Students enrich studies through research
By Harold Lee
June 8, 2003 9:00 p.m.
From examining the soil to solving problems in space travel,
graduating UCLA students have been involved in research in the
sciences.
Fifth-year aerospace engineering and physics student Robert
Lobbia started his freshman year doing research which involved
increasing fuel efficiency for turbo jet engines.
“It was a new concept to increase engine efficiency and
reduce pollutants,” Lobbia said.
Lobbia’s role was to write the computer code for the
microcontroller, the device that controls the fuel and air
mixture.
Lobbia has also worked with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration to research how sound vibrations on space ships can
affect a fire by designing an active feedback controller, which
creates optimal conditions on a space ship.
“We believe that the flame surrounding droplets of fuel
can be stretched or compressed by vibrations, causing the fire to
burn faster,” Lobbia said.
Lobbia’s inspiration to work with rockets stemmed from the
fourth grade, when he was asked about his life goal.
“I wanted to build a vehicle capable of travelling faster
than light,” Lobbia said. “That’s how I wanted to
work with rockets.”
This summer, Lobbia and the UCLA chapter of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics plan to do research on
their own time by launching a rocket they believe will go 20 miles
into the air.
Lobbia plans to pursue graduate work in aerospace engineering in
the fall at the University of Michigan.
Some students conduct research abroad to investigate the
long-term effects of natural disasters.
Fourth-year civil engineering student Emily Guglielmo, who plans
to go to UC Berkeley for graduate school, was sent to Taiwan last
summer to perform geotechnical research ““ involving applying
geology to engineering ““ on the after-effects of an
earthquake that hit the island in 1999.
The earthquake caused global liquefaction, a process that causes
buildings to collapse and sink into the ground, Guglielmo said.
Tests conducted on site and in the laboratory can tell
researchers various characteristics of the soil such as soil type,
soil density and water content, Guglielmo said.
The information derived from Guglielmo’s research can be
applied in construction and in strengthening the soil.
“You can encourage people not to build on a type of
soil,” Guglielmo said.
“Government agencies can use results to make new laws or
encourage people to be more aware so they know where it’s
safer to build a house,” she said.
Geotechnical research also “hits close to home” for
Guglielmo, who grew up in California.
“I grew up in the Bay Area and I was in the Loma Prieta
earthquake,” Guglielmo said. “I’ve always been
fascinated with earthquakes.”
The research conducted by engineers like Guglielmo will help
result in less damage and fewer deaths caused by earthquakes, she
said.
Recently, Guglielmo received one of three Outstanding Senior
Awards from the Student Alumni Association in recognition of her
work in Taiwan.
Fifth-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student
Erika Bustamante came from Columbia to the United States in January
1997.
Since her third year, Bustamante has researched a mutation in a
protein in mice that causes malformation in the heart resulting in
death at early development.
Bustamante compares the ribonucleic acid ““ genetic
material responsible for encoding proteins ““ from mutated
mice with the RNA of normal mice.
Information gained from comparing the RNA pools is used to find
other genes that may have been affected by the mutation as well as
genes responsible for heart formation, Bustamante said.
“This gives us insight on how heart development works and
how people can be treated for these congenital heart
diseases,” she said.
Bustamante attributes her opportunity to research to the
Minority Access to Research Careers program.
Before starting her research, Bustamante worked at the UCLA
Health Sciences store, but had a difficult time incorporating
research into her schedule.
“When I did the MARC program, I was able to stop working
because it provided me with a stipend,” Bustamante said.
“Instead of just having a job, I was able to do
research,” she said.
Last Tuesday, Bustamante was awarded the first Richard L. Weiss
Research Prize from MARC for her research.
Undergraduate students interested in research can turn to
various university programs such as the Student Research Program
and the Center for Academic and Research Excellence.
In the fall, Bustamante plans to study developmental biology at
Stanford.
