A Summer of Scientific Research for More Than 30 RIC Students

On July 29 more than 30 RIC students presented their scientific posters at the 9th Annual Rhode Island Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) Conference – the state’s largest exhibition of undergraduate research.

Also presenting their research were undergraduates from Brown University, Bryant University, Providence College, Roger Williams University, Salve Regina University and the University of Rhode Island.

For 10 weeks, SURF students worked in labs under the guidance of their professors and alongside their peers, reading scientific literature, designing experiments, engaging in troubleshooting and attending seminars and workshops, which culminated in presentations of their work at the conference.

“Ten weeks may be a blink of the eye in the career of a scientist,” said Jim Lemire, RI NSF EPSCoR coordinator of undergraduate research, “but it represents 350 to 400 hours of intense scientific training that most students have not had, and it is an important step for undergraduates as they chart the course of their own future careers.”

RIC SURF scholars undertook biomedical research that included the underlying factors that cause neurodegenerative diseases; biochemistry research, including the role of DNA damage in the development of cancer; and behavioral research, such as RIC Associate Professor of Psychology Emily Cook’s study on the social and behavioral development of adolescents.

In May 2016 Cook received a grant to explore how adolescents share emotions with friends. “Research shows that adolescents talk about emotions with friends,” she explained, “but there hasn’t been research on the sharing of emotions at a physiological level. In other words, if I am having negative emotions and sharing them with Mary does she, physiologically, take those on?”

Adolescent emotions will be measured by self-reporting, observation and by a device called skin conductance, said Cook. The device was introduced by one of Cook’s research students, Bryan Mercier. The device is able to detect emotional arousal in an individual by the state of the individual’s sweat glands and heart rate. Cook explained how the device is attached to the wrist while two electrodes are affixed to the index and middle fingers. 

“What we’re interested in finding out is, as one teen becomes aroused does the other teen’s arousal level also change. And if one teen’s heart rate changes, does the other’s heart rate change as well. We also use cortisol and the alpha amylase enzyme to get a stress response,” said Cook.

Working with her are Orianna Duncan, a first-year grad student; Mercier, a senior; and Mary Ellen Fernandez, a junior. All are psych majors. Duncan has worked in Cook’s lab since 2015, while Mercier and Fernandez are having their first research lab experience this summer. Among the skills the apprentices are learning are literature review, screening participants, recruiting participants and collecting data.

“This past Friday we had our first lab participants,” Fernandez said, the excitement still present in her eyes. The two-and-a-half-hour lab visit called for an intricately timed step-by-step procedure, she said, and a tremendous amount to remember. Though nervous, Fernandez said it was fascinating to have live participants and to carry out an experiment that she and her lab partner had been working on all summer.

Overall, Fernandez said she encourages all RIC students to engage in lab work with their professors and to apply to the SURF program.

“I feel like I’m actually part of something now, which is huge,” Mercier added. “I’m learning things I never thought about before and looking at things in new ways.”

“To me, research is the way to continue learning,” Duncan said. “You can sit in class and learn that way, but if you want to keep learning throughout your lifespan, do research.”

During the fall and spring semesters, the three students will stay on Cook’s project, taking it as a seminar course. They will continue data collection and work on their individual projects.

The SURF program is co-sponsored by Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) and Rhode Island NSF Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (RI NSF EPSCoR). This year the program consisted of 103 RI-INBRE scholars (35 of which were RIC students) and 36 RI NSF EPSCoR scholars (two of which were RIC students). The event drew more than 400 faculty, students and administrators from across the Ocean State.