College students are often told undergraduate research will give them an edge in the job market. But the steps involved in finding a project can seem daunting. UC Davis makes the process easier with courses that open doors to meaningful research for all students.
When UC Davis design major Matthew Kwong began looking online for places to get tested for COVID-19, he found little and bad information.
He figured if finding a testing site was difficult for a tech-savvy 20-year-old, for others — especially vulnerable and elderly populations — it would be nearly impossible. So, he spent months creating an interactive COVID-19 testing site map.
Undergraduate research provides students with skills that employers value, including critical thinking, collaboration and communication. One way students practice those skills is participating in the annual Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference.
Held in January 2020, the UC Davis hackathon brought together more than 600 of the most talented students in California to develop apps that address the world's most pressing social issues.
Getting research experience as an undergraduate student doesn’t have to mean working in a laboratory. Instead of days spent transferring fluids from one tube to another, math major Tracy Camacho explored matroids, complex mathematical objects with many different uses.
Students from any major on campus can engage in undergraduate research in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. As a senior, Cole Williams pursued his interests in genetics with a project in the lab of Brenna Henn, associate professor of anthropology. Williams, a genetics and genomics major in the College of Biological Sciences, designed an algorithm capable of handling diverse population and complex family genealogies in human genomic datasets.
Psychology and biological sciences senior Wenzhe Li rotated through two labs at UC Davis before finding her research passion: cytoplasmic dynein, a motor protein used for intracellular transport. Li conducts research in the lab of Richard McKenney, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. She was awarded the Ronald and Lydia Baskin Research Award, given to a graduating senior for excellence in research in the biological sciences.
Fatima Hussain, a graduate student in chemistry and a 2019 UC Davis Grad Slam finalist, researched aerosol particles as an undergraduate student, but chose to focus on water remediation in grad school.
