The Alliance hosted its first annual Young Researchers Conference (YRC) at UCLA on March 12, 2016. Over 55 students from 8 California State Universities, 2 local Los Angeles community colleges and additional graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and professors from our chapters all across the country were in attendance. The event kicked off with an awe-inspiring keynote lecture from Prof. Aradhna Tripati (UCLA) followed by student research talks, networking lunch, panel discussion on graduate school and a student research poster session. The day ended with a reception sponsored by Pfizer. A very special thank you to our sponsors: NSF, Pfizer, IPAM (for the space), and Wolfgang Puck Express