2019 Rewind

The last year at Cal Poly seemed to accelerate the pace of change as Mustangs set their sights on the next decade. Our university and its people have led huge technological leaps forward, confronted our collective identity, and tackled some of our world’s biggest challenges — all with a Learn by Doing attitude. Check out the stories, photos, stats and quotes that sum up our most recent trip around the sun.

Home Reimagined

Architecture students reimagine the future of the fire-ravaged town of Paradise with innovative designs
Construction management students help the town of Weed recover from wildfires by designing and building efficient homes
Researchers from Cal Poly find that neighborhood type can have a significant impact on the health of immigrants

Cal Poly Traditions

Two students hike alongside the Cal Poly P on the hill overlooking campus in spring 2019

After 100 years, the P still spells out Cal Poly’s pride on the hillside
Cal Poly float wins Extraordinaire Award at the 2019 Rose Parade with "Far Out Frequencies"
An executive producer on "This is Us," a landscape architect dedicated to more just cities, and the inventor of Beyond Burger - these are among our 2019 Honored Alumni
Cal Poly ranked as one of the best universities in the West by U.S. News, Wall Street Journal and Forbes

The Need for Speed

63.68 mph

Human powered vehicle team sets a new land speed record, besting the previous record by 2 miles per hour
4th

Cal Poly’s Men’s Cross Country team runs away with its fourth consecutive Big West title
51 mph

A solar-powered car built by student engineers surpasses 50 miles per hour, falling just short of a world record

Food for Thought

A student uses a metal tool to stir liquid during the cheese-making process in Cal Poly's cheese production lab

Student-made Gouda ranks among the nation’s best at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest

Produce grown by horticulture and crop science students feeds campus through pop-up pantries
Ag business, food science and ag communications faculty team up to change growing practices for leafy greens
A student chef and graphic design student team up to publish a cookbook of pop-up restaurant recipes

Photos of the Year

An aerial view of Cal Poly's architecture building stairs with model projects lined up

Wood and plaster models created by students in the Arch 131: Design and Visual Communication class, dot the stairs of the Architecture and Environmental Design building.

A young foal stands in front of its mother at Cal Poly

A foal stays close with its mother at Cal Poly’s Oppenheimer Family Equine Center.

Students run along the Oceano Dunes during Week of Welcome

New Cal Poly students get to know their surroundings on the Central Coast at Week of Welcome, exploring the Oceano Dunes Natural Preserve.

Dancers from Imagen y Espíritu Ballet Folklórico de Cal Poly perform on stage in traditional Mexican dress

Dancers from Imagen y Espíritu Ballet Folklórico de Cal Poly wow campus visitors with a passionate performance in traditional Mexican attire.

A black-and-white mural in Paradise, CA, by artist Shane Grammer

During a trip to Paradise, California, to present their proposals for new community structures, Cal Poly architecture students came across this mural by artist Shane Grammer on the face of a building gutted by the Camp Fire.

Students observe architecture student models lit with pink and red lights at the senior showcase, "Yours Truly."

Fifth-year architecture students present their senior design projects, alongside letters reflecting on their work, at a carefully-curated show called “Yours Truly.”

A student holds a measuring device in a creek on Cal Poly's Swanton Pacific Ranch in Santa Cruz County

This environmental resource management student digs into hands-on experience with watershed management at Cal Poly’s Swanton Pacific Ranch campus.

A member of the Cal Poly community dressed in drag performs on stage at a campus event

The Cal Poly Drag Club and Pride Center present “Creatures of the Night,” a drag show in October, where community members could express themselves freely on stage.

A misty morning at the Cal Poly Pier in Avila Beach in November.

A student playing the upright bass rehearses at the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly in front of a large-screen projection

Members of the Cal Poly Symphony rehearse for their season opener, “Teamwork.” The performance celebrates collaboration in all forms with different musical styles and immersive visuals created by students and faculty.

A Cal Poly graduate stands with his family hold photos of the graduates head at spring commencement

One student’s friends and family shows pride in their graduate at spring commencement.

A Cal Poly drum major conducts the marching band at a football game tailgate

Drum major Kent Giese conducts the Mustang Band as it performs for tailgaters before a home football game.

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Orbital Opportunity

The unfurled metalic solar sail of the LightSail 2 appears before the earth in the background

For me it’s very romantic that you’d be sailing on sunbeams.

— Bill Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society, as the LightSail 2 unfurled its 18-foot solar sail for the first time this summer. The PolySat program helped manufacture, test and monitor the miniature satellite, one of more than 12 innovative CubeSats it has developed in recent years.

Cal Poly becomes the first university ever to team up with U.S. Strategic Command to monitor objects orbiting Earth
Physics student wins American Astronomical Society honor for her research on galaxy formation
Are orbiting satellites safe from cybersecurity threats? Students and faculty investigate.

Our Town

Engineers in the QL+ lab create life-changing adaptive technology for people living with physical disabilities
One psychology professor works to boost mental health resources for the LGBTQ+ community
After raising $4.1 million in venture capital, these companies graduate from CIE’s SLO HotHouse Incubator
New scholarships pave the way for local community college students studying engineering at Cal Poly

Beyond Borders

Cambodia

For 10 days, aerospace engineering Professor Pauline Faure and computer engineering student Justin Nguyen helped the students at Liger Leadership Academy in Cambodia lay the groundwork for the nation’s first satellite program. They helped the high school students establish a radio ground station to track satellites as the country makes progress toward a CubeSat program.
Malawi

Nutrition Professor Peggy Papathakis spent 10 months on a Fulbright Scholarship in Malawi teaching and helping to build the curriculum for a clinical dietitian training program at the University of Malawi’s College of Medicine. Over the years, more than 30 Cal Poly students have assisted Papathakis in her research on campus and in communities in the southeastern African nation.
Switzerland

Thanks to a new grant, physics Professor Themis Mastoridis and his student research team began investigating ways to upgrade to the Large Hadron Collider’s accelerating systems at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland. These systems provide the energy needed to accelerate the particles close to the speed of light. 
New York City

Thirty-four Cal Poly Choir students performed at the renown Carnegie Hall in New York City on May 25. Students collaborated with Vancouver Bach Choir of British Columbia through performances of Joseph Haydn and Mozart. The trip represented the first time Scott Glysson, director of Cal Poly Choirs, conducted in the legendary hall.

1 Grand Ave

Cal Poly supporters, alumni and students join President Jeffrey Armstrong on stage of the Evening of Green and Gold event as he announces the Power of Doing's $700,000 million goal

The Power of Doing campaign kicks off with a goal of raising $700 million by 2021 to support Learn by Doing
Cal Poly releases the results of the CPX campus climate survey and shares key steps to bolster diversity, equity and inclusion
Educational Opportunity Program celebrates its 50th anniversary on campus as it continues to support disadvantaged students
From natural disasters to logistics, a new AWS partnership will harness satellite data to solve global challenges

Home Reimagined

Cal Poly Traditions

The Need for Speed

Food for Thought

Photos of the Year

Orbital Opportunity

Our Town

Beyond Borders

Cambodia

Malawi

Switzerland

New York City

1 Grand Ave