College of Science and Engineering

Alum designs FDA-authorized app to treat fibromyalgia symptoms

Nelson Mitchell developed his design mind as a graduate student at SF State 

Learning to design furniture at San Francisco State University can lead to more careers than one may expect. For Nelson Mitchell, his master’s degree was the pathway to creating an innovative mobile app to treat fibromyalgia. 

Mitchell, a user-experience designer, is head of design and co-founder of Swing Therapeutics. Earlier this year the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) authorized its app, Stanza, to be marketed to treat symptoms of fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition that affects 10 million Americans. It is the first fibromyalgia digital therapeutic approved by the FDA. Available only by prescription, Stanza employs a form of cognitive behavioral therapy called acceptance and commitment therapy. It has proven effective in extensive randomized controlled trials and real-world studies, with 73% of patients demonstrating improvement in symptoms. 

Stanza provides patients with a customized schedule of treatment, incorporating practices such as mindfulness and self-reflection throughout their daily routine. “It’s the therapist in your pocket,” Mitchell said.  

Nelson Mitchell smiles while standing in front of a brick wall on a foggy day

Mitchell (M.A., ’10) entered San Francisco State as smartphones started to become a near necessity for daily life. Faculty and students already knew that enduring product design concepts would be key to success in the mobile software space. 

“I was designing chairs and lamps and stuff like that, but SF State’s program was really great at teaching me the design process and how to think like a designer — how to come up with a hypothesis, test, iterate and refine the idea,” Mitchell said. “I took that and applied it to software and interface design.” 

School of Design faculty such as Ricardo Gomes, Shirl Buss, Hsiao-Yun Chu and Nancy Noble gave Mitchell the tools and the freedom to explore his interests in depth. 

“I felt like I had a new kernel, a new framework,” he said. “SF State gave me the chance to build it — and really build it in a way that I understood it. It’s like the difference between owning a bike and having someone else fix it versus being able to take it apart and put it back together.” 

At his company, Mitchell is spreading the word about the Gator work ethic: “Nobody is going to work as hard for you as graduates from SF State,” he told his team. “These are people that we need to create opportunities for.” 

One of Swing Therapeutics’ first in-house software engineers, Mantasha Khan, joined the company after completing her Computer Science degree from SF State. Khan (B.S., ’21) has a passion for creating technology solutions for health. She notes that Lecturer Jose Ortiz-Costa’s “Introduction to Database Systems” course provided her with an invaluable foundation of skills. 

“I’ve been meaning to reach out to [Ortiz-Costa], just throw it out there, [to say that] you have helped me so much,’” said Khan, who attended SF State as an international student from India. “Everything you have taught has been helping me every single day in my work, so I’m very grateful.”  

Learn more about the SF State School of Design and Computer Science Department. 

Speakers share stories of personal transformation at Commencement

SF State ‘can be your rock,’ said Jayshree Ullal, president and CEO of cloud networking company Arista Networks, at the May 26 event

San Francisco State University celebrated the Class of 2023 at its annual Commencement ceremony Friday, May 26, at Oracle Park. More than 4,000 graduates and more than 31,000 people attended the event, which featured technology business leader Jayshree Ullal as keynote speaker. Ullal talked about the challenges she faced coming to the U.S. from her native India to attend San Francisco State in 1977. 

“While I was pursuing electrical engineering, I was only one or two of 100 female students in a class of 100,” said Ullal (B.S., ’81), who studied electrical engineering at SF State and went on to become president and CEO of cloud networking company Arista Networks. “This made cutting class difficult, as we were conspicuous by our absence!” 

Despite being a trailblazer in a then mostly male field — and a “very shy, quiet introvert” to boot — Ullal said her Engineering professors and fellow students were supportive.   

“This great San Francisco State institution shaped me and guided my future,” she said. “And it can be your rock just like it’s my foundational rock.” 

Two honorary California State University degrees were also conferred at Commencement: legendary Rolling Stone writer and editor, author, DJ and TV host Ben Fong-Torres (B.A., ’66) was honored with a Doctor of Fine Arts, while activist, filmmaker, author and psychotherapist Satsuki Ina received a Doctor of Humane Letters.  

“Actually I didn’t attend my Commencement. Hey, it was the Sixties. We forgot, man,” Fong-Torres joked to the crowd. “But I have never forgotten this university’s impact on me. … I got that [Rolling Stone] gig, I think, because of the freedom that we had to experiment with journalism here at SF State, and the lessons learned from that freedom.” 

During Ina’s speech, she encouraged the Class of 2023 to make the world a better place through empathy and action. 

