Former Middle College Student Now Working in Design

Landing a job as a graphic designer takes hard work, determination, and creativity, lessons Sarah Wiener learned as a Cañada College student.

Wiener recently landed a design job at Triple Tree, a San Francisco company specializing in socially and environmentally friendly custom-branded merchandise. The company started making products for schools and sports teams in 2010 and has now grown to serve other sustainable-minded businesses.

Wiener said her official job title is project manager/graphic designer but, in practice, this means she wears many different hats. “I assemble presentations for clients to give them ideas for potential products, write invoices for clients and purchase orders for vendors, and help clients optimize existing artwork for printing,” she said.

She said students in creative fields such as graphic design need to learn how to follow guidelines and manage their time, two skills emphasized in the Cañada College Multimedia Art & Technology Program. “To make art for a living, you can’t simply wait until you’re inspired to get it done – your deadline may be long past by then and you definitely won’t get paid. Similarly, your art director won’t be pleased if you’re in a blue period but they asked you for red, or if you like circles better than squares. Instructors at Cañada make sure you’re as prepared as possible to be a professional by setting students up for success.”

Paul Naas, Professor and Program Coordinator for the Multimedia Art and Technology Program at Cañada, said Wiener was the type of student professors love to have in class.

“She was focused, driven, determined to learn all she could, using the critique and feedback she received to improve the quality of her work,” he said. “She took full advantage of the opportunities the department offers, both in the classes she took, the chance to help other students as a lab assistant, and the advice and suggestions of the faculty. We’re sorry to see her go, but thrilled that she’s landed a job that fits here skills so well.”

Wiener began attending Cañada as a middle college student and graduated with her high school diploma in 2005. She came back to the school to earn credits to transfer to UC Berkeley, where she graduated in 2009. She earned a second degree at the Academy of Art in 2012 but has returned to Cañada to take some continuing education classes to learn new skills.

She said students need to make the most of the resources Cañada provides. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions and don’t be afraid to make mistakes,” she said. “Cañada’s instructors can help you transfer, teach you new skills, or simply give you good advice that you can use in your profession.”

Cañada College Launches a Digital Marketing Campaign in Mexico

Cañada College has launched a digital marketing campaign in Mexico to attract qualified applications from prospective students. The campaign includes a Spanish-language landing page, banner ads, and a white paper called “How to get into top U.S. universities.”

The digital campaign aims to educate prospective Mexican students on the benefits of starting their higher education in the U.S. at a community college. Students can earn an associate degree within two to three years for as little as $20,000 and transfer to top four-year universities in the U.S. Cañada College has transfer agreement guarantees with universities within the California State University (CSU) system, University of California (UC) system, and select private universities including Notre Dame de Namur and Golden Gate University. The campaign also features former Cañada students who have transferred and graduated from four-year universities including UC Berkeley.

Cañada College is recognized for its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Center, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. Professor Amelito Enriquez received the Presidential Award for Excellence in in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring by President Barack Obama in 2011. Cañada’s Math Jam Program, an intensive math placement preparation and campus-wide success program, was recently named America’s top community college program for increasing achievement for Latino students.

Cañada College is located in Redwood City at the edge of Silicon Valley between San Jose and San Francisco. Its location provides students with internship opportunities in high-tech companies. The college has state-of-the-art computer and science labs. The Library and Learning Center provide academic support services such as free one-on-one tutoring and more than 5,000 books and journals both onsite and online. Cañada’s smaller community of less than 7,000 students provides a friendly, student-centered, learning environment.

STEM Speaker Series: Polina Segalova

Polina Segalova, a senior design engineer at Stryker Endoscopy, will be featured at the STEM Speaker Series lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 26. The lecture will be held from 5 to 6 pm in Building 6, Room 102. It is free and open to the public.

Segalova's lecture is titled "From Particle Physics to Medical Devices: A Story of Taking Risks and Pushing Boundaries."

