Research opportunities lead to outstanding students for CSUSB's College of Natural Sciences

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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - As Cal State San Bernardino students, Ken Noriega and Nicholas Navaroli spent countless hours working on a variety of research projects. That dedication has led to them being named the university's College of Natural Sciences' outstanding graduates.

Noriega, 35, of Pomona, will be honored as the 2009 Outstanding Graduate student and Navaroli, 22, of Fontana, as the 2009 Outstanding Undergraduate during the college's graduation ceremony on Saturday, June 20, at 6 p.m. in CSUSB's Coussoulis Arena.

Noriega, who will receive his master's of science in biology, has studied fossils of 300-350-million-year-old reptiles, worked as a graduate student instructor, taken part in the California State University Tyrannosaurus rex Initiative, and served as a representative of CSUSB at various "Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex" events in Southern California.

Noriega also did a summer internship at the Chicago Field Museum, where he worked closely with Lance Grande, a world-renowned expert on fossil fish.

Navaroli, who is a recipient of the President's Academic Excellence Scholarship, will receive a bachelor's degree in computer science with a minor in mathematics.

Navaroli interned at the Center for Bio-Image Informatics at UC Santa Barbara and has contributed to research conducted by Arturo Concepcion and David Turner of the Cal State San Bernardino's computer science and engineering department. The research was presented at the 22nd Annual California State University Research Competition, the 8th International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Applications, which was held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and was also presented at the American Mathematical Society International Meeting held at the University of British Columbia.

Navaroli has also been active outside the classroom, working in the CSUSB computer science department as president of the Computer Science Engineering club and also as a member of the university's Student Ambassador Society.

Cal State San Bernardino will webcast its June 20-21 commencement ceremonies live over the Internet at http://acm.csusb.edu/videoproduction/livevideo.html. The video will also be archived and available for graduates and their families to view later at the same Web site.

For more information on CSUSB graduation ceremonies, visit the commencement Web site at http://commencement.csusb.edu/.

For a digital image of Cal State San Bernardino's 2009 Outstanding Students or for more information on CSUSB, contact the university's Office of Public Affairs at (909) 537-5007 and visit http://news.csusb.edu.

Nicholas Navaroli (l) is the 2009 Outstanding Undergraduate and Ken Noriega is the 2009 Outstanding Graduate for Cal State San Bernardino's College of Natural Sciences.