URAP

Thibault Laplace - Research Scientist, Nuclear Engineering

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

Photon strength functions (PSFs) quantify the probability of γ‐ray emission and absorption in atomic nuclei as a function of energy, and they play a critical role in determining radiative neutron‐capture rates that drive the production of elements in stars. In particular, low‐lying resonances in PSFs can significantly...

Armando Lara-Millan - Professor, Sociology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

Sometimes ideas about changing market signals can actually precede big changes in the economy, other times they can be too late, and sometimes those ideas can even cause changes. This project tracks ideas about three broad ongoing disruptions to the current global economic order. The first is that since 2011...

Armando Lara-Millan - Professor, Sociology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

This project investigates the effects of market institutions on healthcare innovation and its consequences for inequality and wages. Specifically, the effect of the national medical code scheme on the ability of innovators to bring medical innovations (procedures, devices, diagnostics) to market. We will be assembling a large data set that...

Barbara Laraia - Professor, Public Health

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

As human life spans increase, so do the risk of developing chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. For example, cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death among women. These chronic conditions can take a lifetime to develop. Poor quality diets, stress, eating patterns and socioeconomic...

Adrian Lee - Professor, Physics

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

There has recently been a proposal for detecting millicharged dark matter (B. Gao et al. (2026), https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/r3rb-zhyl) using arrays of Josephson junction-based sensors. It is known that not all the dark matter can be comprised of fractionally charged particles, but such particles arise...

Adrian Lee - Professor, Physics

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a unique window to fundamental physics. It can be used to probe primordial gravitational waves, which are a distinct sign that the early universe has experienced an exponentially rapid expansion at its age of ~10^-32 seconds. The CMB photons also probe the properties...

Adrian Lee - Professor, Physics

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

Our team specializes in the development, production, and evaluation of highly sensitive detectors, antennas, and readout electronics for a diverse range of cosmology experiments. These endeavors capitalize on the extraordinary properties of superconductivity and the principles of microwave engineering. Through the application of these cutting-edge techniques, we are interested...

Adrian Lee - Professor, Physics

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is the oldest light in the Universe, and carries invaluable information about the Universe’s history and evolution. The detection of primordial gravitational waves in the CMB polarisation, a smoking gun for cosmic inflation, is one of the biggest challenges in observational cosmology. To achieve the...

Peggy G. Lemaux - Professor of Cooperative Extension, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

General Description and Research Approach. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is the fifth most important cereal crop worldwide and serves as a major source of food, animal forage, and an emerging biofuel feedstock. Understanding the stomatal dynamics that enable sorghum to use water efficiently under drought and water-limited conditions...

Peggy G. Lemaux - Professor of Cooperative Extension, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

New approaches are needed to capture larger amounts of atmospheric carbon with the goal of reducing atmospheric CO2 and slowing or perhaps even reversing global warming. Plants are a proposed scalable solution, with the potential to both capture atmospheric carbon through photosynthetic CO2 fixation and store it through carbon sequestration...

Andrew Leong - Professor , English

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Japanese and English-language literary columns in Japanese American newspapers played crucial roles in pre-World War II immigrant society, offering opportunities for readers and contributors to reflect upon their lives in the United States. This project includes retrieving, categorizing, and studying literary texts through resources such as the Hoji...

Andrew Leong - Professor , English

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Tessaku_ Tessaku (鉄柵, or “Iron Fence”) is a Japanese-language literary journal that was published by incarcerees in the Tule Lake Segregation Center during World War II. It consists of nine issues, totaling 751 pages, running from March 1944 to July 1945, and includes poetry, fiction, and essays composed by...

David Levine - Professor, Business, Haas School

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

AI agents can help with running a project from organizing knowledge and tracking reports to giving feedback on drafts and identifying potential donors...

David Levine - Professor, Business, Haas School

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

We are developing a curriculum based on stories, games and engaging activities to teach about health in poor nations (wash hands with soap, etc...

David Levine - Professor, Business, Haas School

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Roughly 1.5 billion poor people receive healthcare from roughly 1.5 million community health workers (CHWs). CHWs are typically women with limited education and minimal training. AI can help create localized code that slots into existing CHW software and provides clinicial decision support We have a prototype CHW Navigator system we...

David Levine - Professor, Business, Haas School

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

We’re evaluating a program distributing free Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) to treat diarrhea as an add-on to distributing seasonal antimalarials in Chad. We’re looking for a highly organized undergraduate to assist with document and data tracking, data cleaning, and project documentation...

Jennifer Lewis - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae causes disease in a large number of different plant species, using the type III secretion system to secrete and translocate effector proteins into the plant. Many of these effector proteins are believed to function primarily in the suppression of host defense signaling. However recognition of...

