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Real World Research

SURE program gives students valuable research experience

Thirteen Carthage students spent their summer working one-on-one with a Carthage professor in a program designed to give undergraduate science majors hands-on experience conducting research that matters.

SURE — the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience — has been a part of the Carthage science curriculum since the mid-1990s. It's a critical component of a curriculum focused on providing real-world research opportunities to undergraduates.

SURE Poster Presentations

The 2009 SURE participants presented their research and findings in a poster presentation July 29 in Hedberg Library. Each year the Carthage community is invited to view the presentations and discuss research results with the students.

"We want our students, from the moment they get on campus, to be participating in some kind of open-ended research question," says physics professor Kevin Crosby, chair of the Division of Natural Sciences at Carthage. "To get into graduate school and be successful in graduate school, students need to have not just isolated research experiments, but a coherent record of sophisticated research experiences."

A competitive edge

Through SURE, "students work with a professor on a real, live research problem that might result in a larger audience through presentation or publication," Prof. Crosby says.

It's a paid job — students receive a small research budget, room and board on campus, and a stipend. Most importantly, though, it's a stepping stone to additional research opportunities.

"If students participate in the SURE program before their junior year, we find that they're much more competitive for the national research experiences that in turn give them a better shot at graduate school, medical school or whatever their career goals are," Prof. Crosby says.

Wide variety of research projects

SURE is funded by a grant from the Kresge Foundation. The grant supports about nine students every summer; additional students are funded by external grants awarded to faculty members. Most summers, around 15 Carthage students work on campus doing research with a professor.

Their projects cover chemistry, biology, geography and earth science, psychology, environmental science, physics, astrophysics, mathematics, astronomy and more. For example, in 2009:

  • Isa Fritz, '10, worked with Prof. Crosby to compile data on the dynamic angle of repose in lunar gravity — a continuation of research she conducted with Carthage's Microgravity Team.

  • Erin Zimmerman, '11, used NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) to conduct diffusion experiments on the enantiomers of beta blocker drugs with chemistry professor Kevin Morris.

  • Zawadi Mageni, '11, worked with geography professor Julio Rivera to study urban real estate trends through GIS.

  • Scolastica Njoroge, '12, worked with biology professor Dan Choffnes to research the impact of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on sex organ development in frogs. She studied the effects of estradiol, released into the environment through human waste, and atrazine, a widely used herbicide. "If we're able to prove that atrazine does have negative effects on people and aquatic life, the government may take stiffer measures to control its release into the environment," says the sophomore biology major.

Beyond the lab: Learning and discussion

Students and faculty participating in SURE meet weekly for lunch and student presentations. The lunches are informal, but the presentations give students valuable practice in explaining their research to an audience unfamiliar with their specific topic. Student presenters are then subjected to friendly questioning from other faculty. If a student gets stumped, his or her faculty mentor often offers guidance, usually showing the student where the answer lies within his or her research results.

Prof. Crosby said more schools are offering similar programs now, but Carthage is "pretty far ahead of the curve on the number of students we take," he said. He encourages prospective students and their families to look closely at a college's undergraduate research opportunities.

"They should ask, 'To what extent are faculty involved with undergraduate students in meaningful research that's not canned?'" he says. "I see a lot of schools advertising research experiences that are really extensions of classroom work, for which the answers are known.

"This is a legitimate experiment, where there may not be the answers you're looking for, and you're working with a faculty member who is as dark in this as you are. It's a collaborative journey out of the darkness. It's a collaborative venture."