Cal Poly student researchers presented their research projects in order to go to the statewide CSU research competition.
“Basically, the Cal State system competes against itself in a wide variety of disciplinary areas to identify and celebrate student and alum excellence in student research,” Director of the Office of Student Research Jane Lehr said.
Cal Poly will pick 10 student research projects to represent the school at the next level. Last year, Graduate Student Savannah Weaver presented her project on lizards and was chosen as one of the student delegates.
“I was presenting on research that I did on the local western fence lizards. What I did was I had a bunch of awesome people help me catch tons of lizards, and then I brought them into the lab and I put them in experiments,” Weaver said.
The state-wide competition allows students to showcase their work, network with their peers and professionals and learn about other research projects.
“The statewide level was really awesome. I really enjoyed listening to other people’s presentations because I think my research was cool and then I listened to other people talk about what they’re doing,” Weaver said. “It was just a lot of fun.”
Students will be able to win a cash prize for their research. The state-wide CSU Research Competition will take place in April in San Diego.
“Telling people about your research at this kind of level is really important just to make students feel more confident,” Weaver said.
