CSUF robotics researcher wins $500,000 for assistive technology

Known for her work developing novel robotics technologies to assist people with neurological disorders, such as strokes and spinal cord injuries, mechanical engineer Nina Robson has received a $500,000 Early CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation.
Robson, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is the fifth CSUF faculty member to receive the prestigious grant, given to early-career faculty members who have the potential to serve as role models and lead advances in their field.
Robson’s faculty-student research projects include developing new design methods for multi-fingered robotic hands.
“The research will lead to creating robust mechanisms that increase industry’s ability to develop next-generation robotic systems, leading to improvements in health care, manufacturing and production, as well as augmenting technologies for the elderly and disabled,” said Robson, director of the university’s Human Interactive Robotics Lab.
Robson will involve undergrads and graduate students in the research, engage female high school students through a robotics-themed summer program, expand collaboration with UC labs and develop activities to help underrepresented community college students transfer to four-year universities to earn an engineering degree.
Student group plans, hosts regional PR conference
Public relations industry insiders from Taco Bell, Sony, Nederlander, Disney, Nike and the NFL are set to share tools of the trade April 6 and 7 at the “Next Generation PR” conference at Cal State Fullerton.
The campus Public Relations Student Society of America will host 300 students from universities throughout much of the West as well as local high school and community college students.
A nine-student team led by communications lecturer Ken Hagihara has spent a year preparing, planning and promoting the regional conference. The CSUF team was picked through a competitive application and interview process. Its bid included a budget, event and logistics plan, and publicity schedule.
The future public relations professionals organized 20 experts and alumni speakers on topics including social media, sports, entertainment, event planning, crisis communication, brand management, fashion, technology and the Academy Awards.
Andrew Vo is president of Cal State Fullerton’s PRSSA campus chapter, which will host a regional conference April 6-7. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Vo)
“This was a huge, hands-on experience,” said Andrew Vo, CSUF Regional Conference committee member and president of the PRSSA campus chapter. “We had to reach across the United States and parts of South America to tell members about the conference, and we’re reaching out to students on all digital platforms. Conference-planning isn’t really taught in a classroom, but that’s the growing field of public relations, and it’s always changing.”
The team will donate $1,000 from registration fees to Walls that Unite, a nonprofit run by CSUF art history lecturer Rose Adams that provides educational experiences in low-income communities in the United States and Mexico.
Graphic novel paper presented at visual culture symposium
Attendees of the Comics and Visual Culture 2018 symposium sign in at Cal State Northridge on March 10. (Photo by Dan Watson / SCNG)
CSUF teaching associate Nicole Vandever presented “Never Real Historians, Always Near Poets: Memory and the Dimensions of Architecture of the Graphic Novel” at the Comics and Visual Culture 2018 symposium at Cal State Northridge in March.
Student speakers shared research on topics including Batman, “Star Wars,” Japanese manga, depictions of gender and disability, memory, and the politics of comics about Iran and Puerto Rico.
Faculty contribute to issue of Women & Therapy
Cal State Fullerton faculty were contributors to a special issue of Women & Therapy.
Eliza Noh, left, and Phi Loan Le, were among the contributors to a scientific journal issue co-edited by Yuying Tsong, right. (Photo courtesy of Cal State Fullerton)
Eliza Noh and Phi Loan Le were among the contributors to an issue of the journal Women & Therapy co-edited by Yuying Tsong. Tsong, associate professor of human services, also co-authored the introduction, “Trauma and Well-Being Among Asian American Women,” and an article, “Asian American Women Sexual Assault Survivors’ Choice of Coping Strategies: The Role of Post-Assault Cognitive Responses.”
Noh, chair and professor of Asian-American studies, authored “Terror as Usual: The Role of the Model Minority Myth in Asian American Women’s Suicidality.” Le, psychologist and internship training director in Counseling and Psychological Services, wrote “Legacies of War: Asian American Women and War Trauma.”

Source: Oc Register