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woman works with zebrafish in scientific lab

Student Research at Caltech in Summer 2023

October 20, 2023

From the day Caltech undergraduates arrive on campus, they can engage in research. From exploring the natural chemical products of life to peering into the universe, Caltech undergraduate students have unparalleled access to research labs and to the faculty, scientists, and engineers who lead them, with more than 90 percent of undergraduates sharing that they contributed to a research program before they graduated.

For many Caltech students, and visiting peers from other institutions, the entrée into research happens during a summer at Caltech through the Institute's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program and a collection of other summer research programs, exchanges, and internships which aim to expand students' understanding and appreciation of science and engineering, as well as their problem-solving skills. This year, more than 450 undergraduate students conducted cutting-edge research.

SURF, which has been in existence for more than four decades and serves both Caltech and visiting students, providing participants with a 10-week, immersive research experience where they design, develop, and carry out independent research projects with the help of faculty, graduate student, and postdoc mentors. Another longstanding program is WAVE Fellows, which brings in visiting students from groups that are comparatively underrepresented in science and engineering, with the intention of encouraging their interest in pursuing a PhD. Other programs include Amgen Scholars, with a focus on biology, chemistry, and biotechnology related fields; the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) SURF; exchange programs with the University of Cambridge and the University of Iceland; and NASA/JPL programs (Caltech manages JPL for NASA).

Caltech's Center for Inclusion and Diversity also offers the First-Year Success Research Institute (FSRI). Through their participation in FSRI, three incoming first-year Caltech students found their summer home in the lab of Marianne Bronner, the Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology and director of the Beckman Institute: Said Garcia, Angie Moussambote, and Ying Tan. The poultry industry, which mostly needs females for egg laying, currently separates male and female chicks after they hatch, and then destroys the male chicks. Garcia, Moussambote, and Tan were tasked with finding a way to determine the sex of chicks earlier in the process, while they are still in their shells. "We worked on sexing chicken eggs in ovo (inside the egg) using laser speckle contrast imaging, artificial intelligence, and machine learning," Tan says. "We verified the machine learned hypothesis using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and gel electrophoresis." Tan hopes this work can "decrease the inhumane processes of chicken culling" and looks forward to "incorporating more software development and ease of data analysis into the field of biological research."

Click through this slideshow to learn about a small subset of projects that Caltech hosted in summer 2023. On October 21, 2023, at SFP/SURF Seminar Day, fellows from many of these programs will present their research projects in both oral and poster sessions.

