Karla Saracay
I will be comparing and contrasting data from across several different households that were excavated during the Upper Mantaro Archaeological Research Project (UMARP) in Jauja, Peru. My area of focus will be Pre- Inca households from the Umpamalca region. I will be comparing and contrasting findings from the inside area of the households against the patio areas of the households. Then, I would like to compare and contrast spatial distribution of artifacts and densities found across households in the area. This will give a clearer picture of what the activity […]
Anthony Dunn
Our lives are defined by the ability to make decisions. This fundamental function hinges on complex computations emerging from the integration of sensory, motor, and value information. Decision-making computations are thought to be strongly modulated by dopamine in the dorsomedial striatum. I will measure dopamine release in the dorsomedial striatum during decision making and test if it follows predictions made by two reinforcement learning models. The first model, Temporal Difference (TD) theory, predicts that dopamine activity in mice will be a function of reward prediction error, which is greatest when […]
Yiyang Jin
In this project, I want to find out if chromodomain helicase DNA bind protein 8 (CHD8) and other CHD family proteins, which are known chromatin regulators, will interact with the RNA polymerase II elongation factor ELL2. ELL2 is an important component of the Super Elongation Complex (SEC). SEC plays a very crucial role in HIV transcription and reactivation of HIV virus from latency. On the other hand, CHD8 is a member of the chromodomain helicase DNA-binding family, which consists of 9 protein homologs that are all chromatin remodeling factors. Chromatin […]
Jack Nelson
Play is a central component of childhood development, yet previous research on play largely neglects the role of racism and prejudice in childrens play, and in the way their play is perceived by adults. Were left with all these unanswered questions: How do teachers impose their own values onto students play? How do teachers perceptions of play affect the way they regulate or police it? In what ways are certain groups marginalized, stifled, or supported through the treatment of their play? Drawing from observations in a preschool classroom and data […]
Minjune Hwang
In recent years, rapid growth in self-driving vehicles was largely enabled by breakthroughs in computer vision and reinforcement learning (RL). Current research focuses on applications of RL-based, model-free methods through simulation rather than classical model-based optimization. However, model-free algorithms often fail to generalize beyond the environment in which it was trained. For instance, self-driving cars trained in a regular urban environment will suffer to drive safely and efficiently in road environments in developing countries where traffic signals do not exist, roads are under-structured, and drivers drive under implicit rules. Subsequently, […]
Danielle Yang
This research seeks to understand the morphological relationship between the bony and keratinous portions of the turtle feeding apparatus, as well as their relationship to diet and habitat. I will focus on a subset of these turtles to test hypotheses at a finer taxonomic level with the goal of exploring the morphological variation within this taxon. To identify variation in skull shape, I will select appropriate specimens from institutions across the Bay Area, such as the UC Museums of Paleontology and Vertebrate Zoology and the California Academy of Sciences, and […]
Louise Curtis
Between 1789 and 1799, the French Revolution shook the firm order of French politics, marking a new era in France and the world. The consequences of the Revolution cut across all aspects of French life. Ideological changes were rapid and ambitious, yet many were not immediately successful. My research will focus on the French Revolution as a benchmark in the development of public education. Leaders of the Revolution saw primary and secondary schools as essential instruments in the formation of a national identity, the diffusion of republican values, and the […]
Jacqueline Phuong Nguyen
Understanding linguistic subjectivity means recognizing that two speakers of a language can disagree about what counts as beautiful, or tall.” Adults can understand and easily accept when people disagree on subjective properties of the world; however, children seem to fail to do so until much later. On the other hand, when exposed to two subjective opinions, children often assert that only one opinion could be correct. In turn, my research question asks whether or not bilingual children are more likely to be able to understand and acknowledge that two people […]
Gabriel Sarnoff
How can I insert computer music into the intersection of improvisation and composition? My research will explore the ways in which I can use the computer as an instrument in itself and, conversely, as a medium between instrument and sound production. Computers enable a constant and spontaneous flow of information between the musician and the digital soundscape. Learning how to control this flow will let me bring composition and improvisation into a modern context without losing the integrity and intricacies of live performance. My project will be to create a […]
Colette Cosyn-Kang
Pesticide use trends in California have shifted drastically in recent decades. As neurotoxic pesticides-such as organophosphates and carbamates- have been phased out of agricultural use, they have been replaced by other pesticides such as pyrethroids, neonicotinoids, and glyphosate (the active ingredient in RoundUp). However, little is known about the relative toxicity of the pesticides that are currently being used most heavily in agriculture. No previous studies have evaluated total pesticide toxicity over time, including whether cumulative toxicity has shifted in conjunction with changes in the types of pesticides being applied. […]