PAY IT FORWARD
The impact of teachers on their students is a tale of researchers "paying it forward."
Written by Kippra D. Hopper
Kenny Harrison’s journey to the graduate program at Yale Medical School, where he is beginning work toward his doctoral degree in molecular pharmacology on a full research fellowship, began in an endocrine research laboratory at Texas Tech University. Harrison worked two years during his undergraduate education as a young scientist, studying elements of the disease of diabetes. Producing careful and exciting scientific research results worthy of communication to the scientific community at large, Harrison’s contributions in the laboratory paid off, resulting in presentations last year to the American Diabetes Association annual meeting in San Francisco, California, and to the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Anaheim, California. An uncommon achievement, Harrison also will be the first author on a scientific paper describing his work on the characterization of iodide transport, for submission to the journal, General and Comparative Endocrinology. While the process of doing research and presenting results is an expected part of any university faculty member’s work, the accomplishments of Harrison while at Texas Tech are truly remarkable for any undergraduate student. The opportunity to work in a laboratory and to contribute to the scientific process came about when Harrison became an Undergraduate Research Fellow with the Texas Tech University Howard Hughes Medical Institute Program.
The program allows students the chance to work in the laboratory, side-by-side with faculty research scientists, from their first day at Texas Tech. In the laboratory of his mentor, Nathan Collie, Ph.D., associate professor of biological sciences at Texas Tech, Harrison contributed to Collie’s research, which is focused on hormones that control blood glucose by regulating the intestinal gateway through which ingested nutrients enter the blood. Harrison’s specific project was to explore a cell culture model for human intestinal cells, Caco-2, to screen for actions of regulatory peptide hormones.
For Collie, now the new associate director for undergraduate research for the Texas Tech University Howard Hughes Medical Institute Program (TTU/HHMI), the highest compliment Harrison paid to the Texas Tech faculty was his decision to seek a Ph.D., a common bond among biologists. Harrison was left with a pleasant dilemma upon graduation from Texas Tech in May 2002, as he was interviewed and accepted at all programs of Columbia University, Mount Sinai in New York, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Emory University, the Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Southwestern and his final choice of Yale Medical School.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute supports biomedical research by its own investigators at institutions across the country. Additionally, the institute awards funds to establish programs in science education projects. The institute’s Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education Program, the largest private initiative of its kind in the United States, in 2002 awarded $80 million in four-year grants to 44 universities across the United States. The prime example of Texas Tech University’s vision in becoming the institution of choice for those students who want significant research experience during their undergraduate years is the Texas Tech University Howard Hughes Medical Institute Program. The program provides students with new opportunities in research and hands-on science activities, empowers faculty with increased classroom and laboratory resources, rewards and motivates teachers with new skills, and develops and tests new curricula from pre-kindergarten through college.
The statistics of the Texas Tech program and its successes are as intriguing as the story of the university’s evolution into emphasizing undergraduate research. The pioneer at Texas Tech who has pushed for undergraduate research opportunities not only in the sciences, but in the humanities as well, is John Burns, Ph.D., now associate vice president for undergraduate research, and former provost. A biologist, Burns has involved undergraduates in his own laboratory each semester of his 30-year tenure at Texas Tech. The efforts of Burns and those of colleague Larry Blanton, Ph.D., another biology faculty member and former TTU/HHMI Program co-director, were responsible for the university obtaining the first Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant in 1992. Since then, Texas Tech has received a total of $6.3 million in grants – more than any other institution in the state of Texas – ranking the university 13th in the nation and second in the Big XII for total HHMI funding to research institutions for the Undergraduate Biological Sciences Program. In the rigorous 2002 grants competition, Texas Tech received the third largest grant in the nation, ranking the university with top institutions, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University and the University of California, Los Angeles. Only Texas Tech received a grant among Texas institutions in the 2002 competition. Texas Tech is among only 23 research universities that have had continuous funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Of the four public research institutions in the state of Texas, Texas Tech has the strongest track record of involving undergraduates in research, this year with more than 2,500 undergraduates involved in research at both the university and health sciences center.
With HHMI grants awarded to Texas Tech in 1994, 1998 and 2002, students supported by the Texas Tech Program have been authors on more than 60 scientific publications, including 17 first authorships, in the leading journals of their respective fields. The undergraduate students have presented their research findings in more than 248 presentations at professional scientific meetings. Sometimes, the only undergraduates in attendance, TTU/HHMI students have won awards for their presentations, even when in competition with graduate students at regional, national and international scientific meetings.
Prior to the HHMI grants, only one Texas Tech University student ever had been awarded the nationally prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, awarded to high academic achievers in science, mathematics and engineering. Since the TTU/HHMI Program began, 21 Texas Tech University undergraduates have received Goldwater Scholarships, with 18 of those students having participated in the TTU/HHMI Program. Between 1994 and 2003, Texas Tech has had the most Goldwater Scholars of any Texas institution, the second highest in the Big XII, and is in the top 35 institutions for total number of Goldwater Scholars, along with Cal Tech University, the University of Virginia, Columbia University, amongst others.
These facts and the accomplishments of the TTU/HHMI Fellows have M.D./Ph.D. graduate programs across the country taking note of the outstanding students who are participants in the Texas Tech program. TTU/HHMI graduates have entered nationally prestigious M.D. and Ph.D. programs, usually with full fellowship support, at universities across the United States.
“We have heard repeatedly that our students stand out in the interview process for their ability to discuss their research projects in detail, for their having presented at meetings, for their having published research papers,” Burns says. “Most top graduate and medical scientist training programs expect their applicants to have had significant research experience. For many students, this is restricted to summer experiences. Texas Tech students stand out because they spend at least two years in a research laboratory and gain research experience equivalent to that of a mid-level graduate student.”
“The result of Kenny choosing to continue his education at Yale is the exact outcome of what the TTU/HHMI Program seeks to do: provide undergraduates with sufficient laboratory research experience at Texas Tech, so that they go into biomedical research, instead of only becoming physicians, although some graduates of the program become M.D./Ph.D.s.,” Collie emphasizes.
For his academic achievements, Harrison won the Earl Camp Award, given to the most outstanding undergraduate in biological sciences at Texas Tech. “Understanding membrane transport biophysics is challenging enough for graduate students, but Kenny already had managed a superb, fundamental grasp of essential principles. The hallmarks of Kenny’s work have been attention to detail, fine organization of results and use of appropriate analytical tools. As he gained confidence with those tools, he developed the initiative to depart from original plans when a better way presented itself,” Collie says.
To have a good chance of succeeding in science, the attributes that a young researcher should have include dedicated scholarship, both in the classroom and in their own exploratory reading of the primary literature to establish what is known and to find the leading edge in the field, Collie explains. Perseverance to learn new techniques thoroughly and rapidly, as well as, the endurance to carry out experiments, also is necessary in the world of scientific research. And despite widely held misconceptions by the public that research is done in isolation, following a line of investigation is extremely people-oriented. Students who interact positively with others, respecting the skills and weaknesses of coworkers and providing training when necessary, will be the most successful in research projects, he continues.
In Collie’s laboratory, Harrison was a consistent contributor to weekly lab meetings, having led discussions of numerous research papers over the course of two years, ones that he selected based on their impact on the research project. “Kenny was and continues to be deeply engaged in the projects he directs, and he has a remarkable touch in the laboratory. At Texas Tech, he had become an ‘ambassador’ to other labs when techniques had proved outside our expertise, strengthening our collaborations with other researchers in the process. He produced careful and exciting results. He also served his fellow TTU/HHMI undergraduate researchers by serving as the president of the TTU/HHMI Fellows Service Organization for a year. I place Kenny clearly among the top group of students with which I have had the pleasure of interacting,” Collie remarks.
For Harrison, he says that without his experiences in the TTU/HHMI Program, he would not be as motivated as he is now. “The most critical aspect of beginning one's education is discovering a line of study that motivates them to learn more, to place their education as their first priority. The TTU/HHMI Program provided that to me. As a fellow in the TTU/HHMI program, I was able to interact with my professors on a level that would not have been possible otherwise, and learn much more about science as a career in the process. I was afforded the opportunity to work on a project of my own and to learn first-hand about the frustration and excitement that are integral to scientific research.”
The impact of teachers on their students is a tale of researchers paying it forward and helping young individuals find themselves and their true career callings. When John Burns was an undergraduate student at New Mexico State University, his goal in life was to go to medical school. The summer before his senior year, Burns hooked up with a comparative physiologist, who needed someone to roam the deserts in Southwest New Mexico, do live trappings and bring back specimens to do physiological measurements in the laboratory. “That was a career changing experience for me. I wanted to be just like this guy; I wanted to do research and I wanted to teach. He just offered me this opportunity,” Burns recalls. “So when I came to Texas Tech, I decided that because that was a great experience for me, I had to have undergraduates in my lab. Most of the biology faculty does the same kind of thing. I think the long history of working with undergraduates at Texas Tech helped us get the initial Howard Hughes grant.”
Burns gives all the credit for the initial Howard Hughes grant and Texas Tech’s subsequent success with the program to co-founder Larry Blanton. “He is the one that made this thing go. Because of the quality and productivity of the students and the quality of the faculty, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute considers the program at Texas Tech as their hallmark undergraduate research program.”
Even before the TTU/HHMI Program was established, Burns already was passing on laboratory experience to his undergraduate students, one of which was Nathan Collie. “Burns got me more into research as an undergraduate. And, I wouldn’t be here as a faculty member at Texas Tech University now if John Burns hadn’t been my mentor then. I feel a really strong obligation to support undergraduate research because someone did that for me, and I had the honor of paying it forward to Kenny Harrison,” Collie echoes. “I had one incredible research experience after another throughout my educational career, often because John would make a phone call to someone at another university. It just started with somebody giving me a chance, so I try to just give people a chance, because that’s really all it takes.”
Undergraduate research at Texas Tech has the similarities of good mentors from its early beginnings to now. The big difference is in the funding that the HHMI and the Texas Tech administration has provided for the TTU/HHMI Program, which now provides continuous support for its fellows. Collie notes that the TTU/HHMI Program now provides an average of $12,000 per fellow. “That funding is a commitment, and that helps keep students in the program by supporting them, because otherwise they’re going to be out flipping burgers somewhere or bagging groceries. Their time is better spent if it’s not diluted at those part-time jobs.”
Associate Director of Administration for the TTU/HHMI Program, Julie Isom, M.S., explains that most undergraduate research programs at other universities are for summers only. A hallmark of Texas Tech’s program is that students can participate in laboratory work year-round. Most of the TTU/HHMI fellows start at the end of their freshman year, so by the time they graduate, they have three or four years of research experience, and as Burns points out, essentially are independent investigators in many senses of the word.
The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is another critical factor in the success of the TTU/HHMI Program, Burns emphasizes. “If we had to run the program just from the faculty on this side of the tracks, it wouldn’t be as big and robust. We’ve got 51 current fellows, and about half of them work at the medical school. That gives the students a lot more variety of disciplines to choose from, and it also spreads out that mentor load. The program is successful because of the dedicated university and medical school faculty.”
While TTU/HHMI fellows do not have to be majoring in biology, their research has to be in the biological sciences. Collie notes that the TTU/HHMI Program involves campus-wide faculty, from such colleges and departments as biochemistry, chemical engineering, physics, animal science, civil engineering, biology, architecture, business, psychology, mass communications, health and exercise sports sciences, and history, among many other fields.
In the application process, potential TTU/HHMI fellows choose several options from faculty researchers who are willing mentors and who post their research projects online. “Students are not choosing their research area, they are choosing a place to learn how to do research, and they can get that with any good mentor. Learning the process of research is sort of field independent. Any good research project is run the same way. We’re teaching them the process of science, creating new knowledge and disseminating that information,” Collie notes.
Burns tells students at orientation for the TTU/HHMI Program that when he was in graduate school at the University of Indiana, he and his fellow students would have monthly sack lunches with a Nobel Laureate who was on campus. “Every time he would talk, he said research has to be fun. If it’s not fun, then you need to go do something else. So here in the TTU/HHMI Program, we’ve got a group of students who get to find out very early on whether research is fun or not. The sad thing that we see sometimes is that graduate students will get to all-but-dissertation and they quit because the work is no fun to them. These young people have a chance to find out that research is frustrating, and it doesn’t always work out, but it can be exciting as well.”
Regardless of the outcome, whether a student has goals to earn an M.D. or a Ph.D., the experience that they have as undergraduates – honing their critical thinking skills and learning life lessons – are part of this very valuable experience, no matter what they eventually do in their careers, Isom says.
The Texas Tech University Howard Hughes Medical Institute Program has made many dreams come true for its fellows. With one-on-one attention from senior university scholars, the TTU/HHMI Fellows are increasing the value of their educations. They practice what they are learning from their professors in the classroom. Through research, students are practicing their craft and seeing the entire research process in action – learning how scholars generate new knowledge in their fields, how they then prepare that new knowledge in a scholarly format and how they publish or present their findings to the world at-large.
The TTU/HHMI Program has allowed the university to recruit outstanding students, Burns says. “It’s given us a lot of national visibility because people look to see who’s getting these grants. It’s done a good part to increase the reputation and visibility of Texas Tech. This money has been well-invested and remains a good investment for us.”
Because of his undergraduate research experiences, John Burns had the opportunity later in his career to interact with top scientists in his field. Burns’ dedication to other young investigators, including Nathan Collie, has for 30 years brought parallel prospects to Texas Tech undergraduate students. Collie, now paying it forward, has passed the research mantle to Kenny Harrison, who has journeyed from the laboratories of Texas Tech to a prestigious fellowship at Yale, and now is the one spending his days listening to Nobel Laureates.
Story produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing, 806-742-2136
Photo by Artie Limmer
Web layout by Kristen DeLisle