6A
Wednesday, March 8, 1995
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Students find that picking brains is part of research
Biology department lets undergraduates gain experience and knowledge in the lab
By Robert Allen Kansan staff writer
Karen Martin spends much of her time thinking about big brains.
Martin, Wichita sophomore, is one of many undergraduate students in the biology department who conducts research for credit. In her case, Martin studies a gene in fruit flies. Absence of the gene causes huge brains in the flies.
Though only a sophomore, Martin has decided that research is definitely in her future.
"This is actually what I want to do," she said. "It's fascinating. It's not sitting in an office doing something. There's a higher purpose to it. You're increasing knowledge."
Research normally is the domain of graduate students and professors. But Vicki Corbin, co-chairwoman of the undergraduate honors committee in the division of biological sciences, said that undergraduates were a wonderful resource.
"Some undergraduates around here are really smart," she said. "They don't need the research experience, but they should have it. It's to their benefit."
Corbin said that there was no formal process for students to join research projects. Most students
working with her just came up to her and asked.
"I say 'yes' to too many people," she said.
As part of the research, students must write a research paper and give a symposium on their findings.
Tim Lebestky, Lawrence senior,
said he became interested in under-
graduate research because he was
considering graduate school.
"I wanted to see what research is like, so I asked professor Corbin if she had a spot in the lab, and she said yes," he said.
Lebestky has earned more than 10 credit hours from working in the lab.
"This is what I'm doing for the rest of my life," he said. "It's always very satisfying to get positive results. You know you did all the work, and you're seeing science in action."
Corbin said that undergraduates sometimes were hindered by their lack of knowledge in their subjects
"But it almost doesn't matter at this level because they need the experience," she said. "They are learning to think and analyze data."
The atmosphere in Corbin's lab is informal.
"We goof around a ton," she said. "We have time to tell jokes and tease each other. It's a social group in many ways."
KU could lose if state lottery isn't reinstated
two groups fear diminished dollars for research if game bill fails state legislature
By Brian Vandervliet Kansan staff writer
The future of two research organizations at the University of Kansas may depend on whether the Legislature renews the state lottery.
The Kansas House of Representatives will begin debate today on whether to pass a bill that would reinstate the game of chance, which is scheduled to end in 1996.
Brian Vandervliet / KANSAN
But eliminating the lottery will hurt more than a few lucky ticket buyers.
Under the current statute, 90 percent of the money raised from the lottery goes to economic development. In the past fiscal year, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation received more than $13 million of that revenue.
KU has two centers financed by the corporation. The Higuchi Biosciences Center received about $1.3 million this year, and the Center for Excellence in Computer-Aided Systems Engineering received about $750,000.
The centers, located on West Campus, try to fine-tune academic research so it can be applied to the business world.
Ernestina Luna, Lawrence graduate student, examines electrodes that separate drug compounds. Luna is a research scientist at the Higuchi Biosciences Center on West Campus. The center received about $1.3 million in Kansas lottery revenue this year.
Charles Decedue, executive director at the Higuchi Biosciences Center, said that if the lottery bill did not pass, it would place a serious budget pinch on his organization.
"The HBC would have to quit operating as
we know it," he said.
Decedue said that since the center's founding in 1989, it had worked to transfer academic research information to businesses across Kansas.
Shirley Domer, outreach coordinator for the center, said, "Our organization bridges the gap between the acaden mercial world.
"The money we receive enables us to
"I would hate to see the state abandon this project."
between the academic world and the commercial world.
Shirley Domer Outreach coordinator for The Higuchi Biosciences Center
develop technology to the point where it can be transferred." Domer said she doubted that the center would have been formed without lottery revenue. "When I see an advertisement for the lottery, I wonder if people realize how many benefits e said. "I would hate
there are to the state," she said. "I would hate to see the state abandon this project."
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risti Pruitt is just 21, but when it comes to emergencies, she knows what she's talking about. That's because in addition to the 18 hours she's carrying at KU, she also carries a
So, Kristi knows expert emergency care when she sees it-medical professionals who have the knowledge and experience to move quickly and decisively. People who listen to her concerns. And this year, Kristi discovered those professionals-at the new LMH emergency department.
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There is, indeed, a new group of emergency physicians at LMH. These are young, energetic career specialists who are trained in emergency medicine, trauma care and critical care. What's more, they understand what it's like to be hurting and afraid.
—KU student Kristi Pruitt on her recent visits to the LMH Emergency Department
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