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Students gear up for state-wide
CSU Student Research Competition

A group of Sacramento State students will join their counterparts from the 22 other California State University campuses at the annual CSU Student Research Competition May 2 and 3 at Cal State East Bay.

Sacramento State’s 10 presenters were selected in March to move on to the state-wide competition based on a five-page written report on their research as well as a 10-minute oral presentation. The panel of judges, which consisted of non-CSU faculty members, reviewed the students’ research and presentations.

“It’s an honor to know that among all this talent, you were selected,” says graduate student and local competition winner Kimberly Aisha Folkes. “There are so many people with so many backgrounds and talents—I’m honored to have been selected.”

But the local competition was not the beginning. Many students had been conducting research for months ahead of time in their area of interest. For some that meant environmental studies, for others education or chemistry. But each student had the task of taking his or her knowledge and research and presenting it in a manner which is easily understood, and “sometimes that can be the most difficult aspect of the competition,” local competition winner Michael Skidmore says.

Skidmore participates in an on-campus research group headed by chemistry professor Kathie McReynolds. The research and competition is a lot of work for both student and professor, but demonstrates a level of commitment and partnership in education at Sacramento State, McReynolds says. “It shows we are committed to preparing students for whatever career or educational goals they have.”

And although the state-wide competition will showcase a variety of research and presentations from students, there is one thing the students have in common—anxiety over the upcoming competition.

"It's been a good experience, but I have to admit I was a little nervous at first,” says Sacramento State winner Jennifer Reynolds-Kusler. "The competition taught me how to express my research in a professional setting, and has since opened the doors to several other academic opportunities.”

Sacramento State competitors:

Hitasha Mitera – Graduate, Speech Language Pathology (received “best presentation” award)
Assessment for People with Aphasia

Tejaswitha Bhavsar - Graduate, Computer Science
A Fuzzy Trigger: Language to Relational Database Systems

J. R. Carroll - Graduate, Psychology
Visual/Haptic Sensory Memory: A Line Length Discrimination Task

Sarah Estrella - Graduate, Biological Conservation
Ecology and Control of Perennial Pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium L.) in a Tidal Marsh in Solano County, California

Kimberley Aisha Folkes - Graduate, Ethnic Studies
“With All Good Intent:”  An analysis of AFSA and Affiliated Legislation

Jessica Lynn Knight - Graduate, Education
An Examination of Gender Differences in Building Classroom Community

Jennifer Reynolds-Kusler - Undergraduate, Geography
Reconstruction of Late Holocene Vegetation Productivity and Composition from Meadow Sediments at Diamond Lake in California’s Klamath Mountain

James Phillips - Graduate, Biological Conservation
Nest site selection by cuckolder (Type II) plainfin midshipman (Porichthys notatus)

Rupal Prajapati - Graduate, Mechanical Engineering
A Computational Study of Premixed Methane/Air Mixture in a Microburner

Michael Skidmore - Undergraduate, Chemistry
The Synthesis of a Sulfated Cellobiose Glycodendrimer as a Potential Anti-Viral Agent