Event lets researchers share their findings
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 4, 2001 9:00 p.m.
By Natalie Digate
Daily Bruin Contributor
College students engaging in high-risk sexual behavior despite
known risks, bees acting as “choosy flower visitors”
and people enjoying a stroll along Venice Beach Boardwalk were a
few of the research topics discussed over the weekend.
More than 180 student researchers from 19 Southern California
colleges and universities shared their projects at the Southern
California Conference on Undergraduate Research on Saturday at
Royce Hall.
“You are the leading scholars of the future,”
Chancellor Albert Carnesale said to the students at the opening
session, as he praised them for being dedicated and accomplished so
early in their careers.
From an analysis of the clubbing scene in Hollywood to a
technical presentation of computational neural systems in
psychophysics, research was presented in more than 13 academic
fields.
Misty Richards, a fourth-year psychobiology student with more
than 1,500 hours of research experience, presented her study on the
auditory and visual responses of infants that was recently
published in the “Undergraduate Science Journal.”
“I chose to do an oral presentation at the conference in
order to gain more experience and confidence in presenting my
research,” Richards said.
“The study I presented today is my own ““ I designed
the methods and I used my own ideas ““ now I want to be
comfortable communicating my work verbally,” she
continued.
Richards has four years of research experience, including
studying post-traumatic stress disorder at the Marion Davies
Children’s Clinic her freshman year and interning in
neuroscience at the National Institutes of Health last summer.
“I started very broad. I needed to figure out what I want
to do with my life. Research has taught me to apply what I learn.
It has fueled my interest in science,” said Richards, who
plans on becoming a psychiatrist.
In addition to the opportunity to share research findings, all
conference participants received a Provost’s Recognition
Award.
