Back Row: Matt Eichinger, Mohammad Zafarani, Vanessa Lee, Sabrina Cales, Yong Tan
Front Row: Dr. Steve Angle (Dean), Kevin McBride, Eli Scott, Mariko Azuma, Melissa Owraghi, Ricky Mai, Alan DeHope, David Haber

Sabrina Cales
Major: Physics
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Gabriela Canalizo
Proposed Research: To study the origin and evolution of quasars, some of the most powerful and distant objects known in the universe.

Alan DeHope
Major: Biochemistry (Fall '04)
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Guy Bertrand
Proposed Research: The synthesis and use of enamines as direct precursors to aldiminium salts.

Matt Eichinger
Major: Biology
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Mike Marsella
Proposed Research: To design and synthesize conjugated molecules using annulenes as building blocks for use in molecular muscles.

David Haber
Major: Physics
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Roland Kawakami
Proposed Research:To measure the magnetization loops of new MBE-grown materials in a commercial superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer.

Tamara Holt
Major: Environmental Chemistry
Faculty Advisors: Prof. Roger Atkinson and Prof. Janet Arey
Proposed Research: To investigate the conversion of 1,4-hydroxycarbonyls to dihydrofurans, by monitoring the decay rates of the 1,4-hydroxycarbonyl oxime derivative in the dark at various water vapor concentrations.

Borin Hou
Major: Neuroscience
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Maggie Curras-Collazo
Proposed Research: To study the effect of PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) exposure on nitric oxide synthase and to determine the potential histopathological effects of PCBs in magnocellular neuroendocrine cells.

Vanessa Lee
Major: Biological Sciences - Plant Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Jodie Holt
Proposed Research: To investigate the traits of Brassica tournefortii, better known as Sahara Mustard (a weedy annual species not native to the southwestern deserts), that allow it to thrive in areas where other species of mustard have not been able to establish themselves.

Ricky Mai
Major: Biology
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Nancy Beckage
Proposed Research: To study the effects of the polydnavirus of Cotesia congregate, a wasp, on the host Manduca sexta, the tobacco hornworm.

Kevin McBride
Major: Biological Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Prof. David Reznick
Proposed Research: To perform life history studies of five different species of the genus Poeciliopsis, which includes common pet store fish such as guppies, platies and swordtails.

Nwando Okafor
Major: Biology
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Alex Raikhel
Proposed Research: To test the infection rates of transgenic mosquitoes with Relish knockout mosquitoes and study their host susceptibility to the parasite Plasmodium, a unicellular pararsite that causes malaria.

Melissa Owraghi
Major: Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Connie Nugent
Proposed Research: To study the function of STN 1 (a gene essential for viability in the yeast S. cerevisiae) and, if disrupted, the effect on genome stability.

Ashley Regales
Major: Biology
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Daphne Fairbairn
Proposed Research: To investigate the functional significance of male courtship song in Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies), from the perspective of its role as a signal of male quality.

Eli Scott
Major: Evnvironmental Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Tom Meixner
Proposed Research: To study the longterm impact of fire on California's chaparral ecosystems.

Yong Tan
Major: Environmental Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Laosheng Wu
Proposed Research: To investigate the environmental fate of PAM (polyacylamide) - namely the persistance and distribution of PAM along a ditch.

Mohammad Zafarani
Major: Neuroscience
Faculty Advisor: Prof. Manuela Martins-Green
Proposed Research: To study the characteristics of pheromone biosynthesis-activating neuropeptide (PBAN).