By Walter Ryce

The 9th annual Fall Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Competition took place Wednesday, Nov. 8, at California State University, Monterey Bay’s Alumni and Visitors Center. 

Eleven students presented summaries of their research topics before an audience and a panel of expert judges. The winners of the competition are as follows:   

• First Place: Alyssa Walter, Marine Science
  "A Fin-tastic Comprehensive Assessment and Classification of Mating Scars on Female Great White Sharks in the Northeastern Pacific"; faculty mentor: Associate Professor Alison Haupt, Department of Marine Science; research mentor: Assistant Professor Sal Jorgensen, Department of Marine Science

• Second Place: Connor Quiroz, Environmental Science, Technology, and Policy
  "The California Red-Legged Frog R. draytonii Habitat: Defining and Predicting their Current and Future Ranges”; faculty mentor: Associate Professor John Olson, Department of Applied Environmental Science

• Third Place: Sarina Regis and Katelyn Huie, Biology
  "Trend identification of X-ray diffraction peaks of historic bullet casings from Fort Ord, CA"; faculty mentor: Lecturer McKenzie Floyd, Department of Biology and Chemistry

The campus competition is organized by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center (UROC) and modeled after the statewide California State University Student Research Competition held each spring. 

The winners of this round are encouraged to compete in the statewide competition which includes students from throughout the 23 CSU campuses. 

More information is on the UROC webpage.