{"id":1843,"date":"2015-03-05T09:01:25","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T14:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=1843"},"modified":"2015-03-05T09:01:25","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T14:01:25","slug":"researching-your-possibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2015\/03\/05\/researching-your-possibilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Researching the possibilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM FALLUJI – STAFF WRITER<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A complete education is a difficult thing to define. What constitutes a full breadth of knowledge might be up to interpretation, but at Centre College, students are provided with enriching opportunities to expand their knowledge and pursue diverse interests. One such opportunity is applying what one has learned in class by conducting research with a faculty member.<\/p>\n

\"ALLYSON<\/a>
ALLYSON SCOTT | THE CENTO Approaching a faculty member to discuss research opportunities on-campus is an easier conversation than one might think.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Research fuels the sciences. By means of the scientific method and experimentation, our understanding of the world around us grows. Made easier by Centre\u2019s small and dedicated community, students have the opportunity to make their mark on the world and contribute to scientific progress at any point during their education.<\/p>\n

Nearly all Centre professors allow students to join them in conducting research. Associate Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience Dr. Brian Cusato researches learning in the animal sexual behavior system and has mentored a number of Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychology students. He teaches the BNS 210 Research Methods course to students who have just declared a BNS major. Through this class, the students not only learn what research entails but also conduct their own research project in small groups over the course of the semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents need experience beforehand to understand what they\u2019re getting themselves into,\u201d Dr. Cusato said. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of a gradual build-up. In Psych 205, we talk about what it\u2019s like to do an experiment. In 210 you do it, but with two or three group mates. By the time they\u2019re juniors, students come out feeling they have the ability to work autonomously.\u201d<\/p>\n

After introductory research courses, some students go on to either work on an ongoing project a professor is conducting or design their own advanced research projects with supervision from a faculty member.<\/p>\n

Research projects function as capstones for science majors. Students meet with their research mentor for one hour each week and also meet for an hour in a seminar lecture with other students conducting advanced research to discuss general issues such as ethics. Conducting research is also typically done on the students\u2019 own time.<\/p>\n

One can also earn academic credit hours through research opportunities. Performing research for one semester gives a student three credit hours while participating in a two-semester project gives them four. In addition to receiving credit while at Centre, research strengthens a student\u2019s application to graduate programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraduate programs look for students that can show a sustained interest and commitment to a research program over multiple semesters,\u201d Dr. Cusato said. \u201cThey want to be confident that they\u2019re investing in good students. To prepare students for graduate work, we give them the experiences graduate programs are looking for. As a result, we can speak directly the qualities they\u2019re looking for when writing letters of recommendations for students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upperclassmen are not the only ones who can get involved with research, however. First- years with high aspirations can get involved as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some first-year students that will come to me and ask to get involved in my research,\u201d Dr. Cusato said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have their own research question at that point; they\u2019re just interested in getting involved in our research. It\u2019s a good way to get involved early and I don\u2019t discourage that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Centre can adapt to the ambitions of first-years by allowing them to get their feet wet and even earn course credit for observing and assisting in research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a course called Introduction to Research, which allows a first-year student to have a one-credit, pass\/fail experience before they take higher-level Psychology or Behavioral Neuroscience research classes such as Psych 205 or BNS 210,\u201d Dr. Cusato said. \u201cThey attend lab meetings with upperclassmen conducting research, and they may even help run trials or participate in reading articles.\u201d<\/p>\n

