Muninder Dhaliwal, a Psychology major from Turlock, and Kristina Wing, an Education graduate student from Turlock, came home with first place prizes from the systemwide competition held at CSU East Bay in Hayward.
Dhaliwal, mentored by Chemistry Professor Claudia Brackett, won the Behavioral and Social Sciences undergraduate division to top 10 other competitors with her talk titled "The Curious Tale of the Two Misplaced Forts: A Soil Investigation by X-Ray Fluorescence." In her talk, Dhaliwal talked about how new portable X-ray fluorescent technology was used to analyze soil in Arizona to locate the former sites of a pair of military forts once occupied by American and Mexican military forces.
Wing, mentored by Teacher Education Professor Dennis Sayers, won the Education Graduate/Undergraduate division in a field of 11 competitors with a presentation titled "The Impact of Participation in Music Education on the Academic Achievement of Fifth- and Sixth-Grade Students." In her presentation which was compiled as part of her master's degree thesis, Wing demonstrated her findings with comparative data from the California Standards Test results. Her research revealed that elementary school students in the Ceres School District who participate in regular curriculum music programs outscore those who take part in alternative physical education classes.
Dhaliwal and Wing were joined by 10 other CSU Stanislaus students who qualified for the CSU competition at the University's March 5 Student Research Competition.