Cal NERDS

Visiting Scholar Undergraduate Summer Research program

This program provides limited opportunities for Cal NERDS scholars to do research off-campus and also to have a few non-UC Berkeley visiting undergraduates get involved with STEM summer research at our campus.

Gabriella & Brianna' UC San Francisco's Project, Research Poster Showcase 2022
Gabriella & Brianna’ UC San Francisco’s Project, Research Poster Showcase 2022

Thein's Project, Research Poster Showcase 2022
Kein’s Project, Research Poster Showcase 2022
Athena's Research Project, Research Poster Showcase 2022
Athena’s Research Project, Research Poster Showcase 2022

2019 Visiting Summer Scholars
2019 Visiting Summer Scholars

NERDS gain depth through off-campus experiences
NERDS gain depth through off-campus experiences

Visiting research scholars will spend eight weeks at UC Berkeley this summer.
2018 Visiting research scholars

2023 Visiting Summer Research Scholars

  • Bezawhit Danna, Biochemistry, UC Los Angeles
  • Edgar Vidal, UC Berkeley (going to Toulouse, France)
  • Gabrielle Stewart, UC Berkeley (going to Toulouse, France)
  • Kevin Alfaro, Astrophysics, UC Los Angeles
  • Mel Jones, Chemistry & Biochemistry, UC Santa Cruz
  • Miriam Contrerras Castillo, Bioengineering, UC Riverside
  • Trey Dold, Civil Engineering, UC Santa Barbara



2022 Visiting Summer Research Scholars

  • Ana Teresa Mendoza, Chemistry, UC Irvine
  • Athena Leisching, Cognitive Science, UC San Diego
  • Brianna Johnston, Molecular & Cellular Biology, UC Berkeley (went to UC San Francisco)
  • Gabriela Castellanos, Molecular & Cellular Biology, UC Berkeley (went to UC San Francisco)
  • Kein Le, Physics, UC Santa Barbara
  • Ukamaka Ezimora, Mechanical Engineering, UC Merced

2021 Visiting Summer Research Scholars Virtual Research Projects

  • Chris La, Chemistry, UC Irvine
  • Francisco Galang, Chemical Engineering, UC Los Angeles
  • Garrett Kukier, Theoretical/Computational Chemistry, UC Los Angeles
  • Samantha Negrette, Biomedical Engineering, UC Irvine

2020 Visiting Summer Research Scholars Virtual Research Projects

  • Alexander Del Torro, Cognitive Science, UC Merced
  • Luke Elissary, Chemistry, UC Los Angeles
  • Victoria Lerda, Chemistry, UC Merced
  • Charu Garapaty, Earth Science, UC Santa Barbara

2019 Visiting Summer Research Scholars

  • Shaneen Britton Acevedo, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UC Santa Cruz
  • Eimy Castellanos, Biochemistry, UC Santa Cruz
  • Karen Cornejo, Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, UC Davis
  • Anthony Garcia, Chemistry, UC Merced
  • David Ifediba, Psychology, UC Riverside
  • Saul Pachecho, UC Berkeley (went to UC San Francisco)

2018 Visiting Research Scholars

  • Hanh Nguyen, Biochemistry/Chemistry, UC San Diego
  • Daniel Chu, Chemical Engineering, UC Santa Barbara
  • Anoop Praturu, Astrophysics, UC Santa Barbara
  • Scarlett Yu, Physics, UC Los Angeles
  • Jenny Lyn Arabit, Chemical Engineering, UC Davis
  • Joshua Castro, Physics, UC San Diego

2017 Visiting Research Scholars

  • Liya Oster, Biophysics, from UCLA
  • Christine Rahal, Chemistry, from UCSD
  • Carlos Osuna, Nano-Engineering, from UCSD
  • Bonnie Lam, Engineering, from UCLA
  • Melvin Abzun, Engineering, from UCSC
  • Francisco Ojeda, Engineering, from UC Berkeley going to SoCal

**SUMMER 2023 PROGRAM DATES: SUNDAY, JUNE 12TH TO SATURDAY, AUGUST 5TH**

For UC LEADS undergraduate Scholars Interested in coming to UC Berkeley to do research in STEM - please consider the following:

  • Typically five visiting UC LEADS scholars come each summer to UC Berkeley
  • Students are part of our eight week summer research program.
  • You may need to re-arrange your finals to be taken before you come to UC Berkeley.
  • Typically summer UC LEADS 2nd Year Scholars need to work with their home campus Director to understand the process and secure a UC Berkeley main campus Faculty Mentor. This means their faculty lab is located on the main UC Berkeley campus. If you are interested in working at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) then you will need to work directly with their representatives as this is a different program than the UC Berkeley UC LEADS program.
  • UC LEADS Scholars must be sponsored by your home UC LEADS campus and meet their eligibility requirements
  • Must be a registered as a student at one of the eight UC campuses other than UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco
  • Must be willing to live in UC Berkeley dorms/campus housing during summer program
  • Should strive for an overall 3.0 UC GPA
  • Must be continuing as an undergraduate the fall after the summer experience
  • Note: additional paperwork and information may be required
  • Please text or e-mail Diana Lizarraga at # 510.778.5165 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you are interested in getting more information about summer 2023.

For undergraduate students from other non-UC Berkeley campuses (that are not UC LEADS Scholars) - please consider the following:

  • Students are part of our eight week summer research program, dates are not negotiable (no early arrivals or late departures)
  • We do not have funding to pay for stipends, housing, transportation, or parking for the summer. We suggest you look for sponsorship/s.
  • Visiting undergraduate scholars are typically juniors. Many are part of the following programs (and receive some funding from them to come to our campus); McNair, Mellon Mays, MESA community college program, Leadership Alliance, and/or NSF LSAMP/NSF CAMP
  • Please text or e-mail Diana Lizarraga at # 510.778.5165 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you are interested in getting more information about summer 2024.

For UC Berkeley STEM students - please consider the following:

Note: In the past NERDS have spent the summer at University of Chicago, University of Southern California, University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign, Stanford, UCSF, UCD, UCI, UCM, UCSD, UCLA, UCR, UCSD, UCSC, and international projects in Israel, Switzerland (CERN), and England

  • Where is it you would like to go off campus?
  • It is suggested that you identify two faculty on a particular campus that you are interested in working with
  • Please consider looking into the Student Opportunity Funds for additional funding for travel
  • Please text or e-mail Diana Lizarraga at # 510.778.5165 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you are interested in getting more information about summer 2024
NERDS at CERN in Switzerland
NERDS at CERN in Switzerland