The 39th Annual CSUSB Student Research Competition is scheduled to take place on Friday, February 14th, 2025, inside the Center for Global Innovation (CGI). This competition offers CSUSB students a platform to enhance their presentation and communication skills while highlighting their scholarly and creative accomplishments.
Participants present their research findings to a panel of judges, with the top performers earning the chance to advance to the statewide California State University (CSU) Research Competition hosted at Cal Poly Humboldt. There, they will compete against other exceptional scholars within the CSU system. Successful participants in the CSU Student Research Competition have the opportunity to win accolades, with $500 awarded for first place and $250 for second place within their respective sessions.
What is the CSU Competition?
The California State University Student Research Competition is an annual event that brings together scholars from the 23 campuses of our California State University system. The competition showcases undergraduate and graduate research, scholarship, and creative works by recognizing outstanding student accomplishments. across the 23 campuses.
Current undergraduate students, graduate students, and recent alumni from all academic disciplines can participate. Each year, over 200 students from the 23 CSU campuses submit written papers and make oral presentations before juries of professional experts from major corporations, foundations, public agencies, and universities in California.
Each CSU campus appoints a campus coordinator and develops its own procedures for selecting student delegates to the system-wide competition. Only those students endorsed by the campus coordinator can enter the system-wide competition.
CSUSB Earns Top Honors at the CSU Student Research Competition
Left to Right: Luis Gonzalez, Sebastian Zazueta, Amy Katherine Bartels, Rachel Kanter, Michael Rubalcava
We are proud to announce that several CSUSB student researchers earned prestigious awards at the CSU Student Research Competition, held April 25–26 at Cal Poly Humboldt. Their outstanding work highlights CSUSB’s ongoing commitment to research excellence across disciplines.
Award Recipients:
1st Place Winners ($500):
Sebastian Zazueta – Health, Nutrition, and Clinical Sciences
Presentation: Low-Volume Resistance Training Increases Muscle Strength and Reduces Stress in Older Women
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Wagner Do Prado
Michael Rubalcava – Humanities and Letters
Presentation: The Binding Lines: Race and Unfree Labor in the Wills of Colonial Virginia
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ryan Keating
2nd Place Winners ($250):
Luis Gonzalez – Behavioral and Social Sciences
Presentation: Changes in Circadian Rhythm and 24h Activity Pattern after Fluoxetine Exposure in Adolescent Rats
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Leslie Amodeo
Rachel Kanter – Behavioral and Social Sciences
Presentation: Moral Injury and Religious and Spiritual Struggles: Pathways to Psychological Distress among Survivors of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Christina Hassija
Honorable Mentions:
Amy Katherine Bartels – Biological and Agricultural Sciences (Session 18)
Presentation: Roundup Super Concentrate Exposure Decreases Activity of Drosophila melanogaster
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Becky Talyn
Alewa Anaya – "Making it Work" Award
Presentation: Eyewear’s Effect on N170: Neural Mechanisms of Face Processing
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nicolas Brunet