The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program focuses much of the 10-week experience on conducting research. However, as Rhode Island students learn during the course of the summer, there is more to being a scientist than holing up in a lab or collecting samples in the field.

“Taking part in seminars, workshops and networking events are all part of the larger scientific community,” explained Jim Lemire, undergraduate coordinator for Rhode Island NSF Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

Lemire, Adjunct Professor of Biology & Marine Biology at Roger Williams University, coordinates the EPSCoR SURF program (meet our 2014 SURF students) and organizes events for the undergraduate interns.

“The various ancillary events we offer as part of the SURF program are partly an attempt to involve students in this community,” Lemire said. “This sort of professional development is an important part of training future scientists.”

What are you so passionate about that you’ve got to get to grad school?

Throughout the summer program, RI NSF EPSCoR collaborates with Rhode Island IDEA Network for Excellence in Biomedical Research (INBRE) to provide numerous opportunities for the undergraduates in both programs — 95 on the INBRE side and 40 on EPSCoR for summer 2014.

Most recently, Salve Regina University hosted SURF students from both programs for a discussion on graduate school with Dr. Alycia Mosley Austin, Director of Graduate Recruitment and Diversity Initiatives at the University of Rhode Island, and a presentation by “TickGuy” Dr. Tom Mather, URI Professor of Public Health Entomology.

Finding the right fit

Dr. Mosley Austin asked the students to consider why they might go to graduate school and to think about their reasons. Pursuit of an advanced degree is hard and demands passion and perseverance, she said, so make sure to pick the right program with a support system. And, do give thought to location.

Once students narrow down their selection, they need to pull together the various pieces of an application. A personal statement should provide an indication of why students want to attend a particular program. Unlike an undergraduate application, graduate schools don’t want to know about family history, extra-curricular activities, obstacles overcome, or how well rounded a person might be.

“I’m sure that’s important and meaningful to you, but if it doesn’t tell me you’re going to be someone to do the research, and be passionate about it, and persevere when all your experiments fail, then it doesn’t matter,” Dr. Mosley Austin said. “And, it’s ok if it hasn’t been a lifelong dream.”

Rather, the key is what have students done and what have their experiences been? “What are you so passionate about that you’ve got to get to grad school?” she asked.

Helpful hints, information

• Critical components: Do your homework, know what research opportunities are available and contact faculty members to ask if there is space in their lab. Give careful consideration to letters of recommendation; ask people who can speak to your ability to conduct research and carry out the responsibilities of a grad student.
• What to include in the CV: Give a short description of research experience, and note any publications and presentations, lab skills and familiar techniques. Don’t bother pointing out irrelevant job experiences.
• Taking the GRE: Study, but don’t stress; take it enough in advance so there is time to retake it for a better score.
• Master’s or Ph.D.: It depends on the journey and the end goal, but know that it is more challenging to find funding for a master’s, and programs typically prefer to invest in a Ph.D. candidate.

Putting the GRE in perspective, RI-INBRE SURF Program Coordinator Dr. Brenton DeBoef, URI Assistant Professor of Chemistry, told the group about his experience, walking into the exam the morning after being on RA duty. While he had scientific reasoning and quantitative math covered, the verbal section posed a challenge.

“It was like the SAT — A is to B as C is to blank,” he recalled. “I didn’t know any. Eventually, I get to bark is to tree as skin is to options like airplane and duck, literally like my third grade kid could do it. I got my score and it was so embarrassing — the 24^th percentile. I was functionally illiterate. At least make some flash cards for the vocabulary.”

Amid the laughter, Dr. Mosley Austin pointed out, “The lesson in that is your professors were not all geniuses when they were your age!”

In pursuit of science

Dr. Mather provided students with an overview of his research with ticks, and outlined the 10 steps to developing a vaccine for immunity to Lyme disease, which causes 300,000 cases each year.

“It takes a lot of work,” he said. “And sometimes, you go down a path and then you have to backtrack.”

Sometimes, Dr. Mather noted, it seems like you make reasonable progress only to confront new challenges: “But, you don’t get frustrated and you don’t give up.”

Asked what led him to his area of expertise and what he was doing the summer after his junior undergraduate year, Dr. Mather recalled an entomology professor of his at the University of Delaware, who made the field fascinating. Although he hated bugs early on, he went onto study mosquito bite transmission.

Ultimately, Dr. Mather said he fielded a job offer from the Harvard School of Public Health, which was starting to do research on this “newfangled thing called Lyme disease” in 1982-83: “It really became an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. When I think about it, I was just truly blessed by opportunities that came my way.”

Starting the journey

SURF student Ryan Quinn, a Biological Sciences major at URI, said she found the sessions extremely helpful: “As a first generation college student, I didn’t even know what grad school was until I was in college. I walked away much more knowledgeable about graduate school and less intimidated about applying in the future.”

Dr. Elisabeth Arevalo, Associate Professor of Molecular Evolution and a SURF mentor at Providence College, said she received equally positive reactions from students in her research group. The talks provided undergraduates with ideas not only how to proceed on grad school, but also to keep an open mind to potential research areas and selection of a program.

These responses were exactly what Lemire hoped to achieve. He said, “Students often do not have a good grasp on what is involved or how they should proceed. I wish someone had provided such a presentation when I was an undergraduate.”

Dr. Mather’s seminar offered a great example of the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of science, Lemire noted, while demonstrating how problems can be tackled from a variety of angles. The takeaway for the students was invaluable.

Lemire said, “I also thought it was great for the students to see how some research can start off with a local problem such as Lyme disease, but have global implications with the potential development of a general tick vaccine that could prevent dozens of tick-borne diseases worldwide.”

Story by Amy Dunkle; courtesy photos