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Five Top Stories from 2025 (And Five You May Have Missed)
A composite image that shows students in a boat, a student in fire gear with a brush fire behind them, students in a lab and students near a plane.
Written By Gabby Ferreira

As 2025 comes to a close, we’re taking a look back on some of our favorite news stories from the past year. Here are five of our top stories from 2025, and five more you may have missed.

Top Stories

  1. Fighting Fire with Fire 

    A student wears protective firefighting gear and carries a drip torch, surrounded by flames.

    In October, a senior project class implemented a prescribed burn — the first of its kind at Cal Poly. 

    Learn more >>>

  2. Built to Fly 

    Over five quarters, more than 60 aerospace students helped construct a plane out of sheet metal.

    Read more >>>

  3. Bac(teria) to the Future

    A professor and two students wearing protective lab gear work with petri dishes of bacteria.

    A biochemistry research team is poring over a library of 93 ancient bacterial strains — ranging in age from about 25 to 40 million years old — in hopes of discovering new antibiotics. 

    Read about the effort >>>

  4. Digital Democracy

    A team of CalMatters reporters and Cal Poly students and professors pose in front of a black background with two Emmy statuettes.

    A program created at Cal Poly and operated in partnership with nonprofit newsroom CalMatters earned an Emmy Award for political reporting by harnessing artificial intelligence to reveal hidden patterns in state government.

    Read about the program and award >>>

  5. Making Waves

    A team of students in a Cal Poly-branded boat lowers a wave generator into the water near Morro Bay.

    In May, nine Cal Poly students completed their senior project: a compact wave-powered generator designed to replace the diesel units Marines truck ashore to recharge batteries in remote coastal zones. 

    Read about the project >>>

Stories You May Have Missed

  1. Guardian Scholars

    A student sitting on a green couch holds her computer screen to an advisor also sitting on the couch, while a third person sits in a chair and smiles.

    When Bri Frickman Miller started at Cal Poly, she didn't have many of the support systems her peers did. But the Guardian Scholars program lent a helping hand. 

    Read about the program >>>

  2. Robots in the Kitchen

    A robotic arm scoops flour from a canister into a mixing bowl in a kitchen.

    In May, philosophy, religious studies and psychology professors traveled to Rome for an interdisciplinary workshop hosted by the Vatican to discuss the ethical impacts of automation and artificial intelligence on how our food is made. 

    Read about the research project >>> 

  3. Graduation, Family-Style

    A group photo of astronaut Victor Glover, his wife Dionna and daughter Genesis with Phil Bailey at the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics commencement.

    Commencement this year was a family affair for astronaut Victor Glover, who received an honorary doctorate and also got to watch his wife and daughter walk across the stage to receive their own degrees.

    Read more here >>>

  4. Overcoming the Odds

    A student paddling in a kayak is seen looking up from the water.

    Student Luke Hansen, who hopes to become a doctor, was honored with the Courtney Elizabeth Smyth Memorial Scholarship in recognition of his perseverance in the face of adversity. 

    Read about Luke's journey >>>

  5. Documenting an Adventure

    Professor Matt Ritter at the base of the Bennett Juniper.

    Over the summer, students and professors took part in a unique Learn by Doing experience when they documented the largest Sierra juniper tree on Earth.

    See what they found >>>

Want more Learn by Doing stories in your life? Sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Cal Poly News Recap!

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