VCU news

Summer break is nearly over, but many Virginia Commonwealth University students and professors managed to stay just as busy during break as they were during the semester. Below is a sampling of the many exciting internships, trips and programs that kept them occupied over the summer.

Anita Nadal

Anita Nadal, an assistant professor of Spanish in the School of World Studies, and J. Ulises Reveles, Ph.D., an assistant physics professor, led 24 students on a month-long service-learning trip to Cordoba, Spain, early this summer.

The students were all members of VCU’s VERDE Club, which provides Richmond’s immigrant population with fresh produce from a community garden it planted at the nonprofit Sacred Heart Center, as well as trash clean-ups at Rudd’s Trailer Park, home to a number of Richmond-area immigrants.

In Spain, the students also assisted immigrant populations, helping gypsy children to learn English and discussing the importance of environmental protection and recycling.

“The whole point is the blending of immigrant populations along with recycling and the environment,” said Nadal. “They really bonded. They played games together, and just really enjoyed each other’s company.”

The students also spent time with sick children in local hospitals, helped out adults with disabilities and volunteered with a local conservation nonprofit organization to teach children about animals at a local zoo.

“Aside from learning the history of Spain and reinforcing their learning of the language – many students were placed with families that did not know any English, so they had to use what they knew to communicate – students got to become a part of Spanish communities,” said Maya Chesley, a senior majoring in Spanish and biology, who worked as Nadal’s teaching assistant on the trip. “There was a real feeling of solidarity and appreciation and respect for a different culture.”

The trip, as well as the VERDE Club, was supported by a $20,000 grant from the Global Education Office and included students studying science, engineering, math and technology.

“For languages and international studies, it’s quite easy for many students to go. But for students [whose] major is physics or any of the STEM has been a challenge,” Nadal said. “So that was one of the goals of the grant – to get students from other areas. And we were able to do that successfully.”

Nicole Ilechie

VCU sophomore Nicole Ilechie dreams of one day working as a dentist and missionary in developing nations. She started along the path to realizing her dream when she came to VCU as a biology major and chose the pre-dental hygiene advising track.

This summer she took another step toward that goal when she attended the Summer Medical and Dental Education Program at Howard University, which is a six-week residential program for college freshmen and sophomores held at 12 universities across the country.

Ilechie took courses in organic chemistry, physics, communications and health disparities. The health disparities class was particularly inspiring and renewed her interest in providing dental care to underserved people.

“We watched a documentary on a family that didn’t have the money for oral care,” she said. “The father was losing his teeth and because he couldn’t fix them he couldn’t eat healthy food, so his overall health got even worse.”

She also was able to experience many kinds of dental care firsthand. She observed a pediatric dentist working with a patient who had special needs, various general dentists on rotations and a root canal procedure from beginning to end.

While the real-life dental experiences and the coursework were invaluable, Ilechie said the people she met and the connections she made are her most important takeaway from the program.

One instructor was especially inspiring because she followed the same path to dentistry that Ilechie plans, which is to first become a dental hygienist and then to attend dental school already armed with a strong skill set.

Ilechie said she wants to take each of those next steps in Richmond at the VCU School of Dentistry.

“Howard is a good campus,” she said. “But there is no place like VCU.”

John Maitland

John Maitland didn’t have to travel far this summer to find what makes him happy. Rather, the rising junior in the VCU School of the Arts spent his first summer in Richmond.

A design internship with local architectural firm BCWH — which has worked on VCU’s master plan, the Academic Learning Commons and the Institute for Contemporary Arts — kept Maitland here when the school year ended and gave the Northern Virginia native a chance to learn more about the city.

“My favorite part about Richmond is its geography,” the graphics design major said. “Without the river, the gigantic hills in downtown, the weathered hills of the surrounding towns and counties, Richmond wouldn’t be the same for me. I think I take note of the geography so much because I choose not to have a car, and bike everywhere, which allows me the opportunity to stop and smell the roses and see the sights.”

Knowing he would spend the summer here, in the spring Maitland developed a six-week Web design course for other VCU graphics design students. While Maitland didn’t receive credit or compensation for the class, his idea was simply to get a bunch of friends together to learn Web design. The department chair let Maitland use a free classroom to teach HTML and CSS.

“That experience showed me so much and many people are asking for more workshops and lessons in the fall of 2014, which I am in the midst of planning now,” Maitland said.

Maitland has also been freelancing and working with a group of graphic designers and VCU students to organize a small contemporary design workshop set for the spring of 2016.

In Maitland’s first summer away from home, he found that exploring the city and everything that Richmond has to offer taught him much about himself.

“Being responsible for myself and having others rely on me at work and at the university is what really makes me happy,” he said. “A summer full of working and service to others is equal to any vacation I could take.”

