Meghan Ueland won first place for an undergraduate competing in the Humanities and Letters category. Ueland, a history major, won for her project “A Historical Investigation into the Chinese Expulsion from Eureka, California.” She is advised by Robert Cliver, Chair of the Department of History.
Jacob Rada, won second place as a graduate student in the Engineering and Computer Science category. Rada’s project “Comparison of PV Module Performance before and after 11, 20, and 25.5 Years of Field Exposure,” was advised by Charles Chamberlin, Co-Director, Schatz Energy Research Center.
“These students are all passionate about their research, which represents the acedemic rigor of all three colleges at HSU,” says Steve Karp, Interim Dean of Research. Karp also lauded the students’ faculty advisors. “They are dedicated to integrating research into the students’ education and serve as mentors to our students.” Cliver, faculty advisor to Ueland’s winning project, added, “We are very proud of these students and hope to send many more students to this competition in the future.”
In total, nine students represented HSU at this annual statewide competition, which brought together outstanding student researchers from the 23 CSU campuses to compete for research awards in discipline-based categories. Judges included experts from corporations, foundations, public agencies, and colleges and universities.
Other HSU students in the 31st Annual CSU Student Research competition were:
Ricardo Cueva
Undergraduate in Sociology
“A Culturally Bankrupt Society: Jazz Students and Academic Capitalism”
Faculty advisor: Josh Meisel, Associate Professor, Sociology
Sean Haas
Undergraduate in Physics & Astronomy
“Searching for a Connection between Radio Emission and UV/optical Absorption in Quasars”
Faculty advisor: Paola Rodriguez Hidalgo, Assistant Professor, Physics & Astronomy
Dennis Hernandez
Graduate in Kinesiology
“The Effect of Rest Interval Duration on the Volume Completed during a High Intensity Bench Press Exercise”
Faculty advisor: Young Sub Kwon, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology & Recreation Administration
Laura Morgan
Graduate candidate in Biological Sciences
“Spatial Vegetation Modeling Suggests a Novel Transmission Pathway of the Invasive Forest Pathogen Phytophthora ramorum”
Faculty advisor: Erik Jules, Professor, Biological Sciences
Galen O’Toole
Graduate candidate in Environmental Resources Engineering
“Pressure Retarded Osmosis: Energy Recovery for Seawater Desalination”
Faculty advisor: Andrea Achilli, Assistant Professor, Environmental Resources Engineering
Lauren Smith
Graduate candidate in Biological Sciences
“Seasonal Comparison of Environmental DNA and Traditional Sampling Techniques for Detecting Coastal Tailed Frogs”
Faculty advisor: Sharyn Marks, Professor, Biological Sciences
Michael Vernon
Graduate candidate in Forestry & Wildland
“In the Face of Drought: Do Fuel Reduction Treatments Promote Drought Resistance at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area?”
Faculty advisor: Rosemary Sherriff, Chair, Geography