A Letter From the Scientia Editorial Board

Sean Ngo, Shubhneet Warar, Arvind Muruganantham, Tiffany Luan, Sanjana Ade, Isha Thapar, Timothy Domashevich, Joshua George, Sinchana Basoor, and Tooba Haris

On behalf of the Editors of Scientia, welcome! It is with great enthusiasm that we present to you Scientia 2020, Baylor University’s annually-published undergraduate research journal for science and technology. The start of this year has certainly brought with it a multitude of challenges for people around the world. During these times, we hope that you continue to be safe and healthy wherever you are.

We are fortunate to have an online platform through which we can continue to publish Scientia this year. Our goal remains the same: to provide a professional platform upon which undergraduates of Baylor University are able to publish personally conducted and outstanding research in the areas of science and technology. In order to achieve this, Scientia accepts articles and abstracts spanning a wide variety of disciplines that are selected by the editorial board each year. We also feature the award-winning abstracts from the previous year’s URSA Scholars Week and highlight students who are doing extraordinary research. In line with Baylor’s most recent initiatives to achieve R1 research status, we believe that promoting research here at Baylor is quintessential for the growth and development of undergraduate students who will go on to make great contributions to the fields of science and technology. For this reason, we have committed ourselves to reviewing, editing, and publishing the research that has been conducted by Baylor undergraduates.

Scientia is a publication of Baylor Undergraduate Research in Science and Technology (BURST). We believe Scientia encapsulates the mission of BURST by increasing awareness of the amazing research done by students on campus. Students whose research is published in Scientia display an outstanding passion for innovation, and it is our hope that this passion ignites a spark in other students to pursue their own research endeavors.

This past year, the Scientia Editorial Board has been able to undertake several new initiatives that we hope will continue to enrich the research experience for Baylor undergraduates. The first of these is the Baylor Undergraduate Research Newsletter, which serves to spotlight high-value information concerning research opportunities/internships on campus and abroad, further highlight unique student research experiences, and promote deeper engagement in science. As we continue forward, we hope to develop this publication further in order to better serve you.

We are also pleased to announce that we are currently developing a new website solely dedicated to Scientia. There, future authors will be able to submit their articles, and viewers will be able to read all past editions of Scientia and the Newsletter. We anticipate that this will allow us to better connect with you all and make the process of submission easier and more straightforward than ever.

None of this, of course, could be done without the wonderful work being done by the students here at Baylor University. Our primary focus continues to be on highlighting and publishing the best research articles and abstracts that our students have to offer. In that effort, we have been able to expand our scope for this year’s edition and were able to reach students from the Anthropology department and the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences. We greatly encourage you to take a look at these abstracts within Scientia 2020.

As editors, it has certainly been a privilege to collaborate with phenomenal student researchers and faculty editors. The editorial process has given us as well as the authors invaluable insight into the intricacies of a research publication and enabled us to learn new information from a wide variety of fascinating fields. It is incredibly rewarding to work alongside these authors and share in their joy as their research comes to fruition. We hope that even though we are apart at this time, this publication can serve to connect us, the Baylor scientific community. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

The Scientia Editorial Board