Four California State University, Fresno students received awards – three of them first place in their respective categories – at the 24th annual California State University Student Research Competition at San Jose State.

The annual competition brings undergraduate and graduate students together from the 23 CSU campuses to exhibit research on subjects ranging from behavioral and social sciences to biological and agricultural sciences.

Celeste Pilegard, a senior psychology major, received first place in the Behavioral and Social Sciences undergraduate category for her presentation “Short-Interval Time Perception in an Oddball Task: An ERP Study.” Pilegard will graduate at Fresno State’s 99th annual Commencement.

Pilegard was also named Service Volunteer of the Year at Fresno State. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Martin Shapiro, a psychology professor.

Melissa Michelle Freeman, a senior business administration (international business) and linguistics double-major, earned first place in the Business, Economics and Public Administration undergraduate division for “Personality and Language Fluency in Expatriate Assignments.” Her faculty mentor is Dr. Julie Olson-Buchanan, a management professor.

Timothy Yeager, a senior psychology major, placed first in the Education undergraduate division for his presentation “The Implementation of PALS in a Resource Room.” Yeager’s faculty mentor is Dr. Marianne Jackson, a psychology professor.

In the Biological and Agricultural Sciences undergraduate division, Fresno State senior biology major Heather Upton placed second for her presentation, “BchA, a glycosyltranferase, catalyzes the first step in bacillinthiol biosynthesis.” Her faculty mentor is Dr. Mamta Rawat, a biology professor.

Six other Fresno State presented at the competition held April 30-May 1: Kimberly Kilgore, Whitney Jean Janzen, Amanda Kehaulani Ulrich, Johnathon Thompson, Vincent Aguirre and Ulises Urbina.

For additional information, contact Maral Kismetian at 559.278.0856 or mkismetian@csufresno.edu, or visithttp://www.sjsu.edu/gradstudies/CSU_Student_Research_Competition/.

(Copy by University Communications news intern Amanda Fine.)