A Letter from the UROP Student Editorial Board

Journal Advisors

Meredith Lee Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education	Said M. Shokair Director, UROP
UROP Faculty Advisory Board Professor Peter Ditto Professor Donald Hoffman Professor John LaRue Professor Richard Lathrop Professor Hartmut Luecke Professor Robert Moeller Professor James Nowick Professor James Penrod Professor Richard Robertson	UROP Student Editorial Board Courtney Baird Lauren Brothers Lorrel Brown Jason Lee Hebard Jemie Sae Koo Irene Tang Maggie Walser
UROP Journal Assistants Ann Kalayil Abrams, Events & Publications Matt Hauske, Advising & Publications Megan Nowell Kaufman, Publications & Web

~Letter from the UROP Student Editorial Board~

You hold in your hands the product of months of hard work and dedication on the part of both the intelligent and enthusiastic student authors who submitted their work and the committed faculty mentors who guided them throughout the process. In selecting the papers that are found in this volume of The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal, we examined all aspects of each submission, from the quality of the writing to the integrity of the research to the originality of the ideas. It seems that every year the quality of the submissions continues to rise, which in turn increases the excitement and pride we feel when we see the final product come to fruition. We feel that the quality and variety of work presented in this volume reflect the commitment to academic excellence at UCI. It is our hope that the projects contained herein will encourage other students to undertake their own research projects and creative activities, which will continue to demonstrate the reach of UCI’s students and to hint at the greatness they may one day achieve.