Presented by:
Melissa Ramon
Marine Biology
Mauricio Marquez
Pre-Medical
MESA Program, San Diego City College
November 2012

 1 week “train-the-trainer” academy for understanding
“what is research?”
- Hosted at San Diego State University – July 2012
- Led by 3 graduate research students
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
- 20 MESA student participants (10 each from City College and Southwestern College)

Trained on research process
 Learned about available research opportunities
Conducted 3-day “investigative shadow” in teams
Funded by California Space Grant Consortium

Take Notes
Define
Terms
Lab Culture
Teamwork &
Productivity
Rules &
Expectations

Step by Step

Choosing your topic
Develop a Question
Question to Topic
Significance
Tip: Turn your interest into a topic
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
Develop the answer
Why is your topic important?

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•
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Give yourself an agenda to follow and deadlines to complete.
Manage your time efficiently and effectively.

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General scientific knowledge required to achieve goal
Theories
Properties
Equations

Your Data:
What?
How?

Your Experiment:
What?
Where?
When?
How?
Who?
Projected Timeline
Budget

Publish your work
Technical Presentations

UCSD – Validation Lab
Principal investigators (PIs)
David Hernandez - Aerospace Engineering
Julie Narasaki – Mechanical Engineering

• What can we learned about space and structures?
• Would the environment be good enough to deploy a structure?
• Will the payload and its equipment withstand certain elevations?

Independent Variables : GPS & Spot – radio frequency.
Dependent Variables: Data location of the balloon.
Measured: pressure, altitude, latitude, velocity
(speed of wind), distance, weight, time and wind direction.
Examined: Time vs. Altitude & Altitude vs. Pressure.

• Principles
• Equations Theory
• Buoyancy
• Ideal Gas Law

Materials
Balloon
GPS
SPOT
Sand bags
Wires
Foam box
Kapton tape
Plastic Tubes
Helium
Assemble

Test
Ballast System: maintain the balloon at altitude of 40,000 ft.

GPS : Balloon Location (Map)
SPOT : redundant tracking - satellite tracking

Zero Pressure Balloon : Wind direction before launch

60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Altitude [ft] vs Time

Pressure vs Altitude [ft]
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 100000
Altitude [ft]

SDSU, UCSD, USD

AMGEN Scholars Program
The program supports summer research for thirty undergraduates majoring in fields related to biotechnology, including: microbiology, bioengineering, biochemistry, neuroscience, and molecular genetics.
Faculty Mentor Program
The Faculty Mentor Program offers research experience to all junior or seniors who have the desire to prepare for graduate or professional school.

CAMP Science Program
The UCSD California Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) in
Science, Engineering and Mathematics program provides support and advancement opportunities to ethnically underrepresented (African American, Mexican
American, Latino, American Indian, Alaskan Native, or Native Pacific Islander) students who are seeking bachelor's degrees in chemistry, physics, cognitive science, biology, other sciences, mathematics, engineering and technology.
Health & Medical Professions Preparation Program
The UCSD Health and Medical Professions Preparation Program (HMP3) provides undergraduates with enriching experiences that will enhance their preparation for admission into professional school in the medical and other health professions.
McNair Program
The McNair Program provides low-income, first-generation college students, and students from groups underrepresented in graduate education, with effective preparation for doctoral study.

MARC Scholars Program
The Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program is designed to train and prepare highly qualified underrepresented minority undergraduate students in the biosciences for entry into graduate school.
Summer Research Program
The UCSD Summer Research Program is an eight-week, full-time research experience for undergraduates.
UCSD Undergraduate Research Conference
Held each May, the UCSD Annual Undergraduate Research Conference recognizes outstanding scholarly work produced by UCSD undergraduates.
UCSD Undergraduate Research Scholarship
All UCSD undergraduates in any major are eligible to apply.

Scholarships for Undergraduate Student Participation in Computational
Science and Engineering Research Program.
Available to assist :
• academically talented
• financially needy students
Goal: to explore opportunities for computational modeling and simulation research in science and engineering disciplines.
Funded by National Science Foundation.

Minority Access to Research Careers(MARC)
The Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Honors Undergraduate Research
Training Program was recently awarded to San Diego State University from the
National Institutes of Health. Students who are selected as trainees can receive three-quarter tuition and a monthly stipend of $913.
Contact: Thelma Chavez

Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS)
Is an intensive undergraduate research training program which prepares students for direct entry into STEM
• Year-round financial assistance for your research development.
• Undergraduates are paid 15 hours/week during the academic semesters,
• 30-40 hours/week over the summer (depending on the budget)
• Year round research and academic mentoring
• Connection to graduate program and other research opportunities
Contact: Michelle Lopez

Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) provides funds to USD undergraduates to conduct summer research with a USD faculty mentor.
Pre-Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE) offers summer research opportunities to San Diego high school students who will begin classes at USD in the fall and who may be the first in their families to pursue a college education.
Honors Program offers a four-year interdisciplinary curriculum integrated with a student's major and engages the students in sustained independent work through original research projects as a focus of a senior independent study project.

Community Service-Learning offers course-based service-learning courses that incorporate community partnerships which can also include research and internship opportunities.
McNair Scholars are partnered with faculty mentors in their discipline, formulate a research plan, and receive stipends to support their research projects.
Hayes Scholarship/Fellowship provides funding to support research in the sciences.
Independent study allows students to conduct research on a topic of interest by enrolling in an independent study course. In addition, research can be conducted as part of an international study course