Program Offers Undergraduates Unique Opportunities in Research
Bulletin
boards throughout the Human Ecology Building display the work of the
program’s students, faculty, and alumni. But toward the back of
the first floor, one-of-a-kind creations of modeling clay, popsicle sticks,
and finger paint adorn the walls.
Welcome to LSU’s Preschool Laboratory, where the chairs are much closer to the ground and a pet spider named Isabelle Nancy attracts the attention of young passers-by.
It is “center time” for the 20 preschoolers, and the 3- and 4-year-olds bustle about from one activity to another. The children’s chatter is occasionally overpowered by a teacher’s voice or one of the eight notes plunked from the toy xylophone.
Amid
all of the excitement, Breland, an elementary grades education junior,
gathers data for her research and sometimes lends a hand at the snack
cart.
Breland is a member of the Chancellor’s Future Leaders in Research (CFLR) program, which provides qualifying undergraduate students opportunities to conduct research and work alongside faculty mentors for four years.
The Research of Education
When she learned of the CFLR, Breland knew she wanted to go into education but had never really thought about the research side of the field. Yet, for the past three years, the New Orleans native has been studying the preschool’s student-teachers and the social interactions of children as they relate to the development of their social skills.
“Social
development is very important at this stage,” said Breland’s
faculty mentor Joan Benedict, assistant professor of human ecology and
director of the LSU Preschool Laboratory. “By age 3, children have
many of their socialization skills set. Play and individual temperament
are inborn, but a child’s ability to join a play group and language
development are skills that must be developed.”
The preschool’s classrooms and the observation room outside the classrooms allow Breland to collect data, implement her theories, and monitor the results. Eventually, Breland would like to see her work published in an academic journal. Of course, adding a possible “Published Works” section to her résumé is just one of the benefits of the CFLR program.
“[The CFLR program] has really enriched my education,” Breland said. “My research has been very applicable to the topics I’m studying as an elementary education major.”
About the Program
Launched
in the fall of 1999, the Chancellor’s Future Leaders in Research
program is one of the few of its kind. Several colleges and universities
offer research-intensive internships and summer programs, but participants
in the CFLR program have the unique opportunity to work in the same labs
with the same faculty mentors for the duration of their undergraduate
careers.
Many participants, such as Breland, go on to define their own research interests and even their own experiments.
“We created the program because we wanted to increase the research opportunities available for undergraduates,” said Doris Carver, associate vice chancellor in the Office of Research & Graduate Studies and director of the CFLR program. “We also wanted to encourage more involvement between faculty and undergraduates.”
So far, the program has been nothing short of a success. When the program was launched nearly six years ago, 43 incoming freshmen were invited to participate, said Carver, who added the numbers have increased to more than 80 new freshmen each year.
The CFLR program is open to high-achieving, incoming freshmen. All freshmen who are named Chancellor Alumni Scholars, Top 100 Scholars, and National Merit Finalists are eligible. Carver said participating students may choose from any of LSU’s more than 70 programs of study. “Our faculty members volunteer to serve as research mentors for our undergraduate students. The faculty mentors enjoy working with these highly talented students and having the opportunity to provide them challenging research experiences,” said Carver.
The number of CFLR participants assigned to any one faculty mentor varies. Breland, for example, is the only CFLR participant working with assistant professor Benedict. This spring, however, biological sciences professor Mark Batzer’s research team of 25 research associates, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates included five CFLR participants.
An Opportunity to Learn and Discover
“This
is the first and only time I have ever been exposed to research in a
lab setting,” said Justin, a biological sciences junior who is
working on two projects in the Batzer lab. “One project concerns
genotyping human DNA for the specific purpose of forensic identification
markers, and the other project I’m working on is a phylogenetic
study of non-human primates.”
Though it may seem these research projects are not directly related to Justin’s interest in practicing medicine, he described the experience as both valuable and rewarding, in part because he has been involved in many aspects of the scientific process.
“By the time my science courses discussed experimental methods and data, I had performed most of the methods discussed in the textbook,” he said. “You can only learn so much from reading the words in a book. By actually running experiments, you develop a better sense of why experiments are designed the way they are.”
