If a university undergraduate is considering an advanced degree or wants to engage in discovery, what better way for them to learn than by working alongside a faculty member on a research project?
That was the experience of Abigail Scro, a graduate of Roger Williams University who first participated in science-based research as a sophomore, then went on to a full-time job after graduation as a technician in its Aquatic Diagnostic Laboratory. Her undergraduate experiences helped to fuel her interest in a marine-biology career.
She chose the university, knowing that she would have access as an undergraduate to graduate-level research. “It was always a goal, to get into research,” she said.
Over the past 30 years, the exposure of undergraduate students to research activities at U.S. universities has increased dramatically.
Universities promote the practice through direct support and federal and private grants because it is tied to gains in student knowledge of a discipline, according to Elizabeth Ambos, executive officer for the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Undergraduate Research.
For students, the value is in learning essential skills.
“You have to have your time-management skills honed,” she said. “You have to have resilience and grit, because you’re going to face challenges.”
Once largely the domain of graduate students, undergraduate research now is conducted on at least 900 university and college campuses, based on the membership of the council.
In scientific research, students learn specialized skills inherent in conducting experiments and running a research lab, including research integrity.
In Rhode Island, nine institutions participated this summer in a conference that showcases undergraduate research in the biomedical and life sciences. The so-called SURF conference featured the work of the Rhode Island Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows. More than 400 faculty, students and administrators participated.
Participants represented the state’s national research institutions – Brown University and University of Rhode Island – as well as Bryant University, Providence College, Rhode Island College, Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University, Salve Regina University and Community College of Rhode Island.
Roxanna Smolowitz, an associate professor of biology and marine biology at RWU, has worked with undergraduates in her lab at the university, as well as in her previous jobs. An aquatic veterinarian, she previously held positions at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and at the New England Aquarium.
The value of undergraduate research is in its guided and independent learning, she said. Initially, students in her lab learn how to keep the work space clean and the instruments and glassware sterilized. Later, they progress as they advance in classwork, taking on more rigorous examinations and diagnostic tests.
The work they focus on is a facet of her research into the diseases that affect oysters, clams and other bivalves. The lab provides diagnostic services to the aquaculture industry in Rhode Island, and also functions as a research lab.
“They’re taking a piece of something that we’re interested in and then trying to develop that as part of their research,” Smolowitz said. “Also, I have my own research that I let the students participate in.”
At the SURF conference, students who were mentored by Smolowitz presented research on whether eastern oysters infected with a kind of bacteria are then more prone to accumulate Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which can be lethal to people who consume raw oysters. Another team used genetic sequencing to identify where the bacteria is located in the body of the oyster.
The work isn’t in a vacuum. As students run into issues, or have concerns, the people working in the team meet with her and others to discuss how to resolve issues, Smolowitz said.
‘It allows you to hone in on specific techniques and … makes you more marketable.’
ABIGAIL SCRO, RWU Aquatic Diagnostic Laboratory technician
“As far as I’m concerned, some of the top students in my lab are doing master’s-level research,” she said.
For students, the impact is a grounding in the discipline, the expectations of academic research and preparation for either a job or further studies, she said.
Scro first met Smolowitz when she used her lab to perform research on predation by blue crabs, a species more typically found in Middle Atlantic waters, on juvenile winter flounder.
Her undergraduate research involved developing a molecular technique to detect the presence of the flounder in the blue crab’s stomach. To do so, she learned to use the lab’s thermal cycler to extract and analyze the content of a liquified sample of the blue crab’s tissue. The analysis followed a series of tests, called a Polymerase chain reaction.
She’s now preparing to apply to graduate schools. The experience as an undergraduate researcher gave her an edge that she thinks will help.
“It just gives you the time and it allows you to hone in on specific techniques and get that experience that makes you more marketable to graduate schools, and for jobs,” Scro said. “If you have someone who is an undergraduate, who comes out with the same skill set as someone who is a graduate [student], that says a lot about that undergrad.”