“I urge you to bring with you something that has always been inside of you, even before college, and that is your compassion,” she said. “We need all that you bring, and more than ever in this world of conflict, violence, injustice and suffering, we need your compassion. We need you to care and love family and friends, of course, but also the stranger, the other, the foreigner. Reach out beyond your comfort zone, welcome the outsider. It is compassion that can mend the fractures, heal the wounds and bring us together.” 

Other speakers included SF State President Lynn Mahoney, Associated Students President Karina Zamora and Associated Students Chief of Staff Iese Esera. Two student hood recipients, among 12 graduates honored for their academic and personal achievements, also shared their stories. 

“I began my journey in higher education as a homeless first-generation college student with a baby on my hip and another in my belly. I did not have support, money, guidance or a place to call my own. But what I did have was a dream,” said undergraduate speaker Nicole Bañuelos. “I had a dream that I would earn my degree in Biology and go on to study medicine and save human lives. This dream carried me through my most trying times. I learned how to study through morning sickness and nausea, how to hold a textbook in one hand and a baby in another, how to hold my head up high when I felt like the world was looking down on me. But most of all I learned how to never give up in the face of adversity and that after every dark night there is a brighter day.” 

Graduate student speaker Hasti Jafari, who was born in Iran, reflected on the Iranian women’s movement and the important lessons the Class of 2023 can learn from the brave activists there. 

“As someone honored to have called both countries home, I encourage you to see their fight as your fight, as the basic rights of women, people of color and the LGBTQ+ and disabled communities are under threat in this country as well,” Jafari said. “And in this deeply interconnected world, none of us are free until all of us are free.” 

Learn more information about SF State’s 2023 Commencement. 

‘The Last of Us’ for amphibians: University researchers trace emergence of fungus threatening African amphibians

SF State professor, students describe how a deadly fungus began spreading among amphibians in Africa over the last 165 years

For the past few years, how a virus triggered a global pandemic has dominated conversations. Now, thanks to the TV show “The Last of Us” (about an apocalypse triggered by brain-eating ’shrooms), fungi have infected popular culture. The focus has been on pathogens that cause human disease, but what about those affecting nonhuman species? San Francisco State University scientists are among the many concerned about a fungus that has been detrimental for amphibians worldwide and is contributing to a loss of biodiversity.

In a new Frontiers in Conservation Science paper, San Francisco State researchers detail the relatively recent emergence and spread of a deadly fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or Bd) among amphibians in Africa. Eight of the co-authors are former SF State students who were in a seminar class led by senior investigator Vance Vredenburg, a University Biology professor.

“When [amphibian] skin starts to change thickness, it basically creates a condition where they can’t maintain their internal processes and they die,” said co-author Eliseo Parra (B.S., ’14; M.S., ’17) about how the fungus attacks. “If infecting a mammal, it might affect your fingernails or something you wouldn’t even notice, but amphibians (frogs, salamanders) use their skin to breathe. It’s a very critical part of their body.”

The fungus is lethal for many amphibian populations but not others, Vredenburg says. His lab wanted to understand where the fungus is, how it got there and why it’s deadly for some amphibians, particularly in Africa where it has been under-studied.

In 2016, Vredenburg’s class, eager to get involved in conservation research, read papers about Bd and evaluated previously published data. In parallel, Vredenburg’s lab, in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences, assessed the infection status of amphibian specimens from Africa. These two approaches gave the project nearly 17,000 records for analysis and a 165-year view of how this fungus interacts with amphibians across the continent.

The team reports low Bd prevalence and limited spread of the disease in Africa until 2000, when the prevalence increased from 3.2% to 18.7% and Bd became more widespread geographically. Vredenburg notes that not only is the fungus infecting amphibians but it is causing negative (often deadly) consequences versus being dormant.

The researchers also found two lineages of the fungus in Africa. One was a global lineage — considered the most dangerous version of the fungus — while the second was previously believed to be more benign, though the SF State team found evidence that it may also be destructive. Using their data, the team created a model that predicts that eastern, central and western Africa are the most vulnerable to Bd.

“We’re trying to extend our findings and make predictions about what could happen in the future. It’s the best way to make our study worth the work,” Vredenburg said.  “There are nearly 1,200 amphibian species in Africa. We wanted to say where are the riskiest places for outbreaks. Those will probably be the places where you have the most hosts in one place.”

“It’s very important to note that Bd didn’t spread worldwide without humans helping in one way or another,” added co-author Hasan Sulaeman (B.S., ’16; M.S., ’19). “It’s not the first pathogen that affects hundreds of species worldwide and it’s not going to be the last.”

