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

There is a problem with a lack of political representation for the bottom 80% of the U.S. population, despite the fact that the United States considers itself a democratic society. Since Presidents continue to be elected through the Electoral College and not the popular vote, society is negatively affected because “middle America” does not believe that their needs and voices are heard. A... Read More

This project aims to explore the social justice issue of teacher turnover, which contributes to inequity in education by disproportionately affecting minority and low-income students. This project will examine how teachers' relationships with administration, colleagues (other teachers), and students relate to their turnover potential. Specifically, this project will examine whether there is a... Read More

Clothing waste seems to be an increasing problem. With new and very successful business tactics deployed by the fashion industry, more and more clothing is being created and thrown away. I will be looking into the process that clothing goes through to be created and discarded, then identify possible solutions to the problem.

“The conversion of socialized people into dedicated combatants is not achieved by altering their personality structures, aggressive drives, or moral standards. Rather, it is accomplished by cognitively restructuring the moral value of killings, so that the killing can be done free from self-censuring restraints” (Bandura, 1990). This research project will investigate different backgrounds that... 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

Pilot training is intense, especially for those who participate in the military, which is why there are so many ranks. Military pilots are officers, which is the highest rank. The second highest is a warrant officer, with a non-commander officer third. All military officers have a four-year college degree, except for army pilots, who can obtain a license by becoming warrant officers. Despite... 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

For my project, i will be testing 3 different sensors. 2 of these sensors are currently used in self-driving technology; however, the third sensor--a heat sensor--will be used as well. I will be coding the algorithm and testing the different sensor and algorithm pairs in an obstacle course. I will be observing the time it takes in order to complete the course and also to see how many obstacles... Read More

Yoga is a common exercise people do to improve their physical strength and become aware of their own nature. I plan to build a classifier to identify whether or not a yoga pose is correct using pose estimation. I plan to implement this practice through a mobile app.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Advertising is created to motivate consumers to buy a particular product (The Future of the children, 2006). This research will investigate the problem of tobacco and vaping advertisements that are targeting young adults in low-income communities. I will be looking for different forms of advertisements and distinct components that specifically target young adults, especially in low... Read More

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

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

Cancer is a disease caused by the uncontrolled division of cells in a part of the body. In general, cancers arise as a result of DNA changes in the genomes of cancer cells. Genes encode proteins, and proteins then dictate cell function. The genes that are “expressed,” or turned on, in a particular cell determine what that cell can do. As a result, one possible cause of head and neck cancer, a... Read More

Accessibility to healthcare and medication is an ongoing problem. This issue impacts developing countries in particular, as their standards of living may not be as high as in more industrialized countries such as the United States. I will be researching the affordability and accessibility of brand-name prescription drugs within Thailand, in order to study some of the possible similarities and... 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

Social media has made its way into nearly every aspect of the livelihoods of adolescents. From influencing behaviors to serving as a platform to socialize, it has its share of positive and negative effects, and when it comes to the mental health of younger users, the negative aspects of social media manifest itself. The American Academy of Pediatrics released a clinical report surrounding the... Read More

This research is focusing on the dispute between the Palo Alto Unified School District and the Palo Alto community over the installation of solar panels. The panels were installed without advising the people first, which led to a conflict. Now, there is a heated debate over whether or not installing the solar panels was a good move, and my research seeks to provide evaluation of the aftermath... Read More

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

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.

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