Graduate Student Spotlight
Bravo to our Graduate Students and Graduate Alumni!
The Graduate Student Spotlight showcases the outstanding work and meaningful achievements of graduate students and
graduate alumni at CSUSM. This platform is dedicated to highlighting a variety of
projects, research and creative endeavors, fieldwork, internships, study abroad experiences,
community service and volunteering, awards, and enriching co-curricular activities.
Selected students/alumni will be featured in our newsletters, OGSR’s website and social
media, and more!
If you are a current student or alum of a CSUSM graduate program and want to share
your work, please fill out the student spotlight form and someone from the Office of Graduate Studies and Research will follow up with you
about your submission.
Jocelyne Dates
Biological Sciences
Jocelyne Dates was named the awardee of the 2023-2024 Graduate Dean's Award.
As the winner of this award, Jocelyne was invited to President's Outstanding Graduate Award Dinner & Ceremony that was held on May 1, 2024. She was joined by the awardees of the five other Dean's Award Recipients from the College of Education, Health & Human Services; College of Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences; College of Business Administration; College of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics; and the Student Leadership Award selected by the Dean of Students.
That evening, President Neufeldt announced Jocelyne as this year's President's Outstanding Graduate. The President’s Outstanding Graduate Award recognizes one graduating student each year who demonstrates exemplary contributions to their field and to the university. This distinction is considered to be the highest honor a graduating student can receive.
Jocelyne, who will be attending a PhD program at Vanderbilt University this Fall, was also highlighted in an extensive article from CSUSM's NewsCenter.
CONGRATULATIONS JOCELYNE!
Kanav Aggarwal
Biotechnology
On March 15th, Graduate Representatives Council President, Kanav Aggarwal, led a 3-person team who won 2nd Place and Most Innovative Solution at SDSU's Annual Chinyeh Hostler Social Venture: H2O Impact Challenge pitch competition! The event is based on identifying a significant problem related to the impact of water on the region.
Mr. Aggarwal is the inventor of ChloroBoost whose primary emphasis lies in water conservation within agriculture, recognizing that 40% of water usage occurs in this sector. The initiative centers on enhancing soil water retention. Farmers apply biofertilizer to their fields, allowing it to dry before proceeding with conventional crop cultivation practices. This approach could halve wastewater output, consequently enhancing soil quality.
Through their two awards, the team took home $9500 in cash prizes CONGRATULATIONS!!
Zane Cooper
M.A. History, 2016
Zane Cooper graduated from the Master of Arts in History program at CSUSM in Spring 2016. His thesis was on "Raw Data: A Geopolitical History of Hard Drive Technology, 1978-2016"
After finishing his degree at CSUSM, Zane enrolled into the Ph.D. program at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and will be finishing his dissertation "BIT/COIN/RARE/EARTH: Data, Energy, and Extraction Across the Arctic" and graduating this Spring.
We are thrilled to share that Zane has been offered and accepted a tenure track position at St. Lawrence University. He will be starting this Fall 2024 as an Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Film.
CONGRATULATIONS Zane!
Poorvi Datta
Biological Sciences
CONGRATULATIONS to Poorvi Datta on their win of the Crellin Pauling Student Teaching Award this January 2024!
The award acknowledges outstanding student teaching achievement by a California State
University (CSU) student in biotechnology-related settings, courses and programs.
The Pauling Awards are designed to recognize and promote effective teaching practices,
to celebrate the work of outstanding teaching assistants, and to inspire future science
and engineering educators.
Poorvi is expected to earn their Master of Science in Biological Science in Spring 2024 and will move on to continue their Ph.D. studies in the Fall.