STEMconnect

Under the supervision of Dr. Dara Norman, Belinda investigated active galactic nuclei environments (AGN), galaxies with a supermassive black hole in the middle. In order to find these galaxies, she looked at three types of environments: gravitationally relaxed galaxy clusters, non-gravitationally relaxed clusters, blank fields ( random patches of sky). Using the Wide field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mid-Infrared (MIR) data, she was able to see whether or not AGN candidates were observable, concluding that the three types of environments had no correlation with the probability of an AGN being present.  

Surprisingly, Belinda said her main challenge was learning a computer language, called, Python, in order to do her research.  

Besides the actual work, though, Belinda remembers the fun, small things that made her summer memorable, like getting froyo every Friday with other students. Pictured below are the students she met while doing her undergraduate research. 

"Looking back, a career in medicine was not really on my mind for the majority of my K-12 years--I was actually more interested in art and design growing up. My interest in medicine arose while taking AP Biology my junior year of high school where the complexity and beauty of our natural world was a constant inspiration for me from then on. That experience as well as wanting to serve the people around me to the greatest of my ability--a desire developed through being involved in missions--pushed me toward an undergraduate degree in Biology in the pursuit of becoming a physician.

“Medicine aside, what drew me to Andrews University was its strong biology program as well as the unique, Seventh-day Adventist community that provided a hub for both academic and spiritual growth. In my three years here, Andrews provided a number of opportunities that put me in a great position for success to go beyond my undergraduate studies. Especially in the biology department, I've come to know many of the teachers very well and it was apparent to me that they were also interested in getting to know me. Moreover, having the opportunity to be a lab TA, Family Group Mentor for freshmen orientation, or even the current president of our Pre-Med Club, Andrews University provided the means to set myself apart extracurricularly when it came to applications for medical schools.

“I applied this past fall, and I'm extremely blessed and humbled to have been accepted to the Loma Linda University School of Medicine Class of 2019! I plan on starting school later this year and hope to continue my development as a professional.”

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     I had heard quite a bit about the island from other researchers and from Dr. Henson and Dr. Hayward, so I anticipated really enjoying the process, but I didn’t quite anticipate how much I would really fall in love with the place. Being on the island is absolutely delightful. No one is allowed on the island except for approved researchers, so it is a really special place and I feel so privileged to be able to go there and occupy it. It is the nesting grounds for a lot of different birds, not just the Glaucous-winged gulls we study, and the place is brimming with wildlife: it’s a biologist’s paradise.

     One of my concerns about being on the island initially was the isolation of the place, cooped up with only two or three other people, but I found that the social aspect within this small team of people is quite rich. Dr. Hayward – who was overseeing the team when I was out on the island – fosters a really nice community full of people who are passionate, not just about our research, but about learning in general. We could chat one moment about the sea-star wasting disease that has been devastating the Pacific North West and about classical music the next.

          Each day has a rhythm, taking shifts in the bird blind, monitoring plots and watching for eagle disturbances, then spending your free time in the cabin or going for walks. This summer Ashley Reichert was investigating egg cannibalism behavior on the colony, so I was also involved in collecting egg shell at cannibal territories. The most harrowing and difficult part of each day was the egg walk, the time where the team does a careful walk through five different plots, recording new eggs that have been laid and eggs that have been lost. I was on the island in late June, when the parent gulls are particularly cranky, so a lot of them dive bomb you with their droppings and bop you on the head with their feet. There are ways of fending them off, though, and pretty soon it didn’t bother me too much. It is exciting to get a peek into the lives of these birds, particularly when the eggs start to hatch.

This Biomedical research is focused on using biosensors to analyze biological molecules, a procedure that doesn't require invasive techniques. Their ultimate goal is to improve current technology by cutting down costs and time in cancer diagnoses.

On October 22-24, they traveled to San Antonio, Texas to present their findings at the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Conference. The title of their presentation was, "Paper-based Biosensor for Colorimetric Detection of PSA Biomarker."

The abstract for their research is as follows: 

"Prostate cancer is commonly screened in the bloodstream by detection of excess PSA, prostate-specific antigen which is a protein the prostate produces in large quantities when tumors are present. In order to facilitate inexpensive and disposable detection, diagnostic tools have begun to be created out of paper and wax which wick solutions through channels based on their hydrophobicity. George M. Whitesides, who pioneered the majority of this work, designed a paper-based LFD, lateral flow device, effective for detecting liver function which we are modifying to detect PSA. In this paper, we designed an oPAD, origami paper analytical device, specific to PSA using GNPs, gold nanoparticles, which provide a colorimetric, qualitative, inexpensive, efficient, and disposable design to detect prostate cancer through the bloodstream. We are currently concept-testing our design with PSA, but we hope to design a device that can be easily modified to detect many other biomarkers for disease."

Many STEM students at Andrews University pursue a Pre-med track; they hope to, someday, become physicians, diagnosing and treating patients around the world. But a small handful of our Pre-med students are interested in going a step further by obtaining dual MD/PhD degrees, mainly to branch towards the research aspect of medicine.

Zach Reichert, a junior, spent his summer as an undergraduate researcher at the prestigious Mayo Clinic. The title of his project was, “The Functional Role of Acute Inflammation in Zebrafish Spinal Cord Regeneration,” and it helped him to get a better understanding of a career path incorporating both science, and medicine.

He describes the lessons he learned from his time researching under professionals: “Every experience I had at Mayo will help me in the future – learning new and cutting-edge techniques, attending graduate lectures and seminars, presenting updates at weekly lab meetings, networking with other scientists, attending Neurology and Neurosurgery grand rounds, developing a poster and a presentation, and more. The experience of learning the dynamics of a research lab and interacting with a diverse group of people was invaluable.”

