In a circle of UCLA undergraduate scholars, we held a lively discussion about mice brains in lab research. Aside from the gory mouse termination details, I was fascinated by the array of research topics.

When I was three years old, my piano teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and my response was "a weather girl!"

Editor's Note: HuffPost College teamed up with The Undergraduate Awards to recognize the world's best student research projects. Expect to hear from t...

Hands-on research opportunities for undergraduates combined with personalized attention from inventive professors is one of the reasons that liberal arts colleges have long played a disproportionately large role in the education of our nation's future scientists.

Generating home-grown engineers and scientists is crucial to ensuring our nation's leadership in the technological innovations that have fueled our economy for decades.