RIT Student Scholars Choose Research over Relaxation this Summer | September 2023
Last summer Gabriela Gonzalez was on tour with legendary musician Jon Anderson from YES, on stage singing and playing bass guitar.
This summer she rocked it in a research lab. She is one of 15 students on campus who did research this summer through either the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program or the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP). Gonzalez assisted Professor Lea Michel in the College of Science in on-going research on probing the effect of antibiotics on outer membrane vesicle release.
Gonzalez explains, “In my project we looked at how many Outer Membrane vesicles, or OMVs are released when E. coli is treated with different antibiotics. This research will be used to help doctors pick the best antibiotics to treat sepsis with antibiotics that release the least amount of OMVs.”
Gonzalez says being on campus this year was just as exciting as it was to jam with Anderson, which was made possible through a partnership with her Philadelphia- area music school.
“Every day is different in the lab. I would run my experiment, but I also helped others with their work. I have used centrifuges and ultracentrifuges very often and I’d run western blots multiple times a week.”
This was also a different kind of summer for Tasjohn Terry of Rochester. Last year the third-year electrical engineering technology major was immersed in the world of business—working at Wegmans. This year he was in the AMPrint Center on campus, doing work on electro-mechanical controls for an open architecture 3D printed robot. He assisted with an on-going project with Research Development Specialist Jade Myers and his research partner Fredrico Ahumada.
Terry says, “So in general terms, I worked on all of the electrical and mechanical aspects of this robotic 3D printed arm, which includes wiring and soldering electrical components, powering the arm, and programming the arm. The main goal of part of the project is to create gestures or movements that showcase increased mobility.”
Kate Torrey, senior program director, CSTEP, McNair and LSAMP, describes the students as motivated, high achievers who represent various majors and colleges at RIT. They do research because they’re interested in putting into practice what they’ve learned in the classroom. She says it helps them make decisions about pursuing a research-based graduate degree, like a PhD or MD/PhD.
“What we often see is that once a student does undergraduate research they want to continue doing research at the graduate level, and sometimes even as a career. But regardless of if a student chooses to pursue a graduate degree or not following the research experience, they find that applying what they’ve learned in the classroom in a research setting helps them understand their coursework better and how the larger concepts in their discipline fit together in application.”
Torrey says there are multiple parts to the 10-week summer program.
“Students are expected to spend 30 hours per week on their research. They must produce a research paper at the end of the summer and must present their research project at the RIT Undergraduate Research Symposium. Throughout the summer the students also take part in writing and public speaking workshops, graduate school visits, and community-building outings organized by our program staff.”
Both Terry and Gonzalez agree being able to do research helped them with future planning.
Terry says, ‘If when I graduate and I’ve already secured a great job then I’ll go straight into industry, but if I don’t, I’ll pursue a Master’s degree.”
Gonzalez “I am very grateful to have the opportunity to do research. I have learned so much by being in the lab full time over the summer and this experience will help me greatly in graduate school.”