SAGE
Camarillo, Calif., April 29, 2016 — The undergraduate research projects of more than 230 students will be open to the public on the CSU Channel Islands (CI) campus on Saturday, May 14 for the 8th Annual SAGE Student Research Conference.
There will be more than 140 projects on display from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 14 in CI’s John Spoor Broome Library at One University Drive.
Teams of students will display their research in several disciplines using 114 poster presentations, 32 oral presentations and one ceramic art display.
“It’s a celebration of student research, scholarship and creativity that has occurred under the guidance of a faculty mentor,” explained Jason Miller, Ph.D., Senior Research Officer at CI.
Among the 45 faculty mentors is Assistant Professor of Nursing LaSonya Davis-Smith, DNP, FNP, who oversaw a research project based on a “Photovoice” study conducted among low income residents in South Oxnard in 2015.
“We gave them a camera and said go out to your community and show us the barriers to active living and healthy living,” explained senior Nursing student Sergio Magdaleno. “For example, they can’t afford gym memberships and the parks don’t have equipment for physical activity. Also, they were having trouble reading labels.”
Davis-Smith said the research group, which was comprised of three Nursing students, one Biology student and one Spanish student, took the results of the 2015 Photovoice project and developed a six-week series of courses to help the participants of the Photovoice project pursue a healthy lifestyle.
They will be conducted in Spanish and English beginning May 6 at the Frances Huggins Community Health Clinic on South G Street.
“We cannot repair the sidewalks and we can’t install equipment in the parks but what we can’t do it show them how to read labels and how to implement physical activities without depending on gym memberships,” Magdaleno said. “We will include physical exercises like Zumba.”
Other research projects include research on whales and how they stay underwater for long periods of time, overseen by Biology Lecturer Rachel Cartwright, Ph.D., who conducted groundbreaking research on whales this year showing why whales breach, a mystery among marine scientists.
Student researcher Lila Marcial-Hernandez , 22, who will graduate in May with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry, said the SAGE project will be a variation on the studies she and other students helped Cartwright with by examining examples of whale muscle tissue in the laboratories at CI.
“Conducting undergraduate research has given me an opportunity to form a better relationship with my professor and made me less afraid of approaching my professors in a classroom setting,” Marcial-Hernandez said. “It’s often very intimidating to approach a professor. Also, it exposed me to research protocols I never would have learned in a classroom setting.”
One more event that makes the 8th Annual SAGE Research Conference unique will be a ceremony in which an honorary doctorate is awarded to Co-founder and Chair of SAGE Publications, Sara Miller McCune, whose company sponsors the SAGE Student Research Conference.
Limited parking is available on campus with the purchase of a $6 daily permit; follow signs to the parking permit dispensers. Free parking is available at the Camarillo Metrolink Station/Lewis Road with bus service to and from the campus. Riders should board the CI Vista Bus to the campus; the cash-only fare is $1.25 each way. Buses arrive and depart from the Camarillo Metrolink Station every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. For exact times, check the schedule at www.goventura.org.
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About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands(CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more by visiting CI's Social Media.