Ten research projects with diverse topics ranging from the reconstruction of a sea slug genus to fact-checking in a “post-truth” world were recognized as the best oral presentations at the Fifth Annual Cal Poly Pomona Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference.
The projects are eligible to be nominated to the 31st Annual California State University Student Research Competition to be held at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on April 28-29.
Overall, 117 oral presentations were delivered and 38 poster/design projects displayed March 3 on campus. In addition, creative works showcased artwork, prototypes and design projects.
“Conferences like these help students develop skills to organize their thoughts about their work and present it to a broad spectrum of audiences,” said Sadiq Shah, associate vice president for research, innovation and economic development. “The RSCA experience helps our students gain confidence and develop a broad spectrum of skills that otherwise may not be possible.
“The supportive mentorship by our faculty shapes student aspirations for their future careers. Our students did an exceptional job; I was very impressed with their efforts. I am also grateful to our faculty for their commitment to mentor these students,” Shah said.
Here are the student presenters, their research projects and faculty mentors:
- Cole Frazier, “Effective Treatment of Azole Resistant Candida Albicans in a Murine Ascending Urinary Tract Infection with Liposomal Amphotericin B Delivered by Bladder Lavage.” Mentor: Jill Adler-Moore, College of Science.
- Daniel Raad, “Do Social Networks Mirror the Ideals of a Deliberative Democracy?” Mentor: Mario Guerrero, College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences.
- Hessam Ghanimi, “The Phylogenetic Reconstruction of the Sea Slug Genus Berthella Using Molecular and Morphological Traits.” Mentor: Angel Valdes, College of Science.
- Benjamin Soto, “Analysis of Garlic’s (Allium sativum) Effects on Lipopolysaccharide and C. Albicans Induced Immune Response in J774A.1 and RAW 264.7 Murine Macrophage Cell Lines.” Mentor: Nancy Buckley, College of Science.
- Anya Kwan, “Preliminary Study on the Control Release of Flavor Encapsulated in Filled Hydrogels Triggered by pH.” Mentor: Gabriel Davidov-Pardo, College of Agriculture.
- Garrett Jordan, “Examining the Functional Network Structure of the Frontal Lobes Across Domains of Cognition.” Mentor: Robert Blumenfeld, College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences.
- Aisling Kelly, “Do Fact Checks Matter? An Assessment on the Impact of Fact-Checking in a ‘Post-Truth’ World.” Mentor: Mario Guerrero, College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences.
- Jomel Bautista, Gerson Ribas and Jorge Figueroa; “Biofilitration Cells: Stormwater Management Utilizing Low Impact Development Principles.” Mentor: Monica Palomo, College of Engineering.
- Garrett Engen, Nicholas Belgau, Zach Walsh, Austin Lee, Jonathan Hatamoff, Monique Montague; “Free Surface Electrospun Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membranes for Direct Contact Membrane Distillation.” Mentor: Keith Forward, College of Engineering.
- Mostafa Vahidi, “Distinguishing Music from Advertisement by Using Machine Learning Techniques for Audio Classification.” Mentor: Yu Sun, College of Science.
In the event that students cannot attend the CSU system-wide competition, the runner-up project will be selected to represent that category.
The conference highlighted more than academics. The third Annual Distinguished Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Staff Award was presented to Bruce Kennedy and Jon Olson.
Kennedy, who has been at Cal Poly Pomona for a decade, is a compliance associate in the Office of Research who helps faculty and students carry out high quality, ethical research about human and animal subjects.
Olson (’79, microbiology), a scientist and research associate in the Department of Biological Sciences department since 1998, helps students learn the proper research procedures for experiments.