Cal Poly Sending 10 Student Research Projects on to CSU Competition

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Cal Poly is sending 10 student projects on to the 2010 California State University Student Research Competition Aril 30 and May 1 at San Jose State University.

The Cal Poly students' research topics range from developing a corporate identity package for a women's clothing firm to finding associations between news articles and stock prices to the effects of using recycled water in vegetable irrigation to issues faced by females in computer gaming. A panel of Cal Poly faculty and administrators selected the 10 student finalists from among 23 presentations made on campus Saturday, Feb. 27.

The 2010 Cal Poly student research finalists and their projects are:

Elise Bartley (Undergraduate student, Art and Design; faculty adviser: Charmaine Martinez): “Lilypond Identity, Branding, and Marketing”
Ben Davini, Jason Anderson, Brian Oppeheim, and Dominic Camargo (Graduate students, Computer Science; faculty adviser: Alexander Dekhtyar): “Finding Associations between News Articles and Stock Prices”
Dana Duke, JP Horton, and Paul Sinz (Undergraduate students, Mathematics; faculty adviser: Paul Choboter): “Exact Solutions for Wind-Driven Coastal Upwelling and Downwelling over Sloping Topography”
Kelli Farber (Undergraduate student, Chemistry; faculty adviser: Eric Kantorowski): “Cyclopropylcarbinyl Radicals: Ring Expansion via Radical Fragmentation”
Sarah Johnson (Graduate student, Biological Sciences; faculty adviser: Lars Tomanek): “Ecotoxicoproteomics: Protein Expression Profiles of Fish in Response to the Contaminant 4-nonylphenol”
Kimberly Paterson (Undergraduate student, English; adviser: Johanna Rubba): “The Problem with Being Female in MMORPGs: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Female Gaming Experience”
D. Cameron Ripley (Graduate student, Agriculture/Soil Science; faculty advisers: Terry Smith and Chip Appel); “Changes in Soil Salinity Levels with the Use of Recycled Water on Cool Season Vegetables”
Daniel Slusser (Graduate student, History; faculty adviser: Robert Detweiler); “Bleeding Sumner: In Defense of Southern Honor”
Andrew Sommer (Undergraduate student, Mechanical Engineering; faculty adviser: Xi Wu): “Non-linear Vibration Response of a Manual Transmission”
Simeon Trieu (Graduate student, Electrical Engineering; adviser: Xiomin Jin): “Study of Top and Bottom Photonic Crystal Gratings on GaN LEDs using FDTD”

The annual California State University Student Research Competition, initiated in 1985, features research achievements of undergraduate students, graduate students, and recent alumni from all academic disciplines. Approximately 200 students from the 22 CSU campuses submit written papers and make oral presentations before juries of professional experts from major corporations, foundations, public agencies, and universities in California. Cash prizes are awarded.