The team points out that this project does not fit the traditional molds for science research papers or literature reviews. The fact that a scientific paper resulted from research done in a class is rare too, Vredenburg explains, attributing the feat to students’ talent and motivation.

Both Parra and Sulaeman participated in the project as students in the seminar class and as researchers in Vredenburg’s lab. They are among the students who continued to be involved for some part of the five years after the initial semester-long project. Through this experience, they gained valuable insight into the scientific publication process — something that is not trivial or quick — early in their careers.

Sulaeman is currently working on CDC-funded national SARS-CoV-2 studies, while Parra studies animal behavior in rainforests as a Ph.D. student at UCLA. Both alums recall the research environment that Vredenburg fostered that brought together undergraduate and graduate students with a variety of cultural and scientific backgrounds and levels of expertise. They both note the power in diversity and how it improves science.

“When you have a lot of really smart people in a room sitting at a table regularly, it is possible to do a lot. Maybe we didn’t understand that at the time or maybe this was a big lesson for us [students],” Parra said. “But Vance definitely knew that you could actually walk away from a class with an important piece of published research.”

Visit the Biology Department’s website to learn more about classes, research and more.

SFSU undergrad research sheds light on zombie bees

An in-class, on-campus student project explores the impact of a parasitic fly on honeybees

After a semester in a class, most students gain new knowledge, skills and maybe some new friends. For students in Assistant Professor Mitzy Porras’ Biology class, several undergraduates also walked away with a peer-reviewed research paper about zombie bees in a scientific journal — a major résumé boost for any student.

“Publishing a paper is kind of rare, especially as an undergraduate,” said Lioh Jaboeuf, first author of the paper published in the scientific journal Insects. On the first day of Porras’ undergraduate course “Bio 460: General Entomology” in fall 2024, Jaboeuf and some of his classmates chose to conduct a research project about the honeybees as their semester project. 

Honeybees play a critical role in urban ecosystems, pollinating the plants that support community gardens, street trees and backyard crops. However, they face many challenges, including parasitism by species like the parasitic fly Apocephalus borealis. The parasite lays its eggs inside a bee, and the larvae later force their way out, killing the bee. A 2012 SFSU study reported that before their untimely death, infected bees exhibit zombie-like behavior such as being disoriented, abandoning their hive and dying near sources of light. Porras’ class wanted to continue studying this parasite.

From September 2024 to May 2025, the SFSU team monitored honeybee populations at six different sites on the SFSU campus that included gardens with pollinators and herbaceous and woody plants, and near the science building where bees were previously collected. Parasitism rates fluctuated with the seasons — peaking in May when approximately 50% of bees were infected — and were closely linked to warmer temperatures and lower humidity.

“This study reinforces the need for long-term, seasonally informed monitoring of bee populations in urban areas. It serves as a powerful reminder that cities are dynamic ecosystems, and their resilience depends on how well we observe, understand and protect the species that keep them functioning,” Porras explained.

As a new professor at SFSU, Porras (who came to the University in fall 2024) prioritizes creating undergraduate classes that extend beyond standard curricula. 

“It’s critical to offer a research experience that allows students to have hands-on activities,” Porras emphasized. “While they’re learning concepts, they should have an opportunity to apply them and actually build their CV. That would be a plus for them when they go to the job market.”

Jaboeuf, an international student from France, participated in two internships before coming to SFSU but didn’t have experience with this level of data analysis, publishing or the process of responding to peer reviews via revisions. As an international student, doing scientific writing in English was an extra layer of learning that he appreciated. “The whole experience was very formative,” he said.

“To be involved from the start, carry out the project on your own terms and write a paper, revise it and do it as a group was a very good opportunity to understand how research works,” said Jaboeuf, who took Porras’ class during his semester at SFSU. “It was one of the best classes I took when I was in the U.S.”

Co-author Jenny Hoffmann (B.S., ’25), a transfer student, repeatedly heard that she needed research experience for her future as a biologist. Field research, however, can sometimes be difficult for students, especially if it’s in a remote location and coincides with other obligations. But Porras’ assignment circumvented this problem by keeping the field work close to home. 

“The project was done on campus, so it was very conveniently located,” said Hoffmann, who lived in the Towers at Centennial Square when the honeybees were being collected. “I could just go out and do the work in my community, which was so cool.” 

For Hoffmann, this project was part of her connection to the SFSU community, something she valued as a student and cherishes going forward.

“My favorite part of science is that it’s very collaborative and team-oriented,” she said. “I can’t wait to see where the next part of my journey takes me because I now have this SFSU community with me. I get to bring that to the next place I work, and I get to create community there. I’m so excited for that.”

