surp offers graduate-level research opportunities to tcnj's undergraduate students

It’s July 10, seven weeks into the 2007 Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP), and Sudhir Nayak, assistant professor of biology, is in his lab supervising three students as they conduct research on germ development. One of the students he is mentoring, rising senior Natalie Stabenow, is having some slight difficulty with her experiment.

“What’s my favorite thing to say when you can’t get something, Natalie?” Nayak asks.

“Figure it out,” Stabenow responds with a smile.

This exchange demonstrates the theory behind SURP: provide students with graduate-level research opportunities in which they conduct their own research with limited assistance from professors.

In SURP, small undergraduate student research groups in the areas of biology, chemistry, computer science, physics, and math had the benefit of working side-by-side with faculty members for eight to 12 weeks on projects that will prepare them for graduate school. At the conclusion of the program, each group must present a summary of its research.

“If you plan on going to grad school, it’s a great opportunity,” said Mike Rosana, senior chemistry major. “You learn more about working independently than you do in a classroom.”

Just like in previous years, many faculty members from the School of Science served as mentors to the student research groups.

In the area of biology there were many interesting projects. Jim Bricker, assistant professor of biology, worked with students Krysta Johns-Harris and Dipen Patel to study population genetics of white tailed deer in New Jersey. Biology Professor Don Lovett mentored students Stacey Novello and Jansen Weaver in their research project on how crabs respond to a change in salinity, the salt content of the water.

“I always enjoy watching the students gain confidence and independence in their work as the summer progresses,” Lovett said.

Also in biology, Associate Professor Amanda Norvell’s research group comprising students Jing Jing Feng and Carolyn Gray studied oogenesis—the creation of an egg cell—in Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies).

“This extended interaction gave us the ability to have prolonged discussions about a variety of topics, including our work in the lab, current studies going on in other laboratories, and their future plans,” said Norvell.

In the area of chemistry, Professor John Allison worked with students Trevor Cornell and Shawn Donnelly to study new pigmented inks that can be used in inkjet printers. Their research was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice. This group’s work will be presented at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Meeting in Washington, DC, in February 2008

In the area of physics, Assistant Professor Byron Parizek supervised student Ian duBois as he created two coupled finite element models to simulate the dynamic interaction between ice-sheet flow and sub glacial sediment deformation. Like all the other professors who participated in the program, Parizek had nothing but good things to say about his student colleague.

“(Ian) continuously asked probing questions and actively sought solutions for the numerous road blocks that he encountered in his cutting-edge research,” Parizek said.

In mathematics, Associate Professor Tom Hagedorn worked with students Glen Wilson and Jeff Hatley to determine a basis of generating elements for the set of polynomials known as invariants. [Play Video]