For the third year in a row, Cal Poly Pomona has been the leading participant at the Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research (SCCUR).

The 18th annual Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research, held Nov. 20 at Pepperdine University, drew more than 1,200 people, including 182 Cal Poly Pomona students and their faculty mentors.

Of the 42 institutions that participated, the top five in number of participants this were Cal Poly Pomona, Pepperdine University (139), Occidental College (108), CSU Channel Islands (79) and UCLA (67). Of the 250 oral presentations and 330 poster presentations, more than 12 percent of the presentations were by individual Cal Poly Pomona students or teams of students.

"Participating students gained experience from presenting their work in a professional setting and they had the opportunity to interact with students and faculty from other campuses who are doing research in similar fields," says Frank Ewers, professor and chair of the biological sciences department.

Participating departments include: aerospace engineering, animal science, apparel merchandising & management, biological sciences, chemical & materials engineering, chemistry, civil engineering, Collins College, electrical & computer engineering, engineering technology, ethnic & women's studies, geography & anthropology, geological sciences, history, mathematics & statistics, mechanical engineering, physics, and psychology & sociology.

"The wide participation shows the broad interdisciplinary nature of the SCCUR conference," Ewers says. "Cal Poly Pomona's leadership at the conference also demonstrates that the Teacher-Scholar model, with a synergistic integration of teaching and scholarship, is well ingrained at our institution."

The 2011 conference will be held Nov. 19 at Mt. SAC, the first time that this conference will be hosted by a community college. For more information about next year's conference, email Professor Iraj Nejad at INejad@MtSAC.edu.