Dear Readers,

Founded in 2006, the Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal was created by a team of 
graduate students who wanted to provide a collegiate platform for undergraduates to publish 
their scholarship and to educate students about the academic publication process. With 
guidance from advisors and faculty, the editorial board strove to produce a professional-level, 
open-access science journal that provides participants with a valuable experience in 
publication. Since then our board has shifted to being solely composed of undergraduates. 
While still maintaining our core editorial standards, the journal has evolved to more explicitly 
try and foster a supportive student research community on our Morningside campus. It is this 
notion of community that can help us cope and process the unfamiliar circumstances of a 
global pandemic.

In quarantine, student researchers can reflect on the utility of science and its capacity to 
contain and eradicate this crisis. The collegiate scientists of today should recognize this 
moment for its affirmation in the power of collaboration and community. Recall this moment as 
you go onto make the next breakthroughs in the natural and applied sciences.

This year, the Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal formalized our intentions for 
community building, made inroads in connecting previous authors and alumni of our 
publication, and developed our editorial process further with open journal infrastructure. I was 
impressed by the quality of our submissions this year and I want to thank each of the authors 
for their cooperation in the compilation of our journal.  

I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished this year. Thank you all for your support 
in the growth of the student research community. 

The Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal editorial board is proud to present the 14th 
annual Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal. Congratulations to the authors, thank you 
to our readers, and enjoy! 

Sincerely,
Jason Mohabir
President CUSJ

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