living in a “hybrid zone” of the Australian ... Read More
Faculty Highlights: July 2021
Our faculty members participate in conferences around the world, conduct groundbreaking research, and publish books and journal papers that contribute to their field and highlight their expertise. We feature those accomplishments and more in this section. To share faculty news, email ucpa@csudh.edu. College of Arts and Humanities Salim Faraji, professor of Africana Studies and scholar of medieval Nubia, was quoted in "Found: A Massive Medieval Cathedral from a 'Forgotten' Nubian Kingdom" in Atlas Obscura: "[The discovery] is not surprising at all considering that Old Dongola was the seat of a powerful Christian kingdom in Medieval Nubia that conducted foreign diplomacy with Muslim ... Read More
CSUDH Biology Professor Making Big Waves With Her Shark Studies
Sitting offshore in a small boat in the Florida Keys, CSUDH Assistant Professor of Biology Samantha Leigh tosses chum into the shallow water. The pungent slurry of chopped-up fish parts is the best way to attract her targets, so she keeps a close eye on the long gillnets she has laid perpendicular to the shoreline. When Leigh spots a disturbance in a net, she jumps in and makes her way to a snared bonnethead shark, which she untangles and places in a live tank inside the boat. After netting a couple more, Leigh takes her catches to a lab facility, where the bonnetheads are released into tanks with ocean water flow-through systems. These allow the sharks to acclimate to their new ... Read More
