While films, television shows, and theatrical productions are popular sources of entertainment, audiences often do not realize what is happening behind the scenes. Racial discrimination in the workplace is something that society has been dealing with for generations. The Film and Theatre industries are no exception to this; historically, Asian and Asian American actors have been offered... Read More

My research focuses on seeing whether music is effective tool in educating people regarding racism and police brutality. After gaining insight into this issue, they can share their knowledge with others. My hope is that this project creates more awareness about the issue.

The purpose of this project is to implement a method for analyzing changes in land cover due to deforestation in the United States. Previously, the USDA used decision-tree classification in semantic segmentation (i.e., labelling of each pixel in an image with a category label) to assess land cover change. However, deep learning has recently become popular, and it has yet to be applied... Read More

The goal of this project is to build a computational model to predict how many “likes” images will get from users of social media. The model will be trained and tested for accuracy by using data sourced from social networks. This data may be collected automatically with a computer program. This work is intended to help content creators improve their products.

In this project, I will develop a virtual reality simulation about pressing global issues. I will test my simulation by surveying participants about how watching the simulation could have changed their perspectives about the issues presented. The goal of my project is to increase awareness about important topics in our society and foster empathy for those impacted.

Today, almost 3 billion people live in a society whose economy is hindered by wide-ranging factors and encourages widespread poverty, low education levels, and corruption. Though there is a wealth of analytical literature on the topic of developing economics, studying a specific region that contains a diverse subset of economic situations allows one to compare and contrast factors and methods... Read More

15% of the Earth's population, or one billion people worldwide, have a disability. Despite such a vast community, people with disabilities face discrimination, including in the workplace due to employment bias. Furthermore, artificial intelligence is a field that rarely employs people with disabilities. This is why we decided to found 4ai. 4ai is a startup, annotating nonprofit based in Palo... Read More

“Forensic Science is the application of scientific principles and techniques to matters of criminal justice especially as relating to the collection, examination, and analysis of physical evidence” (Webster, 2018). Across the United States, forensic science plays a critical role in how criminal cases are both investigated and decided. One major issue is that there have been flaws in how... Read More

I am building my own sensor fusion comprised of ultrasonic, sonar, and infrared sensors. Afterward, I will build my own stealth aircraft from scratch and tweak the structure to test methods for helping the aircraft evade detection by the sensor fusion. Aerodynamics, engine emission, and skin coating will be the three main factors I will be testing.

Dioxin is a dangerous environmental toxin that is a byproduct of chemical manufacturing processes. Notoriously known as a component of Agent Orange, an herbicide used to clear out trees during the Vietnam War, this chemical has been found to cause health defects in Vietnam War veterans and Vietnamese civilians even to this day. I am researching how dioxin suppresses the immune system and what... Read More

Alzheimer's disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States, but currently, there is no cure (Alzheimer’s Association). To treat Alzheimer's disease, we must first fully understand the molecular mechanisms behind it and the pathological roles of the tau protein that classify diseases such as Alzheimer's disease as tauopathies. The tau protein has the normal role of attaching to... Read More

Margaret Tinsley and other parents of the Ravenswood School District filed a petition to combat the disparity in the quality of education between their school district and surrounding districts. A program was created in 1986 as part of the Settlement Order in San Mateo County Court. 30 years later, researchers and some local residents believe this program to be largely ineffective. My research... Read More

In PAUSD, 85% of white students are meeting the standards for English and Math, while only 45% of African Americans are meeting the English standards and 35% are meeting the standard for Math (Kolar, 2017); one of many examples of the achievement gap in the district. Social dynamics between races are one cause of this achievement gap; these race-based social stressors, such as stereotype... Read More

The purpose of the NFL protests, according to Colin Kaepernick, is to spread awareness of social injustices against African Americans. When the media began writing stories and producing segments on the issue, biases formed within different news sources, thereby influencing the people reading or viewing the information. When news sources cover stories involving a social justice component, such... Read More

There is a problem with the perception of post-high school options despite the fact that many other nations encourage their students to “follow their own pathway,” which includes trade school. This problem negatively affects American high school students because the message is that “no child should be left behind” and thus every student should be ready to attend a 4-year college. However, this... Read More

I will design and build a prototype of a device that generates electricity using the power of ocean waves. It will be efficient and portable so that it can be easily be used by people who have been affected by natural disasters or do not have access to electricity. My prototype will involve a coil and a magnet that induces a current as it shakes.

