Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Robert Hicks

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My research project focuses on elucidating the visual and cognitive abilities of Stomatopod Crustaceans through animal behavior experiments. Commonly known as Mantis Shrimp, these marine crustaceans comprise a family of 350 species, some of which evolved over 100 million years ago. As active predators, they need excellent eyesight to locate and attack prey in their underwater environments, where light is filtered and reduced. I am investigating Stomatopods ability to learn to respond to a particular visual stimulus, and how this relates to their eye structure and brain function. Through repeated […]

Han Amy Li

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This research attempts to determine how the circadian system controls the timing of ovulation, a requirement for successful reproduction. Initiation of ovulation requires a signal from the brain’s master clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). This signal’s necessity in most mammals, including humans, is apparent as disruptions in circadian rhythms lead to reproductive deficits. Currently, the neural pathways and neurochemical mechanisms by which the SCN triggers ovulation remain uncharacterized. Previous work indicates daily rhythms of GABA and kisspeptin, neurotransmitters that inhibit and stimulate ovulation, respectively, are crucial for reproductive maintenance. We […]

Fanya Becks

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My summer research involves analyzing old archaeological collections to study the meaning of a specific type of site unique to the San Francisco Bay Area and Delta regions, shellmounds, for evidence of craft production. I will be looking through lots of shell material and soil samples for evidence of stone tool and shell bead production, in the form of stone manufacturing debris and possibly drilled or shaped shell. Evidence of production in these sites can help establish the types of uses and meanings that shellmounds had in Californias prehistory as […]

Giuliana Blasi

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Dance Learning and Situated Social Practice” examines how social position, culture, and community influence learning processes and outcomes in youth dance programs. In this investigation, I ask: How do interactions between identity, culture, and community mediate students’ learning experiences in dance programs across different genres? This summer, I will conduct an ethnographic case study at AileyCamp- a dance and youth development program for underprivileged middle school aged children. To focus on the sociocultural aspects of learning, I am using situated social practice theory as a conceptual framework to describe how […]

Emma Tome

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Recent scholarship in social science is re-invigorating notions of ‘place’ as it relates to social process. My research asks: how do these notions help to explain or complicate the process of redevelopment at Alameda Point, on the site of the decommissioned naval air station? And how may a close study of one place illuminate the efficacy or inefficacy of these ways of thinking? Furthermore, how may we reconcile theoretical place and the ways place is explained though maps? To approach these questions, my research will involve a close study of […]

Andrina Tran

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During the turbulent 1960s, controversial novelist Ayn Rand became a forceful voice for lost and disaffected youth. Through her seemingly impenetrable philosophy of Objectivism, Rand offered a round universe of order, rationality, and certainty for young libertarians who felt that neither liberals nor conservatives fully addressed national issues. My project will center on this undeveloped aspect of Randian scholarship her palliative, almost spiritual, role in the intellectual history of youth. More specifically, I will consider how Rands followers attempted to propagate Objectivism within an overwhelmingly liberal campus atmosphere, while also […]

Lee Ying

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Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome (SLOS) is a genetic disease that causes mental retardation and physical abnormalities. Biochemically, a defect in the enzyme that catalyzes the terminal step of cholesterol synthesis causes cholesterol deficiency and a toxic accumulation of its precursor, 7-dehdyrocholesterol. Gene therapy to supply the missing enzyme has been shown to partially normalize cholesterol metabolism, but more biomarkers need to be established in order to fully explore its usefulness. For my SURF project, I will investigate whether photosensitivity and abnormal bile acid composition, which are symptoms of SLOS in humans, are […]

Albert Yu

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In the human body, the liver is the only organ that can regenerate following substantial damage. But if all cells contain the same genetic information, how is this function unique to the liver? This summer I will study regeneration in the wing imaginal discs of developing Drosophila larvae. My goal is to develop a system that introduces localized cell death in these discs. Following cell death, I will visualize the amount and location of cell proliferation in the remaining cells. With this system, I can assess the ability of mutant […]

Tianzan Zhou

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My project concerns the regulation of transcription. Transcription is the process by which a DNA sequence is transcribed into an RNA sequence. This RNA sequence then gets translated into a protein, which is the basic machinery of life. Therefore, the mechanisms by which transcription is regulated are very important to understand. We have evidence for a novel mechanism that takes place during transcription and utilizes the creation of truncated, nonfunctional RNA transcripts of a gene to repress the formation of long, functional transcripts of that same gene. We do not […]

Lucas Zipp

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Diamond magnetometry works by probing the electron spin resonances of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. An NV center is a defect in the diamond crystal structure in which a nitrogen atom is located next to a hole in the lattice structure. An external magnetic field causes a shift in the electron spin energy levels of the NV centers. Using lasers and microwaves, we can manipulate the electron quantum spin states to detect this shift. My goal this summer is to examine the NV defects in diamond with nanometer scale […]