Student Winners Named at Research Event

SAN BERNARDINO >> A handful of student winners from Cal State San Bernardino’s Meeting of the Minds Symposium emerged after competing in the fifth annual research competition. Two hundred CSUSB students participated in the daylong event, where they were judged for the quality of oral and poster presentations. “Involvement in research helps transform students from passive learners to engaged and confident scholars,” said CSUSB President Tomás Morales in greeting the day’s student presenters, faculty and community guests. “The work they do here helps prepare them for the rigors of graduate school, and at the same time makes them more attractive prospects to elite graduate programs.” Among graduate students in the symposium’s oral presentations category, Francisco Ramirez, psychology, captured first place for his presentation, “Altered Sensitivity to the Rewarding Properties of Cocaine in Adult Female c57bl/6 Mice Exposed to Fluoxetine during Adolescence,” while Ryan Radmall, industrial/organizational psychology, took second for “Measuring Metacognition: A Comparative Validity Study of the Learning Strategies and Self-Awareness Assessment.” For undergraduates, first place went to Janhavi Dhargalkar, psychology, for his presentation, “Effects of Repeated SSRI Treatment on BDNF and TrkB Receptors in Adolescent Rats,” and second to Israel Garcia, psychology, for “Ketamine Exposure during Adolescence Increases Sensitivity to Cocaine in Adulthood.” In the poster presentation category, graduate winners were Teresa Ubina, biology, who nabbed first place for “Developmental Toxicity Testing of E-Cigarettes Using Drosophila melanogaster Embryonic Stem Cells,” and Krista Rudberg, Andrea Moran, and Jessica Razo, psychology, who teamed up to finish second for their presentation, “Dopamine Receptor Inactivation in the Caudate-putamen and Nucleus Accumbens Differentially Affects the Locomotor Activity of Young Rats.” First place for undergraduates went to Christina Jap, chemistry, for “Modification of Croconic Acid Structure;” while second was scooped up by Zakkary Hudson and Channing Toomey, biology, for “Development of an In Vitro Protocol for Drosophila Melanogaster Midgut Cells.” All of the first place winners received a Dell laptop and $250, and second place winners received $250. Two special awards were handed out during the symposium, as well. Joshua Adamson, a communication studies major at CSUSB, was named the 2016 Student Research Honoree. He had taken the top prize for his research paper, “Twitter Privacy: Determinants of Sharing Behavior on Twitter,” at the Western States Communication Association’s Undergraduate Scholars Research Conference earlier this year. He hopes to earn his M.A. and Ph.D. in political communication and to one day become a professor himself. Morales also presented the university’s Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Creative Activities Award to Tim Usher, a 26-year member of the physics department faculty at CSUSB. The award is given every two years and is based on a professor’s sustained research efforts in their field.