Rebecca Guest

Rebecca Guest, a senior history major, spent her summer working at the Virginia Association of Museums, helping to manage the organization’s Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts program.

As part of the program, Guest worked with museums, libraries, cultural heritage sites and other institutions across Virginia to highlight some of the state’s irreplaceable artifacts – including Virginia’s oldest bateau, a roster of Confederate soldiers and a D-Day landing map – that need to be preserved.

Guest heard about the Virginia Association of Museums and its Top 10 Endangered Artifact program while working with the Fairfield Foundation in her hometown of Gloucester, Virginia.

“In 2012, Fairfield nominated its collection of sales receipts from the Ware Neck Store to the Top 10 Program,” Guest said. “Documents in this collection include receipts, bills, advertisements, and customer shopping lists. These records represent rural life in Gloucester County from the late 1870s through the early 1930s. I saw directly the need to bring public attention to the documents, and was pleased to see the collection selected to the program.”

The VAM internship strengthened Guest’s interest in museum studies and public history and provided training in how to operate a nonprofit organization, preparing her well for her career goal of working in a museum.

“I hope to work with collections and help create exhibits and programs that engage young children,” she said. “This internship is providing me with essential hands-on training.”

As part of her internship, Guest also blogged about her experiences and the Top 10 Endangered Artifact program.

David Kochan

David Kochan, a senior biology major, spent 12 weeks this summer interning at a marine biology research lab in Fiji, studying the impact of seaweeds on coral reefs.

“Coral reefs are in global decline due to a host of anthropogenic and natural stressors, most of which lead to coral replacement by seaweeds,” Kochan said.

Kochan, who was working on the Coral Coast of Viti Levu in Fiji, interned with the Aquatic Chemical Ecology program at Georgia Tech as part of the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.

Kochan’s research focused on understanding exactly how seaweeds take over coral reefs, and particularly how chemicals produced by seaweeds can bleach and kill coral.

“My data is still preliminary, but it looks like chemically active seaweeds only have an effect in direct contact, and leaking does not have any noticeable effect on coral health,” he said. “It also appears that chemically inactive seaweeds do not affect coral health, and only the chemically active seaweed affects growth. This suggests that seaweeds take over reefs very slowly – they wait for the coral to die and then move into the area.”

The goal, he said, is to identify the tipping point where coral reefs turn into seaweed jungles, and then figure out how to tip the scales back in favor of reefs.

“There are many stressors that are hurting coral reefs, from climate change to ocean acidification, but it appears that direct human influence in the form of overfishing, trampling and other destructive practices exacerbate the problem to a point where corals disappear,” he said. “Protecting areas from all fishing can restore a reef, but if we can figure out which species of fish are the most important, [then] maybe we can help corals bounce back around the world.”

To do this, Kochan helped with an experiment that involved placing seaweeds into protected coral areas and filming at low tide to see which fish ate which seaweed. The hope, he said, is to determine which fish are the most likely to remove seaweed from reefs, and then to protect those fish from overfishing without derailing the fishing traditions of Pacific Islanders.

During his time in Fiji, Kochan also had the opportunity to get to know Fijian and Pacific Islander culture firsthand, and was able to go scuba diving, hiking, snorkeling and even shark diving.

Kochan’s girlfriend visited him in Fiji for several weeks and the couple became engaged on the island.

“Because I wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to come, I tricked her into bringing her own engagement ring all the way from the states,” he said. “The look on her face when she realized she brought it was almost as good as when I asked her to marry me!”

Cassandra Schmitt

Cassandra Schmitt arrived at VCU assured in her desire to pursue a career as a pharmacist. In the two years since, her interest in pharmacy has not dimmed. In fact, it’s strengthened. However, this summer, she has shifted her career sights. She’s no longer solely eyeing a career as a pharmacist. She’s also considering the possibilities of work as a pharmaceutical researcher.

Schmitt’s revelation occurred because of her internship at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare in Richmond. Schmitt, a junior who is majoring in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry and a minor in biology, spent the summer working as an analytical research and development intern. Her job was to monitor and identify degradants in over-the-counter products. Over time, she said, active ingredients in pharmaceuticals can begin to degrade, and she’s helping to determine the changes that result.

Schmitt appreciates that her internship not only taught her something new every day but also fortified her chemistry education. She expects the experience will enrich her future chemistry classes.

Her recent embrace of research, she said, has been “eye-opening.” Part of its joy is its inherent element of surprise.

“The best thing about it is when you find a breakthrough that you weren’t expecting, or when you get an answer that you weren’t even looking for,” she said.

With two years left at VCU, Schmitt is eager to explore undergraduate research opportunities and continue the unexpected momentum the summer has started.

Nicole Waugh

The summer can be an ideal time for college students to figure out their career pursuits.

