News and Notes - Fall 2024

Survey

A postcard was recently sent to our Cultivate subscribers with a short survey to update preferred delivery options. If you haven’t yet completed the survey, you can access it at bit.ly/cultivatemagsurvey.

Progress Underway

Construction of the Charles and Claire Jacobson Animal Health Center is underway. The state-of-the-art facility is scheduled for completion in spring 2026 and will provide students with interactive hands-on Learn by Doing opportunities in the center’s spacious and modern teaching laboratory and clinical veterinary area. The Animal Health Center will also facilitate additional student enterprise courses to ensure the next generation of leaders in veterinary medicine, animal healthcare and animal agriculture are prepared to be industry ready from Day One. Opportunities for naming a space within the Animal Health Center are still available. Reach out to Abigail McCullough, director of development, at 805-858-0393 or ammccull@calpoly.edu, to learn more.

BreakaWave

Thousands of Cal Poly Rodeo program sponsors from near and far gathered for the fourth annual BreakaWave rodeo on the beach. Cal Poly student-athletes, alumni and sponsored invitees competed in breakaway roping and bronc riding along the Pismo Beach coastline. The event is a fundraiser for the program.

Plant Sciences Complex

Progress on the first phase of the Plant Sciences Complex continues, with construction of the George Wurzel Plant Sciences Building. The building will serve as a teaching and research hub, bringing together multiple complementary disciplines under one roof to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. Future plans at the complex include state-of-the-art research and production greenhouses, an ancillary produce packing and cooling facility and a farm store for food retail operations.

Opportunities to support the Plant Sciences Complex are still available. Reach out to Russ Kabaker, assistant dean of advancement and external relations, at 805-756-6601 or rkabaker@calpoly.edu.

Student Success

Students participating in the 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Program presented their research at a poster session Aug. 29 at the JUSTIN and J. LOHR Center for Wine and Viticulture. More than 34 students participated in projects alongside faculty across multiple disciplines in the college’s nine departments.

New Faculty

AAKASH AHAMED, Assistant Professor

DEPARTMENT: Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

AREA OF SPECIALTY: Remote sensing and geospatial data science

EDUCATION: Doctorate in geophysics from Stanford University 

HOMETOWN: Berkeley Heights, New Jersey

FUN FACT: I won a point off of John McEnroe in tennis.

SURAJ KAR, Assistant Professor

DEPARTMENT: Wine and Viticulture

AREA OF SPECIALTY: Viticulture, plant physiology

EDUCATION: Doctorate in biosphere science from Hokkaido University, Japan

HOMETOWN: Burdwan, India

FUN FACT: I like building terrariums, hiking and reading.

STAMATINA KOTSAKOU, Assistant Professor

DEPARTMENT: Agribusiness

AREA OF SPECIALTY: Agricultural markets of specialty crops, demand analysis

EDUCATION: Doctorate in agricultural and resource economics from UC Davis

HOMETOWN: Athens, Greece

FUN FACT: I love cooking and I am working (very slowly) on creating my own cookbook.

LAURA ROLON, Assistant Professor

DEPARTMENT: Food Science and Nutrition

AREA OF SPECIALTY: Food safety, food microbiomes, food microbiology, metagenomics, dairy processing

EDUCATION: Doctorate in food science and international agriculture and development from Penn State

HOMETOWN: Buenos Aires, Argentina

FUN FACT: This summer I fulfilled my lifelong travel dream of seeing Komodo Dragons in the wild. Already planning my next trip.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Visit Cultivate Fall 2024 to read more stories.