Festival to feature 200 student projects

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Undergraduates Ebere Winston of San Diego and Malcolm Mostoles of Odenton, Md., evaluated whether the Tech Fit suit actually enhances speed, power and running efficiency and lowers blood lactate as advertised.

Photo: Michele LeBlanc

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – April 20, 2009) The Third Annual Festival of Scholars at California Lutheran University will highlight 200 student projects, twice as many as last year. Summaries of a few of the research studies that will be presented from April 27 through May 1 are below:

Cell Phone Addiction
Undergraduate Teresa Salazar of Simi Valley surveyed students to find out how dependent people are on their cell phones. She explored whether the cell phone has gone beyond a means of communication to become more connected with perceptions of power, status, identity and emotional attachment.

EPubs: Religious Culture in our Time and Place
Nineteen students identified some of the places, people, movies and novels where people find religion today. Some of the surprising spiritual venues in Ventura, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties include the Montecito YMCA pool, which undergraduate Chelsea Hemming of Summerland found provides a sense of community and a ritual practice in swimming, and Dodger Stadium, which undergraduate Desiree D’Arienzo of Las Vegas discovered has its traditions and even hymns. Other spiritual hotspots include Starbucks, the Simi Valley Town Center and the greens at Sunset Hills Country Club.

Effectiveness of the Safe Haven Law
Undergraduates Mary Guillen of Ventura and Morgan Severns of Simi Valley examined the effectiveness of the Safe Haven Law by comparing statistics showing how many infants have been dropped off at designated locations to how many infants have been abandoned illegally, and by interviewing professionals affected by the law.

Effect of the Compression Tech Fit Suit on Power, Speed, Running Efficiency and Blood Lactate
With compression gear gaining popularity among college athletes, undergraduates Ebere Winston of San Diego and Malcolm Mostoles of Odenton, Md., evaluated whether the Tech Fit suit actually enhances speed, power and running efficiency and lowers blood lactate as advertised. The students ran eight college athletes through bench press, vertical jump, running economy and blood lactate tests with and without the suit to test the claims.

Self-Confidence Level and Anxiety Differences in Team Sport Athletes and Individual Sport Athletes
Undergraduate Jade Tougas of Port Hueneme explored how self-confidence levels differ between athletes in individual sports and those in team sports, and how self-confidence levels affect anxiety.

Relationship of Corporate Transparency and Company Liability
In response to the outbreak of corporate collapses, undergraduate Tingting Xiao of Arcadia investigated the impact of unethical accounting practices on corporate industry by performing a historical analysis of the accounting practices of Enron and WorldCom and the effect on corporate viability. Xiao provides recommendations for CEOs for sustaining corporate structure and viability.

Climbing the Corporate Ladder: Does a Person’s Hair Color Affect Perceived Leadership?
Do people think men with blonde hair are better leaders? Do brown-haired women have an edge when it comes to people assessing their leadership skills? Undergraduate Meghan Record of Woodland Hills gave participants an interview packet containing a fictional resume for a middle managerial position and one of four different photos and asked them to rate the potential job candidate on seven dimensions of leadership.

The Ethnic Identity Development of Asian Adoptees Raised by White Parents
Graduate student Joy Hoffman of Whittier interviewed post-college age Asian adoptees from various regions of the United States to discover how the experiences of Asian adoptees raised in Caucasian families promoted or hindered their ethnic identity development. Hoffman found that the conflict among ethnic identity, culture, group affiliation, and loyalty often leads to identity crisis. Based on her findings, she developed recommendations for higher education professionals.

Factors Influencing Nurse Retention in a Managed Care Organization
The rapid turnover among nurses in their first year on the job is a costly problem for the healthcare industry. Graduate student Francine Curtis of Simi Valley examined contributing factors that relate to the orientation program and determined ways that the educational process could be improved to increase retention.

Sugar-Rich Beverage Consumption and BMI
Recent data has shown a relationship between consumption of sugar-rich drinks and increased risk of obesity and disease. Undergraduate Lauren Movinski of Moorpark assessed the relationship between sugar drinks and the body mass index (BMI) of college students, and whether there are gender differences in consumption of the drinks. She collected and analyzed data from 20 CLU students to find results.

Transportation for Tomorrow in Los Angeles
Undergraduates Candice Cerro of Bakersfield and Chloe Callender of Dallas investigated public transportation problems in Los Angeles, policies that address them and the potential impact of Measure R, a plan for improving public transportation that was approved by voters in November.

Additional information and a schedule of events are available online at http://www.callutheran.edu/fos. For more information, contact Michele LeBlanc at our@callutheran.edu or (805) 493-3276.