Four Cal Poly students receive state-wide recognition at CSU Student Research Competition

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Four Cal Poly students were awarded first or second place at the 2023 California State University (CSU) Student Research Competition.

The 37th annual competition was hosted at San Diego State University from Apr. 28-29 for the first time in-person since 2019.

Students from across the CSU system competed in the following ten divisions: Behavioral, Social Sciences, and Public Administration; Biological and Agricultural Sciences; Business, Economics and Hospitality Management; Creative Arts and Design; Education; Engineering and Computer Science; Health, Nutrition and Clinical Sciences; Humanities and Letters; Physical and Mathematical Sciences; and Interdisciplinary.

“The systemwide research competition is an excellent opportunity for our students to share their research experiences, methodologies and findings with their peers, faculty and staff from across the state,” said Dawn Neill, interim vice president for research at Cal Poly. “We have many students with outstanding research to share and the CSU Student Research Competition provides an excellent venue for our students to showcase their effort.”

Jordan Richards, a second-year graduate student in the food science program, and Jack Madden, a third year food science major, won first place in the Biological and Agricultural Sciences category.

Their research sought to reduce food waste by limiting was is currently wasted in carrot processing. By manipulating carrot pomace, a pulpy residue left after processing, to utilize fiber within to retain water and flavor in beef patties.

“The food science program prepares you well for sharing and speaking about your research, and I felt confident in sharing about the work I’ve been so focused on over the past two years,” said Richards, originally from Kingston, Jamaica, who plans to defend his thesis this summer. “The competition judges took an interest in my project and asked a lot of engaging questions about how the patties tasted and how people responded to sensory tasting.”

Robin Bedard, a graduate student in the biological sciences program, and alumna Megan Rottenborn (Biological Sciences, Class of 2022) won first place in the Behavioral, Social Sciences, and Public Administration category.

Bedard's and Rottenborn's research focused on creating a repository of best practices and policies for nuisance snake relocators and state agencies.

Madeleine Goertz, a second-year mathematics major and Frost Research Scholar form Kirkland, Washington, won first place in the Physical and Mathematical Sciences category.

Goertz conducted research in algebraic geometry demonstrating that similar triangles at various orientations can be represented uniquely by points on the surface of a torus, essentially a donut shape.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the beauty of pure mathematics, and the idea of constructing one space that uniquely represents all objects of a class of an entirely different shape that I’m interested in seemed very intriguing,” said Goertz. “I think this competition really brought into focus how critical it is to be able to communicate your research to a general audience; if you can’t explain the essence of your work to a motivated person who doesn’t necessarily have all of the technical background, you don’t truly understand your work, in my opinion."

“Without the incredible research opportunities that I’ve had at Cal Poly, Eric Brussel’s (professor in the Mathematics Department) dedicated mentorship and the William and Linda Frost Fund’s generous financial support to enable this entire project, I would have never been able to participate in this competition,” added Goertz.

Ethan Gutterman, a third-year history major with a minor in ethics, public policy, science and technology, won second place in the Humanities and Letters category.

Gutterman's research project centered on the 54th Coast Artillery regiment, the U. S. Army's only all-Black, heavy artillery unit that served in the Second World War. Soldiers in the unit were transferred to the Central Coast, but by the mid-1950's had all left the area.

Cal Poly was also represented at the 2023 CSU Student Research Competition by the following scholars: Squeaky Buentipo (Biomedical Engineering), Marina Kare (Child Development), Pranshul Lakhanpal, Nam Nguyen, Asmita Sharma (Computer Science Master’s Program), Iris Bookholtz (Environmental Earth and Soil Sciences), Fiona O’Neill (Environmental Management and Protection), alumna Matti Toivola (Physics, ’22), Michael Dalsin (Physics), Trevor Loe (Physics, Mathematics), alumna Olivia Wallin (Psychology, ’23), Ariadne Kaylor (Psychology), and Trevor Hidalgo, a former Cal Poly student who transferred to San Diego State University.

Jane Lehr, Director of the Office of Student Research at Cal Poly, said, “We are honored by how well all of the Cal Poly delegates represented the campus and showcased the power of Learn by Doing.”