2024 ViSUR Cohort

We are pleased to welcome three new students to this year’s Vision Science Undergraduate Research (ViSUR) program: Priyam Baruah, Thelonious Cooper, and Jocelyn Tao (pictured above, from left to right). ViSUR is an 8-week intensive summer program in which undergraduate students are given the opportunity to work in a vision science lab with a faculty advisor on a research project. In addition to a $5,000 stipend, all housing and travel expenses are coordinated and provided by UC Berkeley.

In other good news, the school has received a $270,000 grant from CooperVision to help support the ViSUR program for the next three years. Congrats to Dr. Ruth Shoge for leading this effort!

Learn more about Priyam, Thelonious, and Jocelyn below.

Priyam Baruah, (she/her)

Home institution: UC Berkeley
Major: Molecular/Cellular Biology + Bioengineering

"This summer I will be working in the Wildsoet lab with Dr. Wildsoet and Dr. Sonal Aswin Vyas to study factors responsible for myopia progression and the mechanisms behind eye growth. Through this experience, I look forward to not only learning new laboratory skills but I also look forward to investigating the pressing epidemic of myopia through a multidisciplinary lens."

Thelonious Cooper, (he/him)

Home institution: MIT
Major: Electrical Engineering, with minors in Applied Mathematics and Music Technology

"I seek to affect positive change in the world by leveraging my knowledge of mathematical modeling and hardware/software engineering to innovate across scales in the fields of embedded medical technology and climate/sustainability systems. During my time at MIT I have been awarded the title of MIT Climate Grand Challenges Undergraduate Research and Innovation Scholar for my work in the SuperUROP program. I have also served on the Undergraduate Advisory Group for the Schwartzman College of Computing, interfacing directly with leading faculty in MIT EECS and the SCC to advocate for undergraduates. I am also the academic chair for Chocolate City, a living group of underrepresented men of color in STEM."

Jocelyn Tao, (she/her)

Home Institution: UC Santa Barbara
Major: Psychological & Brain Sciences with a concentration in Applied Psychology

"My research interests focus on human performance in perceptual tasks such as visual search and visuospatial working memory, and how these can be applied to technological advancements like machine learning and virtual reality. This summer, I'll be working with Dr. ngela Tomaz in the Levi Lab, conducting amblyopia research."

Learn More

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