Issues and Science for California, Grade 6

Land, Water, and Human Interactions

Nathanael Wales
Wales is a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He plans projects to protect the shoreline from flooding and erosion, and to protect stream banks from erosion and collapse.

Rafael L. Bras
Bras is a civil engineer who studies rainfall and water runoff to predict flooding of rivers and coastal areas.

Aziza Amiri
Aziza manages sanitary sewer and roadway projects for the city of San Jose, California.

Alexa Ducioame
Alexa Ducioame is a project engineer in the water resources and floodplain management. Her career path was influenced by her family’s evacuation from their home during the 1997 Red River flood in North Dakota.

Clint Willson
Willson is a civil and environmental engineering professor who directs a project to study the Mississippi River in order to protect the river delta.

Energy

Carrie Armel
Dr. Carrie Armel investigates how understanding human behavior can lead to improvements in energy efficiency.

Noel Bakhtian
Dr. Bakhtian is director of the Center for Advanced Energy Studies and a member of the senior leadership team at the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.

Nora Wang
Dr. Wang is a Senior Engineer with the Pacific Northwest National Lab who studies how to use technology to make buildings more energy-efficient.

Weather and Climate

Inez Fung
Fung studies the interactions between climate change and biogeochemical cycles, and focuses on the processes that maintain and alter the composition of the atmosphere, and hence the climate.

Brenda Ekwurzel
Brenda Ekwurzel is a senior climate scientist and the at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She researches the influence of major carbon producers on rising global average temperatures and sea level.

Jessica Osuna
Jessica Osuna is an atmospheric and environmental scientist. She researches ways that changes of carbon dioxide, water, and energy from the Earth’s surface are modeled and measured, in order to improve climate models.

Body Systems

Edith A. Perez
Perez is a pioneering breast cancer researcher who has led numerous clinical trials for new breast cancer therapies which spurs the body’s own immune system to fight cancer cells. Her work bridges the Body Systems and From Cells to Organisms units.

Ben Barres
Ben Barres was a researcher of the role of glia, the most common type of brain cell, in development and disease. He was also a strong supporter for equal opportunity in science. His research bridges the Body Systems and From Cells to Organisms units.

Juleen R. Zierath
Zierath’s research focuses on cellular mechanisms of Type II diabetes. Her research bridges the Body Systems and From Cells to Organisms units.

Paula A. Johnson
Dr. Johnson is trained as a cardiologist and has conducted research on women’s health issues.

Cells to Organisms

Carolyn R. Bertozzi
Bertozzi uses an integrated approach to studying how cells communicate with each other through chemical reactions involving sugars. Her research bridges the Cells to Organisms unit and the Chemical Reactions unit.

Henrietta Lacks
The cells collected from Henrietta Lacks during a biopsy in 1951. These cells, named HeLa cells, are used by researchers in laboratories to study the effects of toxins, drugs, hormones and viruses on the growth of cancer cells. Her contribution to science and medicine bridges the Reproduction unit and the From Cells to Organisms unit.

Roger Arliner Young
Young was a zoologist and biologist and the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate in zoology. She studied the anatomy of paramecium and the effects of radiation on sea urchin cells.

Juleen R. Zierath
Zierath’s research focuses on cellular mechanisms of Type II diabetes. Her research bridges the Body Systems and From Cells to Organisms units.

Lydia Villa-Komaroff
Her research focuses on the use of recombinant DNA, and bridges the From Cells to Organisms and Reproduction unit. She is co-founder of SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicano and Native American Scientists).

David R. Burgess
David Burgess conducts research on how cells move and change shape.

Reproduction

Scott V. Edwards
Edwards studies the genetics and evolution of birds to study patterns of speciation and the process of adaptation. His work bridges the Reproduction and Evolution units.

Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin used x-ray crystallography to be the first person to determine the structure of DNA.

Ian Wilmut
Wilmut was famous for cloning a sheep named Dolly in 1996. Since then his focus had been on cloning stem cells which could be used in regenerative medicine.

Rick Kittles
Dr. Kittles conducts research on genetics, ancestry, cancer, and disease risk, including health disparities in African-American, Latino, and Native American populations.