Learn more about SFSU’s Department of Biology.

Gilead Innovation Initiative opens doors for SFSU student scientists

The new initiative provides stipends, lab support and opportunities for first-time and emerging researchers

Elmer Guzman didn’t always see himself as a researcher. A first-generation Chemistry senior at San Francisco State University, he wasn’t sure he belonged in a lab until this summer, when he became one of the first Gilead Innovation Initiative Scholars.

“It makes me feel proud of myself,” Guzman said. “Just seeing the recognition and knowing that there are opportunities trying to help students who are new to research makes me feel like there is a future to these things.”

Guzman is one of 30 student scientists who made up the first cohort of the Gilead Innovation Initiative at SFSU. The Gilead Foundation generously gifted $1.25 million in programmatic support to SFSU’s College of Science & Engineering (CoSE) via two awards during fundraising for the University’s new Science and Engineering Innovation Center (SEIC). In addition to supporting student research activities, the foundation also provided $3.75 million to outfit SEIC labs with state-of-the-art equipment and furnishings.

The Gilead Innovation Scholars — 11 undergraduate and 19 graduate students — were awarded $5,000 stipends to conduct research between June 1 and August 23. (Faculty members were also awarded a $1,000 honorarium for mentoring the scholars). Many of the student awardees were first-time researchers as well as students who had never received financial support for working in research labs. 

The Gilead award is unique in that it is inclusive of research activities throughout CoSE. It included at least one student from each of the eight CoSE departments and schools, supporting the training of astronomers, biologists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, geologists, mathematicians, physicists, psychologists and others. Projects ranged from molecular biology and ecology to nanoparticles, artificial intelligence, youth psychology and many other topics in science and engineering. 

Elmer working in chemical hood
Lilly holding and looking at a small bird
Gabriel adjusting a microscope

‘I’m moving in the right direction’

Guzman spent the summer in Associate Professor Jingjing Qiu’s lab, exploring chemistry and renewable energy. He is testing the stability of gold and nickel in electrodes for the electrochemical oxidation of benzyl alcohol. His work could one day help make industrial chemical processes more sustainable. But for him, the more immediate outcome was confidence. 

“I definitely see myself going down this route, trying to pursue higher education and keep doing research,” he said. He’s already presented his work on campus and is excited to continue this work and possibly attend an external scientific conference later this year.

As Guzman pushed the boundaries of renewable energy in the lab, Lilly Raphaelian was outdoors gathering clues about a new avian virus that could impact local bird ecology. As a second-year Cellular and Molecular Biology master’s student working with Biology Professor Ravinder Sehgal, she studies Russian Doll Virus (aka Matryoshka virus), a virus that infects a parasite that infect birds — hence the Russian doll moniker. The parasite is the number-one killer of birds and is widespread in warmer climates. 

Beyond wanting to understand how the virus is impacting the parasite, she is also optimizing an imaging technique (RNAscope) to detect the virus in blood smears. The technique is typically done with tissue samples, but her approach is safer for birds. 

There are a lot of unknowns and challenges, Raphaelian explains, but the experience has been rewarding. She considers this her first proper research experience — “[The Gilead award] is my first grant ever!” she added excitedly — and in just one year she’s written proposals and grants, learned research skills, created posters, given scientific presentations, taught students in and out of the classroom and collaborated with local and international scientists. 

Lilly teaching another student how to collect and prep samples

“It feels like I’m moving in the right direction,” Raphaelian said, noting she wants to become a professor. “I hope to achieve many more grants in my lifetime. It’s making me feel like I’m capable and I’m supposed to be here.”

‘There’s an astrophysicist that looks like me!’

 A Ph.D.-bound grad student like Raphaelian, Gabriel Munoz Zarazua was always fascinated by the mysteries of the universe. But he didn’t always think he could be an astrophysicist. Thanks to his own perseverance and support from mentors (and the Gilead Foundation), he’s now an SFSU astrophysicist collaborating with researchers all over the nation. 

Working with Physics and Astronomy Assistant Professor Eileen Gonzales, Munoz Zarazua is studying the formation of Ross 458 c, a brown dwarf planet that orbits a binary star system. Although they form like stars, brown dwarfs lack the mass to radiate starlight so they fall somewhere between a star and a giant planet. 

To better understand Ross 458 c, Munoz Zarazua is using data from the James Web Space Telescope (JWST) to examine the object’s atmosphere. It could offer new insights into how this brown dwarf formed and help define and compare brown dwarfs, planets and stars.

