Undergraduate Research

Opportunities Center

N e w s l e t t e r | F A L L 2026

Please join us in welcoming 3 new UROC Scholars and  3 new McNair Scholars to the current UROC Scholars cohort! These students took full advantage of the annual mid-cycle summer application  for eligible students engaged in summer research.

Welcome to the UROC family!

Baldock and Butler Scholars Awarded

Congratulations to McNair Scholar, Lily Myers, Marine Science, and UROC Scholar, Soren Maxfield-Sawada, Marine Science, on being named B&B Scholars in 2026!

Dr. Phil Butler and Ms. Barbara Baldock have been supporting UROC Scholars annually since 2011. The Barbara Baldock and Phillip Butler Scholarship (The B&B Scholarship) supports Scholars in their undergraduate research and graduate school application endeavors. Awards are based on academic achievement, undergraduate research interests, financial need, graduate school aspirations, and a commitment to serve the community through research, outreach, and service.

The 2027 application is live for eligible McNair and UROC Scholars. See application. Due November 10, 2026.

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2026 Summer Research Symposium

Special thanks to everyone who joined us for the 13th annual Summer Research Symposium in August: Over 140 students presented their research projects representing 8-10 weeks of faculty mentored summer research. Projects ranged from humanities, marine sciences, psychology, biology, agricultural and soil science, and education. Students gave both oral (16) and poster (132) research presentations. 

We were also proud to continue collaborations with several partners: Introductory College Apprentice Research Program with Gavilan, Hartnell, Los Angeles Valley College, Monterey Peninsula College, Climate Adaptation & Resilience Fellowship Program, CSUMB Monterey Marine Research Scholars, NIH Genome Research Experiences to Attract Talented Undergraduates into the Genomics Field to Enhance Diversity Scholars Program, MPC STEM Work-based Internships and Work Experience Programs, and School of Computing and Design Scholarship Program, and the CSUMB Water Agriculture Technology and Remote Sensing (WATRS) Lab.

Students participating in the research poster gallery were all evaluated by a diverse group of judges for an opportunity to earn an Outstanding Research Poster Award. Congratulations to the 10 winners!

• Reece Lawlor, Charlie Ohlund, Presence of Digenean Trematode Parasites in Littorina Snails 
• Kasak Deep Kaur, The Gap Between Law on Paper and Law in Practice: Examining Unequal Experiences of Law 
• Rylee Jue, The Political Ecology of Monterey Bay's Golf Courses: An Intersectional Analysis of Tourism, Politics, and the Environment 
• Maxwell Olliver, Jeffrey Boggs, Joshua Torres Cerpas, Designing and Evaluating Robotic Boom Sprayer Configurations for Agricultural Pesticide Application 
• Violeta Dentinger, Yotam Nahir Konigstein, Are Skew Schur These Functions are Equal? 
• Owen Papegaay, A First Assessment of Microplastic Contamination in Eastern North Pacific Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) Digestive Systems 
• Isabella Chan, Optimizing RNA Quality from the Scleractinian Coral Pavona clavus via Secondary Column Purification 
• Pablo Cueto, Optimization of Brain Cortical Organoid Culture Conditions Across Human iPSC Cell Lines 
• Soren Maxfield-Sawada, Temporal Variability in Commercial Fisheries Catch Composition and Implications for Seafood Sustainability Assessments 
• Dalton Garcia, Population Structure and Local Adaptation in California Current Brown Rockfish     

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CSU Pre-Doctoral Sally Casanova Scholar and

Health Award Provost Luncheon

CSUMB Provost's Luncheon attendees

CSUMB celebrated the newly awarded cohort of 7 Scholars at the CSUMB Provost’s Luncheon on September 15 with college deans, chairs, faculty mentors and Provost Andrew Lawson. Each Scholar received $5,000 to support specific research and community health-based initiatives (i.e., research supplies and visits to doctoral-granting institutions) with an option to apply for one summer research experience after the scholar graduates. This year marks the first cohort of Health Professions Scholars awarded at CSUMB.

Sally Casanova Scholars

• Rogelio Ahumada, Psychology; Dr. Renee Penalver
• Navid Amarlou, Psychology; Dr. Mrinal Sinha
• Jordan Pilcher, Marine Science; Dr. Liz Alter
• Andrea Tamayo, Psychology; Dr. Shannon Snapp

Health Professions Scholars 

• Eli Katosic, Psychology; Dr. Jennifer Lovell
• Aileen Sandoval, Social Work; Dr. Nereida Robles Vasquez
• Jennifer Aquino, Social Work; Dr. Renie Rondon-Jackson

Funded by the California Lottery, this year's scholars represent both graduate and undergraduate students. The California Pre-Doctoral Program, is one arm of the Future Faculty Program with a goal to increase the diversity of the pool of newly minted Ph.D. 's from which the CSU draws its faculty while the Health Professions Scholars Initiative (HPSI) guides California State University (CSU) students toward graduate education in the health professions by fostering mentorship, applied research, and community-focused scholarship.

