Schwarzenegger Prize for Research
Research Symposium Winners
Austin Chow, Joanna Wang and Richard Windisch: Geospatial Applications for Storm-water Capture
2018 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, FIRST PRIZE
The Schwarzenegger Institute has long believed that storm-water capture must be a key element of any comprehensive water policy and we were particularity impresses by the practical and cost effective solution that Austin, Joanna and Richard proposed in their project titled Geospatial Applications for Residential Storm-water Capture for the City of Los Angeles.
Christian Gayle: Stop Spreading the News; ideology and the Spread of Fake News Within Social Media
2018 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, SECOND PRIZE
The purpose of Christian’s project titled Stop Spreading the News; ideology and the Spread of Fake News Within Social Media was to explore how partisan ideals can facilitate the spread of fake news, and he examined how fake news can spread through social media. We were very impressed with Christian's understanding of the problem and his methods for studying fake news and how and when it is shared by users. We were also fascinated by his studies into what people do when they realize that they have posted, shared or retweeted a fake news article.
Lynn Le: Education Through Gaming and Game Development
2017 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, FIRST PRIZE
On April 12th, 2016, The Schwarzenegger Institute awarded the Schwarzenegger Prize at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium awards. Students were eligible for the Schwarzenegger Prize if they proposed a real world solution to a serious policy challenge that improves the lives of people and communities in one or more of the following policy areas: education; environment & energy; health & wellness; fiscal & economic; and/or political reform. There were hundreds of submissions for the prize, but First place went to Lynn Le for her project "Education Through Gaming and Game Development", which recognized the value of technology in education, and by creating an interactive game and piloting it in a 3rd grade class in San Diego Unified showed remarkable insight, excellent research, and hard work.
Samantha McVety: A Synergetic Solution to Small-scale Water Challenges
2017 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, SECOND PRIZE
The Schwarzenegger Institute believes that climate change, environment and energy is the greatest challenge facing this generation. 1 in 6 people on the planet do not have access to safe drinking water, and in developing countries 80% of illnesses result from poor water conditions. This situation is being made more critical by climate change. Samantha’s brilliantly researched project explored the development of transportable, simple , decentralized and cost-effective solutions to providing developing regions of the world access to clean water.
Katherine Van Winkle - Green Out Your Closet
2016 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, FIRST PRIZE
On April 13th, 2016, The Schwarzenegger Institute awarded the Schwarzenegger Prize at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium awards. Students were eligible for the Schwarzenegger Prize if they proposed a real world solution to a serious policy challenge that improves the lives of people and communities in one or more of the following policy areas: education; environment & energy; health & wellness; fiscal & economic; and/or political reform. There were hundreds of submissions for the prize, but First place went to Katherine Van Winkle for her project Green Out Your Closet
B. Banet & Y. Shan-ParkLight:A Framework to Monitor Nighttime Upward Radiance In National Parks
2016 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, SECOND PRIZE
Preserving night skies is important in ecosystem and wildlife conservation. This project aims to provide a framework to assess the spatial and ecological dimensions of light pollution in national parks and help the US National Park Service to make informed decisions on strategies to manage night lighting.
Alex Teboul-Profits Over Patient Health; Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Medication
2016 WRITERS" CONFERENCE WINNER - FIRST PRIZE
On April 13th, 2016, The Schwarzenegger Institute awarded the Schwarzenegger Prize at the annual Undergraduate Writers' Conference awards. Students were eligible for the Schwarzenegger Prize if they proposed a real world solution to a serious policy challenge that improves the lives of people and communities in one or more of the following policy areas: education; environment & energy; health & wellness; fiscal & economic; and/or political reform. There were hundreds of submissions for the prize, but First place went to Alex Teboul for his essay about allowing pharmaceutical companies to engage in direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medication and how it violates the industry's ethical obligations by placing patients at undue risk as they are motivated to request prescriptions that are overpriced, they do not need, or are ill-informed about.
Joseph Yoo - Cobalt Dithiolene-like Metal Organic Surfaces for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution
2015 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, FIRST PRIZE
This project focuses on developing catalysts that make the evolution of hydrogen efficient in order to counteract the storage issue with solar energy. We focus on a previously reported cobalt dithiolene catalysts and incorporate it into metal-organic surfaces which can be deposited onto a variety of supports.
Thomas Do - Proton Assisted Reduction of CO₂ by Cobalt Pyridine Amino Macrocycles
2015 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, SECOND PRIZE
With the increasing amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere, the need to reduce it is rising. A popular solution is to convert CO₂ into liquid fuels, electrochemically. Our work consists of developing catalysts for the reduction of carbon dioxide into useful organic molecules that can be converted to liquid fuel.
Erica Arnold & Peter Grasso - Sustainable Energy Recovery from Wastewater Treatment by Bioelectroche
2014 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, FIRST PRIZE
This study addresses the functions, benefits, and applications of BEFCs with an emphasis on their applications in sustainable treatment of wastewater. The power generation potential of BEFCs with varying consortiums of bacteria was studied by inoculating bacteria into the BEFC from different parts of the wastewater treatment facility. This was done to help identify the best source within the facility for energy generation.
Nicholas Farmer – Virtual Sprouts
2013 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, FIRST PRIZE
Virtual Sprouts is a multi-disciplinary STEM education and health promotion research project. Developed with the intention of acting as an obesity prevention intervention for elementary and middle school children in the USC Family of LAUSD Schools. Virtual Sprouts aims to push the boundaries of progressive educational gaming.
Jay Todd Max amd Avril Pitter - Physical Sciences & Engineering
2013 RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM, HONORABLE MENTION
This research provides information for communities in the developing world struggling with water-borne illnesses. It includes a database of common water-borne diseases and their methods of treatment. Furthermore, it includes details on the design of water treatment systems tailored to rural communities in the developing world.