Undergrads tackle global issues through academic year fellowships

Despite being nearly nonexistent prior to 2015, malaria has surged in Costa Rica in recent years, and a team of researchers at Stanford University’s Mordecai Lab is trying to understand why, including by studying socio-environmental factors such as agricultural activities, rainfall, and temperature changes.

One member of the team, Julieta Lamm-Perez, ‘27, a second-year human biology student and a Stanford King Center on Global Development academic year part-time undergraduate research fellow, used computational biology to compare malaria cases with temperature and precipitation data. Lamm-Perez says she has appreciated the time and support the King Center has provided for the research.

“It’s nice to be in a space where I feel like my niche topic is not so niche,” she says. “I can very easily learn from other people and get ideas about what direction to take next.”

Lamm-Perez is just one of the hundred plus undergraduate students who have benefitted from the King Center’s support of research on areas relevant to global development. The academic year part-time undergraduate research fellow program connects King Center faculty and scholars with student researchers during the fall, winter, and spring quarters. 

Aiding government response: tracking a spreading virus through wastewater surveillance

Like Lamm-Perez, another second-year student, Hansen Tao, ‘26, is also studying disease through his King Center academic year part-time undergraduate research fellowship. Working with the Boehm Research Group led by Professor Alexandria Boehm, he is studying insect- and tick-borne viruses, including the Oropouche virus, which had been limited to mostly South America but has been spreading to other areas since 2023. Tao has been working on a literature review of the disease and using a technique called ddPCR (droplet digital polymerase chain reaction) to detect the virus in wastewater samples.

“The main purpose of the project is to detect what kind of viruses are growing in different locations to inform local governments so they can make plans to encourage people to vaccinate against the viruses or warn people about them,” he says.

Tao, a bioengineering student who is interested in cell biology, says the experience has been useful and fascinating.

“I had never really worked with viruses, and it’s pretty relevant considering the pandemic,” he explains.

Tao says the King Center fellowship “exposes me to topics I’ve always wanted to explore but never had the chance to.”

He also appreciates the programming and resources the King Center offers to scholars at every level. In particular, he hopes to present a poster at the center’s upcoming Global Development Research Symposium.

“I think it would be very helpful to gain the experience of presenting and also to see other people’s projects,” he says.

Scrutinizing global sand mining and environmental justice

For second-year student Chloe Chan, ‘27, the King Center academic year fellowship has allowed her to join researchers in the Center for Ocean Solutions in their efforts to study gender disparities in the sand-mining industry, a relatively under-studied industry but with the potential for major environmental and social consequences.

“Sand is the second-most used natural resource on Earth after water,” she says. “It’s used in construction; it’s used to make glass, and no one talks about it.”

Sand is a crucial component of construction materials like concrete, asphalt, and glass and its extraction has environmental impacts. Chan, working under the direction of Center for Ocean Studies lead scientist Colette Wabnitz and fellow Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, is conducting a global literature review to see what papers have been written about sand mining in the past. Some of the existing research has documented disparities for men and women, including women being disproportionately excluded from decision-making processes and at an increased risk of certain adverse health outcomes, such as from exposure to chemicals or from carrying heavy loads.

Chan, who is studying human biology and feminist, gender, and sexuality studies, says the work is “super exciting.”

“I’m personally interested in health care and sustainability but also environmental justice,” she says. “This was a way to tie all of those fields together.”

Chan says the King Center is a “bridge” for students across disciplines to connect through the fellowship program and other opportunities.

“I’ve been able to meet a lot of different students in different fields, including undergraduates but also graduate students and Ph.D.s,” she says. “To be able to learn from all these amazing people as a sophomore – the only reason I have this opportunity is because of the King Center.”

Academic-year fellowships and beyond

Students who participate in the King Center’s academic year fellowships learn under the supervision of faculty, graduate students, and other scholars while also contributing to cutting-edge research around the world. And their research often continues beyond the fellowship. One recent King Center fellow, Annabelle Smith, ’24, recently published a paper she worked on during her fellowship – about dengue virus among pregnant women in Kenya – in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Smith now works at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

And Lamm-Perez is now applying the skills she learned studying the rise of malaria in Costa Rica to a growing crisis in her home country of Guatemala. After sharing some of the Mordecai Lab’s research with the Guatemalan ministry of health while on a visit to see family, the lab will now be collaborating with government officials and scientists to study the rise of dengue virus there (last year, the country declared a national health emergency due to the rise in dengue cases).

Lamm-Perez will continue with the research as a King Center summer full-time undergraduate research fellow. She says the King Center’s commitment to undergraduate research opportunities gave her the confidence to pursue the work. 

“Having the support of this program is a big thing for me.”