Meet Kathy. She is a Psychology major who is graduating this Spring! Her research explored parental control in the Chinese immigrant and European American context. 

After discussing my interest in cross-cultural research, Dr. Cheah recruited me as a research assistant for her Culture, Child and Adolescent Development Lab.

How did you know this was the project you wanted to do?
While I was collecting data through conducting qualitative interviews with European American mothers for Dr. Cheah’s project, I began to develop my own research questions and decided to further examine parental control in both the Chinese immigrant context and European American context.

My career goal is to eventually conduct cross-cultural research examining the socialization and expression of emotions in families and to teach psychology in an academic setting.

Read her abstract here.

The Biomedical Sciences Graduate Programs Preview Weekend is a unique visit to the University of Minnesota campus for prospective graduate students interested in one or more of the following Ph.D. programs:

• Biochemistry, Molecular Biology & Biophysics (BMBB)
• Integrative Biology & Physiology (IBP)
• Microbiology, Immunology & Cancer Biology (MICaB)
• Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology & Genetics (MCDB&G)
• Neuroscience (NSCI)
• Pharmacology (PHCL).

When will the Preview take place?
Thursday, September 25 - Saturday, September 28, 2014

Who is eligible to attend?
Those who will be invited to the Preview must be US citizens or permanent residents who will be applying for entry into graduate school in Fall of 2015. The program is most interested in students enrolled at institutions outside the upper midwest who may be unfamiliar with the outstanding training environment provided by the University of Minnesota. Students from under-represented racial and ethnic groups, low-income family backgrounds, first-generation U.S. citizens, and students with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply.

What are the benefits of attending?
The Preview activities will provide opportunities for students to meet informally with the directors of graduate study, faculty and current graduate students of the six biomedical sciences doctoral programs. There will be tours of campus that will let students gain a feel for the research and laboratory environments where they would work. There will be time for the attendees to learn about the graduate programs so that they can decide which one might best meet their career goals and interests. There will also be activities to introduce you to the quality of life in the metropolitan area of Minneapolis - St. Paul. Any participants who apply to one of the biomedical sciences graduate programs will have their application fee paid. If you are selected to attend, pending the availability of funds and the results of your GRE scores, you will also be invited to participate in the admission interview weekend for the program or programs you apply to.

What is the Cost to Attend?
Visit expenses (including airfare, lodging, and on-campus meals) are provided for those who are selected to attend. We expect to invite 15 students to attend the Preview.

Application & Selection Timeframe
The online application is open and invitations will be made in the summer of 2014.

We met Rajashree last Fall semester and we thought it would be a good idea to revisit our researcher's again to promote the hard work that she has been working on.

 Rajashree is a Bioinformatics & Computational Biology major and an undergraduate researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research probed into the micro-biological world of protein interaction which is essential to understand function within cells, pathways and relationship to diseases.

Read more about Rajashree's research here... 

I am in the pre-medical society, Global Medical Brigades, and the club tennis team. This past year I was a campus tour guide, but next year I will be a Learning Assistant for Dr. Gierasch in CHEM 351!

Read his abstract here...

Meet Cheli. She is a Chemical Engineering major and her research explores the microscopic world of Filamentous fungi. She hopes to hypothesize that hyphal branching is, in part, regulated by autophagy; a cellular-level recycling process that occurs in a wide range of species from fungi to humans.

How did you find your mentor for year research project?
During my first semester at UMBC I received an email from my ENES 101 instructor saying that Dr. Marten was looking for new undergraduate researchers. I sent him my resume and high school transcript (I did not yet have a UMBC transcript), and I was accepted a couple weeks later, and have been there ever since.

How much time do you put into it?
I generally put in 12-15 hours a week for research but it varies depending on the experiment I am conducting.

How did you hear about the Undergraduate Research Award (URA) program?
My predecessor in the lab was a URA scholar, so my research mentor suggested I should apply as well.

Was the application difficult to do?
The application was straightforward. I would say that the most difficult part was making sure it did not exceed the page limit.

How much did your mentor help you with the application?
My mentor was the last person to review my application before it was submitted.

What has been the hardest part about your research?
The hardest part about my research has been trying to understand unexpected results. Often, in research, you can reach a road block and the difficult part is trying to figure out if this is the result of human error, an error in theory, or an error in the hypothesis.

What was the most unexpected thing?
Although I was told communication is a key component of research, I was surprised at how much time I spend using this skill. The importance of spending time to communicate results has become increasingly clear, whether it is explaining individual experiments in lab notebooks and weekly reports or developing larger-scale presentations for team members or conferences.

How does your research relate to your work in other classes?
As a chemical engineering major, I have to take classes in a wide variety of fields, and the work inside the lab has really helped me understand the importance of interdisciplinary studies. Genetics, Cell Biology, Statistics and Organic chemistry are all directly related to my field of research, and help me to fully understand the theory behind my research. On the other hand, the work I have done in the lab has given me skills in experimental design (a crucial component of ENCH 225) that I would not have had otherwise.

What is your advice to other students about getting involved in research?
Find your personal motivation to do research and talk to people who are currently involved in your field of interest. Once you have done that, make sure you can find the time in your schedule. This is often the most difficult thing to do, but with the right motivation, it is usually possible. Find research that gets you excited and apply to work in that laboratory. It is always possible to find time to devote to doing something you love.

Read more about her research here.

The most challenging part about this research was creating my own reading list and preparing for the archaeological excavation. I plan to have a future career in archaeology and so the field work was the easy part for me, it was the reviewing and reading beforehand that was difficult because there would be times that I would not be sure if I was reading the best sources or understanding the core concepts of what I should be learning and how to connect it to the archaeology. Once I arrived in Romania and I ventured through the capital, Bucharest, I saw a great deal of Roman presence through archaeological artifacts in the Bucharest Museum and this was a pivotal moment for me when my readings and preparation fused with the Roman archaeology and it proved crucial for my own Mithraeum project.

Read about her research here...

Volunteers needed for research study.

The Role of Skin Color & Hair Politics

in Black Women’s College Experiences

Latasha Eley is a graduate student in the UMBC Language, Literacy, & Culture doctoral program conducting research to explore the ways in which Black, female, undergraduate students’ experiences are impacted by hair and skin hue politics within campus culture.  Please contact her (leley1@umbc.edu) for more information if you meet the following eligibility criteria and are interested in participating:

•       Black/African American

•       Female

•       18-25

•       Enrolled at UMBC full-time

You will be asked to share your on and off campus experiences, as they relate to hair and skin color, individually or in a small group setting of no more than twelve students for participation in a focus group.  Focus Group participants will receive a free pizza dinner.  Individual Interview participants will receive $20 cash.