UC Davis students, faculty, administrators and staff celebrated the accomplishments of undergraduate research scholars from across the state at the 2021 NSF LSAMP/CAMP Statewide Virtual Research Symposium (see linked video), featuring research presentations of CAMP Scholars from 9 UC campuses, with 12 scholars from UC Davis participating.  Lolita Adkins, the UC Davis CAMP program manager, and Nhi Tran, the UC Riverside CAMP program coordinator, served as co-chairs for the symposium where they worked fervently behind the scenes to ensure that the first ever virtual statewide CAMP Symposium was a success after experiencing a two year hiatus of the symposium. The NSF LSAMP/CAMP program has been funded by the National Science Foundation for over a quarter of a century and the symposium is a long-standing tradition to celebrate our CAMP Scholars.

This symposium provided a great opportunity to showcase examples of research topics and to celebrate the professional accomplishments of the CAMP scholars as they demonstrated the skills, knowledge, and talents they have gained during their participation in both in-person research and in a virtual research program. Attendees of the symposium heard live (Zoom) presentations and also viewed pre-recorded video presentations asynchronously where they engaged in interactive Q&A using GoReact software.  Each presenter also met via Zoom with several faculty judges from another campus to present and to engage in Q&A similar to an in-person conference experience.

The STEM-related presentations, categorized in either Life Sciences and Physical Science & Engineering sessions, were judged based on background and significance, research design, organization, delivery, visual aid and technical aspects and ability to field questions. The symposium culminated with the CAMP Statewide Award Ceremony (see linked video) held on Thursday, February 18th, where winners and prizes were announced “live” for honors in Special Merit & Honorable Mention within the two (2) general judging categories: Life Sciences and Physical Sciences & Engineering. 

Our UC Davis scholars yielded four esteemed Special Merit awards and three notable Honorable Mention awards as indicated below.

LIFE SCIENCES

Special Merit

Taylor Busby, Global Disease Biology
Kiya Jackson, Biological Sciences
Sydney Woods, Animal Science

Honorable Mention

Ana Armenta Vega, Biological Sciences
Adrian Garcia, Genetics and Genomics

PHYSICAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

Special Merit

Madison Thompson, Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Honorable Mention - Physical Sciences & Engineering

Lennyn Morales, Biochemical Engineering

The Symposium also included the “Very Important Participant” (VIP) Awards to recognize students for being good colleagues in addition to being a high-achieving individual scholar. Student presenters and attendees were encouraged to interact with and provide feedback to their peers by viewing and commenting on presentations, for which active participants were selected as award winners based on GoReact analytics for students who viewed the most video presentations and made the most substantive comments (i.e., as determined based on quantity of comments and questions, number of words per comment/question, and overall quality of participation).  Of the 19 VIPs awarded, UC Davis won 8 awards as detailed below.

“Bachelor’s in Commentary” VIP award

Kiya Jackson, Biological Sciences
Lennyn Morales, Biochemical Engineering

“Masters in Ceremony” VIP award

Ana Armenta Vega, Biological Sciences
Kimberly Evans, Environmental Science and Management

“PhD in Praise & Plaudits” VIP award

Jesica Calderon, Global Disease and Biology
Adrian Garcia, Genetics and Genomics
Madison Thompson, Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Sydney Woods, Animal Science

Congratulations to all of the UC Davis NSF CAMP Scholars!

To see more examples of undergraduate scholars presenting their research, stay tuned for presentation previews coming in April and attend the upcoming 2021 Virtual Undergraduate Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities Conference from April 28-May 1.