Lucy Sandoe
My project will try to address the possible hazards associated with the Mendocino Triple Junction, where the Pacific, North American, and Gorda plates meet. This project will use Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and python programs to measure and model ground deformation in order to further understand the uplift that results from the intersection of the three tectonic plates. These deformation models are a novel approach to characterize whether faulting, aseismic deformation, or deeper mantle processes cause uplift in different parts of the region. From this characterization, this project aims to […]
Michelle Tampa Flores
This project asks, how can agriculture work for both people and in the environment? Through field, greenhouse, and lab work, this research explores how diversified farming practices influence soil health, particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and wild bee communities. In the field, my graduate student mentor and I are working with small-scale farmers of color embedded in the monocultural landscape of Californias San Joaquin Valley and investigating how their farming practices influence soil and pollinator health. In the greenhouse, we are conducting greenhouse experiments to determine the mechanistic connection between […]
Wendy (Fanghui) Wan
Superconductors are materials where quantum mechanical interactions between the constituent electrons induce a state with zero electrical resistance. They are often used in MRI machines and precision magnetometers. However, their applicability is hindered by the requisite cryogenic temperatures. Therefore, the discovery of novel superconductors that operate at higher temperatures is of tremendous fundamental and practical interest. This project focuses on inducing superconductivity in a class of materials called the delafossites, some of which have been theoretically predicted to host superconductivity under certain conditions. I will work closely with my graduate […]
Aaron Solorio
I intend to produce a comparative study between first-generation, low-income, Latino and African-American males attending continuation high schools and those attending traditional high schools. I will conduct twenty qualitative interviews consisting of ten participants who have attended continuation high school and ten participants who have attended traditional high school- all of whom have attended their respective school within the last ten years. Although there is literature on the school environment and the challenges that students face, I aim to explore the factors that lead students to either continue into higher […]
Noah Cryns
Adolescence is a time of increased risk taking, novelty seeking, and exploration. These behaviors may have an adaptive function to facilitate dispersal from the natal nest but may also have relevance to addiction and morbidity in adolescence. Dopamine(DA) in the striatum is a likely candidate mediating such behavioral changes. However, studies investigating dopamine systems have often focused on adult mice and consummatory behavior. My goal is to design a study to better isolate the role of dopamine in adolescent dispersal behavior. To do this I will study exploratory locomotion in […]
Fernando Trent Diaz
The development of seeds and seedlings represent perhaps the most critical stage of a plants life. Within and on seeds live a multitude of bacteria and microfungi that can either deteriorate (pathogens) or improve (mutualists) seedling health. Seed microbes can be transmitted from both the surrounding environment (horizontal transmission) as well as from their mother plant (vertical transmission). This maternal inheritance gives seed microbes priority in the colonization of plant tissue once germination occurs. This can significantly affect the trajectory for future adult plant microbiome composition and plant health. The […]
Daniel Khuu
Sierra Nevada snowmelt is predicted to occur up to two months earlier by 2080, but we do not know how aquatic food webs will respond. Changes in snowmelt timing could decrease stream insect abundance and biodiversity via increased temperature and duration of low flows. This project seeks to understand how extended low flows alter stream food webs. My graduate student mentor collected samples from nine artificial streams that had different durations of low flow this past summer. I will help sort and identify these samples, which will ultimately result in […]
Amaris Blasgen Morningstar
The world we live in today is shaped by globalism. There is more exchange of ideas, artwork, and technology than ever before. We travel, inspire each other and use symbolism to transcend language and cultural barriers. However, is this really a new phenomena? Archaeological research constantly uncovers more evidence that humanity has been doing this for millennia. The Eastern Mediterranean Basin had an extensive network for the movement of goods, people and ideas between the civilizations of the Near East since before the Bronze Age. My research investigates the affect […]
Anthony Chen
Numerical linear algebra underlies much of the modern world. It is essential to a wide variety situations, and as such, it is of great interest to analyze and optimize the underlying algorithms. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in optimizing algorithms to reduce communication, which is frequently many orders of magnitude slower than performing calculations. The Hlder-Brascamp-Lieb inequality and the Red-Blue Pebbling Game are two powerful approaches to theoretical analysis of communication, and both are used to derive communication optimal lower bounds. Once these bounds have been […]
Meire Mehare
Arsenic is a toxic carcinogen causing multiple forms of cancer and low IQ in children. In California, about 55,000 people are exposed to high levels of arsenic via their community water systems. As current technologies are too costly or complex to implement, the Gadgil lab is developing an affordable and effective technology, called Air Cathode Assisted Iron Electrocoagulation (ACAIE) at community scale. In this project, to test ACAIE outside of the lab, my graduate student mentor and I are working with an elementary school in Central California that is currently […]