I am exploring measurement collapse, where a particle tends to instantaneously fall into a definite state only after being observed by a measuring device or conscious being. Since the 1920s, many interpretations on how to explain how and why this behavior occurs have been presented. However, the quantum mechanics community has not been able to determine which interpretation is most accurate.... Read More

The aim of this project is to figure out if there is any overlap between three fields of nanotechnology: 4D printing, self-assembly, and smart materials. 4D printing is the process of 3D printing objects that change shape as the conditions of the object's environment are changed. Self-assembly is the process of engineering conditions so that certain organic molecules come together to form... Read More

My study will analyze perceived social support in SELF ambassadors. Information will be collected on feelings of being supported by SELF mentors as well as feelings of being a support to mentors and students in the cohort. In addition, my study will analyze factors that influence this sense of perceived social support.

My project involves simulating RNA cotranscriptional folding to find certain conditions that allow folding into specific shapes. These shapes can be used to create nanoscale devices such as motors or logic gates. They have implications in the industrial and medical fields, such as for manufacturing or drug delivery.

With a sport as popular as soccer, it is crucial that “the beautiful game” is accessible to all, no matter one’s economic status. Soccer is a global phenomenon, but the “pay to play” system has shifted the dynamics of the sport in the U.S., so that youth soccer is now focused on generating profits from this “business” even as these payments bar many kinds from being able to participate. This... Read More

My research project is about understanding how the media, specifically the TV industry, portrays people with "invisible disabilities," which are defined as physical, mental, or neurological conditions that limit a person’s movements, senses, or activities but is invisible to a casual observer. I want to understand how the actors' performance of these roles affects the audience, and if it is a... Read More

Anti-LGBT hate crimes have become increasingly common in the past few years. Some research has been done on the demographics of people who are most impacted and on reporting discrepancies that underrepresent the frequency of hate crimes; however, very little research has been done to explore the leading causes for the increase, including whether anti-LGBT legislation plays a role in hate... Read More

During the past couple of seasons, the NFL has gone through much controversy regarding Colin Kaepernick and other players kneeling during the national anthem. He sat during the national anthem because he isn't "going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” After 2 years of being out of the NFL, Nike chose Colin Kaepernick for their... Read More

Automobile accidents are an ongoing epidemic in the United States. Pedestrian death rates and total automobile-related death rates have increased in recent years. Autonomous cars are the most anticipated solution to this problem; however, it will take a long time until all vehicles on the street are autonomous. I propose a secondary solution: to build a portable warning system (PWS) for... Read More

Undocumented immigration from Latin America is a very politicized topic. With an estimated 240,000 undocumented immigrants living in the Bay Area, the issue of discrimination needs to be solved. I will record the perceptions of undocumented immigrants by Bay Area residents through a survey, then analyze the responses to determine the best ways to influence these perceptions through social... Read More

I am researching what self-folding robots are being used for and how they work. I am also making my own model of a self-folding robot using cheap and easily accessible materials that can be found in many local and online stores. My goal is to understand the mechanics of these robots and ultimately how they will be applied in science and everyday life.

The Los Angeles Police Department has a long history of racism, leading to racially motivated police misconduct. This racially motivated police misconduct is still happening today, but there are also police officers whose actions are justified. The goal of this project is to identify a way to discern racially motivated police misconduct within the Los Angeles Police Department from justified... Read More

Plate waste, in a generalized sense, is made up of the remnants of a meal thrown away, and is a specific classification of food waste, which can be defined by any food lost throughout the consumer chain. Plate waste is ubiquitous in nature and nearly impossible to eliminate, but when appropriate measures are taken, previous studies have shown that it is possible to minimize the loss. This... Read More

Nestle has been bottling tens of millions of gallons of water every year since the 1980s, without a permit, in drought-stricken southern California. They are skating by with only having to pay a $624 fine for lack of permit, which is close to nothing compared to the value of the 62.5 million gallons of water they receive in return. I am interested in collecting the public opinion of the local... Read More

This summer, while visiting a poor village in rural China, we saw the severe problems that a lack of clean drinking water created for the villagers who lived there. These problems include a variety of waterborne diseases that may greatly harm work productivity. We are working on bringing accessible, clean drinking water to the village through designing and implementing a water filtration... Read More