As the first half of the 2024 spring semester draws to a close and the countdown to summer begins, an exciting opportunity awaits Wesleyan’s talented STEM student-researchers: the College of Integrative Science’s Summer in Sciences Research Program.
The CIS’s program gathers over 100 Wesleyan undergraduates each summer and sponsors their research to be conducted with a faculty mentor in various departments, all the way from biology to physics. In addition to daily full-time research in a mentored, supportive environment, summer participants are also able to participate in several activities that enrich their often-first dive into research. Such activities include seminars geared toward exposing students to careers in science in broad fields as well as weekly workshops ranging from those focused on career guidance, scientific presentation, and even programming through QAC-sponsored workshops.
At the Research-a-Palooza event in February, previous participants shared their experiences, memories, and most importantly, their culminating poster projects of research conducted over the summer at the Research a Palooza event, proving their expertise and how much they had grown over the summer as researchers. This is what some had to say:
Kayla Alexander ‘25 spent her summer researching carbon dioxide polymerization with the Elling Lab in the Department of Chemistry. Alexander describes her work using bioderived molecules found in plants like corn. Throughout the summer, she conducted a series of reactions to purify product from polymerizing these molecules, working towards the direction of finding sustainable plastic alternatives to the widespread plastic on the market. Aside from chemistry, she says, “One thing I learned over the summer is that sometimes you just go through the reaction and it just doesn’t work, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop research.” Alexander emphasizes her summer as an experience that not only allowed her to apply her knowledge of chemistry to real-world issues like sustainability but also taught her to problem-solve in the face of challenges.
Working under the Sher lab in the Physics department, Jessica Luu ‘24 uses ultrafast spectroscopy to study electron movements in semiconductor materials, the primary components of solar cells. Luu’s summer project looks at the electron dynamics of gold nanorods, a material that can be placed into solar cells to increase their efficiency. After moving around labs in different departments like chemistry and physics, Luu says that she has learned that she enjoys using her knowledge in these multiple fields to develop new projects. With her summer project being her own idea, she emphasizes the support she received from Professor Sher, among other mentors and collaborators who supported her project and gave her confidence in her leadership and self-direction in research.
A pre-med student studying astronomy, Sofia Rinaldi ’25, used coding techniques and galaxy simulations to conduct her summer research under the supervision of Professor Wellons in the Department of Astronomy. Rinaldi jokes, “As an astronomy major I don’t know how to use telescopes, but I know how to code.” Her summer project studied the physics and shape of early universe galaxies not by looking through a telescope but by writing code and using it to perform calculations of star data to model the galaxies she studied. Rinaldi claims, “The biggest difference and the reason to stay over the summer is that that’s when the work gets done.” She admits that though making progress every day is unrealistic, and many of her challenges stem from looking at code hours on end and debugging. Regardless, the chance to make progress throughout the whole summer is a terrific, gratifying opportunity otherwise unavailable with the various time commitments during the school year.
Nicole Steigerwald ‘24 is a Biology and a Neuroscience and Behavior double major with a minor in Animal Studies. With the Singer lab, Steigerwald spent her summer studying the ecological interactions of plants, insects, animals, and predators. She describes how her lab involved extensive field work where, during the summer, data collection was very involved, happening in local forests daily. Her experience with summer research, she says, solidified that research—field research specifically—is something that she wants to do for the rest of her life; for some, the CIS program is instrumental in informing graduating students about their future trajectories and research careers.
Michael Quinteros, ’24, majoring in molecular biology and biochemistry, shares his positive experience with the Padilla-Benavides lab studying skeletal muscle development and the biological roles of transition metals in development. Describing the ability for some of the research he was a part of during the summers of freshman and sophomore year to move into publication, he says, “It was really exciting to see my name in the paper, and I was happy to learn from my summers what the career is about, how to mature as a scientist, and how to think like a scientist.”
With students being attributed to in papers, getting their foot into the door with research, learning about what they might want to pursue in the future (even perhaps learning what they would not like to pursue), and delving into their interests, the CIS opportunity is transformative for Wesleyan’s budding undergraduate researchers to gain the confidence to pursue further studies.