Expanding the Learning Experience

Undergraduate students and college faculty learn valuable lessons in the lab, field, and abroad

By Lori Greiner and Michael Sutphin

Kristin Walberg in laboratory
Kristin Wahlberg uses an automated electrophoresis
station to analyze nucleic acids and proteins for her
research project on the metabolic preferences in the skeletal muscle of obese mice.

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THE PIPELINE:
Benefits of Undergraduate Research Experiences

Pratt Scholars Study
Food Animal Nutrition

One avenue that allows undergraduate students
in the college to pursue their research interests is the John Lee Pratt Animal Nutrition Program, which provides annual scholarships to rising seniors to aid in their research projects under the guidance of faculty advisors. The program began in 1986 after John Lee Pratt, a retired General Motors executive, approached Virginia Tech researchers about a problem with his beef cattle. More than 130 undergraduate students in the college have used the scholarship for their animal nutrition research since the program’s inception.

Jessica Bross, a senior dairy science major from
Fredericksburg, Pa., is one of five students this year
with a Pratt scholarship. Bross performed an experiment to screen for acetate production in the early lactation period. She examined blood samples
from cows before, during, and after lactation to find
ways to modify their diet to minimize health problems in the future.

“Many cows are culled in the first 30 days of lactation,” says Mark Hanigan, an associate professor of dairy science and Bross’s faculty advisor. “We are trying to determine how we can feed the cows better to keep them healthy.”

Bross, who plans to return home after graduation, hopes that the research will help her make better management decisions for her family’s 500-acre, 200-cow dairy farm. “I’ll have a better knowledge of nutrition and will be able to better understand what the feed consultants are trying to sell us,” she says.

Even though Kristin Wahlberg spent her summer in a white lab coat studying cells and mice, her research project was far from a typical laboratory experience. The junior human nutrition, foods and exercise major from Shawsville, Va., was investigating a shift in the metabolic preferences of the skeletal muscle of obese mice using a cell model, the first step toward application to humans.

“Research encourages you to discover a problem or gap in the literature, form an opinion, and design an experiment to test that opinion. It encourages you to think for yourself,” says Wahlberg, who plans to attend medical school after college and pursue a career in patient care instead of medical research. “Doing research didn’t change what I wanted to do as far as my major or my career. It did make me appreciate all the work involved and the possible applications to human patients, who I will be working with in the
future.”

“Doing research didn’t
change what I wanted to do as far as my major or my career. It did make me appreciate all the work involved and the possible applications to human patients, who I will be working with in the future,” says Wahlberg.

Matt Hulver, an assistant professor of human nutrition, foods and exercise, explains that Wahlberg conducted research under his supervision for a summer pilot program that combined a weekly seminar with hands-on research opportunities in the department.

Wahlberg is one of many undergraduate students who are conducting research with faculty members in the college. These
students are not only supporting the college’s research endeavors but also gaining valuable experiences that help them prepare for their next step after graduation. In fact, a study published in an April 27, 2007 issue of Science indicates that undergraduate research helps students clarify their research interests and encourages them to pursue advanced degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Sixty-eight percent of undergraduate students in the study reported that undergraduate research opportunities increased their interest in pursuing STEM careers.

Craig Nessler, associate dean for research and director of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, explains that research is “one of the most dramatic ways” of learning. “It is like reading a cookbook,” he says. “You can read about making a cake, but it is not until you actually make the cake that you begin to understand the process of baking.”

This learning process is beneficial for both students and the
faculty. “A curious student in the lab learns and teaches at the same time,” Nessler says. “The student learns the answers to his or her own questions and teaches by having the person who answers the question think about what he or she is doing in several different ways.”

According to Ian Doran, a senior biological systems engineering major from Cleveland, Ohio, this is both rewarding and challenging. “The learning curve can be steep,” he says. “It’s one thing to learn how to run an assay in a classroom lab setting. It took me the first year to understand how and why we did the assays.”

Doran, who says he chose to attend Virginia Tech because of its strong research component, began conducting undergraduate research as an engineering sciences and mechanics major. When he switched to the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, he began searching for research opportunities within his new field of study. Doran soon discovered the laboratory of Percival Zhang, an assistant professor of biological systems engineering.

“Ian found me,” Zhang says. “We have a new lab and not many students know about us.”

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