Winners have been announced for California State University, Bakersfield's third annual Grad Slam competition on Dec. 3. The event featured 10 graduate students presenting on their current research findings as part of their graduate studies.
With its third event, the competition is cementing a research tradition and norms that will endure. The Grad Slam is made possible by a Title Vb grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Professor of Biology Dr. Anna Jacobsen and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Academic Programs Dr. Debra Jackson serve as the directors of the grant and both seek to increase graduate student enrollment, highlight innovative research that is conducted on our campus and inform our service region and beyond about our 20 welcoming graduate programs, in both STEM and other disciplines.
“Graduate research is an investment in the education of our students — requiring time, resources, effort, and know-how — that contributes to the advancement of science and just as important, to applications that benefit us all,” said Interim Associate Dean of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies Dr. Luis Vega. “Our student researchers examined the nature of poison, coloring, and adaptation in self-protection of several species such newts, snakes, scorpions; environmental consequences due to plastic use and contamination; the role of wild fires’ impacts on bats and our eco-systems; the effects of COVID-19 in our first responders and health providers, and attrition in the professoriate due to the pandemic.”
Autumn Corrow was awarded first place in the competition for her presentation titled “The effects of fire on bat activity in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park.” Her research mentor is Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Anna Doty.
“My study examines how structural habitat changes due to fire affects the activity pattern of forest-dwelling bats and I seek to understand how bats are adapting to fires which can encourage appropriate habitat management and conservation efforts," Corrow said. "I was fortunate to work alongside Dr. Doty this summer, conducting field research that will prepare me to work as a wildlife biologist for a government agency when I finish graduate school.”
Isabella Ozuna placed second in the competition. Her presentation was titled “Flashy fluorescence” and involved an investigation of the adaptive functions and roles that glow and color in some species serves.
“Understanding biofluorescence may help us understand how [biofluorescent species] reproduce and find mates or protect themselves from predation, which may help us better understand how to protect their habitats,” she said.
Ozuna’s research adviser is Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Amber Stokes.
Corrow will represent CSUB at the Western Association of Graduate Schools' (WAGS) sixth annual 3MT competition on March 23, 2022, which will be held virtually from Denver, Colorado. Ozuna will join Corrow to also represent the university in the statewide Grad Slam next spring, where 22 of the 23 CSU campuses will participate.
Out of the 10 student participants in this year’s CSUB Grad Slam, eight received scholarships as part of the Graduate Student-Faculty Collaborative Initiative (GSFCI), led by Dr. Jacobsen.
"The GSFCI aims for students to submit their research for publication with the Competition highlighting the steps of the process,” she said.
Dr. Jackson started the Grad Slam Competition at CSUB and continues to see to its expansion by now serving as a council officer in WAGS. Competitors were separated by the small margins, attesting to the quality of their research.
Presentations were rated by a distinguished panel of judges, which included Hall of Fame alumni inductees who continue their endless commitment of service to our campus: Raji Brar, Sheryl Chalupa, Terri Church and Bakersfield Attorney Dennis Beaver, who is a writer for a nationally syndicated newspaper column and is a fervent supporter of CSUB and our students.
For more information about the Grad Slam and other events put on by the Graduate Student Center, visit csub.edu/graduatestudentcenter.
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