Jonathan feels prepared to serve because, “Andrews provides a close and personal relationship between mentors and students that is invaluable for future interpersonal development in a career. You can go to a huge University and take general physics with 400 students, or you can come here [to AU] and you can build personal relationships. When you come from a smaller environment, it is easier to create and build personal relationships with others.”

Jonathan said, “One of the objectives for college is to build professional development for the work force. If you begin building this in your relationships with the faculty, it helps you later in your career. Also, as an SM, the departments or classes you may teach will be similar to the size that you have at Andrews. It is not a culture shock quite as much as if you came from a huge University and went to a smaller atmosphere. You can get more results this way as well.”

 If you are thinking about becoming a Student Missionary at some point during your time at Andrews, here is some advice from Jonathan, “Do it. Ever since you were 5 years old, you have been in school. When you are an SM, it is one of the first true independent experiences that you will have. You are guided by a purpose bigger than yourself. You come back knowing more about who you are and what your goals will be. It also helps to solidify what you want to do in your future. I came back with a huge sense of purpose and a clear direction for my life.”

As an LA, I have been working in the classroom by helping students get through their worksheets. For many students, they want someone to make sure that they’re on the right track. For others, I help them express their thinking process by guiding them with questions. From this time in the class, I am able to see where the students are struggling and where they need reinforcement. During the afternoon, I work in the student guided learning (SGL) sessions. Here, the students work in groups of three or four to solve problems similar to the ones they did in class, though the problems are usually harder and are solved faster when group members contribute. 

Small group learning can be useful so long that the students are dedicated to working cohesively. In this sense, SGL is valuable in forming team-work skills. Additionally, when students work together, there is a better chance of catching each other’s mistakes in reasoning and correcting them.

I've really enjoyed getting to know the students and working with them; they've become a little bit like family. Since we meet every day for long periods of time, there is a lot of opportunity to connect that is not as readily possible in the regular semester classes.

We try to make the SummerPhysics like the normal physics during the semester. What makes it different and unique is the speed at which a student can accomplish their goals and the family environment that is fostered. We take great care to feed the students (provided daily in the late morning) and encourage them to work collaboratively to make it through this monumental two months. Working collaboratively is one of the most valuable lessons that the students can learn in SummerPhysics."

For those of you that don't know Jonathan, he originally started his freshman year at Southwestern Adventist University on a Trombone scholarship. However, his passion was in engineering, so he transferred halfway through the year to Andrews University. He chose to take Calculus II this summer in order to catch up to his engineering classmates since math is a necessary component of the curriculum. 

Calculus II is known to be harder than most of the other Calculus courses because it covers a large range of material. But since the summer class covers a semester's amount of material in four short weeks, MATH192 was definitely an extra challenge for many of the students. 

The class starts every morning at 8:30AM and consists of lectures, in-class assignments, daily quizzes, weekly two-hour tests and homework assignments. WOOO, already we can see why this class is considered one of the harder summer school classes. This year's class was comprised of 10-11 students from many different backgrounds. A few are taking it for their general education requirements, a handful are Biology majors, and others are from different STEM departments like Engineering. 

Jonathan praised Dr. Yun Myung Oh for being an eloquent and hard working professor who explained the material very well. However, because the material built on itself, missing one day of class (which is equivalent to missing an entire week!) put you very behind the rest of the class. Jonathan described the class as, "very intense," and the biggest challenge, "staying on top of the work." He had to put in 5-6 hours of serious studying every night in order to understand and remember what he was learning. 

He said taking the course on campus, instead of online, was very helpful because he could ask Dr. Oh many questions in person. Help is also provided via free tutoring every day at 4pm-- this includes Sundays! Students can take advantage of this and work together to succeed in the class.

Notes on notes on notes!!!!

1) What is biochemistry about?

Gideon: Biochemistry is the mix of understanding the chemistry and biology of the body, like the pH in the stomach/blood and how water plays a major role in our lives besides being a universal solvent.

2) What is the summer school class like? 

Gideon: The summer school class is very fast paced because we cover a chapter or more in a matter of 4 hours. Then you have to read in order to comprehend what you just learned in class, AFTER finishing your homework lol. It is overwhelming the first week because you are used to a class of 50 minutes and you usually cover a section or two.

3) What do you enjoy most about the class?

Gideon: I enjoy the small learning atmosphere of biochem right now. we have about 11-12 students in our class and it is easy to ask the teacher questions on the homework, or even ask questions out loud because we all know each other from taking so many classes together. That's why it's a good environment for a class that expects you to catch on very quickly to the general biology and chemistry concepts.

4) What are some of the challenges in the class?

Gideon: Some challenges...one of them is definitely the fact that it is summer. You want to be like your friends who are traveling, hanging out at the beach, playing sports and doing other great activities once school ends, but you have to stay focused to do well in summer classes. One slip-up and you will feel it in the gradebook if you aren't careful. Another challenge is time management. You have to realize you are doing a lot in a day so you can't just expect to get done in two minutes. you need to space out your day after all the labs and lectures to find time to rest if you need to, work out/exercise if time permits and eat somewhat healthy because you don't want to stress yourself out anymore than you already are.

Here are some pictures from the class! Students in STEM summer courses are provided with "brainfood" every day around 10AM. The main snack changes from waffles to pita & hummus-- but cereal, oatmeal and hot drinks are supplied daily!