Journal Advisors
  

~ A Letter from the UROP Student Editorial Board ~

The pursuit to advance society’s knowledge through novel research is a formidable and arduous endeavor. Preeminent research is provoked by personal passion, obliged by a hole in the quilt of mankind’s understanding, and actualized through earnest enthusiasm and definitive diligence. The continual conglomeration of new knowledge, irrespective of sphere, sector, or subject, powers the piston that propels humankind into a promising and enticing tomorrow. Whether the students’ research demonstrates a larvacide’s off-target consequences upon a bionetwork or expounds the immediate and enduring sociological impacts wielded by literary works published during an era nearly a century ago, the aim of these emerging investigators is common—to enrich the understanding of our incredibly dynamic world. This journal aims to illustrate that it is not necessarily the area of the research that qualifies its worth to society, but also its capacity to challenge the bounds of human understanding. Since 1995, the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) has afforded UC Irvine undergraduates the invaluable chance to delve into each niche of this intellectual journey. Through UROP, students have entertained the privilege to fully engross themselves in the entirety of the research process—from formulating a compelling proposal in pursuit of adequate funding to appositely conveying their respective findings in hopes of publishing their results. With its mission to enhance the education of the university’s scholars, UROP continues to prepare students so that they may progress from passively learning about the world surrounding them to actively scrutinizing, discovering, and thus teaching the world they constitute. As a consequence, UROP has been conducive to the preparation of the leaders of tomorrow by cultivating student innovation, scientific inquiry, and global participation. The papers published in this volume of the Journal typify the best of UC Irvine's undergraduate submissions in terms of investigative content, intellectual rigor, and field contribution. As members of the Student Editorial Review Board, we trust that the papers we have selected will leave you contemplating beyond the topics themselves. Above all, we hope to elicit your curiosity in research, either by inspiring your personal journey of inquiry, or at the very least through the acknowledgement of research and its significance to society.