South SFV Today

This year, more than 70 undergraduate students engaged in summer research to develop new skills and deepen their understanding of Earth, climate, and society. Through five programs in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, undergraduates explored sustainability-related issues in disciplines ranging from energy and civil engineering to oceans and social sciences.

The SURGE program is funded by the National Science Foundation and welcomes students from other U.S. institutions, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds doing research for the first time. The other programs receive funding from the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE).

Across all the programs, undergraduates contributed directly to research projects under the guidance of Stanford scholars. They also participated in shared group activities such as research seminars and graduate school workshops.

Mentoring Undergraduates in Interdisciplinary Research (MUIR), Summer Undergraduate Program on Energy Research (SUPER), Sustainability, Engineering and Science – Undergraduate Research (SESUR), Hopkins Internships – Summer Undergraduate Research Funds (HI-SURF), and Sustainability Undergraduate Research in Geoscience and Engineering Program (SURGE) were among the programs offered.

The large cohort allowed participants to learn from each other in addition to a variety of mentors. Building this community of support was one of the main goals of bringing the five programs together last year.

Whether pursuing a scientific interest, trying out new tools, or discerning a potential career path, students used this summer to grow both academically and personally. Many hope to expand on the work they started, while others are moving forward with newfound clarity on their discipline. As they wrapped up their projects, three undergraduates shared insights about their research, personal growth, and how they made the most of the experience.

Intent on having a widespread impact, Evelyn Pung focuses on work that simultaneously improves the health of people and the environment.

She grew up 10 minutes away from the ocean in Long Beach, California but rarely took trips to the beach. “The pollution at our beaches had gotten so bad; my parents didn’t want me to go out of health concerns,” she said.

This summer through the SESUR program, Pung got involved in a project in the lab of civil and environmental engineering Professor Nick Ouellette. With her mentor, PhD student Sophie Bodek, she studied the movement of tiny plastic particles in bodies of water. Understanding how these pollutants travel through water in different environments can inform efforts to limit their spread.

Pung said that actively controlling the experiment combined with supportive mentorship from Bodek made the research especially fulfilling. “This whole experience has been a gratifying learning opportunity,” she said.

With a natural curiosity and no-nonsense approach, Trent La Sage is pursuing research that brings together physics, Earth science, and materials science.

Trent La Sage conducted his research as an undergraduate student at the University of Florida. His project tackled a common problem: Insights about certain materials are not easily accessible to researchers. While findings about materials at ambient conditions can be uploaded to a public database for other scientists to reference, no such platform exists for materials at extreme conditions.

To address this issue, La Sage and other scholars worked on a program using computer vision and large language models like Chat GPT to pull data from published research papers for future computational models.

The opportunity to collaborate on a large team was a highlight for La Sage who appreciated various viewpoints brought by team members. He added his distinct perspectives as both a physics major and someone who started undergraduate education after several years in the workforce. “It was very helpful to have people from other backgrounds," he said. "And we’ve been able to get a lot done that I wouldn’t have been able to do myself.”

For Juan Martín Cevallos López what started as wonder for ocean has flourished into passion for oceanography bridging disciplines.

After recurring moments of awe during oceans-related classes at Stanford Juan Martín discovered his passion for ocean science applying it through HI-SURF program at Hopkins Marine Station Pacific Grove contributing studying impacts ocean acidification seaweed development bat star larvae role crustose coralline coral reefs temperate environments Monterey Bay thrilled combining knowledge eager continue studying ocean "I’m excited see where takes because literally take anywhere," he said

Learn more about Stanford Doerr School Sustainability summer undergraduate research programs how apply

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