Ten undergraduate students from nine different majors had extraordinary research experiences as Brain Health Research Institute (BHRI) Undergraduate Fellows during summer 2020. These students were part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program at Kent State University, and were selected at the beginning of the summer to be BHRI Undergraduate Fellows based on their outstanding scholarship and interest in working with BHRI faculty mentors, concentrating on various aspects of neuroscience research.
The BHRI Undergraduate Fellows met together weekly for one hour via Zoom, expanding their understanding of basic research practices including subjects such as Responsible Conduct of Research for human and animal studies, authorship and peer review, skill building activities including how to write a research report and poster and how to present a research talk. Throughout the summer, they carried out their research projects remotely and met virtually with their mentors, applying the concepts learned in the weekly meetings to their research. The program culminated in 10-minute capstone presentations in a group session via Zoom. Many of the Fellows intend to continue their research throughout the 2020-2021 academic year with the goal of publishing their work in peer-reviewed journals.
The BHRI Undergraduate Fellows Program was created and led by Dr. Lique Coolen, BHRI Fellow Program Coordinator, Professor of Biology and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences:
“The goal of the BHRI Undergraduate Fellow program is to provide a research-intensive experience for highly motivated undergraduates. Summer research is a key part of that program, and what we hope will inspire students to become excited about pursuing careers in neuroscience. A large part of this summer’s success was the willingness of mentors to step up and engage with their fellows, both in their research project and capstone presentations.”
Dr. Mike Lehman, Director of the BHRI:
“The 2020 BHRI Undergraduate Fellows were a wonderful group of enthusiastic and talented students who carried out and presented their research at a very sophisticated level. I was particularly impressed by the wide range of research topics students worked on, representing the broad interests of BHRI faculty spanning multiple departments, colleges and campuses, and fields as diverse as speech pathology, music, philosophy, biology and mathematics. Kudos are due to the students and their mentors, and especially to Dr. Lique Coolen who did a superb job organizing this summer’s program.”