student research
TEACHING AND RESEARCH: HAND IN HAND
While at UIS, students receive excellent teaching. Our classes are small. Our professors know students’ names.
It's all true--We hear it from our students again and again.
But our emphasis on teaching doesn’t mean our students don’t do research. Excellent institutions of higher learning—regardless of size—always offer research opportunities to students. You can support student research through the following funds (you can read about the funds by clicking on the name):
WHY RESEARCH MATTERS SO MUCH
1. Research Raises Students’ Aspirations
Sara Paver Biology BS ’07 spent the last few years doing research with biology professor Mike Lemke at Emiquon, The Nature Conservancy’s Illinois River floodplain restoration site.
As part of her research, Sarah monitored the bacteria from the surface of Thompson Lake, one of the former floodplain lakes being restored at Emiquon—important because she investigated what appear to be unique adaptations in some microbes to nutrients. Because nutrients lie at the base of the food web, their cycling through microbial interactions leads to the success of the entire floodplain ecosystem.
Sara’s research has taken her to graduate school. She’s at the University of Illinois at Urbana now, working on an advanced degree in microbial ecology. Her advisor, Angela Kent, says of Sara: “Already, after just two weeks, she is working independently and making intellectual contributions to her project and other projects in the lab.”
2. Research Gives Students Ways to Contribute
Through research, students can contribute to their field—another benefit of research.
Jeff Black, for example, might help keep your laptop safe. Jeff, a master’s student in computer science, read an article about people hacking into wireless laptops. “They say they can circumvent standard security devices,” he says. “I’m figuring out if they’re right.”
If Jeff proves plausibility, other researchers will have a roadmap on how to stop the attacks. Jeff is doing his research under the direction of computer science professor Kamyar Dezhgosha.
3. Research Enhances Classroom Learning
One in eight women in the United States develops breast cancer. Post chemotherapy, women often report problems with memory function.
In a study funded by the Susan G. Komen Foundation, psychology professor Sheryl Reminger and others at UIS have collected magnetic resonance images from women who have received chemotherapy, as well as results from written tests, which indicate memory function.
Gen Kasa, a junior psychology major, works with Dr. Reminger. Gen analyzes the MRIs to see whether the hippocampus, a structure in the brain believed to contribute to memory retention, becomes smaller after chemotherapy.
In response to the UIS research, doctors may be able to tailor treatments to prevent or reverse neurological injury.
Besides the obvious benefits to women who have been undergoing chemotherapy, Gen’s research has also rounded out her classroom knowledge.
“Everything that I know about neuropsychology and the brain,” she says, “I have learned from this research.”
4. Research Strengthens Personal Character
For her master’s degree in environmental science, Amy Bolar Biology BS ’04 is investigating a possible correlation between radon levels in the home and lung cancer. A Graduate Public Service Intern, Amy does the work for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, under the direction of UIS’ Dr. Sharron Lafollette.
Amy says research has tested her: “It takes a lot of determination, mostly because it’s so unstructured. You have to organize it yourself and push yourself to complete it. Getting through a research project says a lot about a person’s character.”
Research Enriches Our Intimate Learning Environment
Taking all these advantages together, it is easy to see that research enhances and enriches UIS’ intellectually rich, collaborative and intimate learning environment.
Please give generously as we continue to create research opportunities for students.
Questions?
Please use the Send Us Your Question link or contact our office directly.
Have you done student research while at UIS?
We'd love to hear your story. What would you say to someone contemplating the program? How would you encourage donors to give? What have you appreciated most about the program? Please send your comments to Marilyn Kok. We would love to add more graduates' comments to this site.
We look forward to hearing from you.
