Personal and Professional News — Jeff Sklar
Professional
This past year, my research assistant Logan Lossing and I were busy working on an Extramural Funding Initiative project that investigated the impact of changing major on persistence and graduation of Cal Poly students. We used discrete-time survival models focused on students who persisted in their original major, switched to a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) major, and those who switched to a non-STEM major. The relationship between hazard (or risk) of graduation and major switching behavior depended on several factors including student’s matriculating college, the year that the switch occurred and the student's gender.
One particularly interesting finding was that after adjusting for various background student and institutional characteristics, students originally enrolled in a "science" college (College of Architecture and Environmental Design, College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, College of Engineering or College of Science and Mathematics) who switched their major to a non-STEM field tended to increase their hazard (risk) of graduating, while students originally enrolled in the College of Business or College of Liberal Arts who switched their major to a STEM or non-STEM field tended to decrease their risk of graduating. I am currently working on a manuscript over the summer that will present the findings from the investigation.
Personal
There were big changes to the Sklar household as a new member was added just prior to the beginning of the 2011-12 academic year. Gabriel Christopher Sklar was born on September 15, 2011, weighed a healthy 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 20 inches tall. Maria and I have been adjusting to raising two infants (our daughter Yazmin was only 19 months when Gabe was born). Although it can be challenging at times, it has been a joy to watch them grow together and bond as brother and sister. Their personalities complement each other in many ways. Gabe is generally mellow and laid back, while Yazmin is typically more serious and intense. Now that Gabe is nine months old (that went by fast), he is crawling everywhere and pulling himself up on anything he can reach. It's fun to watch them interact, although Yazmin can get a little irritated when Gabe plays with her toys or tries to pull her hair (like I mentioned, he will try to pull himself up anywhere he can grab onto something).