Munoz Zarazua is also part of a larger scientific collaboration with scientists from all over the country. He meets with the group every few weeks and has interacted with collaborators at scientific conferences. The experience has been invaluable because these collaborators may become future colleagues or mentors during his Ph.D. or later in his career.

Despite his passion for astronomy research, Munoz Zarazua was hesitant to commit to this path. Earlier in his career, he didn’t think he had the necessary math skills and was discouraged by the lack of scientists who looked like him. 

Gabriel Munoz Zarazua and Professor Eileen Gonzalez

“Now I’m starting to see more. I just got back from a conference in Washington, D.C., and we talked about that,” he explained. “It was so amazing to meet other people that look like me. I want to be that for other students, for the next generation. For them to look up and think, ‘There’s an astrophysicist that looks like me. If they can do it, I can do it too.’” 

Learn more about SFSU’s College of Science & Engineering.

SFSU offers full scholarships for first-of-its-kind PK-12 certificate in climate justice education

Students participate in the inaugural cohort for the Graduate Certificate in PK-12 Climate Justice Education program that started summer 2025.

The program trains PK-12 educators to teach climate change, justice-based solutions at all grade levels

SAN FRANCISCO – September 25, 2025 – San Francisco State University (SFSU), the premier public university that educates and equips students to thrive in a global society, is offering scholarships to fully cover the cost of attendance to pursue its Graduate Certificate in PK-12 Climate Justice Education. 

The certificate provides teachers from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade the skills and knowledge to effectively teach about climate change and climate justice, which focuses on the unequal impacts of climate change on marginalized and underserved populations as well as justice-based solutions to address those inequities. SFSU is the first major public university to offer a PK-12 certificate specifically focused on climate justice education — not just climate change.

“Young people are interested in climate change and doing something about it. However, they don’t know how to approach it or even that they have the agency to take climate action,” said Aritree Samanta, co-director of the Climate HQ campus hub that promotes and supports climate-related activities across the University. “Teachers are best positioned to work with young people. Training them is hugely important because they can channel students’ interests and passions to where they’d be most effective.” 

About the Graduate Certificate in PK-12 Climate Justice Education

This certificate meets the clear need for experienced PK-12 teachers to be trained in climate change education across the curriculum. Californians are experiencing the effects of climate change as wildfires, floods and droughts become more common. This reality has led to the passage of Assembly Bill 285, which requires PK-12 schools to teach climate change.

In addition, a North American Association for Environmental Education survey found that most teachers support teaching their students about climate change but many feel they don’t have the knowledge to teach the topic. “Our certificate helps change that,” said SFSU Professor of Elementary Education Stephanie Sisk-Hilton, who is also a co-lead for the certificate. “It provides the knowledge and a new way of teaching centered around hope and action.”

The certificate also supports educators across all grade levels. “Whether you’re teaching early childhood education or at a high school, or you’re teaching informal education outside the classroom, this certificate caters to all teachers regardless of where and what level they teach,” Sisk-Hilton said. “This allows participants to collaborate with other educators at similar grade levels to discuss and brainstorm how they can creatively bring climate justice education to the students they teach.”

Another important element of this certificate is its interdisciplinary approach, which is why four of the academic colleges at SFSU were involved in the development of the certificate: the Graduate College of Education, College of Ethnic Studies, College of Science & Engineering and College Professional & Global Education. This type of collaboration is needed because climate change is a multifaceted, complex issue that requires people from all backgrounds to work together — not just people from STEM fields.

Certificate and scholarship logistics

The certificate is a 12-unit, one-year program that starts during the summer semester and ends the subsequent spring semester. The program is primarily conducted remotely to accommodate full-time educators and their schedules, with select in-person days.

Scholarships that cover the full cost of attendance are available, with priority given to educators in the Bay Area. The scholarships are made possible by a gift from philanthropist and SFSU alumna Neda Nobari in support of the certificate.

Applications open Oct. 1 for the next cohort starting June 2026. Apply by March 1, 2026.

Learn more about the certificate, what you’ll learn and how to apply.

SFSU is first CSU campus to join IBM Quantum Network

IBM quantum resources open doors for hands-on learning and workforce readiness

San Francisco State University is the first California State University (CSU) campus to join the IBM Quantum Network, expanding opportunities for SFSU students and researchers to participate in quantum computing research and deepening classroom experiences. 

Student researchers working with Computer Science Professor Wes Bethel — who leads the Department of Computer Science’s quantum computing work — can gain access to IBM quantum computing systems through two key Department of Energy (DOE)-supported initiatives at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). ORNL and LBNL are IBM Quantum Innovation Centers within the IBM Quantum Network. By having access to the IBM Quantum Network, Bethel hopes to provide some of his engaged students a new pathway to delve deeper into this field.

