Events at a Glance

BUILD and the Film & Electronic Arts Department

What happens when scientists and filmmakers join forces to improve the effectiveness of mentoring on campus? The result of this partnership is a film series that promotes inclusive mentoring while providing hands-on learning opportunities for film students. Dr. Kelly Young, a professor in Biological Sciences, works to promote positive mentoring of students as part of CSULB’s BUILD Initiative. With a goal to create a series of films promoting mentoring best practices, Kelly met with Anne D’Zmura, Chair of CSULB’s Film & Electronic Arts Department (FEA). Filmmaker and FEA Lecturer, Nick Oceano, was then brought onboard to bring this idea to life –enlisting the help of his FEA students, alumni and professional colleagues. Cinematographer and FEA Associate Professor, David Waldman and FEA Lecturer Rafael Nieto also joined in the filming and mentoring of students on set. Together the team created the episodes of the Beach Mentor Program which showcase faculty hosts and CSULB student stories.

Please join us as we share the Beach Mentor Program story. See sneak preview clips of the films, check out backstage photos of the process, participate in Q&A with recent alums and professors, and hear how a collaboration between scientists and artists yielded exciting results.

Team Leads: 

  • Film & Electronic Arts Department
    • Sarah Len, Community Engagement Specialist
    • Anne D'Zmura, Chair
  • Department of Biological Sciences
    • Kelly Young, Professor

For more information on event collaborators:

Playwrights, Trans Rights, and LGBTQ Fights for Justice: Engaging LGBTQIA Research

Please join us for research presentations and a panel discussion surrounding LGBTQIA+-related issues and scholarship. This session is sponsored by the Committee on LGBTIQ+ Campus Climate—a subcommittee of the larger CSULB Campus Climate Committee. 

Team Leads: 

  • Stacy Macias
  • Josh Palkki

College of Education Graduate Studies Office

The CSULB College of Education hosts this annual Graduate Student Research Colloquium every Spring. The Colloquium features our graduating students' scholarship, action research projects, theses, and research projects. It gives students an opportunity to showcase their valuable research, as well as an opportunity to invite family and friends to share in their accomplishments. The colloquium is a wonderful celebration of the exciting work that our students have done.

Team Leads: 

  • Graduate Studies Office
    • Mary Anne Rose, Director
    • Enika Tumanov, Student Support Specialist

For more information on event collaborators:

The 55th Annual Comparative Literature Conference: Outcasts and Outliers in Literature, Music, and Visual Arts

In this 55th iteration of the conference, our theme focuses on outliers in literature, music and visual arts, and has attracted scholars from 12 other countries and nine other states. The faculty on this panel represent a fantastic variety of approaches in how to think about people whose work has been marginalized and how to think about those works themselves. Dr. High examines German author Friedrich Schiller who despised the novella genre, even as his own novellas were wildly popular. Dr. Shafer takes a break from French history to pursue a personal passion in his paper, the career of indie rock musician and artist David Berman. Dr. Sharifi expands his research on the nexus of language and culture to explore Kurdish lamentations as embodiments of culture. Dr. Cooper co-wrote and produced a Netflix feature-length documentary on controversial Polish sculptor Szukalski. 

Team Leads: 

  • Kathryn Chew
  • Stephen Cooper
  • Jeffrey High
  • David Shafer
  • Amir Sharifi

Fiction Reading with MFA Creative Writing Students

Five English Department grad students will read and discuss their Master of Fine Arts theses.

Team Leads: 

  • Stephen Cooper

The CNSM Virtual Student Research Symposium is open to undergraduate and graduate participation. The research being presented at this event is from on-campus research and/or from summer research experiences performed at other universities. The symposium provides an opportunity for students to write abstracts, produce posters and presentations, present research findings, and engage in discussion with peers thereby bringing scientific and non-scientific communities together to share ideas and discoveries. Students, staff, faculty, administrators, and community members attend this event and enrich the experience of all participants.

Team Leads: 

  • College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
    • Krzysztof Slowinski, Associate Dean
    • Cynthia Alarcon, Program Coordinator
  • Department of Biological Sciences
    • Dessie Underwood, Chair
  • Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
    • Chris Brazier, Chair
  • Department of Physics & Astronomy
    • Andreas Bill, Chair
  • Department of Mathematics & Statistics
    • Will Murray, Chair

For more information on event collaborators:

This event will feature a wide-ranging array of content from within three departments (dance, design, and music) from the CSULB’s College of the Arts. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty will present thought-provoking research presentations and performances.

Team Leads: 

  • Music Department
    • Joshua Palkki, Assistant Professor
  • Design Department
    • Steve Boyer, Assistant Professor

For more information on event collaborators:

Graduate Studies Resource Center

The Graduate Research Conference at CSULB provides a forum for graduate students (master’s, credential, certificate, and doctoral) to showcase their scholarly work and their promise as future innovators, researchers, and academics. This cross-disciplinary event allows CSULB graduate students from all fields of study to present their research and receive valuable feedback from CSULB faculty.

The virtual Graduate Research Conference will feature roundtable discussions for students whose research projects are in the early stages of their research.