Nicole Waugh, who is majoring in mechanical engineering with a concentration in nuclear engineering at VCU, believes internships, in particular, offer students the critical opportunity to work in a field that interests them, providing them with an informative glimpse at what a career will entail. As much as you can read and learn about a line of employment, there is no substitute for working in the job environment day after day.

“It’s essential to figuring out what you want to do,” Waugh said.

This summer, Waugh, a rising senior, took a close look at life at a nuclear power plant by serving as an systems engineering intern for Duke Energy at the McGuire Nuclear Power Station in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she performed walkdowns and system analyzations of the primary system in a nuclear reactor.

She enjoyed the work, finding the activity and responsibilities of being on-site in a plant compelling and rewarding. She believes it’s a career path that might be a good fit for her. During her time at VCU, she’s also gained experience working at a utility company’s headquarters – during a job at Dominion Virginia Power this spring. Between the two experiences, she has gained two clear pictures to reflect on as she applies for work after graduation.

Waugh said her classroom education prepared her for the Duke internship in many ways, in particular, she said, by helping her decide how to think on her feet and approach issues that arise.

“I think school has taught me how to think and now I’m getting a chance to apply that,” Waugh said.

Makeda Austin

Becoming a scientist was never a career option Makeda Austin considered for herself.

But that was before the rising senior studying biology at VCU had a chance to conduct research in a laboratory setting, ask tough questions and immerse herself in the scientific method.

From there, Austin’s hunger for discovery only grew.

That drive earned her a spot in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunities Program — a one-of-a-kind opportunity in which motivated undergraduates from underrepresented minorities spend 10 weeks in the laboratory of a prolific HHMI scientist.

“I think the most essential thing that [hands-on research] teaches you is how to problem solve and develop critical thinking,” Austin said.

“Despite long hours in the lab, and coming in on the weekends, experiments often go ‘wrong.’ And, even though this can be extremely frustrating, it is actually fun to approach a situation from multiple angles, and then determine a solution and figure out ‘what do we do now?’”

Austin was paired with Michael Rosbash, Ph.D., Peter Gruber Professor of Neuroscience at Brandeis University, where she investigated the bio-molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms and sleep in fruit flies (Drosophila). There, she honed technical laboratory skills, and even learned how to dissect a fly brain — which she said was the most difficult thing she learned all summer.

Austin also enjoyed building relationships and learning from those around her.

“My most memorable experience has been meeting all of the other students in my research program. It is invigorating to meet so many beautiful, driven and intelligent students through this HHMI program,” she said.

Austin credits her VCU mentors for connecting her with the research experiences that have allowed her to go the extra distance. She is a current participant in the Minority Access to Research Careers program and a former participant in the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity Scholars program — both offered through the VCU Center on Health Disparities.

“MARC and IMSD have changed my life,” said Austin. “These programs have exposed me to opportunities and opened my mind to things that I had not considered before.” 

Jon Waybright

A team of 18 VCU student volunteers, led by religious studies instructor Jon Waybright, spent a chunk of this summer in Israel on an expedition to excavate Tel Lachish, a 22-acre archaeological site roughly 40 miles southwest of Jerusalem.

The volunteers, students in VCU’s School of World Studies in the College of Humanities and Sciences, excavated numerous artifacts at the site, which dates to the Middle Bronze Age, or roughly 2000 B.C., through the Iron Age periods, or 1000 B.C. and on.

“The square on the Tel that I have been working in is on the slope facing the morning sun,” camp manager Ryan Loredo, an anthropology major, said during the trip. “We are in the late Bronze Age, and have found one bronze tool as well as some beautifully decorated bowls. It is truly awe-inspiring to realize that I am finding artifacts made by people who lived over three thousand years ago.”

The expedition gave the students first-hand experience with archaeological investigation – both in the field and in the lab – as well as an opportunity to explore the history and modern expression of several of the world’s religious traditions, Waybright said.

“It was extremely successfully due to the dual nature of the trip,” Waybright said. “What started as an archaeology field school with all those wonderful historic discoveries is suddenly supplemented by a taste, albeit rough, of modern Middle East politics. Each participant will have their own experience, but I cannot imagine more gain and growth potential and, in retrospect, I believe represents everything that a study abroad program seeks.”

Zachary Hudson, an anthropology major, said during the trip that digging at Tel Lachish was an “amazing experience.”

“Digging holes deeper than I am tall is oddly satisfying,” he said. “I spent the first week uncovering the north side of the wall and the second week brushing the destruction layer inside the wall. I found a large bottle with the seal still intact, which, as I understood, possibly helped to uncover the mystery of how they made beer.”

When not digging for artifacts, the students also had the opportunity to tour Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and the Galilee, taking advantage of the geographical and religious diversity of Israel and Palestine, Waybright said.

Thanks to the students, Waybright said, the expedition was “one of the most energizing experiences” he’s had in taking students to excavate in Israel over the last 20 years.

 

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