In addition to working with students on DOE-supported research projects, Bethel also teaches “CSC 647/747: Introduction to Quantum Computing and Quantum Information Science” where he uses various freely available resources to introduce quantum computing. 

Former SFSU student and current LBNL computer systems engineer Chris Pestano (M.S., ’25) explained that he pursued a career in quantum computing because “within the next 10 to 15 years, you should be expecting a lot of major breakthroughs. I thought that’d be interesting to be a part of. That also provides a decent amount of job security.” 

Bethel hopes to help more students join the quantum computing pipeline.

“What we’re doing is workforce development for quantum computing,” Bethel said. “We need people who are capable and know what quantum computing is, how do you write codes for it, how is quantum computing different from classical computing, what are the challenges and software ideas.”

Having access to quantum computing resources through these DOE projects gives SFSU computer scientists, researchers and other students hands-on experience to contribute to the rapid progress to the nascent technology and emerging industy.

“The trick is you need access to real quantum computing hardware. These are not things you can buy off the shelf,” Bethel explained.

He was able to apply and receive access to the IBM Quantum Network due to a DOE grant he received last year that funds his quantum computing research. It is part of a multi-institutional grant led by Talita Perciano at LBNL, that includes Bethel at SFSU and researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and is sponsored by DOE’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research.

DOE facilitates agreements so supercomputing centers (ORNL’s Quantum Computing User Program and LBNL’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center’s Quantum Computing Application Network) have access to high-end IBM quantum hardware. To apply for access, researchers like Bethel must be DOE-funded.

Over the past few years, Bethel has led efforts in the Computer Science department to develop and expand their quantum computing offerings. He’s already had a few graduate students like Pestano who pursued quantum computing-related work or studies after graduation. 

“One of the things he pointed out was that quantum computing is at the stage that’s comparable to modern-day computers post-World War II. He essentially said you’d be going in at the [field’s] infancy.” Pestano said. This idea was exciting to him. 

When Pestano started at SFSU, he wasn’t settled on a specific computer science career path. After enjoying Bethel’s graduate-level high-performance computing class, Pestano signed up for his quantum computing class. This naturally led to doing a master’s thesis with Bethel, he explains, noting that this was his first formal research experience. The project allowed Pestano to collaborate with and impress LBNL researchers. He was offered a job to continue his quantum computing work at the national lab. 

“I think it’s not only important to have these connections but also have the proactivity and will to bring that for the students. I think that’s why I liked Dr. Bethel’s class so much,” Pestano added. “He was able to bring in speakers that are currently in industry or in research that he knows. One of the members on my current team actually stopped by as a speaker in the quantum class.”

Bethel previously worked at LBNL as a computer scientist and is still an LBNL research affiliate. His interest in quantum computing began long before he was at SFSU, so he’s determined to help develop SFSU’s footprint in this space and prepare more students like Pestano. 

“From a student perspective, the program we have at San Francisco State is an entry point to a whole universe of technology and jobs and opportunities that have not been present before,” he said.

Learn more about SFSU’s Department of Computer Science.

Gators Give Day raises more than $109K for students, programs and clubs

More than 640 SFSU supporters made donations during the University’s first-ever giving day 

Thanks to the generous support of the University’s alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends, SFSU’s inaugural Gators Give Day was a resounding success. More than 640 SFSU supporters united on April 2 and raised over $109,000 in just 24 hours. These gifts will immediately impact scholarships, academic programs, student organizations and essential University initiatives.

More than 60 groups consisting of colleges, schools, departments, student organizations and clubs participated in the event through their own online fundraising pages, in addition to the main University giving page. Every donation made on April 2 counted toward the Giving Day totals. 

Alumni made up the majority of those giving on Gators Give Day (26%), followed closely by SFSU staff and faculty (24%) and students (20%).

“This extraordinary day truly highlights the community spirit that defines SFSU,” said Jeff Jackanicz, vice president of University Advancement. “We are grateful to everyone who participated and helped us meet our goal of empowering student success. With so many alumni, faculty and staff, and student donors, it’s clear we are continuing to build a broad culture of community-driven philanthropy at SFSU.”

The College of Science & Engineering (CoSE) raised more than $10,000 from 59 donors, the most money raised by any individual college. CoSE plans to use the money to support its Student Project Showcase, an event that culminates in a year’s worth of faculty-guided research. Students present their research findings from at the spring event. 

