A National Science Foundation-funded project has brought together four principal investigators (PI) from institutions across the country to conduct research and promote underrepresented students in STEM at San Diego State University.
In 2022, SDSU’s Liz Waters, along with Elizabeth Vierling from University of Massachusetts Amherst, Paula Lemons from University of Georgia and Magdalena Bezanilla from Dartmouth College were awarded the grant to support four years of plant biology studies and STEM education.
To advance STEM education, the researchers formed the Biotech Scholars program, a learning community of fourteen first-generation or minority undergraduate students. The program, which started in September, provides students a paid opportunity to gain lab experience and insight necessary for future internships and jobs, with a goal of helping each student in the cohort attain a science research position this summer.
Open the image full screen.“Being here at SDSU for over 20 years, I realized that many students who did not have the opportunity to work in a lab for free were locked out of getting those first really fundamental opportunities outside of class that gave them the experience required to get that first real scientific job,” said Waters. “So we are trying to give them that paid experience at SDSU and then funnel them into paid biotech internships to get that foot in the door for their future careers.”
Throughout the academic year, students work in close collaboration with all the PIs on the grant, meeting twice a month and receiving career advice and resume help from biotech researchers across California. The program also involves a two-week “biotech boot camp” which, in alignment with the PIs’ research under this grant, is a lab experience focused on plant biology that allows students to grow their scientific expertise while forming a community of peers with similar interests.
Open the image full screen.“The students are doing lab experiments where we teach them the techniques but we don’t know what the answer is,” said Waters. “So it is very different from a canned lab in a class where you just follow instructions and if you did it correctly, you get a certain answer.”
The first week of the boot camp, students investigated plant response to high temperature. By adding heat stress to the plants, students were able to measure the plants’ ability to undergo photosynthesis, which indicates the overall health of the plants.
The second week, they learned molecular techniques, including how to build plasmids to alter specific genes.
“During the lab boot camp, we introduced students to a variety of experiments in plant physiology and molecular biology using technology like CRISPR, while teaching them how to make observations and keep electronic notebooks,” said Vierling. “These skills are really important for working in the biotech industry.”
Open the image full screen.Here’s what students had to say about this opportunity:
Benae Tabancura, sophomore biology major
“I’ve never been in a lab before outside of my courses. I already have another job so this opportunity allowed more flexibility than being a part of a year-long research lab. I learned a lot about specifically biology or STEM-based job applications because I've applied in the past for restaurant jobs and stuff but never anything relevant to my major. So it was cool to have people who have already done those things to guide me through that as we are all applying to internships for the summer.”
Jasmine Pooni, sophomore biology major
“This is my first opportunity to do something like this. I found out about this program from my Bio 203 TA who told me I would be a great fit and that biotechnology can be used basically in any field of biology. It has been a really great experience of getting to learn new biological techniques and it’s also been a great community and an opportunity to make friends who are also Biology majors.”
Alex Sandoval, junior biology major
“This biotech opportunity really opened my eyes to new possibilities and I wouldn’t be able to compare this program to much else that I have experienced. Some of the skills that Biotech@SDSU helped me develop include interviewing, analyzing scientific research papers and an array of laboratory techniques. The guidance provided by the mentors throughout the year has allowed me to gain the experience necessary to achieve that overarching goal of getting a summer internship in biotech.”
Dishant Vandra, sophomore kinesiology major
“This opportunity enabled me to connect and network with plenty of professionals from different schools as well as professors here at SDSU. I've learned a lot about my interest in research and I definitely plan to take this forward in my career and hopefully apply it to other biotech jobs and internships.”
Gisele Chhoeuy, junior biology major
“Before this program, I did not have any experience working in a lab setting other than our classes. We worked with parafilm and so much other stuff in the lab that we never got to do in class labs. I have really enjoyed this experience and I think it will be really good to put this on resumes for internships because it is something that is very relevant to our majors.”
So, far students in this program have been offered internships at the following institutions this summer:
- Salk Institute Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
- Summit Pathways Program Oregon Health Science University School of Dentistry
- Stanford University Baseball Science Core Biomechanics Research
- CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST) Internship
- Ocean Science Trust Internship
- University of Nevada at Las Vegas Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
- Dartmouth College Research Position
- Debut Biotech
The program will continue this fall with a new cohort of fourteen students. Those interested in this opportunity can reach out to Waters at [email protected].
