Student researchers were asked to bring their talents to the forefront when the California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) provost promoted details of the 35th annual CSU research competition via email on Jan. 26.
CSUMB’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Katherine Kantardjieff wrote in the email the competition is held each spring “to promote excellence in undergraduate and graduate scholarly research and creative activity by recognizing outstanding student accomplishments across the disciplines at the 23 CSU campuses.”
All current CSU students as well as CSU students who graduated in Spring, Summer or Fall 2020 are invited to apply for the competition by 3 p.m. on Feb. 17. All applications from CSUMB students can be submitted at csumb.infoready4.com/CompetitionSpace/.
After applicants are chosen, CSUMB finalists will compete along with students from all CSU’s at Cal Poly Pomona on April 30 and May 1. The first place and runner-up winners of the 10 research project categories will receive a cash prize.
Competition applications are reviewed by the The CSUMB Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity committee (RSCA) and will select 10 entries from the university to participate in the CSU competition. Each entry stems from the 10 project categories, which include topics from various majors such as social sciences, biology, creative arts and more. According to the CSU Call for Applicants, all project applications should be completed with final results and “team research projects (are) encouraged.”
The RSCA will only consider applications fit with input from a faculty mentor and a written research narrative. If chosen to join the CSU competition, applicants will become delegates who perform a well-articulated oral presentation which must be submitted by April 15 before midnight. Those presentations will then be displayed live to judges and attendees of the CSU competition at Cal Poly Pomona.
If needing guidance through the application process, students can contact CSUMB’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center (UROC) whose main goal is to assist students in academic research “to build students’ educational ownership, intellectual vibrancy, and scholarly identity” according to their website. Additionally, UROC will be hosting application review sessions virtually on Feb. 3 and 10 for interested Otters.
Students can visit https://csumb.edu/uroc/csu-student-research-competition for all information on the upcoming CSU Research Competition.