Jacob Krantz

Geometric flows, such as the Ricci flow, Yang-Mills flow, and harmonic map flow, are natural ways to smooth out geometric objects (metric, connection, and maps, respectively). In this project, we will explore the idea of using geometric flows to develop new analytic tools for studying geometric objects. A possible goal of this project is to use geometric flows to solve problems in dispersive PDEs that involve geometric objects.

Jenny Lu

This summer, my graduate mentor, Taormina Lepore, and I will be working on a project aimed at understanding the effectiveness of inclusive design on disability perception in college paleobiology courses. Using student survey data collected from UC Berkeley and three other U.S. universities about experiences with an in-class digital inclusive design project, we will practice mixed methods of analysis with Microsoft Excel VLOOKUP functions, MaxQDA, and R-package software. For example, we will mark and code themes in a large body of survey response text and compile a thematic codebook product […]

Xiaoyue Mei

DNA methylation (DNAme) refers to the addition of a methyl group to the cytosines of the CpG islands in the gene regulatory regions, which is involved in regulating transcription and chromatin structure, typically silencing the corresponding genetic locus. A lifetime of accumulated epigenetic changes has been proposed to contribute to the development of age-associated diseases. I aim to investigate the biological relevance of DNA methylation clocks via Elastic Net regression approaches and to develop a better model by which chronological age could be correlated with the disease through epigenetics. Meanwhile, […]

Ben Leong

This summer, I will be working one-on-one with my mentor, Michael Banerjee, a fourth-year graduate student here at UC Berkeley. Michael and I will spend the summer researching documents from the history of the UC system, mostly through UC Regents reports from as far back as 1868, in order to investigate and better understand the origin and power of the Constitutional University system. The goal of this research is to obtain a full understanding of this incredibly unique state-constitution based charter system that is only found in the Western United […]

Joshua Kay

The Doctrine of Discovery precluded any non-Christian individual from having a legal claim to land under European colonial law. In the Spanish occupation of California, this Doctrine led to the establishment of the Mission system intended to indoctrinate the native people of California into becoming “responsible Christian landowners.” But, after the Mexican and then American occupation of California, these religious doctrines were largely abandoned. Yet, after each successive change in governance, control over land was redistributed. I will spend the summer examining documents housed at the Bancroft and State Library […]

Charlotte Mourad

What individual- and household-level interventions are most feasible for the mitigation of air pollution exposure in underserved and disproportionately impacted communities? This is a critically important question as exposure to ambient air pollution is a globally leading cause of adverse health and morbidity. Furthermore, underserved communities are limited economically, so it is important to co-develop feasible strategies for those with fewer resources. Centering on the needs of underserved populations in the Inland Empire, with potential global applications, this project will contextualize applications for air pollution emissions data in regions that […]

Laura Powers

The devastation caused by intensifying wildfires in California over several decades has had increasingly detrimental effects on the diversity of native vegetation and the soil microbiome, which are critical in shaping plant growth and function. However, we still know very little about how native soil microbiomes are affected by wildfire and their role in host plant recovery. Specifically, we do not know how soil microbiomes of California grasslands (which evolved with periodic, low-intensity fires) mediate the recovery of native vegetation and how they may interact with non-native plants. As both […]

Erin Lee

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and strokes are ongoing public health crises, taking millions of lives annually and leaving survivors chronically disabled. They commonly affect the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), an integrative center for the brain’s reward and decision-making circuit. Thus, damage to the OFC can cause behavioral deficits, including impulsivity and impaired decision-making. My research examines the brain’s capacity for compensatory and functional reorganization in intact tissue following injury or lesion, which is crucial to furthering the clinical potential of neurorehabilitation. Previous analyses done by the D’Esposito Lab have found that […]

Silas Kirsch

Since their inception, the role and cultural significance of highways have aligned with contemporary issues of inequity and have been vectors of harm. I will analyze the history of the Bay Area’s highways and examine the inequity that shaped and was built into the public understanding of the highways, as well as the structures themselves. Three main eras I will focus on are: 1910–1940, when highways were novel and their place in culture was being constructed; 1941–1980, when they were used as a tool to reshape communities and the dynamics […]

Kaila Nishikawa

Since the mid-20th century, the field of drug discovery for disease regulation has focused on the concept of occupancy-driven pharmacology. However, more than 90 percent of the proteome is currently deemed undruggable due to a lack of surface-lying ligandable hotspots. Many of these undruggable proteins, such as transcription factors and protein complexes, are implicated in disease but cannot be targeted through active site directed inhibitors, creating a need for new therapeutic modalities that can control protein function. One method for targeting undruggable proteins is through the use of molecular glue […]