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Foundations
for the Future: Mentoring Undergraduates in Science
Research
By Karen Young Kreeger
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(from
left) Aparna Kanneganti ’01,
Alexandra K. Smith ’01 and
Peter D. Brodfuehrer
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OK, so maybe spending hours
each week per semester or all day, every weekday
during the summer holed up in the lab isn't the
ideal way to pass time for many college students.
However, for many undergraduates at Bryn Mawr
putting in the time to conduct independent research
now has tremendous payoffs later.
Take Alexandra K. Smith ’01,
an undergrad biology student with Peter D. Brodfuehrer,
chair and associate professor of biology. Her
lab experience has already improved her prospects
for a career in science. During a recent interview
for a laboratory technician position at the esteemed
Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, the recruiter
thought she was well qualified for the position
almost solely based on her hands-on lab experience.
Smith eventually wants to go on to medical or
graduate school but, at this point, she's looking
to spend a year or two in the workforce.
Smith started off by volunteering
in Brodfuehrer's lab once a week the spring semester
of her junior year. She stayed on for the summer
program where she narrowed her research topic,
which eventually became her senior thesis. Her
question centers on how nerve cells translate
sensory input into movement.
Besides finding the hands-on
research experience stimulating, Smith says that
participating in her independent research project
has revealed much more about how science is done.
"It's taught me a lot about what it's like to
do basic research and work with other people in
an academic setting," she says, conceding that
labwork can be tedious at times. But, echoing
the thoughts of scientists the world over, Smith
says, "It's all worthwhile when you get some really
good results."
Many Opportunities
The mentor-apprentice approach
to science education has always been a part of
the Bryn Mawr experience. The College has offered
master's and Ph.D. programs in the sciences almost
since the early days of its founding in 1885.
Undergraduates have always been encouraged to
participate in research projects with graduate
students and faculty, and more than 50 percent
of all science majors at Bryn Mawr currently do
so. They participate as volunteers, in the summer
research program or, more formally, in senior-year
independent research projects for credit.
The summer program runs for
10 weeks, 40 hours per week, with students receiving
a $3,100 stipend. It was established in 1989 and
each year accepts 35 students. The summer of 2000
saw eight women participating in biology projects,
15 in chemistry, one in geology, five in mathematics
and computer science, one in physics and six in
psychology.
The sources of funding for
the summer programs is diverse. They range from
nonprofit foundations, such as the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute and the National Science Foundation,
to corporate sponsors, including the GE Fund and
Zimmer Inc., to endowments established by alumnae
and friends of the College — the Robert Conner
Undergraduate Biology Fellowship Fund, the Helen
Louise Robinson ’66 Fund for the Biological
Sciences, and the Carlos Nathaniel Vicens and
Maria Teresa Joglar de Vicens Fund.
Each lab experience also gives
students a chance to hone their written and oral
communication skills. At the end of the summer
students present their work to their peers and
faculty at a day-long research symposium, as well
as prepare an abstract of their project for the
annual report on the program. During the school
year, students of course write a senior thesis
and some departments also require an oral presentation.
Undergraduate research may also appear in peer-reviewed
journals.
Giving
Back
Brodfuehrer, a cellular neurophysiologist,
has mentored undergraduates in his lab at Bryn
Mawr for 10 years now. He uses the medicinal leech
as a model to study how nerves activate muscles
in a coordinated fashion to swim. "The students
in my lab all work with questions associated with
trying to see how the nervous system does that,"
he explains. "I think the benefit to the students
is to get a feel for how science is done. How
one asks questions. How to go about designing
an experiment and then, once you get results,
figuring out what kind of conclusions you can
draw."
Part of Brodfuehrer's and
the other faculty mentors' job is to give a clear
picture of the practice of science, as well as
impart their subject-matter expertise and guide
experiments. At the start of a student's independent
project, Brodfuehrer's approach is to talk over
possible research questions and explain his expectations.
"I expect a commitment out
of them — at least 10 hours in the lab and
time outside of that searching the literature
and thinking about their question," he says. "Often
students do not have a feel for the amount of
time it takes to actually do an experiment from
start to finish. They're used to lab sections
of courses where we have a three-hour time window
and things are already set up for them. Science
moves slowly and they don't understand this."
A sense of giving back is
part of faculty members' motivation to take the
time to mentor students. "I got to where I am
today because of my undergraduate independent
research project," remembers Brodfuehrer. "I loved
every second of it and have been doing it ever
since."
Success
Stories
In addition to Bryn Mawr research
seminars, students present their results at national
meetings. Anuja Ogirala ’01 won first prize
in the biological sciences poster session of the
Third Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
in the Chemical and Biological Sciences held at
the University of Maryland. She works with Tamara
L. Davis, assistant professor of biology, who
specializes in genetic imprinting.
And Edina Sarajlic ’00
was one of six finalists for the LeRoy Apker Award
from the American Physical Society. Her mentor
is Elizabeth McCormack, assistant professor of
physics, whose research involves quantum beat
spectroscopy. Sarajlic is now in a Ph.D. program
in the physics department at Stanford University.
The lasting effects of an
independent scientific research project at Bryn
Mawr are perhaps the most valuable part of the
experience. Lori Rogers Kisley ’92 is a research
associate at the University of Colorado Health
Sciences Center in Denver. She worked in Brodfuehrer's
lab during the fall and spring semesters of her
senior year. Her project involved the biochemistry
of leech swimming behavior and the underlying
role of serotonin.
For Kisley, the Bryn Mawr
experience is most memorable for the close relationships
with faculty and the sophisticated hands-on experience
that in some ways only a small teaching-oriented
college can provide. "I got to canulate a rat
as an undergrad," she quips. "The experience confirmed
my love of science and research, and helped me
find an avenue of interest. It solidified my interest
in the biochemistry and pharmacology underlying
behavior."
She also came away from Bryn
Mawr with something valuable about the process
of science, noting that her lab experience emphasized
how to ask questions and interpret results. "It
was a nurturing experience scientifically and
it laid the groundwork for the rest of my career,"
concludes Kisley.
About the Author
Karen Young Kreeger is a science
journalist who writes on biomedical and women’s
health topics, as well as careers in science.
Her most recent work has appeared in Bioscience,
Genome Technology, Muse and The
Scientist.
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