Creative Activities
Research and creative activities are a vital part of the culture of learning here at CSUN, allowing students to learn analytical and investigative processes for their areas of study with an active learning approach. With the guidance and support of faculty mentors, students work directly to help solve real life challenges on a local level and global scale, helping to prepare them for long, successful careers.
Following are examples of research and creative activities from each of the CSUN colleges.
David Nazarian College of Business and Economics
Jeff Marine Bull Ring New Venture Competition
Matadors’ answer to Shark Tank, this annual competition helps budding entrepreneurial students connect with business mentors and plug into the startup community. Students can participate in free workshops, dedicated mentoring and coaching sessions to guide them through the startup process and to get critical early-stage feedback and advice for new products and ventures. Student projects are judged by successful entrepreneurs for innovation, viability, and potential market demand.
College Engineering and Computer Science
Dr. Bishay’s Computational Mechanics and Smart Structures (CMSS) Laboratory
Since 2015, Dr. Peter Bishay has been leading groundbreaking research-based senior design projects at CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. From designing a manned space station to orbit the moon to a “Smart Morphing Wing” for unmanned Aerial Vehicles, to engineering lightweight, affordable, and user-friendly “Smart Prosthetics”, Dr. Bishay is helping to inspire the next generation of engineers and innovators.
College of Health and Human Development
Kinesiology Dance Program
Each year, The CSUN Kinesiology/Dance Program produces two dance performances. Choreographed and performed by undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty, the dances express the human experience from a variety of emotional realms. These performances are also helpful for scientific research, as faculty and students study the physiology of the dancers, including the ways the body and mind respond to performance anxiety and the performance itself.
College of Humanities
The Politics of Low & Slow
The Politics of Low and Slow is an exhibit in the CSUN University Library Exhibit Gallery that runs through July 31, 2023. The installation features Chicano “lowrider” culture in Los Angeles and seeks to complicate and unpack this "way of life" for viewers. Who and what makes a culture? How do people use culture and art as tools to tell their stories and build community? More importantly, what does lowriding teach us about Chicana/o/x history in LA?
College of Science and Mathematics
Geology Fall Field Frolic
The College of Science & Mathematics annual Fall Field Frolic is a multi-day field trip for alumni, faculty, and students. Recent trips include an excursion to Mojave National Preserve to explore Cima Dome, Kelso Sand Dunes, ignimbrite flows, as well as the CSU Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx. This annual trip provides an opportunity for multiple generations of alumni from all over the country to meet, mingle and explore the many wonders of the natural world.
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
SBS Drone Project
Committed to community service, students in the Geomatics and Aerial Environmental Research Group volunteer their time and drone skills to benefit California State Parks system ranging from northern Los Angeles County to the southern San Joaquin Valley. The students plan, execute flights and process data to map areas of cultural sensitivity for preservation, habitat restoration and landscape continuity as well as sites recovering from fires.
Tseng College
Four-year Colleges and Universities: Addressing the Knowledge Worker Talent Gap in Southern California
According to this report from Tseng College, business and education leaders need to work together to ensure that Southern California has the skilled workforce to maintain its global reputation as the home of innovative business and technology. The report shares insights about the region’s future industrial and highly skilled employment concentrations and forecasts important shifts in Southern California’s post-secondary-relevant job markets. It also identifies trends in key post-secondary occupational categories to help guide the area’s four-year colleges and universities.
University Library
California State University, Northridge Book
A history of Cal State Northridge, published by Arcadia Press, was written by University Library faculty members Ellen Jarosz and Steve Kutay. The book, simply entitled California State University, Northridge, uses a variety of archival photographs and relies on primary and secondary sources to create a well-documented history of our campus.
The Dark Side of Our Digital World: And What You Can Do About It
Written by CSUN Digital Services Librarian, Andrew Weiss, this book is a guide to understanding and managing the dark side of our digital lives.