COMMuNiTY
NOvEMBER 11, 2011
SigNAL TRiBuNE
5
SH Petroleum donates $250,000 to CSuLB’s environmental geochemistry lab Signal Hill Petroleum recently donated $250,000 to California State University Long Beach for the environmental geochemistry laboratory within the newly built science hall. The grant supports the purchase of new, state-of-the-art equipment that has never before been offered to students by the university. It also covers equipment maintenance, supplies, and student research for the facility, named the Signal Hill Petroleum Environmental Geochemistry Lab, which has already opened to students. “We are proud to be a supporter of this university and investing in our community,” said Debra Russell, director of Business Development and Community Relations at Signal Hill Petroleum. According to Dr. Matt Becker, professor and Conrey Endowed
chair of Hydrogeology at CSULB, the new instruments include a spectrofluorometer, which has recently been used by students to measure chemical diffusion into bedrock, an ion chromatograph, considered to be “the workhorse of environmental water chemistry labs,” as well as other instruments used for low-temperature geochemical analyses. The cost alone for the ion chromatograph is upwards of $100,000, according to Becker. “The laboratory will be a shared space where both undergraduate and graduate students can analyze water and geologic samples with state-of-the-art equipment,” Becker said. “The gift will also provide funding for supplies and travel for students conducting research.” The lab comprises two rooms for a combined 604 square feet that
can accommodate up to six students at one time. Geology is not only important to the mineral and fossil fuel industries, like crude oil, iron and aluminum, but to understanding how the Earth impacts our infrastructure, and there are jobs available in this field, according to Signal Hill Petroleum. The number of geoscience jobs is expected to increase by 22 percent by 2016, more than double the projected growth rate for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of students graduating with degrees in sciencerelated fields has grown significantly over the past decade, according to CSULB President F. King Alexander. Last year, CSULB awarded 3,100 science-based degrees.
Courtesy SHP
Signal Hill Petroleum staff from left: Luke Jensen, Devon Shay, Jackie Chavez, Amanda Barto, with CSULB Professor and Department Chair of Geological Sciences Dr. Robert Francis, David Slater, and Debra Russell.
Local matriarch, champion of the underdog, and LB ambassador to celebrate her 100th birthday When the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association (BKBIA) has its next community happy hour on Thursday at Roy Robbins Gifts and Stationery, the guest of honor will be Robbins’s mother, Thelma, who will be celebrating her 100th birthday. Thelma Robbins was born on Nov. 16, 1911, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, but she moved to California when she was young. She has been a
Courtesy BKBIA
resident of Long Beach for 70-plus years– the last 62 of them in Bixby Knolls. While head cashier at Desmond’s Department Store in downtown Long Beach, she volunteered for the Red Cross, driving a supply truck during blackouts in World War II. After her husband passed away in 1952, and with a new baby to raise, she went to work for Mottell’s and Peek Mortuary as the garden room hostess. Her love for Long Beach was later on display when she again volunteered her time greeting arriving visitors from overseas at the Port of Long Beach. While most of the tourists wanted to go to Disneyland and Hollywood, Thelma would encourage them also to spend time in Long Beach and offered to take them on tours of the city she loved. As an ambassador for Long Beach, she displayed an enthusiasm that got her hired by the port to continue what she was doing, which meant she was present for the arrival of the Queen Mary. Thelma also championed the gay and lesbian community by starting Long Beach’s first chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). As one of the founding members of Long Beach Lambda
Democratic Club, she traveled to Sacramento to lobby state and local politicians. At the first Human Rights banquet on the Queen Mary, she was honored with the outstanding parent award. After suffering a stroke at 95 and being diagnosed with dementia, she remains what BKBIA Executive Director Blair Cohn describes as “a powerhouse of joy and laughter.” Cohn said, “When asked her age, her reply is always ‘old enough to know better and young enough to try.’” Cohn also said that Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster called Thelma “a pistol” recently, after meeting her for the first time. Thelma will be honored by Foster and the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 15 and at her son’s store, Roy Robbins Gifts and Stationery, 4244 Atlantic Ave., during the community happy hour on Thursday, Nov. 17, from 5:30pm to 7pm.
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Thelma Robbins with Mayor Bob Foster
To Kill a Mockingbird
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dnt txt n drv A REMINDER FROM THE SIGNAL TRIBUNE
Long Beach Repertory Theatre and LB Playhouse presents:
Talking With… written by Jane Martin, and directed by Fred Ponzlov
Ten women talk about life and personal ordeals. Touching, often intensely emotional, and sometimes very comical, each one presents an underlying depth that gives a sensitive insight into each of the characters involved. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door 562-494-1014, opt. 1 - www.lbplayhouse.org
5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach