Ryan Bowers
This summer I will be studying chloroform pollution in drinking water around the UC Berkeley campus. Initial measurements of chloroform in water near campus indicate that while chloroform levels don’t surpass legal requirements, they may surpass recommended health limits. Therefore, I will spend this summer researching the extent of this pollution and evaluating the hazards in reference to previously established legal limits. I will expand on this by addressing how homeowners can most effectively reduce chloroform in drinking water through cheap methods, such as using Brita filters.
Brianna Blair
This summer, I will be piloting a study on the mental and physical health effects of identity denial among people with marginalized identities. I hope to analyze the effects of downplaying a visible marginalized identity and how this can have detrimental health consequences. I will also continue assisting graduate students and Professor Jacoby-Senghor with their various lab projects throughout the summer.
Kevin Xu
We are interested in understanding the biomechanics of various organisms by analyzing how physical structure affects the organism’s mechanical functions in nature. From amoeba pseudopods to barnacle larvae antennae, we are primarily interested in understanding the feeding and locomotive mechanisms of different organisms and figuring out what advantages these specific mechanisms confer to each organism. By studying the interface of organism biomechanics and system fluid/solid mechanics, we can elucidate the basic physical rules that govern different kinds of organisms.
Coco Xu
This summer, I will continue to work on this research project which studies issues affecting access to the civil justice system by reading judicial opinions from U.S. Court of Appeals. These issues include class certification, damages, standing, sufficiency of pleadings and attorney’s fees. Judges from federal appellate courts have great discretion in deciding these issues and setting precedents for lower courts to follow. Their decisions on certain issues — including what groups of individuals can bring on lawsuits as a class, how much punitive damage can be granted to a […]
Candace Yee
This summer I’ll be using an ecomorphology flume— an artificial channel of water made to simulate the movement of water through a deltaic marsh— in McCone Hall to determine how wetland vegetation, particularly the biofilm that grows on the vegetation, influences sedimentation rate. I’ll be helping to set up the experiments, collect water samples from a pump attached to the flume, as well as process the samples and data collected to see how suspended sediment in the flume changes with time. From this lab work, we hope to better understand […]
Tianyu Claire Qiao
In this summer I plan to assist Professor Vinod K. Aggarwal to research on the Global Great Power Competition, especially the Geo-Economic and Geo-strategic Dimensions between the U.S. and China in the 21st Century. We will look at the contours, dynamics, and characteristics of this new rivalry and who are the main contestants and what are the main areas of competition.