SJSU Student RSCA Competition Finalists 2023

The 2023 SJSU Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (RSCA) Competition held on March 16 and 17 in the Diaz Compean Student Union saw students from five SJSU colleges compete for a place in the 37th Annual California State University (CSU) Student Research Competition, hosted by San Diego State University on April 28 and 29. 

Competitors needed to demonstrate:

  • Clarity of purpose
  • Appropriateness of methodology
  • Interpretation of results
  • Value of the research or creative activity
  • Ability of the presenter to articulate the research or creative activity
  • Organization of material presented
  • Presenter's ability to handle questions from the judges and general audience

After their in-person presentation each student, or group of students, was required to answer questions from a panel of judges. 

Below are the finalists in alphabetical order by last name.


Mia Dong

College of Engineering

Mia Dong.Project Title: Investigating the Effects of Adaptive Driving Styles on Trust in Partially Automated Vehicles

Project Category: Engineering and Computer Science

Faculty Mentor: Gaojian Huang, Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering


Autumn Galinski

College of Science

Autumn Galinski.Project Title: Ultra Diffuse Galaxies and Globular Clusters in the NGC 1407 Galaxy Group

Project Category: Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Aaron Romanowsky, Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy


James Guzman and Surabhi Gupta

College of Engineering

James Guzman and Surabhi Gupta.Project Title: Deep Learning in AI Medical Imaging for Stroke Diagnosis

Project Category: Engineering and Computer Science

Faculty Mentor: Magdalini Eirinaki, Professor, Department of Computer Engineering


Hilary King

College of Humanities and the Arts

Hilary King.Project Title: Trees to Paradise: Using Poetry to Explore How California's Arboreal History Reflects Its Eco and Social Cultures and Histories

Project Category: Humanities and Letters

Faculty Mentor: J. Michael Martinez, Assistant Professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature


Ran Li

College of Science

Ran Li.Project Title: On The Memory Scalability of Spectral Clustering Algorithms

Project Category: Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Guangliang Chen, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics


Hanan Mubarez

College of Social Sciences

Hanan Mubarez.Project Title: The Impact of Social Media Usage on Ethnic identity and its Relationship With Perceived Racial Discrimination

Project Category: Behavioral and Social Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Jill Citron, Lecturer, Department of Psychology


Jaedyn Rollins

College of Science

Jaedyn Rollins.Project Title: Utilization of the RhD Locus as a Safe Harbor for Gene Editing Applications

Project Category: Biological and Agricultural Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Johnston, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences


Merlina San Nicolas Leyva

College of Humanities and the Arts

Merlina San Nicolas.Project Title: A Study of Mexican Journalists' Professional Practices and Fact-Checking Habits During Misinformation and Anti-Press Times

Project Category: Behavioral and Social Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Nisha Garud-Patkar, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications


Iris Schmidt

College of Social Sciences

Iris Schmidt.Project Title: Substance Use Patterns Among College Students at San Jose State University: A Study on Ethnicity, Substance Type and Frequency, and Living Arrangements

Project Category: Behavioral and Social Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Jill Citron, Lecturer, Department of Psychology


Yik Haw Teoh

College of Science

Yik Haw Teoh.Project Title: Free Fermions Subject to Weak Quantum Measurement: Collapse Dynamics and Numerical Accuracy

Project Category: Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Hilary Hurst, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy