Research & Creative Activities Conference Showcases Work of More than 300 Students

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Sabrina Huynh, Lindsay McClain, Vanessa Castro and Kiara Franco, who are majoring in apparel merchandising and management, tested for materials for their project to improve the thermal comfort of base layers for snowboarding gear. Polartech fleece outperformed neoprene, GoreTex and swimwear tricot in absorbency, tensile strength, abrasion resistance and elongation testing.
Sabrina Huynh, Lindsay McClain, Vanessa Castro and Kiara Franco, who are majoring in apparel merchandising and management, tested for materials for their project to improve the thermal comfort of base layers for snowboarding gear. Polartech fleece outperformed neoprene, GoreTex and swimwear tricot in absorbency, tensile strength, abrasion resistance and elongation testing.

Over 300 students participated in the 6th Annual Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference (RSCA), discussing their recent work in 135 oral presentations, 59 posters and one music performance.

From the oral presentations given at the March 2 event, 10 students and their projects were recognized as exemplary and will be nominated to represent Cal Poly Pomona at the 32nd Annual California State University Student Research Competition to be held at CSU Sacramento on May 4-5. Those top presentations were:

  • “The Power in Individual Consent: A Critical Examination of How Gatekeeping and Stereotypes Affect Access to Student-Veterans in the Qualitative Interview Process” – William Atienza, sociology major;
  • “The Transpacific Species Berthella californica is a Species Complex” – Hessam Ghanimi, biology;
  • “Aerosolized Liposomal Amphotericin B (AmBisome) Maintains Antifungal Drug Concentrations in Lungs for up to Five Days Post-Treatment” – Janam Dave, biotechnology and chemical engineering;
  • “’Where Do I Belong, Here or Where You Are?’: A Postcolonial Feminist Reading of ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ and ‘Corpse Song’” – Parveena Singh and Devon Mier, both English literature and language;
  • “Morphology Development of Aluminide Coatings on Mo-Si-B-Ti Alloys” – Zachery Walsh, chemical engineering; Shahan Kasnakjian, (masters) engineering with an emphasis in materials;  Logan Gallegos, chemical engineering; and Deepali Patil, materials engineering
  • “Innovative Classroom Assessment” – Michael Ramirez, psychology; Laura Dasilva, psychology; Nguyen Nguyen, psychology, and Cheyenne Romero, psychology
  • “Thermal Nitridation of Stainless Steel Bipolar Plates in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells” – Kevin Duong, chemical engineering, and Adrian Barcimo, chemical engineering
  • “Design and Testing of a Solar-Driven Wastewater Treatment Unit for Off-Grid Applications” – mechanical engineering majors Justine Nguyen, Daniel Andrade, Thuan Nguyen, Kyle Miller, Masoud Modabernia, John Kest, Binh Phun and David Jacobo; and civil engineering majors Johnny Baradii and Laura Lopez
  • “A Sensitive Method for Aging Stellar Birthplaces” – Evan Nunez, physics
  • “Ternary complexes Through Maillard Conjugation of Sodium Caseinate, Dextran and Resveratrol to be used as emulsifiers” – Benjamin Steiner, food science
Management and human resources major Angelo Rodriguez explains Augmented realms, an enhanced tabletop gaming system that brings tabletop role playing games to life. The eight-member team developed the project through the Entrepreneurship in STEAM program.
Management and human resources major Angelo Rodriguez explains Augmented realms, an enhanced tabletop gaming system that brings tabletop role playing games to life. The eight-member team developed the project through the Entrepreneurship in STEAM program.

The poster presentations covered a wide range of topics that included  whether attorneys matter in U.S. Supreme Court cases, underrepresentation of women in politics, improving the thermal comfort of base layer for snowboarding gear, the effectiveness of photobiomodulation on dental healing in canines, fabrication of gecko-like adhesive, and Augmented Realms, an enhanced on-line experience for playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Senior music education major Michael Tran and his faculty mentor Professor Nadia Shpachenko performed “wgah’nagl fhtagn” by Thomas Kotcheff, a Cthulhu inspired duet featuring piano and toy piano.

The Distinguished RSCA Staff Award was presented to Desiree Vera who has served as the compliance analyst in the Institutional Research Board office for three years. She supports faculty and student research by helping to ensure that their research plans are ethical and comply with federal law.

The RSCA Conference is organized by the Office of Undergraduate Research.