In his role as dean, Harland aims to ensure that biology undergraduates more broadly obtain the opportunity to conduct experiments firsthand. Several generous donors have stepped forward to help enable this.
The Morgan and Marjorie R. Harris Scholars Program was initiated by Cornell University professors Becky and Ron Harris-Warrick to honor Ron’s parents, both Berkeley alums. His father Morgan Harris ’38, PhD ’41 became a professor and chair of zoology at Berkeley. From among the undergraduates who participate in the Harris Research Discovery Program — a laboratory research preparation boot camp that immerses them in biological methodologies and techniques as well as soft skills for scientific success — three standout students in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology (MCB) are selected as Harris Research Fellows.
Harris Research Fellows spend a summer engaged in supervised research related to an honors thesis. The 2025 cohort of Harris Research Fellows includes Zohra Allata, Gabriel Dueñas, Jason Weng Lam, and Sam Perez, who were mentored, respectively, in the labs of professors Iswar Hariharan, Noah Whiteman, David Matus, and Andrea Gomez.
“Being surrounded by such supportive mentors and collaborators gave me the confidence to explore, make mistakes, and take ownership of my work.” For the fall semester, Perez assisted in a mouse epigenetics experiment.
Zohra Allata ’26 spent the summer investigating why Drosophila fruit fly larvae lose regenerative capacity as they mature, to gain a better understanding of what genes regulate regeneration. “The Harris Fellowship program allowed me to grow as a researcher while discovering my interests,” says Allata.
A second emerging program to promote undergraduate research is named for pioneering molecular biologist and MCB co-founder Gunther Stent. Donors Rick and Carole Horwitz established the Stent Neuroscience Research Scholars and Faculty Scholars Fund to attract talented undergraduates into neuroscience labs. Each student Stent Research Scholar receives a $7,500 stipend and is paired with a Stent Faculty Scholar to serve as a mentor in that professor’s lab during the student’s junior or senior year.
The initial Stent Research Scholars were Emma Bi, who worked with Yang Dan, and Michael Tanios, who worked with Stephan Lammel. The current year’s Stent Research Scholars include Marlene Ketelaar, Gautam Naik, and Sandra Ong, participating respectively in the labs of Stent Faculty Scholars Ehud Isacoff, Annaliese Beery, and Helen Bateup.
Another addition to the array of undergraduate research programs honors the legacy of luminary scientist Bruce Ames, a professor of biochemistry and MCB at Berkeley for more than three decades who died in 2024. He developed the influential Ames Test, which uses bacteria to assess the mutagenic potential of natural and synthetic chemicals that could cause cancer.
The Ames family, including Bruce’s wife, MCB Professor Emerita Giovanna Ferro-Luzzi Ames, were joined by other donors in creating a $500,000 fund for future Bruce Ames Research Scholars. By providing summer research stipends for MCB students, this program reflects its namesake’s passion for both discovery and training new scientists. The inaugural Bruce Ames Research Scholars are Hani Liu, mentored by Filipa Rijo-Ferreira, and Kaelin David, mentored by Eva Nogales.
Inspired by how Professor Harland welcomes undergraduate researchers into his lab, two anonymous alumni donors recenltly created the Berkeley Biological Science Undergraduate Support Fund, which will annually provide a $5,000 stipend to each of six researchers, particularly first-generation and underrepresented students, from across the biological sciences.
