Supporting Student Research for the S3

As an R1 research university, San Diego State University offers research programs that allow students, both undergraduate and graduate, to transform their educational experience through independent research, mentored research activities in libraries and labs, and publication opportunities. One of SDSU's signature programs is S3 (SDSU Student Symposium), an annual event where hundreds of students from across the university present and discuss their work. Creative work is also honored with performances and presentations. For many students, this is a highlight of the academic year. 

Presentations, posters and performances are eligible for one or more awards, including the Library Research Award. These awards, selected from eligible entries by SDSU librarians, are presented to up to five projects demonstrating effective use of library resources, collections, and services, including printed resources, databases, primary resources, media materials, and research consultations. Each award includes a $250 prize.

This year’s winners are:

• Sudha Singh, A Program Evaluation of SDSU's Health Expo
• Claudia Pruitt, Transformative Teaching: Mentoring Preservice Secondary Math Teachers in Trauma-Informed Pedagogy
• Jamey O'Neill, CarD-T: An Automated Pipeline for the Nomination and Analysis of Probable Human Carcinogens
• Arwa Alkhawaja and Velia Huerta, Examining the Impact of Racial Trauma on Mental Health in Minority Youth: A Quantitative Study on Racial Stress and Psychological Well-Being
• Leticia Camacho, En Busca de Provecho: Exploring the Relationship Between Food Deserts and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Among Latinas

A Program Evaluation of SDSU's Health Expo
Sudha Singh

Singh is a Master of Public Health student in the College of Health and Human Services, studying health promotion and behavior science. Professor Heather Corliss mentored her project, which sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the annual SDSU Health Expo in informing students about various health and well-being resources both on and off campus. 

Margaret Henderson, Health Sciences and Research Data Services Librarian, helped Singh conduct a literature review and access studies and papers she could not find on her own. She said, “The library is a great resource that everyone should use.”

Transformative Teaching: Mentoring Preservice Secondary Math Teachers in Trauma-Informed Pedagogy
Claudia Pruitt

Pruitt is a doctoral student at the College of Education, specializing in PreK-12 School Leadership. Her mentor was Assistant Professor Kathleen Schenkel. Her project was a qualitative case study exploring the following questions:  1) in what ways do supervisors, guide teachers, and preservice math teachers conceptualize trauma-informed pedagogy?; 2) in what ways do supervisors and guide teachers support middle school math preservice teachers in enacting trauma-informed pedagogy? Her findings highlight the importance of supportive environments, professional development, and mentoring to strengthen trauma-informed pedagogy integration.

Linda Salem, Assistant Head of Collections and Education Librarian, helped Pruitt get started with a research consultation.

CarD-T: An Automated Pipeline for the Nomination and Analysis of Probable Human Carcinogens
Jamey O’Neill

Professor Parag Katira mentored O'Neill in his project to use the Carcinogen Detection via Transformers (CarD-T) framework to identify and classify carcinogens for cancer epidemiology.  O’Neill is a doctoral student studying bioengineering.

O’Neill credited Henderson and Keven Jeffery, Digital Technologies Librarian, for help with their project.

Examining the Impact of Racial Trauma on Mental Health in Minority Youth: A Quantitative Study on Racial Stress and Psychological Well-Being
Arwa Alkhawaja and Velia Huerta

Alkawaja and Huerta are doctoral education students and lecturer Aaron Iffland was their mentor. Their project examined the effects of racial trauma on the mental health and sense of belonging of college students from racial minority backgrounds. Results revealed that racial trauma significantly reduced belonging and heightened depression levels, with non-binary and gender-diverse students reporting higher depression, while Black and Asian students exhibited comparatively lower levels. 

"The library's website was an invaluable resource project, particularly Academic Search Premier (EBSCO), which helped narrow down search to the most relevant and credible sources. The database's filtering options allowed us to efficiently find peer-reviewed articles that aligned with our research focus,” Alkawaja said. “Additionally, in one of our classes, Linda Salem provided helpful tips on how to effectively use the website’s features, such as advanced search functions and citation tools, which made the research process much smoother. Her guidance was instrumental in maximizing the library’s resources, and we are deeply grateful for her support."  

En Busca de Provecho: Exploring the Relationship Between Food Deserts and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Among Latinas
Leticia Camacho

Camacho is pursuing a Master’s of Public Health degree, studying epidemiology and biostatistics. UCSD Associate Professor Gretchen Bandoli served as her mentor for this project, which examined the association between food desert residence and gestational diabetes among Latina mothers in California from 2015 to 2019 and explored the modifying effect of participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).  She concluded that there was a smaller impact than expected and that other structural and individual-level factors need to be considered to fully understand the causes of maternal health disparities.

“Margaret Henderson was very helpful and thorough in guiding me through the process of conducting a literature review and a systematic review. She really invested herself in my research interests and made sure I had the tools necessary to use databases, like Pubmed and SDSU's research databases, efficiently,” said Camacho. “I've felt very supported throughout this entire process with the resources available at the SDSU library.”

In addition to librarians providing research support, the library also helped S3 students by printing the large posters they use for presentations. Melisa Farnsworth and the student assistants that work with her printed 263 posters in the weeks leading up to the S3 event. “Due to our amazing student assistants, who are now veterans at printing posters, everything went smoothly,” said Farnsworth. To help students even more, the Library absorbed the cost of printing, ensuring that no student incurred a personal cost for participation..

The library staff and faculty are happy to assist students with their research needs and look forward to helping students with next year’s S3 projects.