College of Arts and Sciences News

College or Arts and Sciences Adjunct Professor Henriette Cornet spoke with KTVU Fox 2 News about an SFMTA proposal to use some San Francisco parking lot rooftops as pickleball courts, noting that the idea "is new and refreshing", but more needs to be done to understand declining ridership.

According to his study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Asst. Professor Simon Scarpetta noted that iguanas traveled from North America to Fiji on rafts of vegetation over more than 5,000 miles. "You could imagine some kind of cyclone knocking over trees where there were a bunch of iguanas and maybe their eggs, and then they caught the ocean currents and rafted over."

Amina Essid ’27 remembers feeling a little confused on the first day of Engineering Project & Design II class as she arrived at Privett Plaza for an outdoor improv session with her classmates, all wearing rainbow sweatbands. The experience, though, helped her become more comfortable thinking on her feet.

In a powerful initiative, USF NSNA has spearheaded a donation drive to support families devastated by the recent fires in Los Angeles. 

For Dee Bustos ’25, the EMBA was more than academics — it was a journey of personal growth.

Maria Membrila, '23 shares her MPA journey.

A student's journey from environmental engineer to public administrator exemplifies the transformative power of education in shaping careers and communities.

Professor Alessandra Cassar's research, in collaboration with IDEC alumni Emeka Ugwu, on "Maternal Depression: A Catalyst for Cooperation?" was featured in the Human Behavior and Evolution Society journal. Their work explores the hypothesis that perinatal depression can encourage mothers to elicit support from others in times of need. Additionally, the study suggests that depression triggers increased support from close family members and others, supporting the bargaining hypothesis for maternal depression.

During the past five years, Dr. Katz’s professional journey led her to the Global Center for Gender Equality (GCfGE) where she served as the Research Director. In this role, she led research and provided technical assistance to support GCfGE's global health and agricultural development initiatives. Her work focused on integrating gender considerations into these fields and ensuring that new policies address the needs of both women and men.

Professor Jesse Anttila-Hughes' recent research explores the evolution of cooperation, a field rooted in physical and biological parallels to economic organization. His work applies complex evolutionary game theory, network science, and biology to understand the clustered nature of complex production. By utilizing techniques from these fields, he seeks to uncover the mechanisms that drive fundamental expansions in economic capacity.