 Civil Rights Office Offering Enhanced Reporting ToolsCal State San Marcos' Title IX/DHR office is enhancing how cases of discrimination, harassment and retaliation are managed. While your role in supporting students and colleagues remains unchanged, these improvements mean a better experience for those who seek help. What You Need to Know Students and employees can continue to report concerns in the same way. Confidentiality and support remain the office's top priorities. Reports that you refer will be handled faster and more consistently. The office can provide clearer updates and resources throughout the process. Why This Matters Case handling will be more efficient and less burdensome for staff. Compliance and reporting are strengthened with automated workflows. Secure sharing improves collaboration across the right stakeholders. Real-time insights help resolve cases more quickly. Reporting channels remain the same. If a student or colleague seeks guidance, please continue to refer them to https://www.csusm.edu/title9/. Civil Rights Office Offering Enhanced Reporting ToolsCal State San Marcos' Title IX/DHR office is enhancing how cases of discrimination, harassment and retaliation are managed. While your role in supporting students and colleagues remains unchanged, these improvements mean a better experience for those who seek help. What You Need to Know Students and employees can continue to report concerns in the same way. Confidentiality and support remain the office's top priorities. Reports that you refer will be handled faster and more consistently. The office can provide clearer updates and resources throughout the process. Why This Matters Case handling will be more efficient and less burdensome for staff. Compliance and reporting are strengthened with automated workflows. Secure sharing improves collaboration across the right stakeholders. Real-time insights help resolve cases more quickly. Reporting channels remain the same. If a student or colleague seeks guidance, please continue to refer them to https://www.csusm.edu/title9/.
 Civil Rights Office Offering Enhanced Reporting ToolsWe are enhancing how our civil rights office manages reports of discrimination, harassment or retaliation. While the way you submit a report will remain the same, our team now will have better tools to support you. What This Means for You Faster response times – cases will move more quickly through the process. Consistency across CSU – you’ll receive the same high-quality support no matter your campus. Confidentiality and trust – reports are handled securely and with care. Clearer communication – our office can keep you better informed about resources and next steps. Your voice matters, and we want to ensure that you feel supported throughout the process. To learn more about reporting and resources, visit https://www.csusm.edu/title9/. Civil Rights Office Offering Enhanced Reporting ToolsWe are enhancing how our civil rights office manages reports of discrimination, harassment or retaliation. While the way you submit a report will remain the same, our team now will have better tools to support you. What This Means for You Faster response times – cases will move more quickly through the process. Consistency across CSU – you’ll receive the same high-quality support no matter your campus. Confidentiality and trust – reports are handled securely and with care. Clearer communication – our office can keep you better informed about resources and next steps. Your voice matters, and we want to ensure that you feel supported throughout the process. To learn more about reporting and resources, visit https://www.csusm.edu/title9/.
- Civil Rights Office Offering Enhanced Reporting ToolsCal State San Marcos' Title IX/DHR office is enhancing how cases of discrimination, harassment and retaliation are managed. While your role in supporting students and colleagues remains unchanged, these improvements mean a better experience for those who seek help. What You Need to Know Students and employees can continue to report concerns in the same way. Confidentiality and support remain the office's top priorities. Reports that you refer will be handled faster and more consistently. The office can provide clearer updates and resources throughout the process. Why This Matters Case handling will be more efficient and less burdensome for staff. Compliance and reporting are strengthened with automated workflows. Secure sharing improves collaboration across the right stakeholders. Real-time insights help resolve cases more quickly. Reporting channels remain the same. If a student or colleague seeks guidance, please continue to refer them to https://www.csusm.edu/title9/. 
- Civil Rights Office Offering Enhanced Reporting ToolsWe are enhancing how our civil rights office manages reports of discrimination, harassment or retaliation. While the way you submit a report will remain the same, our team now will have better tools to support you. What This Means for You Faster response times – cases will move more quickly through the process. Consistency across CSU – you’ll receive the same high-quality support no matter your campus. Confidentiality and trust – reports are handled securely and with care. Clearer communication – our office can keep you better informed about resources and next steps. Your voice matters, and we want to ensure that you feel supported throughout the process. To learn more about reporting and resources, visit https://www.csusm.edu/title9/. 
- Biology Professor Researching Breast CancerCarlos Luna Lopez’s typical day in the lab looks a little different from others. Dark, cool and full of machinery like 3D bio printers, the lab is home to petri dishes full of cancerous cells. Inspired by one of his students, his lab cohort is studying breast cancer. “Being in Dr. Luna’s lab has been such a great experience. He’s not only an amazing PI, but also a really great mentor,” said Oscar Loyola Torres, a molecular and cellular biology student. Luna, a biology professor at Cal State San Marcos, received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Universidad de Sonora in Mexico and a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Maryland. He decided to pursue postdoctoral research closer to his parents, who live in Mexico, which brought him to UC San Diego. Luna always knew he wanted to pursue a career in the STEM field, as his father is a mechanical engineer and his mother a nurse. During his Ph.D. studies, he joined the Summer Program in Neuroscience, Excellence and Success (SPINES), where he met a former CSUSM biology professor who further inspired his move to San Diego and his pursuit of a job at CSUSM. Luna believes that finding a good balance between research and teaching is important. He explained that one of his biophysics professors would play soccer with his students and invite them to important seminars, creating a meaningful relationship with the students beyond just research. So when he was told of the community between faculty and students at CSUSM, it felt like the right choice to apply. Luna has taught upper-division cellular and molecular biotechnology classes as well as biostatistics and bioengineering classes at CSUSM since 2017. He also occasionally teaches advanced molecular seminars, and currently he and his lab students are studying the effects of fat cells on breast cancer growth. The tests examine how lipid metabolism is driving parts of cancer growth. Lipid metabolism is the process of creating or breaking down lipids (fats) to help with energy storage, structural cell membrane support and cell signaling. Since breast tissue is full of lipids, it creates the perfect environment for cancer cells to thrive, utilizing these functions to their advantage. Luna and his students monitor the interactions between cancer cells and two different types of fat cells, white and brown adipocytes. These cells work to store energy, produce hormones and regulate body temperature, all basic functions crucial to the success of the human body. Utilizing his background in engineering, Luna and his students built a device that creates spheroids, 3D circular clusters of cells. The spheroid is made of biomaterials replicating human tissue, allowing the students to get the most accurate results from their cancer research. “There are so many things I get to learn from him and the lab that are helping me grow as both a student and a future physician,” Loyola Torres said. Luna said this is only a portion of what their research encapsulates. Every time a new discovery is made, it opens a door for further questioning, and the research continues. “When you have something in your mind and you get the chance and the resources to be able to put that into the world, it’s so exciting,” Luna said. Luna loves watching his students grow and be creative, as it reminds him of when he was a kid. Not only can he exercise his own creativity, but he gets to bring his students along for the journey. With him having watched some of them grow from first years to graduating Ph.D. students, the relationship Lopez has been able to create with his students makes his job all the more rewarding. Media Contact Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314 
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