Support our students during #CalBigGive!
Undergraduates from across Berkeley campus find their way to the UCMP via classes taught by our faculty and graduate students and through the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP), finding the varied research programs among members of the community to align with their field of study as well as their personal interests.
Many of our student assistants have a deep interest in paleontology and geology, and working in museums. They are very involved and work with our collections staff in fossil curation including digitization of fossils, prepation work on specimens, and identification.
Students interested in veterinary medicine are working with graduate student Derrick Leong in Juan Liu’s Lab, studying lateral lines in modern fish, and working with graduate student Emily Bogner in Jack Tseng’s lab using photogrammetry, producing 3D scans of mammal bones. And pre-dentistry Enya Deng is working with Graduate student Tara Lepore, researching neonatal lines in marsupial teeth. Enya notes that the methodologies in this comparative study of extinct versus extant species very closely resemble those used in human dentistry.
Last year with the support of alumni, UCMP was able to match funding to send two undergraduates to their first professional conference. These students are the first in their families to go to college, and at UC Berkeley no less! Being able to attend these meetings is so important, allowing them to make peer-to-peer connections within UCMP and the broader paleontology community.
With your help, the UCMP will be able to provide our undergraduates with a wide variety of experiences as they work in a professional setting, working with our museum staff and assisting in the research of our faculty and graduate students, as well as attending or presenting at professional scientific conferences.
Your support during Big Give will be particularly meaningful, helping to propel them into their future careers.
To donate, please visit the Museum of Paleontology Fund and the Education & Outreach Fund. Big Give runs until 9:00 pm on Thursday March 14, 2024. Thank you so much, UCMP is ever so grateful for your support.