BCoE hosts students for summer research experience
September 21, 2015
STARKVILLE, Miss.— Rachel Steele never expected to spend her summer engrossed in welfare of rattlesnakes—the scaly, poisonous, villains of peaceful summer strolls. But after a few weeks at Mississippi State University’s Bagley College of Engineering, she sees them as complex biological creatures with intriguing genetic relationships with other reptiles.
Steele is one of more than 20 students from around the country that spent the summer in Starkville working to expand their education through the Bagley College’s National Science Foundation-sponsored Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program.
Selected through a competitive application process, the students spent 13 weeks with faculty mentors conducting research and completing individual projects in one of four areas: biological, chemical and mechanical engineering or computational biology. It was the latter that attracted Steele, a senior biology major from Troy University.
“I wanted to gain experience in a field that was not my exact course of study,” Steele said. “My organic chemistry professor encouraged students to apply for these types of programs and this one in computational biology seemed like a good fit.”
Steele said the Bagley College program has given her experience with hardware and software that she wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. And while analyzing genes of timber rattlesnakes wasn’t something she thought would interest her, she grew to enjoy assembling the mitochondrial genome and comparing it to other reptiles’ using computational biology, something she might continue to study.
Associate dean for academic affairs James Warnock, who serves as the Research Experiences for Undergraduates coordinator, said many of the program’s participants come from universities that do not have research facilities available to students. He explained that programs like this help them to gain hands-on research experience and expand their view of what is possible with their degrees.
“We not only want students to develop their technical skills, but also to develop skills to present and communicate their work,” Warnock said.
The program concluded with the students presenting their work at an Undergraduate Research Symposium on Mississippi State’s campus. For this the students created a poster describing their research and present their work to faculty members, peers and the public.
Steele said it was her first time presenting her own work, which she described as both nerve-wracking and exciting experience as she prepared to talk to peers and faculty members about her work.
“I was really excited to share what I had been working on all summer,” Steele said.
Other Research Experience for Undergraduate Participants include (by university location):
EASTERN CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY – Meaghan Kennedy
HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE – Alice Szeliga
HINDS COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE – Allison Martin
MINERVA SCHOOLS at KGI – Justin De Caires
JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY – Jasmine Granger and Kayshaunna Williams
LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY – Krysten Harvey
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNVIERSITY – Justyn Forehand
RICE UNIVERSITY – Marie Jacobsen
TROY UNIVERSITY – Rachelle Steele
TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY – Jasmine McNair
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT – Nicholas Oliviero and Ornella Tempo
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA – Evan Dolling
UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS – Peace Adevemo
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA – Keneth Teel
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURG – Brandon Nelson
UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO – Lysmarie Figueroa
UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND – Aidan McDonald
WOFFORD COLLEGE – Jonathon Rice
For more information about the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program or the Bagley College of Engineering, visit www.bagley.msstate.edu.
By: Emile Creel