Aug 02, 2006 - Claremont, Calif. - As Dean of Faculty Daniel Goroff describes it, HMC has become "grad school for undergrads." "Faculty members work very hard for their research funding and they are vested in the outcomes of these projects," said Associate Dean for Administration Gerald Van Hecke '61, who oversees the college’s Summer Research program. "They’re not just sending students off to play in a lab. The faculty and students here are true collaborators." Established in 1960 with just six chemistry students, the 10-week Summer Research Program was originally funded by a National Science Foundation grant as part of a nationwide effort to promote undergraduate research. Since then, the program and its activities have only grown larger and more interesting. "The excitement of discovery in a laboratory is a very different type of discovery from learning in the classroom," said Chemistry Professor Shenda Baker, who led a number of summer research projects this year. "The possibility of synthesizing something that no one else ever has, or seeing or creating a structure that no one else has made can be a very motivating force for students to get back into the classroom to learn more about why materials and chemicals behave the way they do." Projects – including the development of a neurally-controlled prosthetic, the examination of a wound-healing chemical found in shrimp shells, an investigation into the collective behavior of insects and a look at bipedal and quadrapedal running in lizards – took place both on HMC’s campus and around the world. Faculty and students are taking advantage of a unique relationship the college has with BioSTAR West, a division of the BioSTAR Group, led by its President and CEO William P. Wiesmann, M.D., a college trustee. His companies provide leading-edge research and development of biomedical and medical solutions. The BioSTAR West facility, located in an industrial park a few blocks from campus, offers the only clean-room laboratory at the Claremont Colleges (see photo above) and HMC faculty and students are involved in numerous multidisciplinary projects at the facility. Wiesmann's projects supported more than 20 summer research students this year. "I’ve never had a job so challenging and enjoyable," said Lauren LaCount ’07, a biology major who studied the running behavior of desert iguanas at Harvard with HMC Professor Anna Ahn and student Matthew Borok ‘09. "I learned so much every day and really felt that this program gave me great research experience." Over the past few decades, a steady increase in both internal and external funding has enabled HMC’s Summer Research Program to continue to grow. "Funding from the President’s Discretionary Fund, provided by a grant from the Hewlett Foundation, for example, added several students to the program this summer," said Van Hecke, the Donald A. Strauss Professor of Chemistry. Today, in addition to the many individual faculty research grants, the Summer Research Program is also supported by funds to the institution from NSF, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the HMC Arnold Beckman Research Endowment and the Baker Foundation, among others. "The bulk of the research funding goes to student stipends (typically $4000 for a 10-week appointment), equipment, and supplies," Van Hecke explained. "What should be viewed as a special commitment of the HMC faculty to student research is their willingness to work with their student colleagues often without receiving personal summer stipends." As HMC’s Summer Research program has evolved, so have supplemental activities for participating students. This year’s students had the chance to take part in site visits at various engineering and technology firms, including Raytheon, Qualcomm, ViaSat, Beckman-Coulter and MedTronics. A number of workshops were also available to researching students this summer. Topics included: a discipline-specific look at how to use the library and access professional literature; how to give a strong oral presentation; and the process of applying for external fellowships. Such tips and knowledge add value to the experience that HMC’s undergraduates take with them after graduation. "When students graduate from Harvey Mudd College, they know what being a practicing scientist is," said Baker. "They know what it means to work on a challenging project."
Ten of this summer’s students worked off-site with HMC professors at the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Arizona, Harvard University and the National University of Singapore. In addition, HMC’s first Global Clinic involved Summer Research students and students from the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez – located in the western part of the island of Puerto Rico.
"These are great opportunities for students to see professionals in their working environments and learn how they got there," said Van Hecke. "Lectures from these professionals reinforce the things students tend to ‘blow off’ while listening to their professors."
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