{"id":7892,"date":"2015-06-16T07:37:35","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T11:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=7892"},"modified":"2015-06-16T07:37:35","modified_gmt":"2015-06-16T11:37:35","slug":"surfs-up-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2015\/06\/16\/surfs-up-rhode-island-undergrads-in-research\/","title":{"rendered":"SURF&#8217;s up 2015: Rhode Island undergrads in research"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>&#8220;I knew nothing when I started. We do a lot of reading in journals, and I\u2019ve learned a lot from upperclassmen mentors. We have lab meetings every week and discuss papers that are relevant.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Research fellow: <\/strong>Meagan Hackey<strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7885\" title=\"Meagan Hackey\" src=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/848\/DSC_0002.jpg\" alt=\"Meagan Hackey\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" \/><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Hometown: <\/strong>South Kingstown, RI<br \/>\n<strong>Majors: <\/strong>Biology, Chemistry<br \/>\n<strong>School: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rwu.edu\">Roger Williams University<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Faculty mentor: <\/strong>Avelina Espinosa<br \/>\n<strong>Project:\u00a0<\/strong>Biochemical and behavioral analysis of AdhE enzymes from <em>Entamoeba<\/em> spp. in resisting environmental stresses in marine and fresh water protists.<\/p>\n<p>Listening to Meagan Hackey explain her summer research work, her assertion\u00a0that she \u201cknew nothing\u201d\u00a0when she started\u00a0illustrates both her quick grasp and <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-7886\" title=\"Test tubes with Entamoeba spp.\" src=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/848\/DSC_0009.jpg\" alt=\"test tubes\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" \/>the value\u00a0of undergraduate research.<\/p>\n<p>Only about two weeks into Rhode Island\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/surf\/\">Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program<\/a>, Hackey deftly and patiently explains the project she is working on in the RWU lab of biology Associate Professor\u00a0Avelina Espinosa.<\/p>\n<p>A rising sophomore, Hackey is one of <a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2015\/05\/21\/undergrads-selected-for-summer-research-program\/\">38 students<\/a> funded by the competitive RI NSF EPSCoR summer\u00a0research program. The students come from <a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/about-2\/\">RI NSF EPSCoR\u2019s partner campuses<\/a> and they spend 10 weeks conducting research in the labs of faculty mentors, developing their scientific and professional skill base and helping push science forward.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Entamoeba <\/em>is found in poor quality drinking water of third world countries and causes dysentery for those who ingest it, forming cysts that the liver can\u2019t process, explains Hackey: \u201cOne hundred thousand people die every year from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hackey uses a microscope to check on the <em>Entamoeba<\/em>, clinging to the walls of test tubes and unseen by the naked eye. She tracks how they respond to alterations \u2014 higher or lower acidity, a warmer temperature \u2014\u00a0in the liquid that mimics their natural environment. The question is how climate change may impact the way in which the <em>Entamoeba<\/em> communicate and aggregate, or group together, and whether their growth\u00a0may be inhibited.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, Hackey has her sights set on earning a Ph.D., conducting research and becoming a neonatologist.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><em>Story and photos by Amy Dunkle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I knew nothing when I started. We do a lot of reading in journals, and I\u2019ve learned a lot from upperclassmen mentors. We have lab meetings every week and discuss papers that are relevant.&#8221; Research fellow: Meagan Hackey Hometown: South Kingstown, RI Majors: Biology, Chemistry School: Roger Williams University Faculty mentor: Avelina Espinosa Project:\u00a0Biochemical and [&hellip;]<\/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":[582,597,699,735],"class_list":["post-7892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-surfsup","category-uncategorized","tag-ri-nsf-epscor","tag-roger-williams-university","tag-surfri2015","tag-undergraduate-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7892","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=7892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}