Roots and Branches

More than half of Caltech’s undergraduates conduct research within their first year, and a few immerse themselves in Caltech’s culture of exploration and discovery even before the academic year commences.

In summer 2017, 20 incoming students honed their math skills and engaged in research through Caltech’s Freshman Summer Research Institute (FSRI). These science-minded scholars lived like a family for five weeks: They slept under one roof, ate meals together, and learned from those who came before them.

Working toward a future when scientists and engineers better reflect society’s diversity, FSRI introduces students from underrepresented and underserved backgrounds to math, research, and support services at Caltech.

The program pairs each participant with a faculty member, postdoc, or grad student who designs and oversees a five-week research project. In this story, three mentees describe how they felt stepping into the Caltech community, and three mentors explain how they welcomed them.

Incoming freshman Krystin Brown worked with postdoc Naima Sharaf, who studies the biological and chemical properties of molecules and atoms using x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Why did Naima volunteer to be an FSRI mentor?

“In high school, I didn’t even know that you had to apply to get into college,” she says. “My parents weren’t familiar with the application process in the U.S., but luckily we figured it out. Now, mentoring is a passion for me. I love giving students a good start.”

Personal experience also inspired Federico Echenique, Caltech’s Allen and Lenabelle Davis Professor of Economics, to become a mentor.

“As soon as I arrived in the U.S. for graduate school, I wanted to turn around and go back home—but I couldn’t afford the plane ticket,” he says. “Those first few weeks were difficult. So I decided that making someone feel welcome is a way to help set them up for success.”

Federico developed a project for FSRI participant Ruy Gonzales Hermosillo involving analysis of the National Resident Matching Program’s algorithm for placing medical students into hospital residency and fellowship positions.

“The project was designed to be an end in itself,” Federico says. “There was the possibility of a more ambitious goal, but it wasn’t certain. Now I’d say that Ruy’s summer research has enabled us to get started on what I think will be a good paper.”

Postdoc Astrid Lamberts designed a research project for FSRI mentee Kali Drango to trace back where stars form and mergers happen by combining data collected from optical telescopes with new insights gleaned from LIGO’s detection of gravitational waves.

“To do your best work, it’s important to feel that you are surrounded by reasonable, friendly people you can turn to for help,” Astrid says.

“That’s something you learn by example. It describes our work group, and it also describes the FSRI program. Students come away knowing they’re not alone; they have each other. In that way, they’re like a family. I like to think of myself as an FSRI auntie.”

“Working with others, whether I was doing research with my mentor or problem sets with my friends, I came to see everyone’s strengths—including my own,” Ruy says.

“I felt that I was respected as a researcher and classmate—just for being myself. It didn’t take long to feel at home.”

“If I had a question that my mentor wasn’t available to answer, I knew all I had to do was walk down the hall—doors were open and people were happy to help,” Kali recalls.

“It was like that in the dorm, too, when I was studying. The opposite of competitive.”

She adds: “FSRI also hosted a lunch for women in STEM. It was an amazing experience being in the company of such accomplished professionals. They are role models to me, for their success and also for being so supportive of one another.”

At the end of the five-week program, FSRI classmates delivered TED Talk-style presentations about their research to their mentors and peers.

“For my presentation, I talked about how I introduced a fluorine-labeled amino acid into a protein,” Krystin says. “But this summer I didn’t just learn how to mix different substances. Naima gave me space to figure out things on my own and become more comfortable with the process of trial and error. She helped me learn how to be okay with not having the right answer.”

Corporate and private donors help support Caltech’s goal to diversify the STEM graduate pool and workforce. This year’s FSRI cohort of 20—the largest to date—was sponsored in part by a grant from Johnson & Johnson that aims to increase participation of women in medicine and technology development.

Beyond Caltech’s Center for Diversity and Student Counseling Services, people across campus have rolled out their welcome mats for members of the class of 2021, who cleared an all-time low admit rate of 7.7 percent.

Because as soon as you get in, you belong.