Over 180 ASDRP High School student researchers attend the Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research on November 23, 2024 at California State University, San Bernardino.

Last week, braving the late November rainstorm, ASDRP brought one hundred eighty students from across eighteen faculty members’ research groups to the 2024 annual Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR), held this year at California State University, San Bernardino in San Bernardino, CA, to present their research in poster presentations and oral talks throughout the day in disciplines ranging from molecular and cell biology to electrical engineering, and everything in between. We joined over three thousand undergraduates, faculty members, and families representing one hundred forty universities and colleges from around California and around the United States to share in a weekend of research, scholarship, and collective mentorship. Students representing the Amadi Lab (Biotechnology), Akl Lab (Theoretical Physics), Brah Lab (Structural Biology), Chen Lab (Molecular Biology), Cunha Lab (Bioinformatics), Dharmale Lab (Electrical Engineering), Jahanikia Lab (Neuroscience), Kushnerov Lab (Genomics), McMahan Group (Electrical Engineering), Njoo Lab (Organic Chemistry), Poudyal Lab (Plant Biotechnology), Renganathan Lab (Biochemistry), Wang Lab (Molecular Biology), and Yamamoto Lab (Biomaterials) presented a total of sixty posters at SCCUR this year, followed by oral presentations from students in the Njoo Lab, Dharmale Lab, McMahan Lab, Jahanikia Lab, and Poudyal Lab. A special shoutout goes to Raina Panda (Washington High School ‘26, Liu Group) for presenting ASDRP’s first visual arts exhibit on utilizing Dall-E and generative artificial intelligence for feature creation from hand-drawn comics. 

For many students, this experience of attending and presenting at a “first conference” was a big eye-opener, not simply in having another opportunity to present at an undergraduate conference venue, but to learn and hear how dozens of undergraduate students from a spectrum of academic labs are conducting their research, and to network with students, faculty, and professionals from different disciplines and different institutions. Please check out our online public photo album here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zmVhVgYZqy9kNFzX8. On the way back, we thank ASDRP alumni Pratyush Singh (Caltech ‘27; American High School ‘23, Njoo Lab Alum) and Angela Milo (Harvey Mudd Chemistry & Physics ‘28; Homestead High School ‘24, Njoo Lab Alum) for hosting our students in touring their college campuses.

We are grateful to the Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR) for giving us the opportunity to bring high school students to an undergraduate research conference, as well as to the California State University, San Bernardino for hosting this year’s SCCUR conference. It is encouraging to see students excited about doing research, both from ASDRP and from our surrounding academic institutions.