Profiles

Major: Environmental/ Aerospace Engineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Navid Nakhjiri

School: Citrus College

CJ is currently studying at Citrus College and will be transferring to Cal Poly Pomona as an Environmental Engineering major. CJ is a proud 33-year-old transfer student that is excited to be transferring to her dream school.  The STARS program has allowed CJ to fully immerse herself in her research project. This opportunity allowed CJ to gain experience in a field she was passionate about and gave her clarity about her future goals. The research program STARS is filled with advisors and associates that are passionate about helping others and supportive of students’ advancement.

With the direction of her faculty advisor, Dr. Yong Gan, CJ researched crude oil absorption through various biomasses. For this project, CJ was able to perform my experiments from home and gather data in a way that felt like it was on her own time and under her own specs. CJ feels that understanding the methods of the experiment allows her to choose which samples to move forward her experiment with.  CJ was grateful to be able to achieve promising results that further her desire to continue future research.

To the students looking to join the STARS program, CJ would say: “Being a returning student, I found myself at the end of my Citrus College career still unsure about what I wanted to do in school. With a few ideas and the support of my mentor, I was allowed to find what I found made me happy and what my passion was. I plan on changing my major from environmental engineering to aerospace engineering. I have found encouragement from my community and the STARS program to pursue my big dreams, and I'm shooting for the stars.”

CJ’s motivation for this research project came from her longtime interest in participating in an environmental project where she can make a difference in the world. This research project is a perfect match and allows her to realize that she can make a difference by putting her ideas out and trying new things.

CJ has acquired a great set of skills over the past few weeks during her research project that is transferable to her educational goals. Those skills include reaching out to an advisor, setting expectations for data collection and creating a timeline. CJ has refined her research and article selection skills to help her push her project forward.  

After participation in the STARS program, CJ feels inspired to continue doing research. For her, it has been an exciting and rewarding experience and she would like to continue finding more ways to be involved in research, which includes attending graduate school.

CJ would like to continue her participation in this project throughout the years and wants to make it her senior project. She is invested in seeing this research published in articles.

When CJ recounts her time during the STARS program she says “Everyone should be allowed the opportunity to tinker with new ideas and projects because it is truly inspiring. I would like to thank the SURE/STARS program and the staff involved for not only helping me but countless others, find their passion.” 

Advice to Students

Communicate when you're unsure about anything or what to do. Ask questions about expectations and how you could assist in the development of the project and don't be afraid to assert your ideas. I would also say do not be discouraged about not getting in if you apply once. Try and try again. I wasn't admitted the first time I applied to the SURE program and now I can't imagine my life without having tried.

“By participating in the STARS program, I was able to improve my skills in using solid works” 

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kevin Anderson

School: Cal Poly Pomona

Eric is a first-generation college student who was born in Indonesia. The experience that he has had in the STARS program has been positive and he is learning many lessons along the way. Currently Eric is working on a project with Dr. Kevin Anderson creating systems that can capture methane from animal waste to use as fuel for farmers in developing countries. What inspired him to become involved in this research project was the experience he would gain with working in a laboratory setting. So far, he has not encountered any struggles during his time in the program and he feels more comfortable engaging in future research projects. Some of the skills that Eric has gained in this program are the ability to use Solidworks. Solidworks is a solid modeling computer aided engineering application. This skill will be useful in his future working in the energy industry.

Advice to Students

Advice that he would give undergraduates seeking research opportunities is to “Keep your eyes open for any opportunities that can be beneficial for your goals” - Eric commented.

Major: Computer Information Systems

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Honggang Wang

 School: Cal Poly Pomona

Jose is a Computer Science major here at Cal Poly Pomona. He describes the Student STARS program as a supportive environment where he was able to get immediate and thorough feedback from the Office of Undergraduate Research team. He appreciates the way that the STARS program set him up for success, despite the short 8-week summer program timeline.

Jose’s research project with his faculty mentor Dr. Honggang Wang is about conducting a comprehensive literature review on autonomous driving technologies, and their economic and environmental impacts. They aim to build and demonstrate efficient 3D object detection developed with deep learning Python packages. In his project, Jose will collect and analyze real-life image datasets from industries such as Lyft or Baidu.

To students looking to join the STARS program, Jose says: “I would highly recommend the SURE/STAR program to my friends, acquaintances, ex-roommates, and anyone that maybe taking classes and has any interest in simply getting familiar with how to go about researching a subject in an objective and systematic fashion.”

