Lisa (Tolman) von Biela ’80

Lisa Marie (Tolman) von Biela ’80 graduated with a BS in Biology. She is thrilled to announce that her novel Blockbuster, was released this week on January 6, 2015! Blockbuster is her fourth book so far and is a BigPharma medical thriller.  She has been reviewed as the “Queen of the Medical Thriller.”

David Kay ’79

David Kay ’79 graduated with a BS in Biology followed by a Master’s in biology in 1982 from Cal State University, Northridge.  He then received a Doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering from UCLA, in 1988. Since 1999, David has managed the environmental mitigation projects required by the California Coastal Commission for Edison’s San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.  These projects include restoration of 150 acres of degraded wetlands at San Dieguito Lagoon near Del Mar, construction of a 150-acre artificial kelp reef offshore from San Clemente, and funding for the Hubbs-Sea World fish hatchery in Carlsbad. Today, David also manages a group of over sixty environmental specialists, project managers and engineers responsible for environmental siting, licensing and construction compliance of all SCE generation and transmission projects.  Edison expects to spend nearly $5 billion in 2014 constructing new transmission line infrastructure, all of which requires advance environmental planning, permitting and construction oversight.

 

 

Sonja Smith ’10

Sonja Smith ’10 is a PhD student at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, FL studying the ecological role of marine wrack under Dr. Jim Fourqurean.  She will soon be participating in a soft-sediment LTER working group – a collaboration of researchers at different long-term ecological research (LTER) sites across the country – and will be representing the Florida Coastal Everglades site (FCE-LTER).

Susanne Marczak ’08

Susanne MarczakSusanne Marczak ’08 is in her second year as a Research Technician at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, Applied Animal Ecology Division, where she participates in a variety of research projects and assists with the administration of the Cocha Cashu Biological Station in the Peruvian Amazon. Her primary research focus concerns a local western burrowing owl habitat restoration program utilizing California ground squirrels as ecosystem engineers to help restore and maintain grassland environments that serve as habitat for burrowing owls.

Elizabeth (Hernandez) Caluag ’00

Elizabeth (Hernandez) Caluag ’00 is currently the Laboratory Manager for Biological Sciences and Chemistry programs at Coastline Community College. In this capacity, Elizabeth oversees daily laboratory operations, health and safety compliance, serves as a mentor for the department’s work-based learning program and designs/evaluates instructional materials. Elizabeth is also a lecturer for General Microbiology and has recently had a submission published in ASM’s Microbe Library (“Slide Catalase Test of Proteus vulgaris.”)

Won-Tak Choi ’99

Won-Tak Choi ’99 is currently a resident physician for the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington in Seattle.  Dr. Choi completed an MD/PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009 and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship with The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California in 2011.