Skip Navigation

Science Between Semesters at Keene State

Story By:
Will Wrobel | Videographer/Producer
.
.

In the second week of May, over 5,000 undergraduate students depart from Keene State College to pursue summer jobs, relaxation, or a jump start on their careers. But a few dozen science students don’t participate in the exodus—the summer provides an opportunity to apply classroom skills in a real-world research setting right here in Keene.

Funded through grant money from the BEST, SURF, NIH, NSF, and other grant funding programs, these students work from May to August alongside science faculty members on projects ranging from cancer research to forest inventories. These students work in the lab forty hours per week, focusing on the research, without the academic-year pressures schoolwork, extracurricular endeavors and athletics.

With these distractions aside, the student and faculty team can fully engage with the research they’re working on. Senior Emily Neverett of Nashua, NH, explains that the summer is the best time to really get down and dirty with research. Neverett has been working in Dr. Jason Pellettieri’s lab since 2012, conducting research involving the planarian worm and its relation to skin cancer in humans.

“This summer work has really prepared me because it has given me a taste of what it is like to do research full-time. During the school year we only work about ten hours a week because your semesters are so jam-packed with classes. This has definitely given me practice at what typical research looks like,” says Neverett.

“It’s not the typical nine-to-five shift, sometimes you have to come in earlier or stay later. Because in science it doesn’t really go on your clock; it goes on the animal’s clock.”

Begin pull-quote…Funded through grant money from the BEST, SURF, NIH, NSF and other grant funding programs, these students work from May to August alongside science faculty members on projects ranging from cancer research to forest inventories. …end pull-quote

Neverett works alongside a number of other students for Pellettieri, and spends as much time with them as any employee would at a full-time job. This characteristic of summer work is a lesson for the students in itself. “It has definitely given me the opportunity to practice communicating exactly what I’m working on, as well as effectively communicating with my peers,” said Neverett.

Dr. Brian Anderson, an associate professor in the Chemistry Department, has a few students with whom he works closely over the summers. Dr. Anderson was also once an undergraduate summer researcher, and acknowledges that the summer undergraduate research program that he took part in sparked his interest in pursuing higher education and advanced degrees. Anderson says that working in the lab in the summer is one of the highlights of his teaching experience at Keene State, and is as exciting for him as it is for his students.

“I came to Keene to teach and especially in the research lab. That’s what I love. That’s chance you get to work with the students and get more of those ‘ah-ha!’ moments and see how their curiosity grows over the course of an experiment, and see how they grow as a chemist over time,” he says. The relationship between Keene State science faculty and summer student researchers is symbiotic in nature, allowing the students an immersive experience in which to exercise the skills learned in the classroom while the faculty get extra hands in the lab. Emily Neverett explains that the positive experience with Dr. Pellettieri is based mainly on the mutual respect that he shows and receives from his research team.

“Dr. Pellettieri does a great job at including us in any decision that is made about the research. If he has a new hypothesis, he come and shares it with us first. And we get to have little impromptu meetings, and he always wants our input. He takes the time to fully explain things and make sure everyone is on the same page because he wants you to be able to contribute and he wants you to be part of it and understand what’s going on,” Neverett says.

Keene State gets students into the lab as early as possible to allow the student a chance to apply of the skills learned in the classroom to real-world problems. “I think what we as faculty members try to push … is that you can get involved in research from freshman year. The more research experience you have, the better you’re going to look in job interviews, grad school, whatever you want to do,” said Anderson. “I currently have two freshmen working for me this summer. It’s typical at schools to have seniors come in and do research or junior year do research, but here we’re really trying to grow from the whole time and get you as much experience as we can,” said Anderson.

This may seem like putting the horse before the cart, but the in terms of cementing the lessons learned in the classroom, it works. Dr. Paul Baures, a professor of chemistry, explains: “The earlier the students start to reinforce those skills, the stronger the student will be as a researcher. By senior year, the majority of the students who publish in peer journals are the ones who started early. Working the lab reinforces the skills they learn in the classroom and those skills will be with them forever.”

At the end of the summer, it’s the students’ love of the game that keeps them coming back for the fall semester or to be out looking for a job in the sciences.

“It was the best opportunity I think I could have asked for. It taught me so much about working hard and dedication and working with others and collaboration as well as developing for all of these laboratory skills that are going to prepare me for my future,” reflects Neverett.

Related Stories

Contact Keene State College

1-800-KSC-1909
229 Main Street
Keene, New Hampshire 03435