CSUDH’s Best & Brightest Shine at Student Research Day

By Kelsey Reichmann
Editor-in-Chief

The rigorous, methodical world of academic research joined hands with creativity, competition and social interaction for two days last week, as the 14th Annual Student Research Day brought more than 375 student presenters and faculty judges, along with a steady stream of friends, family and curious onlookers, together to showcase work from some the brightest minds on campus.

Held on the second floor of the Loker Student Union Feb. 14-15, this year’s SRD featured students presenting “cutting-edge research with the grace and poise of research professionals,” Claudia Peyton, interim dean of graduate students, wrote in a campus-wide email Tuesday.

The main goal of SRD, which is held on every CSU campus, is to “guide and nurture students in how to conduct research and to get excited about it,” Peyton said. 

“Research really is the foundation for the completion of a master’s or doctorate, so this is an opportunity to conduct research under the guidance of a faculty member, because as they move toward a doctoral degree, they must conduct it in a more independent way.”

While CSUDH ranks in the middle of the CSU’s 23 campuses in terms of total students, its SRD has become “one of the largest in the system,” Peyton said. She credits that to faculty taking a concerted interest in mentoring students and giving them first-hand experience in how to conduct academic research.

The juried competition was split into student-led presentations (think smaller-scale TED Talks)_nd posters, where students stood by their posters and answered questions

Nearly every academic department was represented, from hard sciences like physical and mathematical sciences, to soft sciences like behavioral and social science, to those that don’t seem that scientific at all, such as humanities and creative arts. Eighteen first and second place finishers were chosen in the nine presentation categories, and three awards were given in each of the three poster sessions.

There were several double winners and group project winners, including Elvis Carrillo, who won first place in physical and mathematical sciences for his presentation, “Assessing Social-Economic Impacts of Earthquakes in Southern California.” Carrillo also garnered a second place in posters for another earth-quake themed project

But no one had a better SRD than Andrew Luu, who won three awards, all in different disciplines. He earned two first place awards: in business, economics and public administration with a presentation on how  Generation Z students can succeed in college; and another first in behavioral and social sciences  on digital metacognition mediating the impact of “technological anxiety, boredom and excitive [sic[ dysfunction on course performance.” He also won a second place in posters with a more concise title: “Will robots take our jobs?”

Daniel Apt, a senior Earth science major, didn’t win an award. But he said his first SRD was a win nonetheless.

“It shows you’ve done research before and since grad school is trying to build up your research [portfolio]  it looks good on the resume,” said Apt, whose poster examined how to turn electric golf carts used on campus into solar-powered vehicles. But the experience was also about more than burnishing his credentials.

“I actually had people come up and talk to me about my research,” Apt said. “When I’m working on it, it’s just me but it was fun and exciting to see that some people were interested in my subject.”

Based on the judges’ evaluations, up to 10 presentations will be selected for the CSU Statewide Student Research Competition. Students who elect to present their work in poster format, although they will be judged, were not eligible for the CSU Statewide Student Research Competition. 

This year the 33rd Annual CSU Student Research Competition will be held by California State University, Fullerton on April 26-27.