Student Delegate Insights

My participation in the CSU Student Research Competition really helped build my public speaking skills and the ability to keep an audience interested in what you're saying. It is so easy to go up to a crowd and speak off a piece of paper or flashcards, but it is different to go up there and speak to try and make a connection with the crowd through not only what you're saying but also through your tone and body language. I believe being a charismatic and efficient public speaker is such an important skill for someone to have and presenting at research conferences can help build that. If you think about it, your research may be interesting to you and you may fully understand it, but being able to talk about it in a way so that other people who are not in your field can understand it, is hard to do but if you're able to do it, is a very valuable skill to have in life.

The CSU Student Research Competition is a great opportunity to not only further develop research skills and one's public speaking ability, but to also network with other students and faculty who are in your field and to learn from them. It is a great experience that builds a lot of important qualities in students that will help them in the rest of their academic career, such as being analytical, writing cohesively, and understanding how to conduct and read research. My research participation in the CSU Research Competition and in my undergraduate career really helped pave my way to conduct research at the graduate level.

Participating in research early in my academic career helped build my confidence, analytical abilities, and learn how to communicate with professors whose research I am interested in. These skills have helped me immensely at my work and in getting into a graduate program. After completing a postbaccalaureate year to get the needed prerequisites, I will be attending California State University, Fullerton in the Fall for their Masters program in Speech-Language Pathology. The skills I have developed from doing research have helped me become a better speaker, presenter, and writer which have ultimately helped me stand out as a graduate applicant.

Advice to Student Researchers

I would say, as cliche as it may sound, to believe in yourself but at the same time, to also be open to criticism and feedback. I remember when my research partner and I wrote our first research proposal and submitted it to our research professor for review. When we got it back, it was all marked up with comments in bright red ink! It was definitely intimidating seeing that, but after reading through his comments, I realized they were actually all helpful comments in improving our proposal. When conducting research, don't be afraid to ask your research professor/adviser questions! Ask ALL the questions. This is the time to learn and build on your skills in (hopefully) a safe and inviting environment, so that when you do attend graduate school or go further with your career, you will feel more comfortable doing these things. Also, conducting and presenting research in your undergraduate career will definitely make you stand out if you plan on applying for a Masters or Ph.D program in the future.

Preparing for the CSU Student Research Competition helped me deepen my understanding of my research as I had to learn to explain a very detailed, complex topic to the everyday person. The presentation itself was an exercise in summarizing my research enough for it to be palatable but not enough to lose its defining essence - a practice that I have used over and over again in internship and job interviews.

The competition provided great opportunities to network with other students, faculty, and professionals and allowed me to learn about other exciting research projects going on throughout the CSUs. Additionally, the exposure this event brought to my research allowed my advisor to continue to recruit undergraduate students to further the research and greatly helped with grant proposals and the ongoing patent process. Plus, we won first place in our session which was a great way to conclude my participation in undergraduate research.

My research has already led me to a career that I am highly passionate about in the renewable energy sector. The solar industry has seen a lot of growth in the last decade but as the field is still so new, the opportunity to drive further research and innovation is far from over. Even though I work in an office and not a lab I use the skills I gained from my research every day, taking published research and adapting it into practical uses for effectively managing solar plants. In addition, I hope to participate in graduate level research in the future to even further the field of solar energy.

Advice to Student Researchers

The best piece of advice I could offer to undergraduates interested in research is to not be afraid - whether it's not being afraid to get involved, to ask questions, to decide to switch projects, or anything of the sort. I got involved in research my freshman year after a few upperclassmen I knew invited me to the lab they were working in. Although I was extremely interested, I was hesitant to get involved as I was afraid I wouldn't be prepared or knowledgeable enough to actually be of use. Instead what I found was that those responsible for the research were more than happy to answer my questions and mentor me along the way. Ultimately, I joined a few different research teams for year-long stints before I found the one I was truly passionate about. The jitters that came with joining a new team or asking for help never went away, but I found that I became more confident in my abilities with every project and every presentation.

The CSU Student Research Competition helped me to become more confident and comfortable with presenting. Also, the feedback from RSCA and the CSU competition helped me to continuously "upgrade" my presentation, which ultimately helped me when I competed at the national level at the 2019 Institute of Food Technologists conference.

On a professional level, the whole experience of not only the competition but also the conference and being among so many incredible research students helped me see myself as a researcher. It really encouraged me to continue with a Master’s degree.

I would definitely encourage students to participate in as many conferences as possible, especially RSCA and/or the CSU competition. It's a great way to defend your research in front of an audience, especially faculty and students from a variety of disciplines. I always get nervous competing, but I just view it as an experience to share my research with as many people as possible.

I'm in my first year of the M.S. program in the Nutrition and Food Science Department at Cal Poly Pomona. I'm working on a very similar project to my undergraduate project (the one I presented at the CSU competition). After graduation, I hope to continue research in food or agricultural chemistry.

Advice to Student Researchers

As an undergraduate researcher don't expect everything to go right, or even to understand everything, when you start. When you watch others presenting, it sounds like everything goes smoothly, but that's never the case. It took me an entire summer just to develop the procedures for my project, which resulted in about 2 slides in my conference presentation. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions and to make mistakes. It took me awhile to be ok with making mistakes, but that's when I went from simply following a protocol to actually researching.

Through my participation in the CSU Student Research Competition I became better at sharing my science with others and learned how to make impactful data understandable to a broad range of audiences with different educational backgrounds. In addition, I met many other scientists who have become good friends and contacts that I frequently rely on. It was also fun to learn about other people's work, I often learned something that was useful when I was doing my own research.

I would definitely encourage other students to participate in the research conference, whether it is a poster or an oral presentation. I think one of the benefits is getting critiques and insight from others, this can really help develop one's research and communication skills. I have heard a lot of students say that they feel nervous about presenting and worried that they might be under a lot of scrutiny. In general, it was a very nice experience and not something to be nervous about.

After graduating from Cal Poly Pomona, I will be going on to a doctoral program and pursuing a career in Biology research. The experience I have gained has helped me learn that I really enjoy the process of designing experiments and answering scientific questions. During my research project, I learned a lot of engineering skills even though my focus is on Mycology and Drug delivery. I also got to see how industry works and how financial impacts can influence the direction a project goes. In general, learning new skills through research enabled me to try things on my own and become more independent. I think these experiences will be very useful in my future career as a scientist.

Advice to Student Researchers

I think some helpful advice would be to never be afraid to talk to professors and I highly encourage reaching out to professors whose work you are interested in! Here is a list of other things that might help someone interested in research:

1. Reading about someone's work will give you a preview and help develop your understanding of the topics someone studies in advance.
2. Finding a lab can take some time, be ready to send out a lot of emails and do it early!
3. Don't be afraid to ask your peers and professors for advice!
4. Write down and document everything, it is always nice to have information to go back to. It will be challenging to remember all the things you have done.