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MSJC Students Take Their STEM Ambitions Into UCR Research Labs

8/27/2026

For Mt. San Jacinto College students Seth Kearl and Noah Burley, curiosity about science led beyond the classroom this summer and into research laboratories at UC Riverside. The two Eagles were among just 12 students who participated in UCR’s 2026 MacREU program, gaining hands-on experience in chemistry, antimatter research and university-level research while working alongside university researchers and exploring what their futures in STEM could look like.

Kearl, a chemistry major at MSJC, studied metal-organic frameworks and crystallization, while Burley, an MSJC alumnus preparing to pursue electrical engineering at UCLA, worked with positrons, a form of antimatter, in UCR’s Alan Mills Positron Lab.

MacREU is an undergraduate research experience in materials science and engineering that provides students with hands-on laboratory research and exposure to graduate education and STEM careers. The students concluded their summer experience with an end-of-summer celebration at UCR on Aug. 20, where participants presented their research and shared what they learned during the program.

The 2026 cohort brought together students from community colleges and four-year universities, including UC Riverside, UC San Diego, California State University, Long Beach, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Community college participants represented MSJC, Riverside City College and Chaffey College.

For Kearl, the experience provided an opportunity to take concepts he had encountered in chemistry courses and explore them through research. His project focused on metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, porous crystalline materials formed by connecting metal ions with organic molecules. He also learned techniques used to characterize crystals and evaluate their quality and composition.

Just as important was the opportunity to experience firsthand how university and graduate-level research operate.

“I learned a ton about how lab environments work and got real insight into graduate school,” Kearl said. “The experience was a huge motivator for me to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry.”

Kearl credits his MSJC professors and the College’s Learning Resource Center with helping prepare him for the opportunity. Faculty introduced him to research topics, shared the MacREU opportunity, provided letters of recommendation and encouraged him to deepen his study of chemistry.

“The support from the faculty, from chemistry professors giving me resources and letters of recommendation to the Learning Resource Center, really helped me get to this point,” Kearl said.

He hopes other MSJC students will take advantage of similar opportunities. “I would recommend this program to any curious STEM major who wants to take that extra step and see what real research is all about,” Kearl said.

For Burley, MacREU represented the next step in a research journey that began at MSJC.

As a student in MSJC’s Honors Enrichment Program, Burley learned how to transform his curiosity into research questions, conducted original research and presented his work at the Honors Transfer Council of California conference at UCR. This summer, he returned to UCR in a different role— working in a research laboratory studying positrons.

In the Alan Mills Positron Lab, Burley developed skills extending well beyond physics. His research required him to learn 3D modeling and 3D printing, work with circuits and code in Python, a programming language he had not used before beginning the internship.

“I learned so many applicable skills, from 3D modeling and 3D printing to coding in Python and working with circuits,” Burley said. “Going into electrical engineering, this gives me a huge head start and valuable professional connections.”

The experience also gave Burley the opportunity to work alongside postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and other undergraduate researchers and gain a better understanding of what pursuing research beyond a bachelor’s degree might entail.

“This internship gave me real insight into what it’s like to do research as an undergraduate and graduate student,” Burley said. “It gave me a great perspective on what I want for my future.”

Burley said reaching that point was the result of a network of people at MSJC who encouraged him to pursue opportunities beyond the classroom. He credits the Honors Enrichment Program, Learning Resource Center and professors Christina Yamanaka-Vu, Nick Reeves, Dominic Scaletta and Stephen Hamrick with helping prepare and encourage him to pursue research.

“I couldn't have gotten here without the help of MSJC and my whole community there,” Burley said. “There are so many important people and programs, like the Honors Enrichment Program and my physics professors, that helped propel me to take this first step into research.”

Christina Yamanaka-Vu, MSJC history professor, department chair and Honors Enrichment Program coordinator, watched Burley develop as both a researcher and student leader. 

Through Honors, he conducted original survey research, analyzed data and presented his findings at an academic conference.

“Noah is an amazing scholar who engaged in original research and created a culture of compassion and care within our Honors Program,” Yamanaka-Vu said. “I’m thrilled to support him as he prepares to pursue electrical engineering at UCLA.”

She said MacREU complements the work taking place at MSJC by allowing students to build upon the research and academic skills they develop at the community college level.

“The MacREU program serves as a wonderful bridge between a student's community college experience at MSJC and their next step at a four-year institution,” Yamanaka-Vu said.

MSJC professor Nick Reeves has helped connect students with MacREU for several years. For Reeves, those presentations demonstrate why creating pathways to research opportunities matters for community college students.

“At the community college level, it can be tough to get relevant research experience for future STEM careers,” Reeves said. “MacREU gives our local students a hands-on opportunity to see what real research looks like and find out if it's for them.”

MSJC faculty promote the MacREU application across the College’s science, math and engineering programs and encourage students interested in research to apply.

“It’s rewarding to connect students with these programs,” Reeves said. “Noah wanted to get into research, so connecting him with MacREU was a natural fit, and seeing the work these students present at the end of the summer is fantastic.”

For Kearl, the summer strengthened an ambition to earn a doctorate in chemistry. For Burley, it provided new technical skills and greater clarity as he prepares to pursue electrical engineering at UCLA.

For both students, MacREU demonstrated that the path from a community college classroom to advanced university research is within reach, and that the relationships and opportunities they found at MSJC can help them take that next step.