Skip to Main Content
Chico State

Legacy of Leaders: College of Natural Sciences

Big Chico Creek flowing through campus
Jason Halley/University Photogra

After a weekend storm brought heavy rain, water flows in the Big Chico Creek through campus near Holt Hall on Monday, February 9, 2015 in Chico, Calif. (Jason Halley/University Photographer)

By Quinn Western, social media and photography intern

In honor of Founders Week, an outstanding student and alum from each college are rewarded for their success, excellence and leadership. The blog will feature a different college each day during Founders Week, April 4–13, 2014.

Today’s featured College of Natural Sciences honorees show that when you are following your passion, nearly anything is possible.

Alumnus: Craig Lindsley

Since his graduation from Chico State in chemistry in 1992, Craig Lindsley has gone on to hold 35 patents, become a renowned professor and researcher, and publish more than 300 manuscripts.CraigLindsley

Lindsley received his PhD at UC Santa Cruz and did his postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.

Before becoming a professor of pharmacology and chemistry at Vanderbilt in 2006, Lindsley worked at Eli Lilly & Co. and Merck & Co. pioneering research on allosteric modulation.

Lindsley is now director of Medicinal Chemistry for the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery.

He is also the founding editor-in-chief of ACS Chemical Neuroscience, a peer-reviewed scientific journal since 2010.

Lindsley has received numerous awards including

  • American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)-Astellas Award
  • American Chemical Society Philip S. Portoghese Medicinal Chemistry Lectureship Award
  • John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology from ASPET

 

Student: Crystal Vasquez

Working toward a degree is hard enough. Try getting a degree while being a part of research projects, being a founding club president, and raising six children.CrystalVasquez

Crystal Vasquez is the founding president of the Embodied club. The club embraces Health At Every Size, stressing the importance of nutrition and exercise.

One of her proudest accomplishments while at Chico State is the work the club has done and the success of Love Every Body Week.

“I have received a lot of feedback that these messages are helping many young women on a personal level with their self-esteem and body-image issues,” Vasquez said.

She plans to earn her master’s degree at Chico State in nutrition and then go on to complete a dietetic internship.

“I am also considering a PhD in psychology and possibly teaching at the university level,” she said.

Vasquez hopes to return to Chico State as a teacher.