Occidental’s Summer Research Program (SRP) offers students the opportunity to engage in funded, faculty-mentored research. This year’s projects tackle urgent questions—from understanding how substance abuse alters plasticity in the brain to designing fire-resilient landscapes and to advancing renewable energy through redox flow batteries.
Inside the Mind and Brain lab on campus, Daisy Ademoye ’26 peers through a microscope, capturing images of fluorescent signals that collectively illuminate the neuroanatomy of rat brain tissue. A cognitive science major and neuroscience minor from Newark, New Jersey, Ademoye is exploring the long-term effects of cocaine usage on the brain.
Working closely with Resident Associate Professor in Cognitive Science Kevin Urstadt, her project focuses on using Immunohistochemistry (IHC) to learn more about the relative changes that have been made to neurons within brain regions that are involved in motivation-driven behavior. “We are visualizing the protein delta FosB, which is a transcription factor that governs the expression of genes,” she explains.
Ademoye is analyzing brain regions like the paraventricular thalamus, ventral pallidum, and lateral hypothalamus to understand how cocaine exposure can lead to lasting changes in the brain even after discontinuation of drug use.
Ademoye has gained confidence and valuable transferable skills through this research experience, including working with sophisticated microscopes and other lab equipment, organizing large sets of data, analyzing brain tissue, and troubleshooting experimental challenges. She has also strengthened her lab skills.
She enjoyed learning about the physics behind an epifluorescent microscope that shines different channels of light to excite its corresponding colored fluorophore molecules. “The microscope is able to use the wave-like property of light to generate a visual representation of the interference pattern of different wavelengths colliding with each other in a spherical motation,” she says. “To know that this is what I am observing whenever I peer into our microscope is absolutely mind-blowing.”
After she graduates next spring, Ademoye is considering pursuing a Ph.D. program in neuroscience, with a particular interest in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, a topic that she’s already researched independently. “I have big plans,” she says with a smile.
Thriving undergraduate research on campus
The SRP is a signature initiative of Occidental’s Undergraduate Research Center (URC). This summer, more than 100 undergraduates are exploring topics across a wide spectrum of disciplines, from psychology and art history to computer science, physics, English, and Urban and Environmental Policy.
The program spans ten weeks in June and July, during which students work intensively with faculty advisors to develop and implement original research projects. Weekly workshops provide a forum for sharing progress, exchanging ideas, and receiving constructive feedback. Students also receive personalized guidance on presenting and writing about their research. These gatherings, along with other community-building events, foster collaboration and connection among participants.
The program culminates in the URC’s Summer Research Conference on July 30, where students present their findings to an audience of peers, faculty, and community members. The event serves as a celebration of their accomplishments and a showcase of the College’s vibrant research culture.
This year’s group also includes 13 fellows from the Research Early Access Program (REAP), which supports rising sophomores pursuing STEM research. REAP fellows receive a summer study award and subsidized campus housing to support their participation along with dedicated mentorship.
Building confidence in the chemistry lab
Kaylee Nguyen ’28, an aspiring dentist from Portland, Oregon, entered college with no research experience. In fact, she was “terrified” of chemistry. But she wanted to push herself.
“Summer research has really helped me solidify my interest in chemistry, but also reassured me that I can succeed in chemistry,” she says.
Through the REAP program, Nguyen found her entry point. “REAP is specifically for rising sophomores,” she explains. “You get a faculty and a student mentor in the lab. My student mentor [Haegan Malone ’27] has also been through REAP, so it’s been really nice to compare experiences.”
Nguyen is working in Professor of Chemistry Emmanuelle Despagnet-Ayoub’s chemistry lab, attempting to improve the current productivity of redox battery flow by increasing the electron density. Redox batteries are used for large-scale energy storage, particularly in applications where long duration and scalability are important. “The ones on the market right now just don’t last long enough,” she explains.
Nguyen says Despagnet-Ayoub is very supportive. “The lab is right next to her office, so she comes in every so often to check in,” she says. “I also go into her office quite a lot just asking for advice or, ‘Hey, I made this, do you want to come check on it?’”
She also credits her student mentor with giving her confidence in the lab. “Every time I mess up he tells me it’s okay. I really look up to him,” she says. In fact, she says the best parts of the research experience are the people she’s met and the bonds she’s made.
More than anything, she’s learned resilience. “It’s definitely been exposure therapy for my fear of failure,” Nguyen says. “But it’s okay to fail and to mess up. That’s how you recover, that’s how you grow and learn.”
Studying fire-resilient landscaping after the Eaton Fire
For Graham Luethe ’26, an Urban & Environmental Policy major and biology minor from Seattle, this summer’s research has felt particularly relevant. In the wake of the tragic Eaton fire in Altadena on Jan. 7, he read a lot of articles and saw friends post about it on social media. “It became something that seemed very pressing and important,” he says.
Working under the guidance of John W. McMenamin Endowed Chair in Biology Gretchen North and Associate Professor of Economics Bevin Ashenmiller, Luethe decided to study the aftermath of the disaster. “I’m looking at fire-resilient landscaping and the role it played in the Eaton fire based on several case studies,” he explains. These case studies focus on affected homes of Occidental faculty and staff, where he conducts interviews and surveys the landscape.
Luethe wants to use these case studies to think about the future of landscaping in fire risk areas, including how to maintain biodiversity, tree cover, and other important benefits while still protecting neighborhoods. He plans to continue this research as part of his senior comps project.
Recent research suggests that while some tree and plant species can contribute to fire risk, properly maintained native plants and trees may actually help slow the spread of fires. “Species like eucalyptus or palms spread fire a lot faster than species like the native Coast Live Oaks,” Luethe says.
“Thinking about landscaping has made me reflect more broadly on the future of Altadena and other areas affected by disasters—which are only going to become more common with climate change,” he says. “I think there’s a lot of wisdom in learning from nature and plants, and in building landscapes that are not only resistant to future fires but also resilient to a changing climate.”
