2026 Spring STEM-NET Edison Student Research Virtual Symposium

The STEM-NET Edison Student Research Scholarship funds an undergraduate student to collaborate with a CSU STEM faculty member on a research project during the Spring 2026 semester. The findings from these research projects will be presented at the Edison Student Research Virtual Symposium on May 8, 2026, at 9 a.m.

This year’s symposium features six research tracks, each categorized by discipline. The event will be hosted virtually via Zoom, where each student will have a designated breakout room. Attendees can join the main Zoom session and select the breakout room corresponding to the research presentation they wish to attend.

NOTE: Students have 10 minutes to present and 5 minute Q&A.

Welcome Session	Time	Description
Welcome and Introduction	9:00 to 9:05 a.m.	Dr. Frank A. Gomez, CSU Office of the Chancellor, Executive Director, STEM-NET

Session Name	Time	Description
Track 1 Health, Nursing, and Neuroscience	9:06 to 9:21 a.m.	Camila Valdez California State University, Dominguez Hills Clinical Science Presentation Title: Leukemia in Living Color Isamar Naranjo California State University Channel Islands Nursing Presentation Title: Student Self-Efficacy and the Dedicated Education Unit Teresa Castro California State University, San Bernardino Biopsychology Presentation Title: How Does the Brain Process Familiar and Unfamiliar Faces
Break	9:21 to 9:26 a.m.
Track 2 Biology, Biotechnology, and Biomedical Research	9:27 to 9:42 a.m.	Riley Thorne California State University Channel Islands Biology Presentation Title: Trehalose as a Molecular Protectant in Desiccation Tolerance Victoria Enciso California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Biotechnology Presentation Title: Assessing Double Insertion Loop Engineering of Blood-Brain Barrier Penetrating AAV Capsids with Implications for Brain Gene Therapy Anna Le California State University Channel Islands Biology Presentation Title: Evaluating alvespimycin as a potential senolytic agent in the planarian Dugesia dorotocephala Leslie Suarez California State University Channel Islands Biology Presentation Title: Characterizing mechanisms associated with olfactory behavior: Does smell and reproduction interact?
Break	9:42 to 9:47 a.m.
Track 3 Environmental, Ecological, and Sustainability Research	9:47 to 10:02 a.m.	Sophia D. Meza California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Environmental Biology Presentation Title: Using LiDAR to analyze habitat structure of wild parrots in an urban landscape Savanna Gallegos California State University, Fullerton Biology (Cell and Development) Presentation Title: Wildfire Burn Severity Effects on Soil Nutrients and Vegetation Recovery at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve
Break	10:02 to 10:07 a.m.
Track 4 Computer Science, AI, and Smart Systems	10:07 to 10:22a.m.	Photo coming soon Christian Ruelas California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Computer Engineering Presentation Title: Board Comparing and Flight Software for a Self-Guided Hihi Altitude Rocket with Runtime Failsafe Monitoring Joel Castro California State University, Dominguez Hills Computer Science Presentation Title: On the Convergence and Vulnerabilities of Ant-Q Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Jenny Phan California State University, Fullerton Computer Science Presentation Title: Implementation of a Smart Cooking Assistant for Supportive Housing Aaron Rivera California State University, Fullerton Computer Science Presentation Title: A Statistical Analysis of Bias in Online Professor Ratings
Break	10:22 to 10:27 a.m.
Track 5 Engineering, Robotics, and Applied Technology	10:27 to 10:42 a.m.	Angela Camacho Sixto California State University, Fullerton Civil Engineering Presentation Title: Reinforcing the Future Infrastructure with Zeolite- Infused High- Performance Concrete and Advanced Predictive Corrosion Modeling Liomartin Aragon California State University, Los Angeles Civil Engineering Presentation Title: A Critical Qualitative Study of Undergraduate Student Near-Peer Engineering Instruction Dylan Andrew Marinas California State University, Dominguez Hills Physics Presentation Title: Development of an Autonomous Mobile Robot for Climate Pollution Monitoring and Water Quality Testing Johnny Qiu California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Electromechanical Systems Engineering Technology Presentation Title: Design and Implementation of a High-Accuracy Gimbal System for Motion Tracking in Multi-Agent Quantum Communication Jennifer Collazo Fajardo California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Computer Engineering Presentation Title: BroncoVerse: Virtual Reality Simulation of the Digital Logic Lab
Break	10:42 a.m. to 10:47 a.m.
Track 6 Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, and Modeling	10:47 a.m. to 11:02 a.m.	Gage Lopez White California State University Channel Islands Mathematics with Applied Mathematics Concentration Presentation Title: Reservoir-Theoretic Network Representation of Nonlocal Damage Dynamics Aram Sahinyan California State University, Los Angeles Chemistry Presentation Title: Controlled Drug Release from PEGylated Zr-MOFs Courtney Vu California State University, Los Angeles Mechanical Engineering Presentation Title: Infrared Cross-Section Spectrum of Greenhouse Gas HFE-347pcf2 Guadalupe Alonso-Aguilar California State University, Dominguez Hills Biophysics Presentation Title: Investigating the Impact of Electrical and Thermal Stress on Cancer and Normal Cell Lines
Break	11:02 to 11:12 a.m.
Social Gathering	11:12 to 12:25 p.m.	Student participation required
Closing Remarks	12:25 p.m.	Dr. Frank A. Gomez, Executive Director, STEM-NET