{"id":11887,"date":"2016-06-15T13:27:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-15T17:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=11887"},"modified":"2016-06-15T13:27:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-15T17:27:00","slug":"surfs-up-2016-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2016\/06\/15\/surfs-up-2016-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research\/","title":{"rendered":"SURF’s up 2016: Rhode Island undergrads in research"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC_0005\"<\/a>Research fellow:<\/strong> Jasmine Miller
\nHometown:<\/strong> Providence, RI
\nSchool:<\/strong> University of Rhode Island<\/a>
\nMajor:<\/strong> Biological Sciences
\nMentor:<\/strong> Mindy Levine
\nProject:<\/strong> Detection and in situ fluorescence-based monitoring of hydrocarbon food sources in complex marine environments<\/p>\n

Growing up in Providence, URI senior Jasmine Miller says that without any scientist role models in her family, she is not sure exactly where the inspiration came from to pursue a scientific career.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day, it just hit me,\u201d she explains. \u201cI realized I could be anything I wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says she arrived on campus knowing that she liked biology and wanted to go to medical school. Yet, the negative perceptions of research she developed in high school left her thinking she did not want to pursue life in the lab.<\/p>\n

However, all of that changed her freshman year of college after she became enthusiastically engaged in her science courses. She says she decided to start fresh and give research another chance. Thus far, Miller has conducted research through the URI honors program and participated in three research fellowships, including the RI EPSCoR fellowship, and says she has officially changed her mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really fun and taken me on different career paths,\u201d Miller says. \u201cI want to do more than just medicine \u2014\u00a0I want to be involved in research as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

This summer, Miller is working in the chemistry lab of Assistant Professor Mindy Levine, using molecules known as cyclodextrins and fluorophores to detect toxicants, or manmade toxic substances, in marine environments. Miller says the RI EPSCoR fellowship gave her the opportunity to join Levine\u2019s lab, connect with her peers who are on the same track, and contribute to the larger body of science.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research experience has been really essential for me,\u201d Miller reflects. \u201cWhen I do research in the lab here, I use what I learned in my chemistry labs; I\u2019m putting those techniques into practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn high school, the research always felt forced and I rebelled against it. I always imagined that being a scientist meant sitting at a bench with minimum communication with other people. But now that I\u2019m actually in it, I\u2019m finding it\u2019s very different and quite exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller, who graduates in December 2016, will study abroad in Costa Rica for the fall semester studying tropical medicine and the Costa Rican health care system, health psychology, cultural photography, and Spanish language specialized for health care professionals.<\/p>\n

Story and photo by Amy Dunkle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Research fellow: Jasmine Miller Hometown: Providence, RI School: University of Rhode Island Major: Biological Sciences Mentor: Mindy Levine Project: Detection and in situ fluorescence-based monitoring of hydrocarbon food sources in complex marine environments Growing up in Providence, URI senior Jasmine Miller says that without any scientist role models in her family, she is not sure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21,51,1],"tags":[702,735,741],"class_list":["post-11887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-surfsup","category-uncategorized","tag-surfri2016","tag-undergraduate-research","tag-university-of-rhode-island"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}