 UC Berkeley is the world's premier public research university. I'm Sean Burns. I direct the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarships. What we try to do is engage undergraduates in that research enterprise, supporting them financially and intellectually to carry out their own projects that they're passionate about. There are thousands of undergraduates at UC Berkeley from every major engaged in research. Science is 100% inspired by my dance background. There's this idea in some circles of science that the brain actually evolved for movement in the first place. So when you're looking at how training movement changes how you think about things, you might be scratching at the surface of very fundamental ways that the brain operates. My name is Alyssa Stover and I'm a psychology major at Berkeley. I decided, okay, neuroscience lab, I want to do that kind of research. My name is Ifetriku Okeke. I'm from Nigeria. I ended up being privileged enough to move to the United States when I was 16 years old to start community college. That was a really rough transition, mostly because I had no family with me. Another two-week engineering company. My brother having him come live with me was a big priority. Times negative. I am acting up behalf of my parents as his parent in the U.S. In my life at UC Berkeley, we're studying dopaminergic neurons, which are implicated in a host of diseases like autism spectrum disorder and Parkinson's and an addiction. I didn't think that much about doing science, but it blew me away. When you get to see, you know, your experiment work, you're like, I'm the first in the world to see that. Wow. My name is Ian Taylor. Growing up, I played about every sport there is and I would come home and after dinner when I was getting ready for bed, I would often just crack open a textbook and start reading about biology or chemistry. And so being able to come to Berkeley and immerse myself in a research lab, studying molecular neuroscience has really helped me solidify my choice to go into scientific research as a career. My name is Raul Varela. I started recording albums and then I started touring. So I've been touring for 17, 18 years now. I wanted to go back to school and really learn how to use the methodology of anthropology in documentary filmmaking. What I am to do with my documentary is to help the community where I grew up. I grew up in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. There was a problem that's been going on for the last 25 years, but young women have been murdered or disappeared. My sister at the time was probably like 16. So that's why she, my mom decided to bring my sister first and then me. A lot of people when they come from a place where that's similar to where I have come from, they forget about that stuff. So I don't want to do that. Keep aiming with your hand toward the blue target. What's exciting about these undergraduate research projects is it enables students to deeply pursue an issue that's of concern to them. And that's an age-old ideal of liberal education. I'm working on an ion channel in particular whose loss of function is thought to be involved in the onset of migraines with aura in humans. Being able to take such excellent coursework and take those fundamental principles and apply them firsthand quite literally is really just amazing. Our lab studies how the brain controls the body. It brought together so many interesting questions I had about dance and myself. How does your brain make your body do these complicated movements? And how training your body to do those things can relate to other parts of your cognition. So the end result of all of our studies is we can help people who have Parkinson's or who've had a stroke. In terms of theory, we can understand very deep processes that the brain is carrying out to help you navigate your world. I've been thinking about this project for a number of years. With the help of the undergrad research fund, I'm able to actually make these a reality. My name is Gloria Brar. Did you make any point mutations? I think that first experience and research at Berkeley set me on my path to eventually becoming a faculty member here at Berkeley. We should know pretty soon whether the structure is important. That'll be really exciting. They provide a stipend to work over the summer and being able to work full time really can allow you to transition into thinking like a scientist. It's a tremendous learning opportunity. We're very much allowed to take on our own research projects and be able to follow them throughout the duration of our time here as students. And that's something that's very unique about this school. Research opened a whole new body of knowledge and also a way of thinking about knowledge to me. Trying to reconcile with the other stuff you just mentioned where attention doesn't have any effect. Yes, so maybe... Critical thinking skills are a huge part of research. I mean really being able to logically wrap your head around some sort of argument. For me being in classical ballet, you're taught these are the rules. Don't really question them. Gaining the confidence to question things. How is this a novel take on college? After being told my whole life, don't question, was huge. It has been life changing. Being given a chance to take part in and be a part of endeavors that are essentially creating new knowledge. It's just been great privilege. I want to know how it's going to affect your life because that's really what it's supposed to be about. My name is Andy Goldfarb. My wife Denise and I fund undergraduate research. What's the essence of what I'm doing? And that's what people really want to hear. There's nothing like it to be able to sit with recipients, the jewels of Berkeley, and see how they come alive, how they grow, where they're going. Getting to know them a little bit, you're going to find that it's the best feedback that you could possibly get for how you've invested your dollars. The skills you've gained ultimately translate and carry on to push you and propel you even further. Now I work at UCSF in an epilepsy research lab. I'm studying epilepsy in zebrafish. The goal is to find drug targets to cure and treat epilepsy. What's the big takeaway from this with respect to the protocol? We're able to see the base pairs. Especially for first generation and underrepresented students, the relationships that they build through these undergraduate research projects change the course of their lives. Following up the documentary, I want to propose maybe like a virtual reality like museum exhibit. My mentor is Ray Teyes. He's in the ethnic studies department. Ray has a lot of experience, many decades of documentary filmmaking. That's the best way to shoot that. You know, it's more natural. I have the support of somebody that's done this many, many times. This is a big advantage. I'm living soon and I will be spending five weeks filming, doing interviews. This opportunity means a lot to me because this is something that I never thought I was going to achieve. By utilizing these resources and these people here, you realize that everything is possible. UC Berkeley is a really important vehicle for social mobility in this society. And I've come to believe that undergraduate research experiences are the most potent fuel for that vehicle. Who has made those connections? Yeah, how are you going to make those connections? UROC is the underrepresented researchers of color. When students hear there's a community of underrepresented researchers, they light up because they're like, wow, okay, there is a space made specifically for me that's saying you're valued and I want to see you succeed. And we're going to succeed together. I'm also a first generation college student, so I had no idea anything about science. I go home and I talk to my parents about my research and they're like, I have no idea what you're talking about. I have been food insecure and housing insecure. So somebody told you, not only are you doing research, it's a job where your time is compensated and you don't need to worry about where you're going to get your next meal or how you're going to pay your next rent. And that just expands how many people could see themselves in research. So yes, funding is super important. What we're seeing is students arriving that want to tackle important social questions in their time here. What role does healing play in transforming the lives of black girls? What are the possibilities and limitations of popular music as a vehicle for social transformation? How can understanding the misogyny of ancient Rome help us to define and debate the gender biases we confront today? How can we use both frogs and CRISPR-Cas9 to further investigate the genetic and molecular basis of autism? If you listen to these students and what they're doing and the things they're researching, you're talking about changes in the world and that's really what Berkeley's legacy should be and has been for so long. I think it's so fundamentally changed my experience here and has given me so much that it's hard to imagine my life without it now. Being immersed in it is, I can describe it as nothing else other than unreal. It seems unreal. Aim to engage in research because it's part of our educational experience. It should be part of everyone's educational experience. At least try it out and then if it's not for you, it's not for you, but I highly recommend it. Eyes look kind of shifting.