“I am so grateful to the donors that provided support for our Student Project Showcase on Gators Give Day. This annual event highlights more than 200 research and senior projects across our entire college,” said College of Science & Engineering Dean Carmen Domingo. “Having the opportunity to put into practice what they have learned over the years at SFSU gives students a deep sense of pride and confidence that they have developed the skills and knowledge to launch a successful career in STEM.”

Ninety-six people donated to SFSU’s Men’s Rugby Club, the most for any campus organization raising more than $3,500.

Kiril Gupta, secretary and head of social media for the 45-member SFSU Men’s Rugby Club team, says he was especially pleased to see that the team received the highest number of student donors of any group. “When we brought the team back during the fall ’22 semester, our old officers always emphasized campus engagement and being a part of the school community,” he said. “Having a high number of donors shows to our team that we have done a great job of being a part of the school community, and we are grateful for students at SF State supporting us.” 

The team plans to spend the windfall on field rentals, new equipment, travel, medical supplies, new uniforms and more. 

If you missed Gators Give Day or still want to help, there’s always time to make a difference. Ongoing support ensures that SFSU will continue to deliver excellence and access to transformative education rooted in innovation and equity. Learn more about giving to support SFSU.  And look forward to next year’s Gators Give Day, when we’ll achieve even greater success for our campus community. 

Hackers designed ‘tech for good’ at this year’s SF Hacks

Projects tackled memory loss, data protection, mental health and more

After successfully reinstating San Francisco State University’s in-person hackathon last year, SF Hacks kept the momentum rolling by jumping into planning their 2025 event and making it bigger and better. 

On April 4 – 6, 300 hackers convened at SFSU’s Annex 1 for the annual SF Hacks hackathon. Participants came from all over the country, with over 80% coming from all over California and 30% returning from SF Hacks 2024. The attendee number jumps to 430 when considering volunteers, judges, mentors and more. The event almost hit the venue limit on the first day.

At its core, SF Hacks is a 48-hour hardware and software building competition, but that description doesn’t fairly encapsulate the event. It is really a community affair with mini events, panels, workshops, professional and social networking, fun activities like Bob Ross painting and tennis, complimentary food … and it’s a totally free event to boot.

“Of course, we have the innovation aspect that is with all hackathons. But something we feel is important and strongly about here at SFSU is our social activism,” said SF Hacks president Marco Garcia, a Computer Science sophomore, of this year’s “tech for good” theme. 

“With so many different ways to harness technology, it’s so important we have a guiding principle and that is to build for good,” said SF Hacks Director Ria Thakker during the opening ceremony, encouraging hackers to think more deeply about what it means to build for good. “What are your preferred use cases, whose perspectives you’re considering and how to utilize your knowledge to give back to your community."

One project that placed in several categories was a robot called Remi that helps people with memory loss. When Remi sees a familiar face, it recalls and shares details about that person to the user. An SFSU team won the Best AI Emerging Technology prize with their project Secure Sense. This project helps prevent information leaks by detecting and blocking or masking sensitive data when people use generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini. 

Although it can be daunting, it’s rewarding to push yourself on your own terms to see what you can do, explained SF Hacks Sponsorship Chair Keith Curry, a senior double majoring in Computer Science and Biology. “We take all these courses and learn all these skills. But a lot of times, the curriculum doesn’t test the extent of our ability. It just tests our ability to adhere to a curriculum."

However, students don’t need to be experienced coders, or even computer scientists, to participate. There are tools and mentors available to help beginners learn technical skills. This year, SF Hacks also highlighted the cross-disciplinary collaboration needed to build projects, said SF Hacks Vice President Ashley Ching, a Computer Science senior.

“We tried to get many people outside of technical roles, like product managers, researchers, UX designers and other roles more geared towards user experience or full vision,” she explained. “We aimed to get those people involved so people can learn from them.” 

More than 17 industry and academic sponsors supported this year’s event. SF Hacks 2025 was the first SF Hacks to secure a title sponsor and co-host OpenMind through the single largest contribution in SF Hacks history, the team explains. Some sponsors supported specific tracks: SFSU’s Lam Family College of Business sponsored the “best start-up pitch” track, rewarding the top team a $1,000 seed fund. In total, 32 judges awarded over $7,000 in prizes (monitors, air fryers, cash and more) across different challenge tracks and overall competition.

All of this — event logistics, finances, marketing, sponsorship and all other details — was organized by students. The core SF Hacks leadership includes over 40 students who collaborate with another 11 SFSU student organizations. 

“I’ve been here for two years. I was roped into it by my friend. Now I’m too deep into it and can’t quit,” laughed Thakker, a third-year Computer Science major. 

