Symposium on Student Research, Creative Activities, & Innovation

Symposium Announcement

The 2023 Symposium on Student Research, Innovation, and Creative Activities will occur on March 3, 2023. Ten finalists will advance to the 37th Annual California State University Student Research Competition held on April 28-29, 2023, at San Diego State University.

Symposium Information

Each year CSUSM hosts an annual symposium for undergraduate and graduate scholarly activities. This symposium promotes excellence by recognizing outstanding student accomplishments across the disciplines at CSUSM. Students’ research projects can be independent study or class projects that meet the research criteria for the competition.

Presentations from all disciplines are invited. There will be separate undergraduate and graduate sessions. Projects completed during the prior spring and fall semesters are eligible to apply. Student participants will make oral presentations before juries of professional experts from major corporations, foundations, public agencies, and colleges and universities in California.

Up to ten finalists receive cash awards and paid travel expenses to compete against fellow CSU students from the twenty-three campuses at the statewide competition. This year, the 37th Annual CSU Student Research Competition will be held by San Diego State University on Friday, April 28th  and Saturday, April 29th, 2023.

Symposium Sessions:

These times are subject to change.

• Session 1: Location: Markstein Hall 102
  •  2:00-2:20 PM Jorge Alvarado: “You Never Know Who May Be Out to Get You”: The Gendered Experience of Fear 
  • 2:20-2:40 PM Renee Laurenzana: Changes in Behavioral Responses Following Repeated Ketamine Treatment in Adolescents: Relevance for Ketamine Addiction 
  • 2:40-3:00 PM Rachael Jarrel: Well-Being and Fit: College Students in STEM Majors 
  • 3:00-3:20 PM Krystal Alvarez-Hernandez: Exposure to Childhood Abuse on Symptoms of Depression Across the Perinatal Period in Mexican/Mexican American Women 
• Session 2: Location: Markstein Hall 104
   

  • 2:00-2:20 PM Brad Hunter: Engineering A Mock Coastal Environment For In Vitro Longitudinal 
  • 2:20-2:40 PM Yesenia Mora: Prey responses to predator cues: identifying the stimulus of Loggerhead Shrike wing-flashing on insects and vertebrates 
  • 2:40-3:00 PM Alexis Castaneda: Expression and mRNA changes of voltage-gated ion channels in the Malpighian tubules of caterpillars 
  • 3:00-3:10 PM Break  
  • 3:10-3:30 PM Madison Stewart: Defining the Relationship Between the Soil Microbiome and Crop Nutritional Content 
  • 3:30-3:50 PM Serena Farrell: Voltage-gated ion channels in the osmoregulatory epithelia of yellow fever mosquitoes Aedes aegypti larvae 
• Session 3: Location: Markstein Hall 105
  
  

  • 2:00-2:20 PM Gabriel Alfredo Siguenza: Generative Adversarial Networks: An Introduction to Applications in Biomedical Sciences 
  • 2:20-2:40 PM Elizabeth Murguia: Taxonomic and Antibiotic Resistance Changes to Coastal Microbiomes in Response to Rainstorm Run-off 
  • 2:40-3:00 PM Gabriela Ramirez: Enhancer deletion of microglia-specific AD risk variant BIN1 produces hyperphagocytic and inflammatory phenotype in iPSC-derived microglia  
  • 3:00-3:10 PM Break  
  • 3:10-3:30 PM Yosiris Hagan: A Rare Subset of Epidermal T cells Associated with Hair Follicles Express BST2 
  • 3:30-3:50 PM Gilda Castellanos: Patterning of Concave Wells Using Monodisperse Bubbles for the Creation of Cellular Spheroids 
• Session 4: Location: Markstein Hall 106
   

  • 2:00-2:20 PM Aidelen Montoya: The Philippines: A Beaded Visual of Rising Sea Levels 
  • 2:20-2:40 PM Oxala Da Silva: A Critical Analysis of Latto's Identity Negotiation 
  • 2:40-3:00 PM Kasandra Balsis: African American Voices in the U.S. Occupation of Haiti (1915-1934) 
  • 3:00-3:20 PM Rachel Maddux: Partisanship and Opinions Regarding the Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal: Susceptibility to Priming 
• Session 5: Location: Markstein Hall 208
   

  • 2:00-2:20 PM Edgar Garcia: Effects of Strain on Single Electron Devices 
  • 2:20-2:40 PM Diego Gomez-Ceballos: Troubleshooting Purification Methods for CsgE 
  • 2:40-3:00 Thomas Molina: Janus Particles and Biomedical Applications 
  • 3:00-3:20 PM Kennedy Caudle: Examining the impact of human presence on native insect pollinators in Coastal Sage Scrub habitat in north San Diego County 

 2023 Application Process:

We are now accepting applications. Please follow the link below to fill out the application and provide the written summary. Please review the full set of guidelines on our website.

2023 Symposium Application

Fill out the application and include the written summary.  If you do not already have an InfoReady account, you will be prompted to create one. Please use your school email and check it regularly, as all correspondence will be sent through this address.

If you are submitting as a group, please designate one person to submit and list all other group members and emails in the group presentation space on the application.

Written Summary Guidelines

The written summary is limited to five pages using one inch margins, double space, and 12 point font. Appendices (i.e. bibliography, graphs photographs or other supplementary materials) may not exceed three pages. These guidelines recommendations follow the CSU statewide competition requirements.

Your paper submission is final, make sure you have submitted the most updated version.

Faculty Mentor Approval

Within two business days of submitting, your faculty mentor will be sent a notification from our office that you have submitted. They will need to confirm your submission by responding to the email they receive within 3 days. You may want to check with your advisor to ensure they receive and confirm your submission. Upon approval, you will receive a confirmation with details regarding the event.

Oral Presentation Guidelines

Each student will have ten minutes for an oral presentation of their work and five minutes to listen and respond to judges and audience questions.  All entrants may use audiovisual materials as appropriate, and presenters are encouraged to use delivery techniques that promote interaction with the audience.  Entrants in the Creative Arts and Design category may present an audio and/or visual record of a performance they have given or a work they have created; their oral presentation should focus on the rationale and historical context underlying their interpretation of the material.

The Symposium on Student Research, Creative Activities, & Innovation is organized by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research and the Committee for Undergraduate Research.