Jose’s motivation for this research project came from his long-term interest in researching Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The research that Jose is conducting includes the application of deep learning models to various images, which are collected as a part of Alzheimer’s research. He has found that object detection for autonomous driving or mental degeneration can be applied to further knowledge that would otherwise be labor intensive and time prohibitive.  

Although Jose had some previous experiences in his past projects with machine learning, in this project he had to learn a new technique known as deep learning to move forward with his project. Jose struggled at the beginning of this project to get acclimated to the process of deep learning (DL). He was able to tackle his struggles with the literature review, which was the most useful tool to help him become more comfortable with deep learning methods. Jose says that the best way to overcome challenges in research projects is to lean into them.

The most valuable skill Jose has gained this summer has been to not be discouraged by the large volumes of information, and how to comb through it, extracting the information needed for the project.

After Jose’s participation in the STARS program, he feels more confident continuing his research journey. “There is nothing to lose, and everything to gain by participating in the program.”, he adds.

As mentioned previously, the deep learning techniques that Jose learned, can carry over into AD research by applying object detection or image classification, facilitating scientist, clinicians, and researchers with high volumes of data that would otherwise be labor prohibitive.

Advice to Students

“An overall goal of mine is to work in the biotechnology industry for R&D. Looking at people who I aspire to be on LinkedIn, I became inspired to conduct research under this project because I wanted to expose myself to biochemistry environment.”

Major: Chemical Engineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gregory Barding

School: Cal Poly Pomona

Being a first-generation college student made Juliana Lopez appreciate her access to educational opportunities. One of the opportunities that she took advantage of was the STARS (Success and Transfer Articulation through Research and Support) Research Experience for Undergraduates. In this program she was exposed to different techniques and phrases that were outside her comfort zone as a chemical engineer performing environmental research. Through the help of her advisor and her research group peers, Juliana was able to gain gratification in conducting research.

Along with her studies to become a chemical engineer, Juliana was ambitious and picked up a minor in materials engineering as well. The skills she is learning on her educational journey will help her to achieve her goal of merging into the biotechnology/biopharma industry as a graduate chemical engineer.

In her first project Juliana worked with Professor Gregory Barding on Metabolic Profiling on Transgenic Strains of Rice for the chemistry/ biochemistry department at Cal Poly Pomona. Together, her research group worked on analyzing the natural sugars and amino acids that are produced at different lengths and times of plant submergence. Through her research experience she has learned how to perform data analysis through NMR and how to use analytical chemistry equipment involving gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS).

“I believe that having a biochemistry background in data analytics and laboratory experience can help me excel on that path to biochemical engineering” stated Juliana.

Through her involvement in the STARS research programs and events, Juliana has gained confidence in her scientific literacy and research skills. Along with these new skills that she has accomplished she has also learned patience and organizational skills. Juliana learned these skills through assessing data and keeping records of the experiments and results that she is conducting and gathering.

“With the skills I’ve learned in the lab and with the STARS research program workshops, I believe I will be equipped to perform better on future research projects/jobs to come” added Juliana.

Advice to Students

“Always asking questions to your authorities and seeking help is the best way to get a better understanding of what you expected of.” Conducting research can be a rewarding experience while broadening the skills you can use in everyday life. Juliana would like incoming students to know that although it is intimidating at first, persevere and do not be afraid to ask for help.

Major: Computer Engineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yu Sun

School: Cal Poly Pomona

Kyler Martinez is from Shafter California and is studying computer engineering. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, painting, and 3D printing. His experience in the STARS program has been beneficial and he enjoys working with his peers and faculty while having the opportunity to work on a practical research project throughout the school year. The research project that Kyler is contributing to is using augmented reality to solve product identification and education. For identification, he has been working on a program that searches through current supported items and then returns general information about the item and stores that carry it. For education, he is working on an AR flashcard system that comes with lessons about programming.

What inspired Kyler to join the STARS program was his professor who mentioned it last semester. He thought it would be a good opportunity to conduct research and put himself into unknown territory. He believes that this experience would help propel him towards working with the Unity Engine. Some of the struggles that Kyler came up on was being able to relate the design of his applications and working on how to reduce the work of the program. One other difficulty Kyler has come across was drafting the report for the project because he has not had previous experience. The way he overcame these problems was attending the workshop and asking his faculty and peers for help.

The skills that Kyler has gained from this program are adapting to unknown technologies. Gaining experience with different technological equipment he has no experience with will help him in his future in computer engineering. Kyler has also strengthened his research skills by utilizing the library's various resources to find peer-reviewed journals and other sources. Not only have these skills helped him with his research but he has also used these skills in his other classes. He now feels confident in engaging in future research projects and knows how to make future projects more efficient and effective.

