Seven undergraduate and graduate science students from California State University, Dominguez Hills gained valuable experience participating along with 1,700 undergraduate students, and 400 graduate students and postdoctoral scientists from more than 350 colleges and universities nationwide at the 2012 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) held at the San Jose Convention Center in November. The four-day professional conference, now in its 12th year, is the largest for biomedical and behavioral sciences, attracting more than 3,000 participants–including students, faculty and administrators–and is aimed at encouraging underrepresented minority students to ... Read More
Research
The Bittersweet Truth about Chocolate
Criollo, forastero, trinitario. Varietals with fruity or woody notes. These aren't wine terms, but rather those regarding cacao–the raw form of chocolate. Cacao (cocoa), one of the world's largest soft commodities, is largely produced under complex if not controversial circumstances. The details were served to about 150 California State University, Dominguez Hills students, faculty, and staff during a lecture and chocolate tasting held in the Loker Student Union on Nov. 20. Guests tested their taste buds as they sampled various grades and varieties of finished chocolate handed out on paper plates. The novice chocolate aficionados were provided clues and encouraged to identify the ... Read More
PEGS: Helping Graduate Students to Prepare for Thesis
Cleveland Goode made below-average grades as a University of Nebraska undergraduate student. But things improved dramatically years later in his graduate studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills with the help of the Promoting Excellence in Graduate Studies (PEGS) program. Now in the university's marital family therapy master's program, he has a 4.0 grade point average. “My writing abilities and the central tools that were needed, I didn't have them in undergrad. I was good at taking tests,” Goode revealed, adding that when he returned to school to pursue a graduate degree at age 51 he had some fears about the deficiencies in his academic writing skills. “[PEGS] was a really ... Read More
Health Science Students Present at National Conference
Students from the Division of Health Sciences at California State University, Dominguez Hills were among a select few undergraduates who presented their scholarly research alongside respected professionals, as well as doctoral and master's level students at the 140th American Public Health Association's (APHA) Annual Meeting held in San Francisco in October. “It's one of the largest conferences in the United States. It's also done at an international level, so there are usually a lot of international presenters. In the area of public health, and I would say in health in general, the American Public Health Association's Meeting is probably the largest in the U.S.,” said Enrique Ortega, ... Read More
Minority Students in Sciences Experience Their Future at National Conference
Eleven research students of the Minority Biomedical Research Support Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (MBRS RISE) and Minority Access to Research Careers-Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (MARC-USTAR) programs were given the opportunity to attend the largest gathering of minority scientists in the country and hear first-hand about current research in a variety of fields at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science's (SACNAS) 2012 National Conference in Seattle, Washington, in October. For biology major Carlos Alvarado (MBRS scholar), SACNAS turned out to be highly motivational. “As a new scholar in the MBRS-RISE program, the ... Read More