With all these resources at their disposal, students should not hesitate to approach faculty about research. There are no formalities to observe when asking a professor about research, as all professors are happy to discuss options with students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would encourage students to start that conversation in any way. I think too many students wait for divine intervention to determine what they\u2019re interested in, or think that the passion for research has to already be there,\u201d Dr. Cusato said. \u201cI respect the student who knocks on my door and asks me plainly what research is like. We might talk for an hour and they might decide they\u2019re not interested; but that student still learned something about themselves and we learned something about each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes a professor or another student will start the conversation and invite a student to participate in research that profoundly impacts his\/her Centre experience. Junior Behavioral Neuroscience major Carter Baughman was not particularly interested in research when she arrived at Centre. However, it has since become an important part of her academic schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cI began doing research the fall of my sophomore year. An older student who knew I was interested in neuroscience research approached me and asked if I would be interested in joining their lab because a few of their members were graduating,\u201d Baughman said. \u201cAt that time, I didn\u2019t know much about how doing research at Centre worked. I approached Dr. Skogsberg and then began doing research as a BNS 250 student. This is only one credit hour per-semester so it\u2019s a great way to see if you are interested in research before committing too much time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baughman found her stride in research after her semester with Dr. Skogsberg and continued to pursue a BNS research track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved doing research in Dr. Skogsberg’s lab as a BNS 250 student, so I took BNS 350, which is more like a class, and is four credit hours over the course of a year. After this, I will become a BNS 351 student which is three credit hours in one semester. Many students take three classes and research as opposed to four classes and research since it is very time-consuming. Many different labs at Centre are in different stages of their research and this determines how much time you will spend each week,\u201d Baughman said. \u201cMy research lab is currently running participants and this can be done on the student\u2019s own schedule. I would say I spend about 10 to 12 hours each week on my research project, whether it be scheduling participants, running participants, analyzing data, or preparing for a presentation such as KAS, RICE, or MPA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter has presented her research at several conferences and intends to continue research in graduate school<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Dr. Skogsberg’s lab, we use electroencephalography (EEG) to study patterns of brain activity on different visual attention tasks. Specifically, we study the P300 wave which is elicited when the participants see a \u2018rare and meaningful stimulus,\u2019\u201d Baughman said. \u201cCurrently, I am studying the differences in performance on visual attention tasks between people that have had concussions and those that have not. We hypothesize that participants who have had a concussion will have a lower amplitude of the P300 wave and also will have a later onset of the P300 wave,\u201d she said. \u201cDoing research at Centre has greatly influenced my future plans, because I now plan on going to graduate school to pursue neuroscience research. I never would have thought that this was a possibility or something that I was even interested in before working in Dr. Skogsberg’s lab. This is a great opportunity that Centre provides to so many students. I encourage anyone who loves what they study to consider doing research in their field\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior math and biology major Courtney McKernan has participated in research several times throughout her Centre career and they have together been a positive experience for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Asmus asked me if I\u2019d be interested in doing research over the summer with him, and after I talked to my parents about it, I accepted the position,\u201d McKernan said. \u201cAbout two years ago, I studied a group of interneurons in the human cerebral cortex. The number of these neurons have decreased in some neurological disorders. We were trying to figure out what their function is to understand their direct role in those diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n

In most cases, if the experimental tests are not taught in a course lecture, the professors will end up teaching students how to perform them in order to carry out the research project. McKernan\u2019s experience in the lab is no exception.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Asmus taught me how to do amino-histochemistry and amino-fluorescence. We would stain the samples and fluorescently tag the proteins of interest so we could see them under the microscope and determine which proteins are expressed,\u201d she said. \u201cThe aminohistochemistry and aminoflourescence is covered in BMB 210. We actually did an experiment with it in lab and in cell biology we cover it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her college research has also prepared McKernan for applying to other university programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter doing research at Centre, I went on to do research over the summer at the University of Cincinnati and Vanderbilt University. I think my experience at Centre made me a more competitive applicant to other institutions,\u201d McKernan said. \u201cI also think it gave me a preparation for what a life involved in research would be like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conducting research is undoubtedly an important part of an application to graduate school research programs. However, even if students have no interest in a research career, they can still benefit from taking part in research at Centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch experience looks good on your resume because it conveys that a student can work autonomously,\u201d Dr. Cusato said. \u201cResearch can foster tenacity as well as critical and analytical thinking in a student.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM FALLUJI – STAFF WRITER A complete education is a difficult thing to define. What constitutes a full breadth of knowledge might be up to interpretation, but at Centre College, students are provided with enriching opportunities to expand their knowledge and pursue diverse interests. One such opportunity is applying what one has learned in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}