CALPOLY Magazine

Sep 30, 2024 | magazine.calpoly.edu | Gabby Ferreira

Five days before the 2023 fall quarter started, environmental management and protection major Tyler Riley wrapped up his final shift of the summer with Santa Lucia Crew 7, a Type II firefighting handcrew based in the Los Padres National Forest. He and other crew members, many of whom were also Cal Poly students, wearily left the district office in Santa Maria to make the commute home. But as soon as he walked through the door of his San Luis Obispo apartment, his phone went off.

Sep 30, 2024 | magazine.calpoly.edu | Larry Pena

Chad Jackson has never shied away from an adventure. He’s been a Cal Poly student studying at the intersection of science and culture. He’s been a professional surfer and surfboard maker. He’s been an environmental consultant, a historian and a geologist. All those steps on his journey have led him to where he is today: a professional archaeologist working to protect California’s natural and cultural resources in the face of a changing environment and a developing world.

May 31, 2024 | magazine.calpoly.edu | Robyn Kontra Tanner

In the wee hours before the 2023 Rose Parade®, Collin Marfia was starting to panic. Cal Poly’s majestic float, “Road to Reclamation,” was decorated and in position to wow thousands of parade spectators and millions of broadcast viewers around the world. A key part of Marfia’s job as drive engine operator was to get the float started so it could begin its five-mile route through Pasadena. But the engines sat silent, unable to turn over.

Nov 7, 2023 | magazine.calpoly.edu | Gabby Ferreira

At the southern end of San Luis Obispo County, about a half-hourʼs drive from the rolling golden hills surrounding Cal Poly, lies a different world. Massive sand dunes — like something out of an adventure movie, many of which have been filmed there — rise from the earth, dotted with shrubs and other plants. Birds wheel overhead and recreational vehicles buzz over the landscape. For centuries, the Oceano Dunes have been special to a diverse spectrum of people.