 “When you plan it, it’s very satisfying to see everything that you worked for and seeing the impact,” added SF Hacks Treasurer Kurt Balais, a Computer Science senior.

Learn more about SF Hacks events, this year's projects and the Department of Computer Science. 

Students tackle drug resistance by teaching machine learning

SFSU researchers have published a step-by-step tutorial for applying machine learning to drug resistance

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing health crisis that could lead to millions of deaths by 2050, according to the World Health Organization. Antibiotics are critical for human health, but many microbes are evolving resistance to one or more drugs. San Francisco State University researchers are among those using machine learning to predict drug resistance in patients. And they’re trying to remedy a related problem, too: the lack of resources that teach how to use machine learning to detect antibiotic resistance. 

In a new paper in PLOS Computational Biology, the SFSU team published a step-by-step machine learning tutorial for beginners. Other than Biology Professor Pleuni Pennings, the remaining seven researchers on the paper were undergraduate, graduate students and post-baccalaureate students; many were first-time researchers, and nearly all were new to machine learning. 

“We wanted to do a tutorial paper instead [of a research paper] because we thought it was more important to put out a teachable resource. We struggled to find one, so we wanted to make our own,” said co-first author Faye Orcales (B.S., ’21), who worked on the project as a post-bac.

As beginners from a variety of backgrounds, the team made sure the paper would be accessible to their student peers and educators in biology and chemistry as well as anyone in health sciences. Though the lesson is beginner friendly, the authors recommend having introductory coding knowledge, something that is beyond the scope of this paper. 

“Because it’s in a peer-reviewed journal, it makes it feel real because other scientists — not just your professor or friends — reviewed the article. The peer review process was crucial because it gives other perspectives,” said co-first author Lucy Moctezuma, a Statistics graduate student at CSU East Bay who has a background in psychology. She joined Pennings’ SFSU lab through a friend and was part of the lab for nearly three years. She and Orcales led the effort to write the manuscript and address any feedback. “We were a bunch of students trying to figure it out and we were able to! I think that we should all be proud of that,” Moctezuma said.

Using a previously published data set — comprised of 1,936 E. coli strains from patients that were tested against 12 antibiotics — the students developed a step-by-step tutorial for four different popular machine-learning models to predict drug resistance to E. coli. To improve accessibility, they used Google Colab, a free, cloud-based platform to write and run Python codes — which means users don’t have to install software to follow the tutorial. The SFSU team provided six free Google Colab “notebooks” with tutorials: one for each of the four models (logistic regression, random forests, extreme gradient-boosted trees and neural networks) plus two for data preparation and result visualization. 

Eight SFSU students and Professor Pleuni Pennings wearing CODE lab sweatshirts

Left to right: Students MaryGracy Antony, Faye Orcales, Lucy Moctezuma, John Matthew Suntay, Florentine van Nouhuijs, Meris Johnson-Hagler, Jameel Ali, Kristiene Recto and Professor Pleuni Pennings (sitting). Photo courtesy of Faye Orcales.

“The students may not realize that it’s sort of bold [to submit this paper to PLOS]. It just shows that we do very high-quality work,” said Pennings, adding that the students really took ownership over the writing and pushing the manuscript forward.

Collaborating with faculty in Biology, Computer Science and Chemistry & Biochemistry, Pennings is the director or co-director for the undergraduate Promoting Inclusivity in Computing (PINC) program, graduate complement Graduate Opportunities to Learn Data Science (GOLD) and Science Coding Immersion Program (SCIP), an all-virtual, self-paced coding program for students, staff and faculty. All the student researchers initially learned coding and/or machine learning from one of these programs and then continued to develop their skills via longer-term research experiences. 

“One of my motivations to making all of these materials is because I’m teaching these classes and I wish there was a book about machine learning for health or biology. Something that is doable, fun and relevant. Something that’s intuitive, practical and discusses the ethical side,” said Pennings, noting that she’s already using this published tutorial in her classes.

“When I joined the PINC program, I could see that the instructors were motivated to teach coding in a very accessible way to Biology students. I felt really comfortable in the program because my peers were fellow biologists eager to learn,” said Orcales, now a computational scientist at UCSF applying to Ph.D. programs. She hopes this new tutorial will help introduce more of her peers into the machine-learning space. “I hope our readers take away that machine learning isn’t this daunting difficult thing to learn when you have the right resources.”

Visit SFSU’s Department of Biology to learn more about student opportunities like Promoting Inclusivity in Computing (PINC), Graduate Opportunities to Learn Data Science (GOLD) and Science Coding Immersion Program (SCIP).

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