Office of Research and Development

The Annual Cal State L.A. Student Symposium on Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity is held each year to highlight student accomplishments and to provide a local forum for our students to gain experience in delivering presentations before an audience.   The event is sponsored by ORAD, the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs - UAS, and the Gamma Epsilon Chapter of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.

The 2010 Symposium, held February 26, 2010 at Cal State L.A., featured almost 100 presentations, from a wide range of disciplines.  The presentations were evaluated by judges, and awards made to presenters in both oral and poster sessions.  From the oral sessions, ten presentations were selected to represent Cal State L.A. in the Statewide 2010 CSU Student Research Competition, to be held April 30 - May 1 at San Jose State University.  In addition, one presentation, deemed to be the most outstanding presentation of the Symposium, was selected for the Student Travel Award, generously sponsored by the Gamma Epsilon Chapter of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. 

This year, the Student Travel Award was presented to Natalie A. Sandoval for her presentation titled, Novel Putative Function of the Host Defense Protein PLUNC: Carrier of Antimicrobial Cholesteryl Esters in Respiratory Epithelial Secretions.  Ms. Sandoval is a graduate student in the Biology master's degree program, and is mentored by Dr. Edith Porter, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.