UW students Delta Burchi and Logan Fairbourn give students from Steamboat Springs
(Colo.) High School a rundown of the day’s schedule shortly before the high school
students took a tour of the Michael B. Enzi STEM Facility. Some of UW’s Wyoming Research
Scholars and McNair Scholars are acting as student recruiters and ambassadors for
the university’s Science Initiative. (UW Photo)
University of Wyoming student-scholars are taking it upon themselves to act as university
ambassadors and recruiters, and spread the gospel of UW’s Science Initiative.
Seven UW students -- who are either Wyoming Research Scholars or McNair Scholars (in
one case, both) -- had that opportunity Feb. 22. They hosted 26 students from Steamboat
Springs (Colo.) High School. The schedule included a tour of the Michael B. Enzi STEM
(science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Facility; an opportunity for the
high school students to break out into smaller groups that could choose to observe
one of five science labs in action; and student and faculty question-and-answer sessions.
“I really fell in love with the people here. I didn’t feel like a number,” Logan Fairbourn,
a UW senior microbiology major from Cheyenne, told the visiting Colorado students
when asked why he chose to enroll at UW. “It felt like the faculty and staff who walked
me around campus took the time to get to know me and help me find my place. It felt
like home.”
Tatiana Rice, a freshman physiology major from Casper and a Wyoming Research Scholar,
expounded on the undergraduate research opportunities at UW that are not always available
at research universities.
“You get to know your professors well, and they help set you up for after graduation,”
Rice says. “They help you from the start and see you all the way through to where
you are going in life.”
The Enzi STEM Facility is for teaching laboratories for introductory courses such
as general chemistry, general biology, organic chemistry, elementary physics and other
large-enrollment laboratory courses involving more than 100 students per semester.
The facility does not house research laboratories, which will be the focus of the
$100 million Science Initiative facility that is under planning.
The high school students were given the choice of attending one of five labs in various
campus buildings they were interested in seeing. Delta Burchi, a junior neuroscience
major from Laramie, led a small group to view a lab in the School of Pharmacy Building,
where she works with Ph.D. students Emily Jorgensen and Paige Dingess. There, Burchi
explained the lab studies the effects of cocaine and a high-fat diet on the brains
of albino rats. Much of the research translates to the same effects on humans, she
says.
“I do a lot of the breeding,” Burchi says of her duties. “They’re so cute. They start
to like you.”
In another lab tour, Rice showed students her work with tadpoles in a lab located
in the Biological Sciences Building.
Tatiana Rice, a Wyoming Research Scholar from Casper, explains her research with tadpoles
to students from Steamboat Springs High School. The high school students each could
choose one of five labs to observe where the UW undergraduate students conduct research.
(UW Photo)
“I am hoping to find a correlation between the tadpoles’ choice in the light/dark
test (if they prefer to stay on one side rather than the other) and the time of day,”
Rice explains. “If there is a correlation, I can do dissections on the tadpoles and
see if there are certain neurotransmitters that are active at that time, and what
their significance is.”
Fairbourn, a Wyoming Research Scholar and McNair Scholar, and Natalie Thibault (pronounced
Te-bow), a senior family and consumer sciences major and a McNair Scholar, led the
tour through the Enzi STEM Facility. Both are from Cheyenne and are conducting research
in which bacterial cellulose is converted into textiles such as keychains, watchbands
and earrings.
“The biggest thing we’re hoping to do is recruit Colorado kids,” Fairbourn says of
the event. “But, we’re also trying to get them excited and show them what a research
lab is like.”
“When you apply to UW, you have no idea you can do undergraduate research,” Thibault
adds. “We can show there are so many options to reach your goals. Like Logan said,
we want to get students excited.”
Ashleigh Rhea, a senior wildlife biology major and Wyoming Research Scholar from Dillon,
Mont.; Olivia Terry, a senior geology major and McNair Scholar from Edmond, Okla.;
and Jeffrey Johnson, a senior microbiology major from Rock Springs, also led students
on lab tours.
The UW Science Initiative began in 2014 when Gov. Matt Mead and the Wyoming Legislature
challenged UW to develop a plan to address outdated science laboratories at UW and
improve the quality of instruction and research in the sciences. A task force, appointed
by Mead and informed by faculty representatives, developed a transformational vision
for UW's core science programs in botany, zoology and physiology, molecular biology,
chemistry, and physics and astronomy.
The Science Initiative charts a clear course for these science programs to rise to
top-tier status in the nation and builds upon Wyoming's STEM initiatives -- the location
of the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne; construction of the Enzi STEM
Facility; and the Wyoming Governor's Energy, Engineering STEM Integration Task Force.
Olivia Hobson, a senior at Steamboat Springs High School, says she plans to major
in environmental chemistry and minor in journalism. She says she is looking at colleges
in Colorado, Oregon and Washington.
“After what I heard today, I might apply here,” says Hobson, who would like a career
in science that includes traveling abroad. “It seems like there is a really good science
program here.”
