ME(D)3 Means Business
When a student joins a team conducting high-level research on a potential cancer fighter, impressing med school interviewers is just one of the benefits.
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Ben Lamb, a senior majoring in biological sciences, has already built an impressive resume. He takes a rigorous course load, makes top grades and was a student-athlete. But as he’s gone through the process of applying to medical schools, one experience has stood out to interviewers — his yearlong participation in a lab-based program, the Marquette Experience in Drug Discovery and Development program, or ME(D)3. In close partnership with Dr. Martin St. Maurice, associate professor of biological sciences and an accomplished faculty researcher, Lamb and three fellow undergraduates conducted research on a metabolically important enzyme that prior research showed may play a role in cancer and diabetes. The students tackled their own research projects and were called on for thorough presentations of their findings to the lab’s professors and graduate students, an initially intimidating task that became satisfying and collegial.
“Med school interviewers are always really impressed with the program; they’re not used to seeing students coming out of undergrad with this much genuine research experience,” says Lamb. “A lot of other students have research experience, but it might not be anything more than assisting graduate students or washing dishes in the lab.” The ME(D)3 program is no anomaly. Faculty-mentored undergraduate research is a priority and a specialty of the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, creating rich year-round opportunities for students across all of the college’s disciplines. It’s supported by a range of programs, including research grants awarded by the Center for Peacemaking, summer research fellowships offered by the Honors Program and 10-week summer research programs hosted by the Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Department and the Biological Sciences Department. And that’s in addition to the many robust research experiences that St. Maurice and committed faculty mentors like him make possible each semester for one, two or a few students at a time.
“Med school interviewers are always really impressed with the program; they’re not used to seeing students coming out of undergrad with this much genuine research experience.”
As the introduction to this story mentioned, many students are eager to conduct research — as many as 70 percent or more of surveyed freshmen— and Marquette’s College of Arts and Sciences is a prime place to make these aspirations a reality. And that’s good news for students, since the value of research experiences extends way beyond having a handy topic to tout in graduate school or job interviews. Faculty-mentored research is transformative, helping students build knowledge, develop and mature. So it’s not surprising that surveys of graduates show that research is a rich source of the experiences — including meaningful student-faculty interaction— that correlates with feeling more satisfied in post-college work life.
“Faculty-mentored undergraduate research is a priority and a specialty of the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences”
Through their research, students learn to identify and articulate problems, to deal with ambiguity and redirection, and to develop creative solutions, while honing their analytical methods and communication skills. “These are the dividends of performing mentored research, all essential skills that are important no matter what field students go into,” says Stuart. “Importantly, student researchers also gain a faculty mentor who encourages them to identify and pursue their goals and recognize their strengths. There’s so much value in that student-faculty connection as students discern their future career paths.”
Ben’s story is part of “The Discoverers,” a multi-part story on the abundant undergraduate research opportunities in Marquette’s Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. Read the next chapter or return to the introduction.
— By Jennifer Anderson and Steve Filmanowicz
