2018 Bethany College Outreach
What did you do on your spring break?
Four freshmen from Bethany spent their spring break experiencing life as a biomedical researcher. Eden Rice, Adriana Walt, Lena Grogan, Madelyn Hill and Amanda Stewart, their faculty advisor, were embedded in the Department of Biochemistry for the week. For five full days they had packed schedules with many opportunities to see first-hand our research teams at work. Labs opened their doors and allowed the students to observe ongoing experiments and engage intellectually with the graduate students and faculty. The students attended lab meetings, where team members discuss their recent results, troubleshoot problems and decide next steps in ongoing projects. They sat in on journal clubs, which are discussions (sometimes intense) of recent papers from the literature and in research forum, an in house seminar where students and faculty present their research in a semi-formal venue to the rest of the Department for critique, additional insights and suggestions. Several of the core facilities in the HSC also arranged demonstrations to show some of the cutting edge technologies available to faculty and students and WVU.
Thanks to Amanda for organizing at the Bethany end, Eden, Adriana, Lena and Madelyn for their enthusiasm that did not wane throughout the week, Karen Martin and Ida Washington for taking time to meet with the students and the students and faculty of the Department, who opened their labs and meetings to provide a glimpse of our professional life to our guests.
Lena Grogan
"This experience was more than eye opening to the amount of effort put behind the betterment of mankind. "
"My favorite part was interacting with the individual labs and being able to see the incredible amount of teamwork between labs. There is no competition, theres always teamwork to go towards the greater good. "
Eden Rice
“Our week at WVU was spent completely submerged in the academic life that encompasses graduate school. It gave us an idea of what it would be like if we pursued a PhD in Biochemistry or something similar. The labs and their teams exemplified what working together should be like, and showed us as undergraduate students how collaborating together is much more progressive than competing against your neighboring labs.”
Adriana Walt
“WVU experience gave me a chance to see what opportunities the future may hold”
“Touring all the different labs made me realize that research may be something I’d want to do although I had never thought about it before”
Madelyn Hill
Visiting WVU made me realize the plethora of different options available to me after I finish my undergraduate program.
This experience opened my eyes to the possibilities to various careers in the sciences.