New L&S Program Helps Students Make the Most of Their Summer

By Genevieve Shiffrar

May 31, 2002

Students come to Berkeley with a dream. A dream to be a scientist. A dream to be an archaeologist. A dream to be an art historian. But, it can sometimes be difficult get a true sense of what these professions might be like without the opportunity to conduct in-depth research on a topic of one's own desires.

The College of Letters & Science has initiated a new program to help students with the resources and guidance they need to pursue these dreams, at a time when they are free from course work. The new Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program (SURF) helps students prepare for a senior thesis, or other major capstone project, with $2,000 to help cover living expenses for two months. With these funds, students are poised to conduct their own genetics experiment, work on their own archaeological dig, or see in person the artworks that so capture their imagination.

21 L&S undergraduates who have been selected as the first SURF fellows have worked closely with a faculty mentor to define an intriguing question and tackle it with a solid course of action. Their research plans are concentrated yet realistic; appropriate for the short summer months.

The following lists the 2002 SURF fellows and their projects. The proposals illustrate how students can get the most out of their years at Cal—how they can benefit from Berkeley's strength as a research university.  The largest number of proposals came from students in the social sciences, yet within this group the fascinating breadth and originality of these ideas astounds.

Congratulations to the first recipients of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships. May their dreams come true.

• Jennifer Alexander, English & Linguistics
  Can Music Condition the Brain for Acquisition of Tonal Languages?

• Cathal Blake, History
  Research Administration in the Pharmaceuticals Industry in the 1960s and 1970s

• Shahrzad Ehya, History of Art/Italian Studies
  Restructuring Language: The Theme of Language in the Artworks and Writings of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

• Maryam Gharavi, Film Studies & English
  Fervor: Iranian Cinema's Women Directors

• Bridget Gilman, History of Art
  Searching for Contingent: A Reconsideration of the Phenomenological Implications of Eva Hesse's Late Sculptural Work

• Sabrina Hom, Molecular & Cell Biology (Genetics)
  Characterizing Highwire's Role in Regulating Synapse Formation in Drosophila

• Jamie Lynn Inman, Molecular & Cell Biology & Sociology
  Determining and Defining a Keratin that Exhibits Unique Patterns of Regulation in Mammary Epithelial Cells

• Siti Galang Keo, History & Political Science
  French Attitudes Toward Indochinese Decolonization (1946-1955)

• Mary Ann King, Political Science / Conservation and Resource Studies
  Water Trusts: Getting Our Feet Wet

• Lu Lu Kuang, Psychology
  Self Esteem and Physical Attractiveness in Older Women

• Sarah Ellen Minson, Earth and Planetary Science
  Study of Volcanic Induced Seismicity - Miyakejima, Japan, June 26-August 29, 2000

• Ingrid Newquist, Anthropology
  Last Call: A Native Californian Occupation Site at Fort Ross, California

• Nandita Raghavan, Economics/Public Policy
  The Economic Effects of the Changing Consumption Preferences of Middle Class Indian Women

• Boris P. Rodin, Slavic Languages & Classical Languages
  Scripts of the Soviet Self: A Study in the Politics of Narration

• Audrey W. Seetho, Economics
  Coming Home: A Socioeconomic Comparison of World War II and Vietnam War Veterans

• Anne Campbell Smiley, Anthropology
  Strategies of Survival, Methods of Empowerment: The Case of Sudanese African Muslim Women Refugees in Cairo

• Seinenu Thein, Psychology / Public Policy
  Multiple Predictors of Self-Esteem in Early and Middle Adulthood

• Sarah Wheelock, History
  The Development of the Contemporary Fire Department: Historical Issues in the 1970's and 1980's

• Nicole Wojtal, Anthropology
  Delineating Disease: Support Groups and the Experience of Breast Cancer for Women in the Bay Area

• Gabriel Wong, Applied Math & Physics / Music
  Coupled Oscillators and Cellular Flames

• Janel Works, Anthropology
  Settlement Gardens and Agriculture: An Archaeological Survey of Kaupo, Maui