Jennifer Lewis - Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae causes disease in a large number of different plant species. Virulence is primarily achieved by the type III secretion system, which secretes and translocates effector proteins into the plant. Many of these effector proteins are believed to suppress host defense signaling. However recognition of these...

Lu Liang - Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Schoolyard trees are a low-cost, nature-based solution to environmental and social challenges, from reducing extreme heat and improving air quality to supporting student well-being. Research shows that access to trees can lower stress, boost attention, foster social connections, and even improve academic performance. However, many schools lack...

Lu Liang - Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Understanding urban climate dynamics, such as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, requires comprehensive datasets on urban morphology and land cover. Local Climate Zones (LCZs) provide a standardized framework for classifying urban and rural areas based on their physical and surface properties. A global LCZ database is essential for analyzing...

Lu Liang - Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Parcel boundary data provide essential information about the location, shape, and organization of land ownership. These data support research in land-use planning, housing, environmental justice, disaster preparedness, wildfire risk, infrastructure, and community development. However, the United States does not currently have a single, complete, and consistently documented open database...

Meng C. Lin - Professor, Optometry

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Dry eye disease (DED) is pervasive with some reports estimating over 16 million adults diagnosed with DED in the United States. It has been well documented that race, sex, systemic conditions, medications, and contact lens use are among the risk factors for DED. There are numerous dry eye questionnaires and...

Meng C. Lin - Professor, Optometry

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

This research investigates the fascinating impact of aging on the morphology of the Meibomian gland (MG), which plays a pivotal role in Ocular Surface Disease. Traditionally, clinicians have employed subjective methods to identify and grade MG features such as atrophy, tortuosity, length, width, and ghosting. At the exciting crossroads of...

Meng C. Lin - Professor, Optometry

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Scleral lenses, unlike standard contact lenses, are large-diameter rigid lenses that rest on the sclera (white part of the eye) and create a tear-filled reservoir to hydrate the anterior ocular surface. They are primarily recommended for patients with corneal irregularities and dry eye diseases due to their capability...

Robin Lipsky - Director of Inclusion Programming, Berkeley Judicial Institute

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

The Berkeley Judicial Institute (BJI) aims to establish an effective bridge between the legal academy and the judiciary for the primary purpose of promoting an ethical, resilient and independent judiciary. By creating this much needed synergy between the legal academy and the judiciary, BJI also seeks to address the concern...

Fenyong Liu - Professor, Public Health

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

The long-term goals of our research are (1) to study the functions of genes of human herpes simplex virus (HSV) (the causative agent of genital herpes and cold sores) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) (the leading cause of congenital abnormalities in newborns and blindness and death in AIDS patients) in regulation...

Juan Liu - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Lateral line sensory system, or lateral line organ, or simply the lateral line, is a system of sensory organs found in fish and some tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates). The lateral line enables those vertebrates to detect and perceive the hydrodynamic and physical environment they inhabit including movement, vibration, and pressure...

Juan Liu - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

The water-land transition of tetrapods is one of the most pivotal events in evolutionary history. This project investigates how early tetrapods (specifically temnospondyls, also considered early amphibian relatives) adapted to the novel acoustic environment of land. By using fossils, we are examining the form-function relationship of the early...

Juan Liu - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Our study aims to explore the intricate details of mammalian hearing, with a specific emphasis on the function and evolution of the middle ear, with comparative anatomy with fish hearing apparatus. This critical aspect of auditory anatomy plays a pivotal role in the way mammals perceive and interpret sound. By...

Juan Liu - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

During the Late Cretaceous period, the North American Rocky Mountain region was once part of a lost island continent called Laramidia. The eastern coastline of this landmass preserves a rich and understudied record of sharks, rays, and bony fish from the late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic Eras. The most diverse...

John Liu - Professor, UC San Francisco

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary brain cancer. Despite decades of research to better treat this cancer, most patients unfortunately die within 2 years of diagnosis. Surgery followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy comprise the standard of care for patients with GBM, but resistant to treatment poses a major...

Brooke Lober - Staff Researcher, Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

This is a new, critical study of the past 50 years of Jewish feminist, queer and trans social movement history in the US. Its focus is on understanding Zionism and anti-Zionism in the context of the US and Israel’s entwined racial-sexual politics, through analyses of relationships between state...

Brooke Lober - Staff Researcher, Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     

The Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry at UC Berkeley's project, "A Counter-Imaginary in Authoritarian Times," is the host of a new initiative called "Language Justice," a collaboration with the organization Respond: Crisis Translation (RCT), an abolitionist language justice organization. In partnership with this collective of translators and interpreters working...

Gabriel Loeb - Professor, Medicine, UCSF

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

I am a scientist and physician investigating molecular mechanisms underlying human disease--with a particular focus on kidney disease. My laboratory integrates computational approaches with human genetics and advanced experimental models to discover genetic mechanisms of disease. We have a particular interest in understanding the molecular basis of kidney disease...

