Apr
20
Written by:
cburk
4/20/2009 10:18 AM
I am Dr. Julie Soukup, a biochemistry professor in Creighton's chemistry department.
There are many opportunities to be involved in research here at Creighton and that is a unique feature to our smaller school. What I enjoy most (and I think the students do too) is that I get to work side-by-side with them in my research lab, teaching them about experimental procedures, the reasons for doing certain types of experiments and how our results will fit into the entire field of research.
There are many undergraduate science faculty with active research groups and many of them have freshman through seniors working with them in their labs. Currently I have 3 freshmen, 1 sophomore, 5 juniors and 2 seniors in my lab. My students help perform experiments, quantitate data, design experiments, and get to present their results at regional and national scientific meetings. My two seniors are getting ready to attend the West Coast Biological Sciences Undergraduate conference in San Diego to present their results. My two seniors and five juniors just presented posters on their projects at Creighton's University Research Day and two of them won awards for "Best Poster". Many of the Creighton students that perform undergraduate research will be authors on one or more scientific publications before they graduate. Of my two seniors one already has a publication and they both are authors on a paper I am currently writing on their results. One of my seniors will attend graduate school at Harvard next year and the other is deciding between offers for M.D. only programs (at Harvard, Creighton, and more) versus M.D./Ph.D. programs (at Univ. Texas-Southwestern, Creighton, and more).
A few other pieces of information . . . many undergraduate science faculty collaborate with faculty in Creighton’s medical school, and, therefore, students also have the opportunity to work in labs in the medical school. In addition, Creighton has over 20 paid undergraduate summer research fellowships supported by (1) the College of Arts & Sciences, (2) grants from the National Institutes of Health, and (3) a private donation from a Creighton alum, Dr. Randy Ferlic. Many of the faculty have projects focused on biomedical research. My lab investigates antibiotic resistance and is trying to develop novel antibiotics. Other faculty are designing improved dental fillings in collaboration with faculty in Creighton's dental school, another faculty member is studying the effects of nicotine on the developing neural system, and yet another is studying bone cells using biophysics with the intent of possibly being able to detect bone cancer at an early stage, and the list goes on.
I hope this has given you a small sampling of the exciting world of
undergraduate research at Creighton. A few other websites you could visit
are:
http://chemistry.creighton.edu/~jksoukup/research.html
http://chemistry.creighton.edu/~mhulce/UGResearch/UG%20Science%20Research.html
http://chemistry.creighton.edu/~mhulce/BRIN/brin.htm
I would love to answer any questions you may have about Creighton, undergraduate research, premed coursework/preparation, etc.
To do so, please leave a comment on this blog.
Tags:
2 comments so far...
Re: On Undergraduate Research in the Sciences
Hi Dr. Soukup,
I am entering the Creighton freshmen class of 2013 and I'm really excited about it! One of the most appealing things about Creighton was the research opportunities I will have here. I know this is probably pretty early since I still have a few days before I'm done with high school, but I'd like to start my research as soon as possible. It'd be great if you could advise certain courses I should be taking and/or steps I should take to allow me to start research as soon as possible!
Thanks!
Shweta
By SGO17187 on
5/10/2009 10:07 AM
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Re: On Undergraduate Research in the Sciences
Dear Shweta & other curious future researchers,
I think the best thing for you to do is visit as many Creighton faculty webpages as possible to learn about the research projects going on in different departments. Then you can contact faculty members if you have questions or find something interesting that you might like to pursue. As soon as you get to campus in the fall you can meet with faculty to hear more about their research and to inquire if you can join their lab. Some students may want to start right away when they arrive on campus but it is perfectly fine to spend some time gathering data about different research opportunities and of course you may want to take the fall semester to get used to college life :)
As for what courses to take, definitely General Chemistry I if you are interested in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biology or Physics. If you really like Physics you can look into General Physics I as well. Before you register this summer your academic advisor will be contacting you. Make sure you tell that faculty member about your interest in science and in research so that they can help you with your class choices.
I hope this helps, Dr. Soukup
By Dr. Soukup on
5/12/2009 8:42 AM
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