This opportunity has helped prepare Kyler for his senior design project and has helped finalize his decision for attending graduate school.

Advice to Students

The advice that he would give to undergraduates seeking research opportunities is to “be ready for new experiences, it is different from what you may have done in your studies so far, but it is an overall great experience.”

“The STARS program has given me confidence to participate in future projects where I can utilize the skills I've learned to optimize future research opportunities”

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rick Mascheck

School: Mt. San Antonio College

Major: Aerospace Engineering

Michelle is an Latinx, queer student who is from La Puente, California. She comes from a Mexican Immigrant household and is the first person in her family to go to college for a STEM related field. Currently she is working on obtaining her bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering. Michelle mentioned that in the stars program she enjoys being surrounded by individuals who are driven to learn more about rocket science and to work out their communication skills as a group in a research setting. She mentions that the remarkable thing about being in a group is the ability to learn from each other's mistakes and having the experience of working with another person besides yourself.

“Dr.Maschek has given me the freedom to learn and make mistakes while guiding me in the right direction when needed” Michelle added.

 The project that Michelle is currently working on is testing solid fuels made of natural ingredients that produce little by products or toxic emissions when combusted. Through her research she is learning how to cast propellant grains, fabricating rockets, and increasing her knowledge in laboratory techniques. What motivated Michelle to become involved in this research project was Dr.Rick Maschek and Martin Mason, through their constant encouragement and STARS providing a research project that is related to rocketry, it was the perfect opportunity for her to gain the hands-on experience she needs.

Michelle has gained enough confidence to continue her interest in future research projects. This project will give her the skillsets she needs to optimize future research opportunities. “These are important as I plan on being involved in the rocket/space field when I enter the engineering workforce” she stated. The research she has worked on connects with her future to work on sustainable fuel production as well as work on preventing rocket launch failure related to energy.

Advice to Students

Michelle wants undergraduates seeking research opportunities to know that it is okay and do not be afraid to ask questions. “Having a question during your research is exciting. As long as you place your energy into understanding the work, you will have a great time learning and gaining experience through your project” Michelle expressed. She also emphasized that working in a group will help to monitor your progress and would advise individuals in research to work on their organizational skills and time management.

“I think this research improves my knowledge of chemistry, which is more helpful for me to study more in chem field.”

Major: Biology Major

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Adaickapillai Mahendran

School: Mt. San Antonio College

Han moved here from Vietnam 3 years ago. Upon entering the STARS program, she was able to apply the skills that she learned in class in a laboratory setting. The research project that she is assisting Dr. Mahendran on is focusing on the two problems in the anti-cancer drug industry: toxicity and non-selectivity. She mentions that she enjoys this project because “the mechanism of the project is amazing!” Han enjoyed conducting experiments and this particularly gave her the tools she needed to work with chemical substances to conduct chemical experiments.

The skills she gained within the STARS program helped to improve her knowledge of chemistry. Learning about the process of conducting chemical experiments and how to conduct substance analysis, for example NMR and IR, would help to further her educational journey in STEM.

Advice to Students

Her advice for undergraduates seeking research opportunities is that “The happiness of doing research lasts longer than any other activities.”

“ My experience with the STARS program has been very rewarding in terms of my academic goals."

Major: Computer Science

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rick Maschek

School: Mt. San Antonio College

Wessal Aman's parents migrated from Afghanistan, so he is the first in his family to be born in America and is a first-generation college student. The research that he is currently conducting under Dr. Maschek is focused on environmental sustainability and the potential performance enhancements with solid propellant rocket motors. Their goal through this research is to obtain the best environmentally sound propellant that can one day replace the harmful solid propellants widely used today.

What motivated Wessel to become involved in this research project was his curiosity with aerospace and rocketry. He has been working with the Mt. San Antonio College rocket team during his academic journey and the STARS program was the perfect opportunity to implement his experience and expertise in aerospace and rocketry field. Some of the struggles that Wessel has faced while conducting research was the ability to work with team members who were not experienced in this field. The way he got around that was working with his advisor to make aerospace and rocketry field more digestible for his team members. He figured this would help excel his team forward in their research.

The skills that Wessal has gained in this program are communication, leadership, time management, and organizing documentation. He feels confident in future research opportunities and sees the work his has performed pairing well with his academic and professional career.

Advice to Students

Wessal advises undergraduates seeking research opportunities to “come in with an open mind and over time come up with questions that you may ask later to satisfy your curiosity.”