April 2004

Undergrads experiment with research, develop skills

	Matt Gandara will be among about 180 students presenting their research at the Undergraduate Research Conference April 24. (Debbie Aldridge/UC Davis)

UC Davis undergraduates seeking to learn more about life as a scientist, pump up an application to graduate school or simply satisfy their curiosity about a specific subject will find many research opportunities at what is a leading research university.

Under the supervision of a faculty member, thousands of these students can be found conducting experiments in chemistry labs, distributing questionnaires for social sciences studies, or analyzing data on everything from gene expression to agricultural marketing practices.

The campus has more than a dozen sponsored undergraduate research programs available to students of all majors and backgrounds. With backers like the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Science Foundation, these programs provide small stipends to qualified students to help support their studies. Some are available to educationally or economically disadvantaged students only, some require a minimum grade point average, and others are open to all students.

There are also research opportunities available off campus at places like the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and the UC Davis Washington Center in Washington, D.C.

Students present research at conference

In addition, UC Davis students can take part in an annual Undergraduate Research Conference, which allows them to present research projects in either an oral or a poster session, just as their mentors do as advanced researchers. The program is open to students in all fields, who apply by presenting an abstract of their study.

Fourth-year student Matt Gandara, a Rocklin native, is participating in the Mentorships for Undergraduate Research in the Physical and Mathematical Sciences program. Working under the supervision of physics professor Richard Scalettar, the computational physics major wanted to learn more about how to predict where a given object will be at a given time in random processes. One method for determining this is called "random walks."

"Really, the easiest way to describe random walks is to describe the walk of a drunk," Gandara says. "They don't go in a straight line. They kind of meander."

Presenting research titled "Random Walks with Tired Drunks," Gandara will be among about 180 students participating in the 15th annual conference April 24. Open to the public, the event will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Freeborn Hall.

Also a participant at last year's event, Gandara says the experience has taught him the skills a researcher needs outside of the lab -- for example, the ability to speak in front of groups and how to prepare for questions from more experienced researchers like the professors who attend the conference's poster session.

Opportunities available in all fields

Tammy Hoyer, chair of the conference committee, says the conference offers an opportunity to learn more about the scholarly presentation of research. She also wants potential undergraduate researchers to know that there are opportunities for research in areas like social sciences, English and the humanities.

"One of the things we're really emphasizing is that research is not just about beakers and test tubes," Hoyer says.

Christopher Fagundes, a third-year psychology major from Merced, took his basic curiosity about the high rate of divorce to the next level by working with psychology professor Phillip Shaver on a longitudinal study of relationships.

Fagundes, who plans to become a psychology professor himself, began his study by interviewing fellow students about their dating relationships. He is now in the process of analyzing that data for his conference presentation, "Relationship Satisfaction - A Longitudinal Design."

There is still much work to be done on the long-term study, Fagundes says. But already he has discovered one possible factor behind the success or failure of a relationship. "One thing we did learn is that the satisfaction you predict kind of turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy," Fagundes says.

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