How summer research programs at UCLA are fueling student discovery

Summer may bring a quieter rhythm to UCLA, but across campus, research continues at full speed.

Freed from the demands of a full academic schedule, UCLA undergraduates and visiting student-scholars are using the summer to immerse themselves in original research - working with faculty and graduate student mentors, exploring UCLA's specialized library and archival collections and exchanging ideas with fellow researchers from an array of disciplines and institutions.

Helping connect them with those resources are UCLA's two Undergraduate Research Centers, or URCs - one for the humanities, arts and social sciences, and another for the sciences. Together, they enable more than 4,000 UCLA undergraduates to participate in research each year. During the summer, their reach extends beyond Westwood, as students from a host of other universities come to UCLA to pursue research opportunities of their own.

"Each summer, UCLA welcomes students from around the country into our vibrant research community," said Jacquelyn Ardam, director of the Undergraduate Research Center for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. "Through our varied research programs, we create opportunities and pathways for students to explore research by learning from dedicated faculty members, graduate students and staff. We are thrilled that our summer research programs help students build relationships that shape their academic and professional futures long after the summer ends."

A sanctuary for visiting scholars: Mellon Mays Fellows

Among the programs drawing students to campus is the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Writing and Research Training Program. The six-week residential program gives fellows from universities throughout the U.S. the time, guidance and resources to move their individual projects forward.

For some, UCLA's world-class library collections serve as a main draw. Alison Lee, a rising senior studying ethnicity, race and migration at Yale University, came to Westwood to work on her project, "Collision of Postcolonial and Diasporic Affect: The Making of a Korean American Liberatory Consciousness."

"I really loved the resources that were available for my specific field," Lee said. "UCLA is really strong for Asian American studies, and the resources and archives that they have here are pretty unparalleled. So I knew that this was the place I wanted to spend my summer."

For Simón Solano, a rising senior at Pomona College studying history and Spanish, the program has provided both community and fresh academic perspectives for his project, which is examining the history - climate, animal and environmental - of the colony of Nuevo Santander, established by Spain in the mid-18th century in what is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas.

"I feel like I've made so many friends here, so many connections that have broadened my scholarly perspective and allowed me to think about my current research project with so many different lenses," Solano said. "It's a really good space to cultivate cross-disciplinary conversation and think about research in innovative ways."

Erin Hoskins, who studies philosophy and French and will be entering her senior year at Cornell University, found a welcoming intellectual environment for her project, "What Only We Could Know: The Unique Phenomenally Conscious Experience of Black American Women and Its Subsequent Impacts on Self-Perception and Self-Valuing."

"Being at UCLA has been really nice," she said. "It's like a sanctuary where I can spend all of my time doing research and getting those questions answered and around curious people as well."

More summer research programs at UCLA

The Mellon Mays program is just one of a range of summer research initiatives - many offered by individual schools, departments and other campus units - that create new opportunities for students to expand their technical skills, further their academic research, and hone the critical thinking and analysis skills that will support them through future academic study and professional endeavors.

Among them is the virtual Summer Research Incubator, which connects students from UCLA and Morgan State University, a historically Black university in Maryland, who are conducting research for the first time. The program, part of the UC-HBCU Initiative, provides an accessible experience that allows students to do research remotely while managing other obligations like work or family commitments.

And each summer, the UCLA McNair Conference, hosted by UCLA Division of Undergraduate Education's Academic Advancement Program and the UCLA Graduate Division, brings hundreds of undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds to campus, where they present their research, connect with their peers and explore UCLA graduate programs and those of other Southern California universities. (Read more on the McNair Conference.)

UCLA also supports students studying the sciences through programs like the URC-Sciences Summer Program, in which UCLA undergraduates spend 10 weeks conducting research with a UCLA faculty member and attend workshops and seminars to advance their professional development.

These programs, and more, are expanding student minds and expertise while and broadening and deepening UCLA's connection with scholars from around the country.

Hoskins, the Mellon Mays Fellow, reflected: "As a very curious person, in a curious mind, I think that the program at UCLA has been a gift for me."