{"id":175715,"date":"2021-08-03T09:46:25","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T13:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=175715"},"modified":"2021-08-03T13:18:55","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T17:18:55","slug":"the-mcnair-scholar-summer-program-supports-student-doing-stem-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/08\/the-mcnair-scholar-summer-program-supports-student-doing-stem-research\/","title":{"rendered":"The McNair Scholar\u00a0Summer\u00a0Program\u00a0Supports Student\u00a0Doing\u00a0STEM\u00a0Research\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

When\u00a0Nichali\u00a0Bogues \u201922 (CLAS)\u00a0graduates from UConn, his dream career is to be\u00a0a cardiothoracic surgeon. So scientific research was on top of his priority list.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the rising senior\u00a0structural biology and biophysics major\u00a0didn\u2019t expect\u00a0the McNair Scholars Program<\/a>\u00a0to give him so much insight into what\u00a0his future career will be like. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would say it (the McNair program) gave me an opportunity to love my major even more because it shows me how many real-life\u00a0applications\u00a0I can use my major for,\u201d Bogues said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I can go from medical engineering to clinical trials and applications. It is a program that will push you to achieve more.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bogues\u00a0and Juan Colberg-Martinez\u00a0\u201923 (CLAS)\u00a0are\u00a0among 22 UConn students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields\u00a0participating\u00a0in the\u00a0McNair Scholars\u00a0summer\u00a0program. These students have\u00a0been awarded\u00a0funding to pursue their research this summer\u00a0on the Storrs campus for eight weeks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

UConn is one of 150 schools nationwide to receive funding from the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate\u00a0Achievement Program.\u00a0<\/span>The McNair program<\/span><\/a>\u00a0fosters opportunities to advance in STEM research experiences throughout undergraduate careers for\u00a0underrepresented\u00a0first generation, and limited\u00a0income\u00a0college\u00a0students.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“The McNair\u00a0Scholars\u00a0Program provides excellent guidance for the professional world,” Bogues said. “It helps you to become a more concrete and assertive researcher while forming long-term positive relationships with professors that do research in your field of interest.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bogues is currently researching\u00a0the metal\u00a0ruthenium(II) complex\u00a0for its ability to combat antibiotic resistance, a rising concern among health care professionals. He says ruthenium is an element that can be used for photodynamic therapy, a method often used to treat cancer. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“In terms of real-world outcomes, we are\u00a0providing a new way to sterilize\u00a0catheter\u00a0tubes by using blue light to make the\u00a0ruthenium\u00a0become active and reactive, thus killing bacteria in the\u00a0catheter,” Bogues said. “This would make the tube more sterile and ready for medical use.”\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One\u00a0of the most important things he learned as a McNair scholar is networking in research. He explained that networking with peers, professors and other researchers\u00a0helped him learn more about his\u00a0career because\u00a0he\u00a0gets\u00a0to work directly with experts in the field.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through his research,\u00a0Bogues\u00a0<\/span>said he was thankful to have worked<\/span>\u00a0with McNair mentor and\u00a0program coordinator,\u00a0Renee Gilberti,\u00a0Ph.D.,\u00a0graduate\u00a0mentor\u00a0and National Science Foundation\u00a0fellow Caroline Donaghy,\u00a0and\u00a0Alfredo Angeles-Boza, associate professor of chemistry.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gilberti says the McNair program has many opportunities for outreach in STEM research and that\u00a0first and second-year students can apply during February to become research apprentices for the following fall semester.\u00a0Second- and third-year\u00a0students can apply to be McNair Scholars and evolve into independent researchers for all remaining semesters, including on the on-campus\u00a0a summer intensive research program that focuses on research, professional\u00a0development and graduate school\u00a0application\u00a0preparation for\u00a0more advanced degrees in STEM.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“There are so many wonderful aspects to my work with\u00a0students, but\u00a0seeing their growth and seeing them recognize their potential is at the top,” Gilberti said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Meeting one-on-one with each student, year-round, affords me the chance to help them capitalize on their strengths, hone more professional skills, and many in-depth conversations to reflect on their career trajectory.”\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Juan
Juan Colberg Martinez, ’23 (CLAS), a molecular and cell biology major. (Courtesy photo.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“A lot of the research experiences for undergraduates were online and I wanted a more in the lab type of research,\u201d\u00a0says another McNair scholar, Juan Colberg-Martinez, a rising junior majoring in molecular and cellular biology. \u201cRenee offered me\u00a0the chance\u00a0to do McNair research this\u00a0summer\u00a0so I am thankful for that.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Colberg-Martinez was recommended by a friend in UConn’s\u00a0<\/span>L<\/span><\/a>ouis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to apply for the McNair program. His research focuses on looking at antifolate compounds to treat\u00a0rheumatoid arthritis\u00a0(RA)\u00a0cells.\u00a0These\u00a0cells are located inside joints that play a role in the start of\u00a0the disease\u00a0which\u00a0degrades bones and causes inflammation in between joints. Currently,\u00a0methotrexate\u00a0is used to treat patients with\u00a0RA\u00a0but it is not always responsive for all patients, according to Colberg-Martinez. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hence, Colberg-Martinez is working with Charles Giardina, professor of molecular and cellular biology, to see if\u00a0a\u00a0different\u00a0could be a better substitute for RA patients. To test this, Colberg-Martinez also works with Didem Ozcan, a Ph.D. student in Giardina\u2019s lab. They use\u00a0techniques like\u00a0cell staining, cell proliferation assays and\u00a0<\/span>quantitative polymerase chain\u00a0reactions\u00a0to measure<\/span>\u00a0the effects of UCP1162 on RA. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From\u00a0Colberg-Martinez’s experience\u00a0with\u00a0LSAMP,\u00a0a program designed to support\u00a0underrepresented\u00a0students in the science, technology,\u00a0engineering\u00a0and\u00a0mathematics\u00a0field, he\u00a0met\u00a0Giardina and\u00a0became\u00a0interested in his research.\u00a0<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Get in touch with professors as soon as possible,” Colberg-Martinez\u00a0advised\u00a0students\u00a0thinking\u00a0about research. “Professors actually love talking about their research, they\u00a0like\u00a0when people are interested in their research. If you find a professor that does research that you are interested in, I\u00a0would\u00a0just\u00a0get in touch with them.”\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After his research, Colberg-Martinez hopes to attend graduate school to\u00a0obtain a\u00a0Ph.D.\u00a0in the biological sciences field and\u00a0study\u00a0disease\u00a0treatments, and\u00a0encourages\u00a0any eligible student who is curious about research in STEM to contact Gilberti by email. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“To be a part of\u00a0the\u00a0McNair experience\u00a0a student definitely does not need to know what kind of research project they might want to conduct, or even that they do or do not want to pursue graduate study; this is challenging to know without exposure to research experience,” Gilberti said. “The McNair program help<\/span>s\u00a0every student\u00a0with\u00a0every\u00a0step.<\/span>”\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn students Nichali Bogues ’22 (CLAS) and Juan Colberg-Martinez ’23 (CLAS) go beyond their STEM majors to learn more about ways to combat diseases this summer as McNair Scholar researchers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":175717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2310],"class_list":["post-175715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 18:14:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175715"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175722,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175715\/revisions\/175722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/175717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175715"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=175715"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=175715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}