Interested in learning more about this scholarship–or the Health Professions Scholars pathway? Pop into an lunch-time information session to grab some food and find out about the scholarship. Check out MyRaft to sign up. The 2027-28 scholarship application cycle opens December 2, 2026.

• California Pre Doctoral Program
• Health Professions Scholars Initiative

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Bay Area Koret Scholars Program: Renewed

UROC is thrilled to share that the Koret Scholars program will continue for another three years! Thanks to a generous grant from the Bay Area Koret Foundation, the Koret Scholars program offers CSUMB undergraduates an opportunity to be engaged in robust faculty-mentored research, with a goal to disseminate research at regional and national conferences as well as develop a digital portfolio that showcases career and graduate school goals. The program completes its 5th year of funding social-sciences undergraduate research and this new continued funding will now additionally support STEM undergraduate researchers, widening the opportunities for mathematics, marine sciences, and engineering researchers to be represented in the Koret Scholars program. 

Since its inception, nearly 60 students have participated in the program, all of whom have presented at the Research, Scholarship, and Create Activity Spring Showcase and the Summer Research Symposium, as well as regional and national conferences. In addition, with the emphasis on graduate school preparation and ePortfolio design many Koret Scholars have continued on to graduate studies: 

• Ivet Machuca, Class of 2025, Master of Social Work, CSU Monterey Bay
• Jacqueline Schmidt, Class of 2025, Master in Neuroscience, John Hopkins University
• Kiwi Cervantes, Class of 2025, Master of Science in Kinesiology, San Francisco State University
• Autumn Day, Class of 2024, Master’s in Psychology, San Diego State University
• Madi Loewen, Class of 2024, Master’s of Legal and Forensic Psychology, UC Irvine
• Devon McCauley, Class of 2023, Master of Library and Information Science, San José State University
• Monica Urias, Class of 2023, Ph.D. in Ecology, UC Davis
• Monica Gutierrez, Master’s in School Psychology, CSU Monterey Bay
• Korina McKinley, Class of 2022, Master of Social Work, CSU Monterey Bay - GRADUATED! 
• Hana Jacinto, Class of 2022, Master of Arts Teaching Asian Languages, UC Los Angeles
• Meg Dearie, Class of 2022, Ph.D. in Social Psychology, New Mexico State University
• Priscilla Amao, Class of 2022, Master of Social Work, CSU Monterey Bay - GRADUATED!
• Melissa-Ann Lagunas, Class of 2021, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Seattle Pacific University -- GRADUATED!
• Claudia Rocha, Class of 2021, Master’s in School Psychology, CSU Monterey Bay

Thank you to the Bay Area Koret Foundation for your continued support of undergraduate research!

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UROC Conference Travel Fun

UROC is proud to be able to provide students with opportunities to present research across the country. By attending disciplinary conferences, students have the opportunity to not only disseminate research findings, but to network with field and academic experts, participate in professional development workshops, and explore new environments. Check out some of the conferences UROC students have participated in just this year!

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12th Annual Fall Research Competition

Join us for the 12th Annual Fall Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Competition on Thursday, November 12th, from 2:30-6pm at the Alumni & Visitors Center. 10 students from across the disciplines will be participating. Presentations will be evaluated by a panel of judges with diverse expertise and backgrounds. We hope to see you there!

Juan Barkley, Environmental Studies

• Project Title: Transcending Environmental Education: An Educational Model Guiding the Cooperation Between Indigenous Wisdom and Empirical/Western Sciences
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Derr

Naomi Ybarra, Psychology

• Project Title: Employer Valued Skills in New Collegiate Hires
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Dyer-Seymour

Karissa Gralnick, Psychology

• Project Title: Student Perceptions of the Competencies Desired by Potential Employers in 2026
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Dyer-Seymour

Jacob Banducci & Shannyn Cabi, Computer Science

• Project Title: Revisiting the Evaluation of Ambiguous Reasoning in AI: An Empirical Study of Trust and Accuracy in Complex Estimation Problems
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dongji Feng

Emily Chandler & Jaylin Van Guilder, Psychology

• Project Title: Differences in Decision-Making Regarding Sentencing Outcomes for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Danielle Burchett

Elizabeth Schmidt, Human Development and Family Science

• Project Title: My robot is broken! Preschoolers Response and Revision Pathways When Encountering Challenges in Robotics Curriculum
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tess Shirefley

Andres Arturo Ramirez, Agricultural Plant and Soil Sciences

• Project Title: Evaluation of Pythium Wilt in Lettuce Breeding Accessions with Contrasting INSV Responses
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. JP Dundore-Arias

Luca Gonzalez-Bustos, Biology

• Project Title: Expression and purification of Shelterin TRF1-core complex using the baculovirus expression system to study telomere structure and function
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nathaniel Jue

Cesar Ojeda, Kinesiology

• Project Title: Fatty Acid Composition of Spodoptera frugiperda to Investigate CPT II Deficiency
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Steven Machek

Uma Vij, Psychology

• Project Title: High estrogen levels, stress, and age-related memory problems: the role of microglia and astrocytes
• Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jill Yamashita