Kristina Wing, an Education graduate student from Pinole mentored by Teacher Education Professor Dennis Sayers, won first place in the graduate division during the March 5 competition with a presentation titled "The Impact of Participation in Music Education on the Academic Achievement of Fifth- and Sixth-Grade Students." Muninder Dhaliwal, a Psychology major from Turlock mentored by Chemistry Professor Claudia Brackett, won the undergraduate division with her talk titled "The Curious Tale of the Two Misplaced Forts: A Soil Investigation by X-Ray Fluorescence."
The qualifying CSU Stanislaus students will go up against competitors from the other 22 California State University campuses in the May 2-3 CSU Student Research Competition at CSU East Bay in Hayward.
Other top finishers at the CSU Stanislaus competition who qualified for the CSU competition included:
Graduate division: Angela Yvonne Harwell, a Social Work master's degree student from Oxford, Massachusetts, second place; Cathy Burrows, Multidisciplinary Studies master's degree student from Steger, Illinois, third place; and runner-up qualifier Gabe Ontiveros Jr., a Multilingual Education, Curriculum and Instruction master's degree student from Turlock.
Undergraduate division: Gurpreet Shiota, a Biology major from Modesto, second place; Kristin Marie Oosterkamp, a Psychology major from Modesto, third place; and runners-up qualifiers Jennifer Nguyen, a Chemistry major from Riverbank; Dave Gant, a Music Composition major from Manteca; and a team composed of Psychology majors Joseph E. Gonzales of Modesto, Heather M. Adams of Mission Hills, and Jacob A. Marciel of Modesto.
Other faculty mentors of qualifying students included Biological Sciences Professor Flora Watson, Psychology Professors AnaMarie Guichard and Victor Luevano, Social Work Professor Valerie Leyva, Art Professor Hope B. Werness, Chemistry Professor Scott Russell, Music Professor Deborah Kavasch, and Teacher Education Professor Juan Flores.