Every year, students in the El Camino Honors Transfer Program apply to present their original research at the University of California in Irvine, but only a handful are chosen.

Two EC students from that handful presented in a showcase on campus on April 5.

The two presenters were Joshua Dufault, 35, computer science major, and Joseph Gutierrez, 19, geology major. There were other students with research, but they weren’t present at the showcase presentation.

Dufault won an Outstanding Abstract award for his presentation at UCI, and spoke about the idea behind his research.

“I bought a security product and I noticed it was easy to bypass and I thought about what it would take for something to not be so easy to bypass,” Dufault said.

Dufault’s presentation was based off of seven different “sandbox” products he tested to see if they would allow for easy access to passwords using a program called Keylogger.

Dufault came up with his own software in order to ensure that his passwords were protected.

For more information about the software program Dufault created, students can visit: https://github.com/joshduf/ProtectedDesktops.

Both students said it was their first time ever attending such a “formal presentation,” but their experiences are what led them to want to do research and present their topics for the school.

Gutierrez’s presentation was on a different spectrum. He talked about the “Acidification and Calcifying of Marine Organisms.”

He said the idea for his topic came about when speaking with a friend from the science club about the effects acidification has on our environment and marine life.

Although he did not receive awards like his peer Dufault, Gutierrez said he feels proud of his research because it is being shared by Joseph Holliday, the HTP co-director and a geology professor.

The event was open to the public, and those interested in presenting research next year can apply in the fall.

To present at UCI, students apply in the late fall semester and the finalists get notified in January, Rachel Williams, HTP co-director said.