CSUSM Symposium 2024

38th Annual CSU Statewide Competition

We are thrilled to celebrate the remarkable achievements of our CSUSM Delegates who excelled at the 38th Annual CSU Statewide Research Competition. Showcasing their expertise across four discipinary categories -- Engineering & Computer Science, Humanities & Letters, Interdisciplinary, and Behavioral, Social Sciences and Public Administration.

We are delighted to announce Jessica Orea secured 1st place in the category of Behavioral, Social Sciences & Public Administration (graduate)I.

First Place

Jessica Orea – Dr. Kimberley Pulvers, Faculty Mentor
Psychological Sciences, Graduate
Association Between Distress Tolerance and Cannabis Dependence Stronger for Under-Represented Minorities Among U.S. Young Adults

CSUSM NewsCenter Report

Join us in applauding the hard work and commitment of all of our delegates!

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2024 Symposium Finalists & CSUSM Delegates

Finalist advanced to represent CSUSM at the CSU Statewide Student Research Competition in April 2024.

Troy Tektonopoulos - Dr. Mathew Stone, Faculty Mentor
Health, Nutrition, and Clinical Sciences, Undergraduate
Estimating the Impact of a Menthol Flavor Ban on Cigarette Pack Purchase Behavior

Maya Qaddourah - Dr. Jane Kim, Faculty Mentor
Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Undergraduate
Investigating the Role of Mismatch Repair on CCTG DNA Repeat Instability

Adriana Cacho - Dr. Dennis Kolosov, Faculty Mentor
Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Undergraduate
Shake It till You Make It: Voltage-gated Ion Channels in Larval Lepidopterans

Brendan Boyd - Dr. Dennis Kolosov, Faculty Mentor
Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Undergraduate
Savvy Sodium Seekers Stunningly Secure Sparse Salts: Detection and Quantification of Na⁺ Channels Within the Excretory System of Trichoplusia ni.

Camila Valderrama-Martinez & Marisa Mendoza - Dr. Elinne Becket, Faculty Mentor
Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Undergraduate
Comparing Nearshore Microbial Community Compositions across Water, Plastic, and Non-Plastic Marine Substrates

William Cassel - Dr. Nahid Ebrahimi Majd, Faculty Mentor
Engineering and Computer Science, Undergraduate
A Lightweight Obfuscated Malware Multi-class Classifier for IoT Using Machine Learning

Ariana Almaraz - Dr. Yasmine Sherafat, Faculty Mentor
Interdisciplinary, Undergraduate
NACHO Protein Expression in the Aversive Circuit in Nicotine Dependent Mice

Milly Lopez - Dr. Kimberley Pulvers, Faculty Mentor
Behavioral, Social Sciences, and Public Administration, Undergraduate
Anxiety and Cannabis Dependence Among Non-Hispanic Black, Non-Hispanic White, and Hispanic U.S. Young Adults

Marcelo Munoz Jr. - Dr.Yuan Yuan, Faculty Mentor
Humanities & Letters, Undergraduate
¡Bailando cumbia, bailando cumbia! El México Kolombiano Que Nuestro Cuerpo Ha Llamado

Jessica Orea - Dr. Kimberley Pulvers, Faculty Mentor
Behavioral, Social Sciences, and Public Administration, Graduate
Association Between Distress Tolerance and Cannabis Dependence Stronger for Under-Represented Minorities Among U.S. Young Adults
2024 Symposium Runner-Ups

Madison Mower - Dr. Todd Astorino, Faculty Mentor
Health, Nutrition, and Clinical Sciences, Undergraduate
Cardiometabolic Response to High Intensity Functional Training versus Rowing-Based High Intensity Interval Training

Valeria Castellanos Rodriguez - Dr. Carlos Luna Lopez, Faculty Mentor
Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Undergraduate
Brown and White Adipocytes Promotes the Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition to MDA-MB-231 Cells

Shyane Masters - Dr. George Brusch, Faculty Mentor
Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Undergraduate
Understanding the impact of elevated water temperatures on shark migration patterns in the Central-East Gulf of Mexico

Yutzil Zavala - Dr. Betsy Read, Faculty Mentor
Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Undergraduate
HEBP and IP6 uniformly inhibited biomineralization at concentrations as low as 0.25mM and 0.1mM respectively, however, cell growth is also affected.

Siaje Gideon - Dr. Dennis Kolosov, Faculty Mentor
Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Undergraduate
Voltage-gated ion channels in cultured gill epithelia of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, alter in abundance following salt and water imbalance

Mireya Gonzales-Rivera - Dr. Betsy Read, Faculty Mentor
Biological and Agricultural Sciences, Undergraduate
Qubit Readout Techniques for Donor-Based Quantum Architectures in Silicon

Gustavo Benitez - Dr. Eric Leas, Faculty Mentor
Health, Nutrition, and Clinical Sciences, Undergraduate
Disparities and impact of flavor restrictions on the availability of flavored tobacco products in online vaping retailers.

Aryanna Alarcon - Dr. Kim Pulvers, Faculty Mentor
Behavioral, Social Sciences, and Public Administration, Undergraduate
Cannabis Vaping Days Associated with Impaired Neurological Quality of Life among a Tri-Ethnic Sample of U.S. Young Adult Men and Women

Kai Orozco - Dr. Kim Pulvers, Faculty Mentor
Behavioral, Social Sciences, and Public Administration, Undergraduate
Earlier Age of First Cannabis Use Linked with Greater Current Peer Use of Cannabis among Young Adult Men and Women

Alex Leon - Dr. Dustin P. Calvillo, Faculty Mentor
Behavioral, Social Sciences, and Public Administration, Graduate
Illusory Truth Occurs with Headlines from Reliable Sources but Not from Unreliable Sources