CSULB Students take top honors

Eleven Cal State Long Beach students took either first or second place honors in the university's Eighth Annual Student Research Competition.

Students engaged in significant research and creative activity at both the graduate and undergraduate levels were eligible to compete. They were required to give oral presentations to fellow students and a jury of distinguished faculty.

Two graduate students took honors in the field of engineering and computer science. Eric Besnard of Long Beach, majoring in engineering and mathematics, took first place for his research piece entitled "An Interactive Approach for High Lift Design," while George Spanos, computer science major, took second place for "AEGIS: A Real-Time Security System for Distributed Full-Motion Video."

Undergraduates captured awards in the health, nutrition, and clinical sciences category.

Huong Nguyen, CSULB nursing student, was awarded first place for "The Effect of Protein Density of Food on Energy Intake, Body Weight and Tumor Growth in Tumor-Bearing Rats."

Second-place honors were given to David Tan, psychology major, for his study, "The Relationship between Life Satisfaction and Flow in Elderly People," and women's studies major Alison Lenton for "The Role of Attractiveness and Ethnicity on Judgments of Self and Others."

In the humanities and letters department, first place honors were received by Aleta Konkol, an English graduate student, for her research in "With Inward Eye Illuminated: Acrostics in 'Paradise Lost'." Second place was awarded to Peggy Beth, art history graduate student, for her research piece "Michelangelo's 'Rape of Ganymede': What is its Concealed Message?"

Graduate students in physics won honors physical and mathematical categories. Marcus Epstein was awarded first place for "Greatly Accelerated Star Formation Rates in Six Billion Year Old Clusters of Galaxies," and Esmael Jafari Haddadian took second place for "The Evolution of Field-Induced Structure of Ferro Fluid Emulsions."

In the department of social and behavioral sciences, Julie Bartolotto, a graduate student in interdisciplinary studies, took first place for her work entitled "Pioneers, Ideologues, Radicals, Latecomers, and Bandwagoners: An Analysis of the Development of Women's Studies."

Karen Quintiliani, anthropology graduate student, captured second place for her study of "Cambodian American Male Homosexual Behaviors."

Ten of these students will represent CSULB at the Ninth Annual California State University Statewide Research Competition at Cal State San Bernadino on May 5 and 6.