Segalova earned a Ph.D in mechanical engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford. Her research focused on medical devices for the cardiovascular system. The title of her dissertation was "Evaluating Design and Safety of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Endografts."

Segalova said a lot of her work was computational - solving fluid dynamic problems. She also built systems to validate the model results she was getting.

Segalova currently designs tools for Stryker Endoscopy to facilitate minimally invasive surgery. She is passionate about medical devices and has consulted for numerous medical device startups in the Bay Area.

Held in both the fall and spring semesters, the STEM Speaker Series features professionals from various science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields who discuss their careers, research, and educational paths. The speakers also provide academic and career advice to current and future college students.

San Francisco Leader Emilio Cruz to Lecture at STEM Speaker Series

Emilio Cruz, former Chief of Staff to San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and current Assistant General Manager for Infrastructure at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, will be the next speaker in the STEM Speaker Series at Cañada College.

Cruz will discuss, “Opportunities in Capital Project Implementation”. His talk is free and open to the public. It will be held from 5 to 6 pm in Building 6, Room 102 on the Cañada campus, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., Redwood City.

Cruz oversees the SFPUC’s $9.8 billion capital program for the water, power, and sewer enterprises. He has held various public and private sector positions including Director of Facilities and Operations for the Port of San Francisco; General Manager of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency; Vice President of URS Corporation; Director of Economic Development for the City and County of San Francisco; Vice President and Partner of EPC Consultants; and Program Manager for the $1.5 billion Central Subway Program and Program Manager for the $4.2 billion Transbay Terminal Program.

He is a graduate of Stanford University, with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. He has led numerous boards, including the San Francisco Board of Education, and San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR), for which he served as President and Vice President, respectively.

Held in both the fall and spring semesters, the STEM Speaker Series features professionals from various science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields talking about their careers, research, and educational paths, as well as providing advice for current and future college students.

STEM Speaker Series Features Stanford Grad Student

How does the bacterium Helicobacter pylori survive and persist in the stomach? Julie Huang, a fourth year graduate student in Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford, will share her findings in the second lecture of the popular Cañada College STEM Speaker Series.

Held in both the fall and spring semesters, the STEM Speaker Series features professionals from various science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields talking about their careers, research, and educational paths, as well as providing advice for current and future college students. The event is free and open to the public.

Cathy Lipe, Director of Cañada's Math, Engineering, & Science Achievement Program, said Huang was one of the most interesting presenters at the fall STEM Research Poster Expo. "She is going to be of particular interest to biology students and students interested in careers in medicine," Lipe said.

Huang grew up in East Los Angeles and is a first generation college student. She attended the California Institute of Technology where she received a Bachelor of Science in Geobiology. After Caltech, Huang received a Fulbright Fellowship to spend a year doing research at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany. Her passion for scientific research motivated her to pursue a PhD in microbiology. Her research investigates how the bacterium Helicobacter pylori survives and persists in the stomach. 

H. pylori is a spiral-shaped bacterium commonly found in the stomach. The bacteria's shape and the way they move allow them to penetrate the stomach's protective mucous lining, where they produce substances that weaken the lining and make the stomach more susceptible to damage from gastric acids.The bacteria can also attach to cells of the stomach, causing stomach inflammation, and can stimulate the production of excess stomach acid. Over time, infection with the bacteria can also increase the risk of stomach cancer.

Although it is not known how H. pylori infection is spread, scientists believe it may be contracted through food and water. According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 20 percent of people under 40 years old and half of adults over 60 years old in the U.S. are infected, with higher rates in developing countries.

Cañada College, College of San Mateo and Skyline College Accreditation Fully Reaffirmed.

All three Colleges in the San Mateo County Community College District (Cañada College, College of San Mateo and Skyline College) were notified Friday (February 7) that their accreditation has been fully reaffirmed  by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).

Each college has recommendations that require responses in its Midterm Report due in 2015/16.  In most cases, this is work that the colleges already have underway.

For more details specific to the ACCJC reaffirmation please reference the ACCJC website.