The URAPs Corner

The Berkeley Fossil Insects project offers undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley an excellent opportunity to get involved through the Campus’ Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP). Students interested in learning more about working with natural history collections and the efforts being done to database and image UC Berkeley’s fossil insect collections are encouraged to apply to the program. Apprentices will contribute to new and ongoing research and along the way gain knowledge in insect taxonomy, systematics, phylogenetics, insect evolution and biogeography, plant-insect interactions, and what these climate sensitive and habitat specific arthropods tell us about past environments and how they have changed through time. The scientific data generated from the project will continue to be used in research, education and public outreach beyond the end of the grant funding.

BFI’s URAP Apprentices:

HIEP NGUYEN – PEN – Fall/Spring 2015-2017

HIEP…check out his blog to learn more about what he’s contributed to the project and the neat discoveries he’s making about a 14.5 million-year-old scentless plant bug.

MESCHELLE THATCHER – PEN – Spring 2016

Meschelle.... Check out her blog to learn more about what she has contributed to the project with her work on the fossil insects from Rancho La Brea and McKittrick tarpits.
Meschelle…check out her blog to learn more about what she has contributed to the project with her work on the fossil insects from Rancho La Brea and McKittrick tarpits. 

ASMA FARAJ AHMED – PEN – Fall 2016, Spring 2017

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Asma working on the assessment and rehousing of UCMP’s type amber collection.

MADELINE LITTLE – PEN – Spring 2017

Madeline working on rehousing the Rancho La Brea and McKittrick tar pit insect specimens.

EMILY DUDA – PEN – Spring 2017

Emily sorting through newly discovered specimens from the McKittrick asphalt seep.

JULIA ANDERSON – PEN – Spring 2017

Julia is working on preparing, cataloging and rehousing a new collection of fossil insects from a Holocene oil sands site near Coalinga, CA. 

ANGEL JI – IMLS – Fall 2019

Learning from Cameron how to clean amber specimens.

CW JUNG – IMLS – Spring 2020*

CW imaging Chiapas amber using the Keyence VHX7000 digital microscope. *Sadly, due to Covid-19 CW’s URAP was cut short in mid-March 2020.

XIHAO (JOHN) FENG – IMLS – Fall 2021; Spring – Summer 2022; Fall 2022; Spring 2023

John using the Zeiss Discovery scope with attached Canon 5D Mark III camera to image Mexican amber inclusions. We switched to the Keyence VHX 7000 digital imaging microscope in Spring 2022, that allows for automated image stacking and inserting scale bars. John continued as a volunteer in 2023.

SU SU SABAI PHYU – IMLS – Spring 2022

Su doing the final polish of a Chiapas amber specimen using the Flitz compound and buffing it on a microfiber cloth. 

TESSALOU VALERA – IMLS – Spring 2022

Tessalou working through to the final polish. Here using the 600 grit sandpaper.

AMMABEL TUKIMAN – IMLS – Fall 2022

Ammabel imaging a tumbling beetle (Coleoptera, Mordellidae) using the Keyence VHX-7000 digital microscope.