View Larger Image
This year's Summer Undergraduate Research Program ran from May 20-July 19. Image by Nathan Tidwell

Graduate School Program Gives Undergraduates a Chance to Explore Research

Aug. 8, 2024 | For many undergraduate students, research isn’t an area they often get to experience. The Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) at the University of Arkansas of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) offers that opportunity.

SURP is a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded effort sponsored by the UAMS Graduate School.

Program co-directors are:

• Robert E. McGehee Jr., Ph.D., dean emeritus of the Graduate School, distinguished professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and executive director of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute
• Billy Thomas, M.D., professor and neonatologist in the College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics

Eleven students from six different colleges and universities were chosen for this year’s program, which ran from May 20-July 19.

“We’re pretty selective about who we choose,” said McGehee. “We hope that students will tell others about the program when they go back to their institutions.”

“The main thing is for the students to have a good experience at UAMS, get exposed to research and make connections,” Thomas said. “We hope they consider UAMS when applying to graduate school or any other post-graduate program.”

Latrina Prince, Ed.D., Graduate School associate dean for academic affairs and SURP coordinator, managed the application process. Requirements to apply include being a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, having two faculty letters of recommendation and completion of at least one year of undergraduate study. Students also received a stipend of $4,320 for the nine weeks.

“SURP is a great way to have undergraduate students experience an immersive research environment early in their careers,” said Graduate School Dean Sean Taverna, Ph.D. “It’s always exciting to see what our SURP students accomplish in a relatively short time.”

Students spent five days a week in labs with their mentors. Students also participated in seminars on subjects such as career progression, research ethics, networking and scientific writing.

The students’ primary focus was conducting a research project with guidance from their mentor and lab assistants. Students initially discussed the progress of their research during mid-summer presentations June 17 at Rayford Auditorium in Biomedical Research Center II. Final presentations were held at Rayford Auditorium on July 18, where students revealed the results of their project.

“There were really good presentations,” said Thomas.

McGehee and Thomas praised faculty who served as mentors.

“They’re busy folks, but they’re willing to take time to have students in their lab and pay it forward,” McGehee said.

“Without the faculty members, we couldn’t do this program,” said Thomas.

“My focus for students is to ensure they learn as much as possible through this program, which includes mastering a technique or two and, most importantly, being creative and organized when communicating what they learned or found,” said Rushita Bagchi, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Physiology & Cell Biology.

“I enjoy the influx of new undergraduate students who push our team to think outside of the box with the novelty of their ideas,” said Tremaine Williams, Ed.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Biomedical Informatics. “I’m fortunate enough to have them take me along for the ride as they persevere through the challenges of beginning their careers.”

One SURP student, Seif Abdelnaem, had prior insight to the program as his brother, Salah, was part of the 2023 cohort.

“He told me SURP is a really good program, and I would learn a lot. I love to do research, and this is a chance to see what actually happens out in the field.”

Gregory Smith found inspiration on his project on prostate cancer.

“I know a lot of Black males are affected by prostate cancer. I’m just trying to do my part.”

Benton High School graduate Ava Storey attends college in Melbourne, Fla., and was looking for a summer program near home.

“I read about SURP online. I wanted some sort of internship back in Arkansas,” she said. “I really enjoyed working with data. It’s something you’re going to have to do no matter what field you’re in.”

Students expressed appreciation about the chance to do research.

“It opened my eyes. I didn’t think I would like research because I’m thinking about going to medical school,” said Kiya Brown, who graduated from eStem High School in Little Rock. “It’s nice to know about research.”

“I thank Dr. Baldini and those in her lab for working with me, I learned a lot,” Kayla Chatman said.

“This program has really helped me. I think I might want to go for a Ph.D.,” said Louis Gonzalez.

A total of 131 undergraduate students have participated in the program to date.

This year’s students and their mentors were:

• Seif Abdelnaem, University of Central Arkansas (Abdel Fouda, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology)
• Kiya Brown, Xavier University, Louisiana (Samantha Kendrick, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
• Kayla Chatman, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (Giulia Baldini, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
• Louis Gonzalez, Arkansas State University (Yunmeng Liu, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology; Shengyu Mu, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology)
• Armari Jackson, Arkansas State University (Youssef Aachoui, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Microbiology and Immunology)
• Kalayna King, Arkansas State University (Jia Liu, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology)
• Brianna Lee, Xavier University, Louisiana (Lin-Xi Li, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology)
• Gregory Smith, Tennessee State University (Ricky Leung, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology)
• Ava Storey, Florida Institute of Technology (Tremaine Williams, Ed.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Biomedical Informatics)
• Alyssa Whisler, Tennessee State University (Rushita Bagchi, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Physiology & Cell Biology)
• Blake Wright, Tennessee State University (Marjan Boerma, Ph.D., professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy and director of the Division of Radiation Health)
  

  Faculty, staff and students listen to mid-summer presentations at Rayford Auditorium.Image by Nathan Tidwell