“Science is a cooperative enterprise spanning the generations. It’s the passing of a torch from teacher to student to teacher; a community of minds reaching back to antiquity, and forward to the stars.” – Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, American Astrophysicist
The word “science” most often conjures images of scientists in white lab coats, Bunsen burners, bubbling beakers and clouds of billowing smoke in a laboratory. But there is far more to “science” than images from a ’50s science fiction movie. Behind all experimentation is the most crucial element: investigative research.
“The public wonders how do we, as scientists, get so excited about that minutia that’s involved in research. What’s in it for us?” said Patrick Desrochers, chair and professor of the University of Central Arkansas chemistry department. “If you work with a faculty member in their lab, I promise that you will see something that nobody on Earth has ever seen before. That is an electric thrill and it is the reason we do science.”
At UCA, students have the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research with faculty members. This provides innumerable teaching opportunities that not only benefit the students, but also the faculty. Working closely with a professor on a research project or in a laboratory not only helps students apply knowledge from coursework and develop new skills, but it also gives students what Desrochers calls “meaningful experiences” in science.
“In science, you put your hands on things. People want to know they’re hiring someone who knows how to handle, combine, manipulate, measure and touch chemicals without harming themselves or others,” said Desrochers. “You’ve got to have hands-on experience, and students can get that with student-faculty research.”
In order to give students an authentic taste of what it’s like to work in a real-world laboratory, they would have to face a problem without an answer, work around it, be creative in their solutions and reach a logical result in that problem. The only downfall with this method is that it cannot be recreated in a classroom because every experiment in a textbook already has an answer.
“Science is not going into a lab and recreating something that has already been done before,” said Desrochers. “When they show a scientist on television and movies, the result just kind of comes. What’s totally missing from that is all of the days when things didn’t work. That’s what makes it so much sweeter when it does work.”
Participating in a research project is easy. Students just have to find the right professor, or the right project, to fit their interests. Once they find the research project, students make arrangements with a faculty member to become a member of his or her research group. After approval, students may earn academic credit to participate in student-faculty research.
“As professors, sometimes we just go into a classroom and say to students, ‘Hey, you’re a room full of science majors! Go up to this teacher and tell him you want to cut open armadillo brains! Go explore! Take the initiative!'” said Desrochers. “It’s the best way to point students toward a goal.”
Dr. Bill Taylor, UCA chemistry professor, was conducting open-ended research on the decomposition of two significant greenhouse gases when chemistry student Chris Emmerling got involved in the spring of 2016.
“This project essentially studies greenhouse gases that deplete the ozone layer and have the potential to cause global warming inside a chamber where we allow the gases to participate in the chemistry we are interested in studying,” said Emmerling. “We are interested in observing how metals like iron can become a charged chemical species and then further react with these greenhouse gases to give us some insight into degrading these environmentally-harmful gases.”
In April of 2017, Emmerling was selected for the national American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting to present his research on iron reactions with iodotrifluoromethane gas where he had the chance to attend various talks on topics such as nuclear chemistry and communicate with fellow peers at a special SciMix talk.
“These talks were poster-style oriented and allowed for faculty and student alike to venture out into other subdisciplines of chemistry not as familiar to his or her area of research. The ACS meeting opened my eyes to what my future looks like if I desire to become a research scientist,” said Emmerling. “This research project is one of the defining characteristics of my undergraduate career, in my opinion. I hope to become a research scientist soon, and for me, this research project represents the start of my career. I feel more confident in my abilities as a chemist, especially in the laboratory.”
Taylor and Emmerling’s research will continue into 2018, until Emmerling graduates with his chemistry degree.
“We’re not going to come out of the lab one day and say, ‘Here’s a really good catalyst you can use to decompose greenhouse gases!’ That would be nice,” Taylor said. “But what is more likely to happen is we’ll come out of the lab one day with an understanding of what it takes to initiate those decompositions so someone who builds catalysts can take those ideas and continue. We are the very beginning of a research chain, and we start the ball rolling.”
This idea is at the very heart of what student and faculty research is all about: collaboration, interaction and community.
“Science is such a collaborative field. The best kind of science is the kind that informs other science,” Desrochers said. “It’s risen to a level of a culture in our college. Not only do I have my colleagues in my department, but because that culture is so engrained, I’m confident that if I send my student over to the math or biology department for help, they will be welcomed. That gives you confidence to solve problems.”
Dr. Jeff Allender, recently retired chair of the UCA geography department, worked along with current chair and associate geography professor Dr. Stephen O’Connell and geography graduate Isaac Sims ’17 on a research project focused on the damaging effects of city governments in metropolitan areas.
After taking Allender’s Urban Planning class, Sims focused on Little Rock during the time of urban renewal programs that were ongoing throughout the ’40s and ’50s. In Little Rock, the areas selected for redevelopment were the heart of the African-American community.
“A lot of evidence suggests that this area was selected under prejudice,” said Sims. “Housing officials forced many of the mostly black residents to sell their homes at undervalued prices. Perhaps the biggest outrage of all is that the public housing–the project that the federal urban renewal program funded–was built outside the city, far from the heart of Little Rock.”
Allender suggested then that Sims compare improper urban policy planning in an area of different scale, and further research led him to a story of strategic fire-station placement in the Bronx in the 1970s.
“A lot of old housing for low-income residents had been catching fire, putting a lot of residents in danger. The city strategically relocated both fire stations and routes for trucks responding to emergencies away from these poor, highly-flammable areas, in what appears to have been a plan to let them burn down,” Sims said. “This is called benign neglect. These instances are examples of the failure of two cities to properly serve justice to its residents regardless of race and income; a problem still occurring today.”
Empowering students while continuing a never-ending cycle of open-ended research projects is a win-win situation for everyone involved. And, because student-faculty research projects aren’t limited to the science department, these experiences are continuously happening across the UCA campus.
“Student-faculty research is the kind of mentorship that, in a perfect world, I imagine would exist across all college campuses,” said Sims. “I was able to spend time with and learn from two men immensely more well-read, experienced, and interested in my field than I was. Their enthusiasm not only aided me in completing the research, but it also furthered my passion to do similar work in my own community.”
Research projects like these pull students in much deeper than traditional classroom learning. Connections are made, and lifelong bonds are formed. According to Desrochers, that’s what truly makes up the fabric of UCA.
“To have the true university experience, you need people who are curious and people who are willing to teach along the way,” said Desrochers. “That’s what happening in these laboratories. I’ve yet to see it done quite like it’s done in student-faculty research.”