Rosalinda Pena / Roundup
Pierce students who interned over the Summer at UC Berkeley for the Hellen Wills Neuroscience Institute gave presentations of their research reports for faculty and students on Tuesday.
“Select students from our Life Sciences and Psychology departments are able to work in a research laboratory at Berkeley for eight weeks during the summer,” said Professor Lyn Koller, life sciences chair and coordinator for the program at Pierce. “The goal is to expose students who might be interested in research as a career to actual research in a laboratory working on cutting edge science,”
Students must obtain letters of recommendation from professors in order to apply for the program.
Applications are then reviewed by committees from the Life Sciences and Psychology departments.
Intern Paymon Mondegari, researched the plasticity and processing of the somatosensory cortex in rodent brains.
“It was a great experience. I was able to work one on one with a UC Berkeley professor and take part in graduate level research. I feel that it broadened my horizons as a student,” he said. “By partaking in this internship, it has furthered my interest in my field of study.”
According to Professor Koller, the program has been offered every year beginning in 2002. Between five to eight students participate each year.
The first eight years were funded by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. This summer the funding was provided by the Nathan and Violet David Foundation.
All expenses are paid and the interns also receive a stipend for participating.
“In the future, I want to contribute to the community and find answers to help people,” said Intern, Rosa Campos, who researched wiring of the cortex in the avian brain. The stories the other interns told me made me even more interested in going to graduate school.”
Professors Ann Hennessey and Lyn Koller are in charge of selecting the students for their departments.
“Before this experience I had not really considered graduate school as an option,” said Intern, Sarah Grundeen, researched retinal waves in visual system development. “Now, I cannot wait to get back into a research lab and start working on new projects!”
Students who participated in the program this summer are:
Rosa Campos
Sarah Grundeen
Edward Hernandez
Paymon Mondegar
Shannon Morton
Taraneh Rasta
Vasily Rozenbaum
Ebonnie Widjaja