In my efforts to keep current within the field, I am currently a member of the
following organizations: American Association of Immunologists Indiana Academy of Sciences American Society of Microbiologists Indiana College Biology Teachers Association These affiliations not only keep my knowledge in the field current but also help me practice what I preach as a scientist. Scientists dont learn from a textbook but rather each other and through current publications. Manuscripts and grant writing In the last five years, I have had two papers published. These are all a result of work I did as a graduate student at the University of Notre Dame. Polando, R. C.R. Carter, J. Whitcomb, B. Jones, M.A. McDowell. Role of complement receptor 3 and Fc receptor in phagosome maturation during Leishmania infection. J. Leukocyte Biology, 2013. Carter, C. R. M. Favila, R. Polando, R. Cotton, K. Horner, D. Condon, W. Ballhorn, J. Whitcomb, M. Yadav, R. Geister, J. Schorey, M. McDowell. Leishmania major inhibits IL-12 in macrophages through CR3 and down regulation of ETS mediated transcription. Parasite Immun. 2013.
I have a co-authored paper currently in review with PLoS One, an open source journal, and am awaiting reviewer comments. Grant writing has proven to be quite challenging. I submitted a small grant with Matthew Helm (a current student at the time) to the Indiana Academy of Sciences in 2012. Our grant focused on his interest of potential antioxidants and their cancer fighting or inducing abilities. The feedback we received on the grant was that our question was too unfocused and that we could not possibly conduct all the experiments necessary on the budget we proposed. While I disagree with the reviewer comments, we chose not to resubmit the proposal as Matt ended up in an Research Experience for Undergraduates and could not have completed this project as we had hoped. I have spent many hours researching several grant options through the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). As mentioned in my third year review, the NSF is not a funding agency that is interested in any aspect of human health. In fact, their funding award information explicitly states that the research must have no human health implications. It would be extremely difficult for me to qualify for an NSF grant since all of my experience focuses on this aspect, and any project I propose would have underlying health applications. In addition, I attended an NIH information session in 2013 at the Autumn Immunology Conference in Chicago. This was a great opportunity as the panelists of several review committees presented the workshop. I was able to speak one on one with the review panelist who is most likely to review my grant. She was enthusiastic about my topic and the potential data that could be generated, but when we talked about timeline and institutional support she was highly concerned. My heavy teaching and advising load leaves me less than two hours a day to conduct research. While I would include students in my work, it is difficult to have them find time to dedicate at least 10 hours a week to research. I am currently tweaking and rethinking a method to get all the pieces of the project done in the summer. By the time students master the research technique they only have 2-3 weeks to generate data. Additionally, funding is extremely competitive and many more prestigious researchers are losing their labs and funding. Student Research One of my roles as a faculty member is to get students interested and engaged in research. Since Manchester is not a research institution, my time is best spent with students and encouraging students to apply what they learn in class. My goal is not to pressure students to attend graduate school, but to make them think critically. I intentionally let senior students pick their own research projects even if it is outside my area of expertise. This means that I am learning along with the students, which further demonstrates the importance of continued learning to students. Instead of focusing on one overarching and complex project involving a limited number of students, I have created opportunities for many students by helping them create smaller projects that are more aligned with their individual interests. Without formal funding, I have been fortunate enough to judiciously used limited resources from the department to achieve these goals. In the last five years, I have constructed research projects for five seniors that needed a project for graduation and 1 honors project for a first year student. Most of the senior projects focus on microbiology questions not cell-based questions (my expertise) due to time and budgetary constraints. It also allows the students a lot more freedom in pursuing a question that they are interested in, rather than one that I need answered to meet a grant deadline. In the summer of 2013, I was fortunate enough to win a Deans Award for research and with it employed three students. One student was paid by the grant, one was paid by my stipend, and the third worked for free. The grant was able to cover most of the cost of supplies along with some help from the biology department. I covered the extra supply cost. The three students each took a different aspect of the project and together we have compiled their research into a paper to submit to Beta Beta Beta the biology honorary publication. The data are not convincing enough to submit to a more prestigious journal and is fairly inconclusive due to high variability. This is a result of having only 10 weeks to conduct all the research; once the students were comfortable with their project they had 3 weeks left to do their experiments. I greatly enjoyed seeing the light bulb go off for each of them as their projects came to life. We also spent a substantial amount of time together in my attempt to simulate a graduate experience. Every Friday, we had a lab meeting where we presented our data, thought through problems and strategized the next weeks experiments. The students also ate dinner with my husband and I on Monday nights. This really cemented our relationship, much like what happens in graduate school and at many conferences with your advisor. These simple acts gave the students perspective and helped make them realize that graduate school is not really as scary as it seems. I have made it a priority to take students to conferences, even if they have not completed research with me. I have taken three students to the Butler Undergraduate Research Conference and five students to the Autumn Immunology Conference in Chicago. I have also had five students present their research at our own Research Symposium. It is very important for students, especially those desiring to attend graduate school, to experience a conference and have a chance to present their data and interact with other researchers. It is beneficial for budding scientists to experience a professional meeting and interact with seasoned researchers. I attend these meetings with the students so that they have the support and reassurance. I encourage all of my research students to present their work, as some lessons and experiences cannot be taught in a classroom.
Meetings and Presentations I have had the opportunity to attend a wide variety of conferences, some focused on pedagogy and teaching and some focused on current research in the field of immunology. Attending both types of conferences has allowed me to explore new ideas and incorporate current topics into my courses. I have been able to learn about learning communities and retention, as well as new technology to spice up lectures. Every time I attend the Autumn Immunology Conference, I am reinvigorated about immunology and able to incorporate groundbreaking research into class. This is both refreshing for me as well as the students. I have also been able to attend 90% of the faculty forums and faculty development seminars at Manchester. These meetings expand my knowledge, and I also have incorporated what I have learned into my courses when appropriate. It is incredible to be able to learn so much from my colleagues and put it into practice in the classroom. For example, Michelle Calkas presentation on different Autism online forums gave me the ability to discuss another side of Autism with my cell biology course that I had not known before. I have also presented at a faculty forum and science seminar on my graduate research, which forced me to stretch and really think about how other people with different interests would connect with this information. It is important to share ideas and methods as colleagues to make good use of their great resources as a member of the community. Overall, I continue to make strides in research even if my focus is more on small undergraduate sized projects than a large overarching project. It is more important that students have a research experience they can see to completion than it is for a large and complicated project to be pieced together. I seek to continue to think and strategize how to incorporate a large project and would likely reach out to collaborate with my advisor Mary Ann McDowell.