No Limits
Students Use Science Resources as Launching Board to Greatness
"I've been thinking about science since I was little. My dad's a doctor and my mother's a nurse. We didn't talk about the usual things at dinner," says Cecelia Shertz '08, who recalls the entire family discussing the finer points of pinworms at one memorable meal. She has continued to think about science throughout her entire career at Juniata, taking time to explore sciences such as genomics and proteomics, opportunities that men and women of her parents' generation could only dream about.
Shertz, from Ebensburg, Pa., says there was no question she would find her way into one of the College's labs and by her sophomore year she was immersed in proteomic (the study of the structure and function of proteins) research in the laboratory of Michael Boyle, von Liebig Chair in Biomedical Research. "My family was very impressed when we saw the von Liebig building-it immediately made us think how important the sciences are at Juniata," she says. "Then, when you see the labs, your impression is that Juniata is all about research."
Such vivid impressions are what brought her to the College, but Shertz, who is studying biology, took the initiative to seek out opportunities on her own. When Boyle asked for interested students to participate in summer research projects after her freshman year, Shertz found herself up to her elbows in Streptococcus enzymes as part of a research team working on an enzyme identified as IdeS. This particular enzyme may be expressed within cells during infection. Streptococcus is the bacteria responsible for strep throat, as well as meningitis, bacterial pneumonia and endocarditis. The team was trying to develop a consistent test procedure that could identify the presence of this enzyme, which would have long-term implications in developing diagnostic tools for Streptococcus.
Shertz started by learning the techniques of genomics such as the "Western blot," which identifies specific proteins in a tissue sample, then transitioned to using a protein chip mass spectrometer called a SELDI-TOF, which identifies microscopic protein samples. She has worked in Boyle's lab every summer and during each academic year. As she learned the ropes in the lab, she worked closely with older students such as Eric Porsch '06, now a graduate student at Duke University. Boyle encourages and expects his student team to take on more responsibility each year they work in the labs. Which makes Shertz the go-to researcher for the other students in the lab.
"Science is always different when you learn things 'hands-on' rather than theoretically. Hands-on learning is science as it really is," she explains. "I've seen a huge increase in my confidence because I know more about how a lab runs and students are coming to me when they are having problems with the work."
"Typically the students start out as very naive and by the end of their time on campus they can be talking to researchers at conferences as peers. (The difference) is quite striking," Boyle says. "I think we sometimes underestimate how good our students are. A lot of the students who present every year at the Liberal Arts Symposium are as good as first or second year graduate students at other places I've been."
The techniques Shertz learns at Juniata will give her a leg up on many of her colleagues as they enter graduate school (Cecelia is looking at North Carolina's Research Triangle of Duke, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State for her next stop). Perhaps more importantly, she continues the tradition of student researchers who train younger peers and answer questions for incoming students.
The opportunities for research at Juniata are not restricted to a chosen few, either. A challenging research assignment is often only a faculty office visit away for most students. At the end of his freshman year, Joe Houck '08, a chemistry POE from Spruce Creek, Pa., who had been interested in research since high school, simply asked chemists Richard Hark and David Reingold whether there were openings for students on research projects. By summer he was helping to synthesize a molecule within triclosan (an ingredient used in antibacterial soaps) that would be more effective in inhibiting bacteria that had built up resistance to triclosan. Houck worked on the project through his sophomore year and eventually he found a new way to complete the final step of the synthesis. "I like doing things that have an application," he says. "You really get a chance to see where your work is going."
Houck's work on triclosan, funded by Merck, had a direct application, and his experience on the project so energized him that he submitted an application of his own to the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates program. He studied with chemist Mario Geysen at the University of Virginia, where he worked on a synthetic version of a human growth hormone. "I was a little nervous at first; I was a little concerned about how intense it would be," Houck says of the Virginia lab. "If I hadn't had my (previous) lab experience I would have been behind, but I felt I was able to do the work."
Houck recalls that when he made his campus visit to Juniata, he was amazed at the facilities open to students. "I had never seen anything like that before. In high school we had only read about most of these instruments," he says. Now an old hand at such analytical tools as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, the once and future researcher decided to branch out into a new discipline-inorganic chemistry. This past summer, he dove into inorganic research at Palacky University in the Czech Republic. Houck is continuing a similar path this year working with inorganic chemist Peter Baran.
In addition to his jaunts to Europe and Virginia, he's presented his research in Atlanta, Chicago and, of course, Huntingdon (at the College's Liberal Arts Research Symposium). Not bad for someone who hadn't traveled much before coming to Juniata.
"In high school they don't tell you about these opportunities," Houck explains. "Coming here things were wide open. You're not lost in a big crowd and you have opportunities to go outside of your field and do something different."
Juniata's proactive approach to encouraging student research is far different from larger research-oriented universities. Incoming students to Juniata often expect to do research only as seniors, if at all. Instead, interested students are urged to get in the lab early and often.
"Chemistry has a departmental requirement for a 'career-relevant professional experience,' which many students fulfill with research," says chemist David Reingold, chair of the department. "In choosing students for our labs we try hard to find those with a passion for what they're doing. Chemistry is hard enough that most students will not major in it if they do not have that passion."
Students also channel their passion into enlisting new students in the ranks of researchers, a process that ends up replenishing itself. Some science students give tours to prospective students and talk up research opportunities, others just chat with other students at Jitters, the von-Liebig coffee bar. "You can get feedback from students, whether they are chemistry or biology," says Houck. "They give you ideas about a problem and you can give your ideas to others." Students tend to "market" their professors too. "I've had students come up to me and ask about openings because they've been talking to one of my research students and they want to get in on the action," says biochemist Boyle. Indeed, everything starts with a strong visual-the von-Liebig building beckoning to visiting high schoolers, moves to hands-on experience, and finally, evangelism about the experience. Sort of the Circle of Life in lab coats.
"I think Juniata expects a lot more out of you," Shertz explains. "Many of my friends (at other universities) tell me they aren't challenged by their classes. Here, I'm challenged every day."