Grants and Writing Resources for California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt

When Cal Poly Humboldt hosted the CSU Student Research Competition for the first time in April 2025, its own presenters came away with two second-place awards and an honorable mention, in the behavioral and social sciences category and the interdisciplinary category. One of the second-place winners had graduated the year before. Less than a year later, eleven rangeland resource science students placed fifth of 22 universities at the 2026 Society for Range Management student competition, second among U.S. schools.

Presenting Research

Each year the campus sets aside a day for ideaFest, where hundreds of students, faculty and staff present the projects they're most proud of. The 13th annual ideaFest, held May 1, 2026, drew more than 250 poster submissions. Posters from past years are archived in the ideaFest Posters collection.

Students can also compete in the systemwide CSU Student Research Competition. Humboldt's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs lists it among its internally administered competitions. The office funds travel for currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students, and for alumni who finished their degrees in the awarding year. Cash awards go to the outstanding presenter and the runner-up in each category's undergraduate and graduate divisions.

Fellowships and Graduate Awards

The Alistair and Judith McCrone Graduate Fellowship Fund awards $3,000 to one graduate student. Applicants must be in their first year of a Cal Poly Humboldt graduate program. Full-time enrollment and a 3.0 GPA are required. The 2025 McCrone awardees, honored at a November reception, included a sociology graduate student.

Students aiming for a doctorate can apply to the CSU Pre-Doctoral Program, also called the Sally Casanova program. In 2024 two Humboldt students were selected: a journalism student and a psychology graduate student. Juniors and seniors are eligible, as are master's students. Each scholar works with a faculty mentor and receives a $5,000 scholarship that can cover conference travel and research supplies among other costs, and scholars can spend eight weeks of summer research at a doctoral-granting university.

Student Publications

Toyon, published annually since 1954, is a multilingual literary magazine run entirely by students, who join its staff through English 460 and 461. Any major can enroll after meeting the writing general education requirement. Journalism students and others produce The Osprey, a student magazine issued each fall and spring since 1973, and El Leñador, a monthly English and Spanish newspaper started in 2013.

Undergraduates can also post finished work in the library's Undergraduate Scholarship collection. Capstones and directed studies qualify, along with strong classroom projects, once a faculty member verifies the work for publication. There are no formatting requirements.

Writing Help and Thesis Submission

The Writing Studio in the Learning Center offers free help at any stage of a project. Sessions run 50 minutes, in person on the library's first floor or live on Zoom, and students can also get written feedback on a draft. Drop-ins are welcome when space allows. Consultants work on senior theses, lab reports, posters and presentations, as well as scholarship and graduate school personal essays.

Graduate theses and projects are published in the Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects collection on Digital Commons, which holds work through 2026. The submission guidelines ask writers to follow Graduate Studies' format and accessibility rules. Students may send a draft to the Scholarly Communications Office for an optional format review before the committee and the graduate coordinator sign off. Authors keep their copyright.

Our editors work with Cal Poly Humboldt writers at the final-draft stage, from seminar papers to dissertations. See our California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt dissertation and thesis editing page, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.