Gabriel Loeb - Professor, Medicine, UCSF

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

I am a scientist and physician with a broad interest in mechanisms underlying human disease. Our laboratory studies genetic mechanisms underlying kidney disease and develops approaches to discover novel disease mechanisms that are broadly applicable to many human diseases. Many of the genetic variants (changes in the genome) which contribute...

Gabriel Loeb - Professor, Medicine, UCSF

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     

Polycystic Kidney Disease is the most common genetic cause of kidney failure. We know the genes that are mutated in Polycystic Kidney Disease but still do not have good treatments for patients with this disease. Our laboratory, which is led by a physician-scientist works on mechanisms underlying polycystic kidney...

Gabriel Loeb - Professor, Medicine, UCSF

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

Our laboratory is developing induced pluripotent stem cell derived kidney organoids as: 1) Models of human kidney disease 2) Models amenable to CRISPR screens with the goal of identifying new pathways and therapeutic targets for kidney diseases...

Cynthia Looy - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Pollinators are essential components of a healthy ecosystem and provide vital benefits to both plants and animals. The student-run pollinator garden on the south side of the Valley Life Science Building (VLSB) supports native insects, spiders, and other wildlife and is an environmental education resource for students. We expect...

Alexander Lowe - Research Scientist, Museum of Paleontology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

This project reconstructs plant communities and climate using fossil plants from sites representing 30 to 10 million years ago. During this time, there are well documented global climatic changes happening, including a global warming event (Miocene Climatic Optimum) and a global cooling event (the Middle Miocene Climatic Transition). This study...

Jessica Lu - Professor, Astronomy

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

My research group studies black holes in the Milky Way in two ways: (1) we search for stellar-mass black holes using gravitational microlensing and (2) we study the environment around the supermassive. black hole at the Galactic Center. Interested undergraduates may work in either of these areas. Possible projects...

Jessica Lu - Professor, Astronomy

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

The Moving Universe Lab helps design and build the astronomical instruments needed to find and study black holes, star cluster, and galactic centers. We work on adaptive optics development projects on small and large ground-based telescopes (e.g. Keck Observatory). Adaptive optics systems correct for the blurring effects of the...

Jessica Lu - Professor, Astronomy

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

Model the radial velocities, orbits, and light curves of a sample of ASAS-SN ellipsoidal variable star systems...

Xiaobo Lü - Professor, Political Science

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

How do political parties mobilize citizens when elections are not the primary means of allocating political power? This project addresses this question by examining CCP party building from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Focusing on subnational variation, the project seeks to uncover the mechanisms underlying the CCP’s uneven organizational development...

Rita Lucarelli - Professor, MELC (Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures)

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Ancient Egyptian coffins are covered with spells and images that work together as a kind of magical machine, designed to resurrect the deceased and guide them safely through the afterlife. Yet coffin texts are usually published as if they were independent texts, divorced from their physical position on the coffin...

Kam-Biu Luk - Professor, Physics

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

Neutrino is a sub-atomic particle that was thought to be massless. Recently, a new phenomenon called neutrino oscillation, a transformation of one type of neutrino to another kind, has been discovered in experiments. These important findings imply that neutrinos have mass and they can mix among themselves. Neutrino oscillations...

Kam-Biu Luk - Professor, Physics

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

This project will focus on applying contrastive learning and anomaly detection techniques to various DUNE prototype simulated and real datasets in order to identify deficiencies in our understanding of how neutrinos interact. The work will involve: preparing inputs from the DUNE simulation and data suitable for ML-libraries; development of...

Kristin Luker - Professor, Law, Sociology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

This project is part of Professor Luker’s forthcoming book on how contraception and abortion, once common parts of American family life, came to be regulated in the late nineteenth century, liberalized a century later, and became the focus of intense political controversy. The book examines how this history has shaped...

Deborah Lustig - Associate Director, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Asian American women (AAW) occupy a distinct and often precarious position in the U.S. workforce, particularly within STEM workplaces that remain predominantly White and male. While there has been a renewed awareness of the harms of anti-Asian racism, less is known about how AAW cope with intersecting forms of...

Deborah Lustig - Associate Director, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

Status: Full- no new appr needed     

Black Lives at Cal (BLAC) is a multi-year initiative to celebrate, defend, and advance the legacy of Black people at the University of California, Berkeley, since the university’s founding in 1868. Formed in 2021 as both a research endeavor and an archival venue, BLAC researches, preserves, and publicizes insights...

Dengke Ma - Professor, UC San Francisco

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

Life requires a constant supply of energy, yet animals can adapt by slowing down or temporarily shutting off costly processes. One key strategy is ribosomal hibernation, in which ribosomes—the cell’s protein-making machines—pause activity to conserve resources. In the nematode C. elegans, ribosomal hibernation is linked to sleep...