Woman works with plastic shapes by computer
A second-year at Caltech, Audrey Wong, one of five DaRin Butz SURF Fellows, reports that "the process of finding a mentor and identifying a project of interest took a long time, but it was well worth the effort, as I was extremely happy with the project I worked on over the summer." Wong worked on designing a reconfigurable surface structure and prototyping it to further her study of mechanical engineering. She was mentored by Sergio Pellegrino, the Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aerospace and Civil Engineering, JPL senior research scientist, and co-director of the Space Solar Power Project.
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
two people working in a lab
Christian Dimayuga, a student at Pasadena City College, learned about the WAVE Fellows program when Judah Bates, a graduate student in bioengineering at Caltech, lectured for Dimayuga's class at PCC. "I found it to be really exciting and a great opportunity, so I applied," says Dimayuga. "One of my main goals as a research intern and student has been to find an area of biology that aligns well with my interests and could be something that I can be passionate about. I definitely see myself moving forward on this path." Dimayuga, a BBE-CEMI WAVE Fellow, worked to elucidate the link between the gut microbiome and tissue growth in the lab of Lea Goentoro, professor of biology.
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
woman works in lab
An aspiring earth scientist, Celia Kong-Johnson came to Caltech from Brown University as a WAVE Fellow to research geobiology with Alex Sessions, the Nico and Marilyn van Wingen Professor of Geobiology. Her project was to develop a new method of carbon isotope analysis to study tree rings for paleoclimate studies. "I was introduced to a vast number of instruments for our various data analyses, which was really exciting," Kong-Johnson says. "Initially, I was more interested in geochemistry as it relates to climate studies, but after this summer, I realize how much overlap there is between geochemistry and geobiology. I do plan to look more into biogeochemical research in the future."
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
Wendy Granados Razo examines two test tubes with fluid in them
Wendy Granados Razo, a third-year at Caltech and John Stauffer SURF Fellow, did a project in polymer mechanochemistry in the lab of Maxwell Robb, assistant professor of chemistry. "We investigated the mechanochemical and photochemical reactivities of a stress-sensitive molecule in both the solution phase and bulk polymeric state," Granados Razo says. Granados Razo learned a lesson important to all scientists: "Failure is a learning experience. Whether it be a reaction that didn't work or a mistake made along the procedure, whatever information gained is just as valuable as successful results."
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
Tommy Clark
During a prior summer, Tommy Clark, a fourth-year at Caltech, did a SURF project in Denmark. Then, Clark says, "I met Professor [Thomas] Rosenbaum at an alumni event in Chicago and heard about the work in his lab, and reached out to see if I could do a SURF in his lab for summer 2023." (Thomas F. Rosenbaum is president of Caltech, a professor of physics, and holder of the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair.) "I learned a lot about experimental physics, as this was my first experience in a condensed matter lab. We used large magnets at extremely low temperatures to induce quantum fluctuations in spin glass. Learning to use a helium dilution refrigerator is a steep task!"
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
woman works in lab
"This summer I worked on a project studying the local climate of Pasadena through tree-ring characterization, stable carbon isotope measurements, and radiocarbon dating," says Sarah Vierling, an undergraduate from Amherst College who came to Caltech as a SURF Fellow. "Specifically, I used wood sections from the old Engelmann Oak that once stood on Caltech's campus between Dabney Hall and the Parsons-Gates Hall of Administration. This oak was believed to be around 400 years old, and some of its pieces have been constructed into a table now at the Red Door Café." Vierling's lab work with Alex Sessions, the Nico and Marilyn van Wingen Professor of Geobiology, suggests that the tree was closer to 200–250 years old. "I learned about the complexity of dendrochronology," Vierling says. "It's not as easy as counting the rings to figure out how old a tree is! There are endless factors that can impact a tree's growth."
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
woman sits at computer
A second-year at Caltech, Ava Barbano spent the winter and spring of 2023 working in the laboratory of Ralph Adolphs (PhD '93), the Bren Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Biology. She extended her work into the summer through the SURF program, analyzing data from a webcam-based eye-tracking system called WebGazer. The program allows researchers to study "atypical gaze behavior in autism," Barbano says.
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
woman works at computer
Natasha Hong, a second-year at Caltech, spent her summer helping to pioneer methods of studying pupil dilation while participants watch naturalistic movies. Preliminary findings demonstrate that autistic participants show atypical pupil dilation patterns. Further study may show that this technology can be used to help diagnose and better understand autism. "Originally, I thought this was mainly about analyzing the dataset," Hong says. "But then I had the opportunity to interact with autistic participants as well." Hong's research was done in the lab of Ralph Adolphs (PhD '93), the Bren Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Biology.
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
woman and man in lab coats work at whiteboard
As a rising fourth-year student at Princeton University, Jess Wang came to Caltech through the Visiting Undergraduate Research Program (VURP) to synthesize pedrolide, a natural product derived from plants that has the potential to be used as a medicine. "In the field of organic chemistry," Wang explains, "a 'total synthesis' is a complete synthesis of a molecule from commercially available starting materials. The idea is to design a pathway of reactions—often predicated on a novel, innovative, or clever synthetic strategy—to get from starting materials to the desired product. This is my goal for pedrolide." Wang, who worked at Caltech with Sarah Reisman, the Bren Professor of Chemistry, is currently applying to organic chemistry PhD programs.
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
woman looks at scientific samples in a lab
Anushka Irodi came to Caltech through the exchange with the University of Cambridge to do research related to the development of the central nervous system in the laboratory of Marianne Bronner, Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology and director of the Beckman Institute. "The meninges are membranes that cover and protect the central nervous system. Meningiomas are tumors, often benign, that arise from these membranes due to gene inactivations or mutations in the primordial meningeal cells," says Irodi, who undertook research on zebrafish embryos in Bronner's lab to study pediatric meningiomas. "I think what most pleasantly surprised me about the experience is the breadth of different skills I have picked up during my time here," she says.
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
woman works in lab
Taylor Simonian, a junior from the University of Southern California, participated in the Amgen Scholars Program under the mentorship of Marianne Bronner, the Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology and director of the Beckman Institute. "The entire field of developmental biology and embryology using the chick system to study craniofacial development was completely novel to me prior to this summer," Simonian says. "I was given preparatory materials to introduce the new lab techniques I would be learning. From the beginning, I had hands-on opportunities to perform these techniques. The technology is astounding." Simonian hopes her work on embryonic development of the mandible may one day prove useful to the field of regenerative medicine.
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech
woman works in lab
Shanya Mishra of the École Polytechnique in Paris came to Caltech this past summer to work in the lab of Thomas F. Rosenbaum, president of Caltech, a professor of physics, and holder of the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair. Mishra worked on noise reduction in SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) connecting coils, fabricating a prototype pickup coil. "I learned a lot about the technical aspects of the project—things like electrical measurements for experimental physics, physics at cryogenic temperatures, superconducting devices, and machining," Mishra says. "It was amazing to see the progress that could be made through collaboration by combining the very different approaches, ideas, and facilities of different research groups."
Credit: Lance Hayashida/Caltech