Summer Research at Wesleyan

We are all familiar with the annual ritual of spring final exams and the subsequent exodus of Wesleyan students into the oblivion of summer. There is, however, a part of Wesleyan life which continues throughout the quiet summer and often goes unnoticed. During these months Hall-Atwater, Shanklin and Science Tower laboratories are bustling with undergraduates working with faculty and graduate students on a variety of scientific research projects.

This past summer, thanks to funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Ford Foundation, other outside sources, and the Wesleyan work-study program, there were more undergraduates doing scientific research at Wesleyan than in any previous summer. The Hughes Foundation provided fellowships to fourteen students of the life sciences. The Ford Foundation provided ten additional fellowships for students in biology and chemistry. In addition, there were three work-study students in the MB&B department, and at least five students with other types of funding.

From the beginning, student projects paralleled the experience of faculty members. Student researchers had to compete for fellowships by submitting proposals. The proposals included a description of the project and it's significance, and a statement about the student's interests, qualifications, and experience. Upon completion of the projects (many of which will be continued through the academic year), a number of participants are planning to write an honors thesis and/or publish their results in scientific journals.

Many of those who participated had done research in the past. On the other hand, some people were just beginning their projects. However, whether they had already started or were just learning, an overwhelming majority of the participants were able to gather valuable data and/or make substantial steps toward completing their portion of the laboratory's overall project.

The projects ranged in nature from genetics to molecular biophysics. They also included organic chemistry, physical chemistry, molecular graphics, inorganic chemistry, organismal biology, behavior, development, and molecular biology.

The summer was not all research, though. With funds provided by the Hughes Foundation, a seminar was held every Thursday at noon. Each seminar featured a speaker from another research facility who presented his or her most recent data and the background of his or her total project. It gave the students a taste of the academic world. There were also three weekly journal clubs, each with it's own field of study. Students were urged to participate in at least one. These meetings involved the discussion of a recent paper within the scope of its particular field. The first few papers were presented by graduate students who routinely participate in similar clubs. The last few papers were presented by undergraduates. The clubs consisted of the undergraduates and graduates as well as faculty members, who helped to guide the discussion while at the same time had an opportunity to learn about the student's most recent findings in their area of study.

The summer drew to a close with two research symposiums where students presented a ten to fifteen minute talk on their particular project which highlighted the results of their research. The first symposium was held August tenth, and was sponsored by the Chemistry department for students doing chemistry research. On the following day, the Hughes Foundation sponsored a full day symposium, at which all summer researchers were invited to discuss their work. (A list of those who made presentations is provided below). In his concluding remarks to the second symposium, Dr. Jason Wolfe, Biology Chairman and director of the Hughes Program, expressed how impressed he was with the high level of research apparent in the presentations by the student fellows.

We can all look forward to a continuation of the amount and caliber undergraduate research in the Sciences Wesleyan in the years to come.

--Lee Waldman and Dean Ziegler

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Ford Fellows

Carol Assang

Chris Barnes

Joanne Button

Chris Claiborne

Angela Hight

Ari Isenstadt

Susan Rodrigue

Anastasios Theodorou

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Hughes Fellows

Ann Lisa Buhl

Mark Coleman

David Immanuel

Michael Marciello

Vusumuzi Nhlapho

Shawn Posin

Humera S. Syeda

Charlene Vosseller

Benjamin Wailes III

Lee Waldman

Andrew Waskewicz

Hang Xu

Jen Jen Yeh

Dean Ziegler

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