For
biochemistry junior Cheney, the opportunities in the lab are preparing
him for a different kind of career.
“Unlike my fellow students in Dr. Batzer’s lab, I’m taking more of a non-traditional route to my career,” said Cheney, who plans to become a patent lawyer for a pharmaceutical company. “I hope to apply my degree in biochemistry in the legal field of intellectual property, where I will be able to review and approve newly developed drugs and medicine for patents for pharmaceutical companies.
“Through my research in the lab,” he added, “I hope to gain knowledge and firsthand experience from performing scientific research, which I hope will be good background for my future endeavors in intellectual property.”
An Experience Like No Other
Cheney
and his fellow Batzer lab colleagues, agreed that this type of program
is not available everywhere and that CFLR influenced their decisions
to choose LSU.
“I didn’t expect to find a program like CFLR at a large, public university,” Cheney said. “However, it was the CFLR program that swayed me towards LSU. I knew that the program would give me many advantages that I probably couldn’t find at any other school.”
“When I was researching colleges, I tried to find another opportunity such as this but was unable to,” said Lindsey, a sophomore in biological sciences who also works in the Batzer lab. “I think the Chancellor’s Future Leaders in Research program is a great experience, and it played a very big role in my decision to attend LSU.”
Long-Lasting Benefits
The
opportunity for research can advance any student’s educational
and professional development, said Carver, adding that the program also
connects students with professionals who share their interests and can
offer them guidance and advice.
Justin agreed, “Most undergraduate students do not have the opportunity to work with a faculty mentor,” he said. “This is reserved for graduate students and post-graduate researchers. Dr. Batzer has been an excellent mentor because he has really taken the time to get to know me. I value his research advice, obviously, but he has helped me to prepare for medical school and even directed me towards some interesting undergraduate courses to take.”
For Breland, the benefits of the CFLR will follow her when she embarks on her teaching career after completing LSU’s Holmes Program.
“This experience has made me more aware of my teaching skills in a way that I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise,” she said. “Plus, seeing that dynamic and collecting that data will definitely help me.”
Benedict added that Breland’s CFLR experience has allowed her to develop skills in education administration.
“She’s assisted in a lot of responsibilities of directing the program,” Benedict said. “I see her taking on the responsibilities of an administrator.”
Upon completion of the program, participants have invaluable experience in research and life-long relationships with their faculty mentors and co-workers in the labs. In addition, many participants co-author articles for academic journals, write software, or present their findings at national and international conferences. In fact, Justin, Cheney, and other members of the Batzer team, were listed as co-authors for articles published this past year in the Journal on Molecular Biology and Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
As
a freshman, Daniel said he knows it will be a while before he realizes
the full benefits of the program, but his first year has already proven
to be very rewarding.
“Becoming proficient in the lab has already been useful in the introductory biology labs,” said Daniel, “and I anticipate that the skills learned will continue to serve me well through my time at LSU, especially in labs such as the microbiology lab I will be taking next semester.
“My research provides me with many opportunities,” he continued. “I am not only able to increase my knowledge about important topics in modern biology, but [I] will also have the opportunity to have some of my research published down the line. Although these opportunities are important to me, perhaps what is most important to me is that which most would consider quite simple — a sense of accomplishment that comes with knowing that I performed a successful experiment.”
Professor Batzer, who has participated in the program since 2000, offered nothing but praise for the program, its benefits, and his students.
“My students are just great,” he said, adding that their experiences in the lab will really distinguish them from their peers.
“Most of my students are planning on going to medical school, where they will be competing with hundreds of students for a limited number of seats. The fact that they have research experience will really make them stand out. Add the fact that they have been published, and they’ve narrowed the playing field even more. To be honest, I wish there was a program like this when I was an undergraduate.”
To learn more about the Chancellor’s Future Leaders in Research program at LSU, visit the Office of Research & Graduate Studies.
Contact Teresa Devlin
| LSU University Relations
Highlights Team
Summer 2005
