Recent work in the computer science field of music information retrieval (MIR) has demonstrated the ability of machine learning to analyze and automatically generate musical phrases, lyrics, and accompaniments. The goal of this research project is to implement techniques in an optimized, web-accessible interface. By providing initial direction for the music, the machine learning model(s) would generate and respond with a full 3min song around that prompt.

The San Francisquito Creek of East Palo Alto flooded 20 years ago, costing millions of dollars in damage costs. The most common method of flood management is building levees or walls to prevent the water from escaping the creek. However, many city or state government programs ignore factors such as climate change and unintended consequences such as flooding upstream of the newly build levees. Instead, they only focus on cost-efficiency and functionality. Using an array of historical flood data and putting it into a statistical simulation, all these important factors will be accounted for to produce a damage cost. Based on this, it is expected to deduce how the levees should be constructed in order to minimize the chance of failure in flood management.

Across California, groundwater in aquifers, or underground water reservoirs, has been depleting at a very high rate. This is primarily due to the over-pumping of groundwater from aquifers for irrigation and municipal use. Such depletion has lasting and negative effects on both human and wildlife populations. This research project will investigate the causes and rate of groundwater depletion, and will provide possible solutions to mitigate this issue.

This research project will study the connection between the gut microbiome alterations and contributing proteins, such as Tau and beta-amyloid, alpha-synuclein, and Huntingtin, analyzing their specific structure and function in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases respectively. Previous studies have shown a possible relationship between gut microbiome bacteria and the eventual aggregating and misfolding of proteins. Abnormal misfolded proteins interrupt intercellular communication and secrete toxins, and this action typically triggers the onset of those diseases. This project will utilize BLAST to inspect similarities between the molecular structures of these proteins. Results will provide a better understanding of each disease and potentially come up with an idea of how to combat all these neurodegenerative diseases.

About one in three people will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives (“Cancer Statistics,” 2018). Yet, the mutation that caused the tumor’s formation may differ from one patient to another. My research focuses on how extrachromosomal DNA in biofluids can serve as biomarkers in cancer. Sequencing the mutation from ecDNA is a less-invasive detection method with high accuracy in its diagnosis. This project hopes to summarize past research and provide insight into where this new field is headed to next.

15% of the Earth's population, or one billion people worldwide, have a disability. Despite a diverse community, people with disabilities face discrimination in various facets of life. Employment discrimination against people with disabilities includes varied workplaces, including the field of AI. This research project has lead to the founding of 4ai, a certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit that aims to provide jobs to people with disabilities and make advancements in the field of artificial intelligence. This corporation will exclusively employe people with disabilities, training them to tag images to be utilized in training artificial intelligence technology. Through AAR's Independent Study program, this project focuses on the continued development of 4ai.

Lack of knowledge of underlying biology and effective treatments for brain tumors, remains an unmet medical need. Recent reports suggest that phagocytosis, in which a type of immune cells, called macrophages, engulf foreign bodies, may have a role in treating brain tumors. The objectives of this project were to grow brain tumor cell lines and establish the optimal growth conditions; and then to study the role of phagocytosis in the treatment of gliomas. Oligodendroglioma (BT142) (unsorted) and Medulloblastoma (MB002) cell lines (unsorted & sorted) were thawed and plated to grow in Oligodendroglioma media. Cells were checked regularly under a microscope to monitor for cell growth, and under a fluorescent microscope for cell viability. The BT142 cell line initially grew (#2 days) and small clusters formed, but then by day 10 it stopped growing and cells started to die by day 16. For the MB002 unsorted cell line, the number of cells increased from 0-4 days, but stopped growing and cells died from 4-6 days. On the other hand, MB002, the sorted cell line enriched for tumor cells, consistently grew and had to be split. The data generated so far has established the optimal growth conditions for oligodendroglioma and medulloblastoma brain tumor cells lines. The observation that the sorted cell line grew while the unsorted did not is likely due to the higher percentage of tumor cells. In the future, different cell populations will be labeled to conduct a phagocytosis assay.

Myocardial Infarction, also known as a heart attack, is a fatal heart condition that affects many people in the U.S. Caused by blocked arteries or veins, which limits blood flow to the heart, the result is massive tissue death even after resuscitation. The death of cardiac tissue weakens the heart muscle and leaves the victims open to heart diseases and secondary heart attacks, lowering their everyday quality of life. This research project will focus on the potential use of angiogenesis, or blood vessel formation, in curing the site of myocardial infarction injury. Using angiogenesis is a much more desirable option than using artificial parts to treat the injury site.

There is a problem with the utility rates going up annually in Palo Alto. In order to support the utility companies that are trying to upgrade and rebuild their water and gas systems for beneficial reasons, Palo Alto, a customer for these companies, is required to contribute to the project's cost. When coupled with increased rates in every utility component, the average residential utility bill is expected to go up by 4-5% every year for the next five years. Although the rate increases are not entirely in the residents' control, an alternative solution to reduce utility bills is to design houses or install sustainable designs that will efficiently integrate Palo Alto's climate and environment.

This project will focus on whether the testing of water will lessen the contamination of coastlines, specifically in Pilar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay, in order to pinpoint and reduce the consequences of pollution at surf breaks. The project will analyze data on both water quality (quantitative) and where it appears to be coming from (qualitative) and analyze data.