Going Beyond the Classroom
LSU’s College of Science offers research programs to give undergraduates real-world, hands-on experience in their specific fields. They can work in a lab setting, conduct research with their professors and classmates, and develop writing and communication skills that will benefit them in their future careers. These three students are part of research programs within the College of Science.
Mathematics
Chelsey Fontenot is a freshman in the LSU Department of Mathematics, majoring in mathematics. She said that math has always interested her and knew that she wanted to participate in a research program prior to coming to LSU.
According to Fontenot, it is important for students to know what they are interested in before applying for a research program.
“I met with an adviser in the Math Department about research, and he asked me what my interests were and what things I wanted to do specifically,” Fontenot said.
She was then paired with a professor who had similar interests to her. Currently, Fontenot is conducting a research project with LSU Mathematics Assistant Professor Jiuyi Zhu on vibrations and how to model nodal sets and nodal lines on a drumhead. This research experience has come with many challenges and breakthroughs.
“Research programs challenge you more than any class you possibly can take,” Fontenot said.
Fontenot said the fear of thinking you don’t know anything is the biggest challenge. But she said she realized that reading books about her research and going to her professors about the concepts she didn’t understand was the key to helping her become a better researcher and problem solver.
According to Fontenot, this program has prepared her for the next step in her education career as she plans on going to graduate school and becoming a professor to continue her passion of research. But no matter which path she goes on she’ll always remember one thing.
“Showing interest in something and producing something out of that helps you because you have gone beyond what you do in a classroom,” Fontenot said.
Biological Sciences
Corrine Hutchinson is a junior in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences with a major in biochemistry and a minor in analytics. Her desire to pursue a research program branches from a high school science fair in which she participated. Her project ended up advancing further, and she was invited to present her research at the International Science and Engineering Fair.
“After that eye-opening experience, I knew I wanted to continue my involvement in research in college, which led me to apply for many research programs,” Hutchinson said.
Through the President’s Student Aid Program, Hutchinson is currently working with LSU Biological Sciences Professor Grover L. Waldrop in his biochemistry lab. During the summer, she works with Dr. Shyamal Desai in her biochemistry and molecular lab.
In Waldrop’s lab she works under one of the professor’s doctoral candidates who is researching the role of N-terminal domain of biotin carboxyl carrier protein in the catalytic mechanism of acetyl-CoA carboxylase.
In Desai’s lab, Hutchinson is looking at how traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and alcohol potentially play a role in the onset of neurodegenerative diseases, specifically looking at veterans with TBIs and their increased risk of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
“These research programs help prepare me for a future in a lab, teaching me not only the technical skills and basic methods needed in a biochemistry lab, but how to read and interpret, present my research, and how to continue my research after I feel like I have come to a dead end,” Hutchinson said.
Physics & Astronomy
Miscia Fortna is in the LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy with a major in physics with a concentration in medical physics. Fortna has a hunger for learning new things and being a part of a research program was the perfect way to indulge in that.
“I was dead set on getting into academic research because I knew it would help me become a better person, learn new challenges, and do things that are not done in the classroom,” Fortna said.
Fortna is currently working with Wayne Newhauser, the Dr. Charles M. Smith Chair of Medical Physics Professor and the director of the LSU Medical and Health Physics Program, who is testing 3D-printed humanoid phantoms at the Mayo Clinic and is using high-performance computing to stimulate state-of-the-art micro dosimeters.
Fortna is also an ambassador for the LSU College of Science Honors College, and he strongly believes students can benefit from this experience and if they get a chance to be a part of any research program, they should take the opportunity.
“If they feel like there’s a professor that has some research, they find interesting, they should read about it and ask questions. The worst they can say is no,” Fortna said.