In addition to the conference, the GSRC will also host the Glad Slam Competition. This will be a campus-wide competition for the best short (no more than 3-minute) graduate student research presentation. A panel will judge the pre-recorded video presentations on comprehension, content, engagement, and oration. Successful Grad Slam presentations will engage a non-specialist audience while communicating key details about their research in three minutes or less.

Team Leads: 

  • Graduate Studies Resource Center
    • Bryan A. Rodriguez, Director
    • Sara Castro, Coordinator

For more information on event collaborators:

College of Health and Human Services

The College of Health & Human Services will host six poster presentation sessions:

  • Session: Social Justice—Social justice ideology requires students and faculty to uphold moral, legal, and humanistic principles. Teaching social justice demands action beyond classroom pedagogy. This session will focus on the opportunities and challenges of achieving social justice across the disciplines.
  • Session: Health Equity—This session focuses on health equity through the lens of social determinants of health such as the social, political, economic, health systems, and cultural conditions in which people live and work and the structural drivers of these conditions.
  • Session: Health & Wellness I—This session focuses on aspects of becoming and maintaining health from a whole-person perspective, including physical and mental wellness.
  • Session: Aging—Never before has the global population included as many older adults as it does today.  This session focuses on examining the broad spectrum of opportunities and challenges of the aging population and the role of students and faculty in advancing research and practice for healthy aging.
  • Session: Health & Wellness II—This session focuses on aspects of becoming and maintaining health from a whole-person perspective, including physical and mental wellness.
  • Session: Clinical Practice—This session focuses on research and training, including professional work in a variety of environments of patient care, across the disciplines.

Team Leads: 

  • Faculty Affairs and Research
    • Grace Reynolds-Fisher, Associate Dean

For more information on event collaborators:

Feminist Theatre Makers, Department of Theatre Arts

Inspired by Anna Deavere Smith’s verbatim theatre work, the Feminist Theatre Makers perform monologues based on interviews with loved ones about experiences of voting and civic engagement (or lack thereof). In a later discussion, recorded after the attempted siege of the Capitol in early 2021, the group asks themselves: What is democracy? Does the United States fit that description? What does civic engagement mean in a country that has failed to live up to its democratic promise of “liberty and justice for all”? In asking ourselves, we reveal our doubts, fears, vulnerabilities, and contradictions. We ask our audience to join us in grappling with these questions as we enter the Biden administration, knowing we cannot go back to “brunch” while the nation burns.

Team Leads: 

  • Feminist Theatre Makers
    • Ray Post
    • Rory Smith
    • Eileen Hope Tran
    • Mattie Limas
    • Rhiannon Lewis
    • Britney Gomez-Landeros

For more information on event collaborators:

Psychology Department

The Psych Day Research Competition is an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to present their research projects in poster format. The competition showcases research from a variety of psychology disciplines including developmental, cognitive, clinical, industrial/organizational, social, and human factors. Presenters will be available for a live Q&A session and prerecorded presentations of the posters will be available online. Prizes will be available, including awards for both graduates and undergraduates.

Team Leads: 

  • Psychology Department
    • Nicholas Alt, Assistant Professor
  • Psychology Student Association PSI CHI
    • Ryan Stair
    • Cassidy McCoy

For more information on event collaborators:

Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program

The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) is a one-year program that offers first and second-year students the chance to participate in the research and creative process with CSULB faculty. Students attend a one-unit research seminar (UNIV 296) during the Fall semester to learn about: research methods, research ethics, cutting-edge research, skill-building topics. During the Spring semester, students enroll in an advanced research seminar (UNIV 297) that focuses on supporting successful research placements, career exploration, and major preparation and success. UROP participants work up to 12 hours per week with their CSULB Faculty Research sponsors across all colleges.

Team Leads: 

  • Office of Undergraduate Research Services
    • Elyzza M. Aparicio, Associate Director
    • Saron Shiferaw, Program Coordinator

For more information on event collaborators:

CSULB Libraries

The University Library offers access to over 300 databases, holding millions of pages of journals, eBooks, and other media that cover all of CSULB’s disciplines. The Library also has hundreds of thousands of books on contemporary research, as well as thousands of hours of streaming media. While using Google and Google Scholar to do your research can seem convenient, the ability to search in-depth and in scope is increased tremendously by using the millions of dollars of resources funded by 5% of your tuition, as well as university and state support.

Visit the University Library Session for an overview and Q&A with Dr. Alexis Pavenick, Librarian for the English Department, Comparative World Literature and Classics Programs, George Martinez, Student Services Librarian, and Michelle DeMars, Health Sciences Librarian. We’re going to discuss and answer questions about what your Library has to offer you. Learn how to never pay for an article, how to limit to peer-reviewed items only, and how to get help from librarians who specialize in your field of study. Our session is your window into all of the sources you need for your RSCA. The Library and your Librarians are here to help your research flourish and shine.

Team Leads: 

  • University Library
    • Alexis Pavenick, Librarian (English, Comparative Literature, Classics | Research & Instruction)

For more information on event collaborators: