At Lawrence, we feel that undergraduate research should play an integral part in any curriculum of study. Student involvement in independent learning and research fosters the type of critical thinking needed when pursing future opportunities, both professionally and academically. This emphasis on original research permeates our curriculum, from class projects to independent studies.
Every member of the chemistry department at Lawrence runs an active research group, supported by a combination of internal funding and external grants. Students can often earn credit for research done during the school year as an Independent Study; our department also has a thriving summer research program, in which students immerse themselves in research for a ten-week term for a stipend. Students interested in summer research opportunities should plan to attend the relevant info session given by the Summer Research Coordinator in the winter term, and students interested in research during the school year should talk with the scientist they'd like to work with as soon as possible!
"My senior research project will entail a combination of my previous two summer research projects done through the LU-R1 program at Lawrence. The major focus will be on my first summer research project, whose purpose was to determine the interaction of two key enzymes involved in the pentose phosphate and trehalose pathways in the human opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. In addition, I will also talk about the immunohistochemistry used to determine the ratio between proliferation and apoptosis of cardiac myocytes obtained from premature lambs, which are models for the pulmonary hypertension study in Professor Albertine’s lab where I spent my last summer.
"Yeast is a model organism used to study countless biological and biochemical mechanisms. By analyzing the biochemical processes of different yeasts through a brewing lens, we can enhance the brewing process while gaining information on yeasts’ biochemical function. Over the summer, we analyzed the flavor profiles of 700 wild yeast isolates and brewed beer from those with the best profiles. My project is to create hybrids between these wild yeast strains and domesticated Saccharomyces cerevisiae used in the brewing industry in an effort to make new beer yeasts that combine the unique flavor of the wild yeast with the brewing properties of the domesticated yeast."
"My research focuses on using new methods to make molecules with potential anti-malarial activity. An interdisciplinary project between the organic chemistry and biochemistry classes at Lawrence has students make potential drugs and then test them on cells; my research supports this project in a number of ways. The current iteration of the project involves the functionalization (addition of new components) of a class of molecules called triazolopyrazines. I am attempting some novel synthetic methods towards the functionalization of these compounds, with the goal of learning about new ways to make these molecules and others like them."