A Letter from the UROP Student Editorial Board

Journal Advisors

Sharon V. Salinger Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education	Said M. Shokair Director, UROP
UROP Faculty Advisory Board Professor Wendy A. Goldberg Professor Donald D. Hoffman Professor John C. LaRue Professor Richard H. Lathrop Professor Hartmut Luecke Professor Jane O. Newman Professor James S. Nowick Professor James W. Penrod Professor Richard T. Robertson Professor Martin Schwab	UROP Student Editorial Board Kimberly Balazs Helen Chen Marissa Holmbeck Brett Reid Amir Shbeeb Camille Wolpe Jennifer Yanni
UROP Journal Assistants Megan Nowell Kaufman, Publications & Web Assistant Jerry McMillan, Journal & Symposium Student Advisor Henry Yan, Computer Programmer and Analyst

~ Letter from the UROP Student Editorial Board ~

The intellectual evolution of young, emerging academics is a process that the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) strives to nourish. The task of pursuing an interest in research—whether it is monitoring the effects of stem cells on spinal injury or searching the pages of Palestinian-Israeli history for humanistic intertwinement—is daunting without the guidance and support of a mentor and the stamina of a determined mind. To the students at the University of California, Irvine who endeavor to go beyond the classroom to enrich their education, The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal dedicates a forum through which their work may be honored and recognized. The UROP Student Editorial Board is proud to be able to participate in the publication of a journal that is prophetic in the sense that it demonstrates the intellectual possibilities of young students, and that it bears the earliest work of fledgling scientists, literary academics, historians, and social scientists. In this year’s Journal, the Board presents the independent research of a diverse group of highly motivated and ambitious students who will one day be able to look back upon their undergraduate experience as a prelude to years of passion and excellence.