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For many students, summer is a time to shift gears and slow down. Not so for ambitious science majors at Drew. In fact, they see it as a great time to accelerate their education and gain some real-life research experience as part of the Drew Summer Science Institute (DSSI).

Kevin Hopkins presents his research at the annual Science Poster Session.

About 20 students participate in DSSI each year, committing eight to 10 weeks of their summer break to conducting research with faculty mentors. Some focus on topics that they have developed themselves, and others participate in their mentors’ existing research programs on subjects ranging from behavioral science to neuronal imaging, to laser holography.

“DSSI projects are real, hands-on science, so students gain valuable, practical experience working one-on-one with teachers who also are professional scientists,” says David McGee, former DSSI Director and and Professor of Physics at Drew. “Drew as a university places a strong emphasis on student-faculty relationships, and DSSI is in keeping with this tradition.”

Another great benefit to DSSI is its promotion of community within the sciences at Drew. “There is a common sense of purpose among DSSI participants,” Dr. McGee notes. “We have weekly meetings where everyone involved in the program gets together, and an individual student talks about his or her project. It provides exposure to the working worlds of many different professionals – the students get to see how people go about measuring and exploring things in the other scientific disciplines.”

The program concludes with a Fall Poster Session. Each student prepares a professional-grade poster depicting their research project for review by the Drew community and DSSI sponsors.

DSSI is open to students in anthropology, biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, physics and psychology, and it is aimed primarily at students who have completed their sophomore year. Each student receives on-campus housing during the summer, a budget for laboratory supplies and a weekly stipend.

My DSSI Experience: Jessica Alquist, Psychology major

I became interested in DSSI after taking an advanced research methods course in the spring of my junior year. I absolutely loved the experience of doing research. My honors thesis advisor, Dr. Jessica Lakin, suggested that I apply to DSSI.

I am very interested in the area of self regulation, particularly the study of how using self control to override a certain impulse impacts subsequent acts. I worked closely with Dr. Lakin to develop my hypothesis: “Participants who engage in an act of self control will subsequently take longer to make a decision.” In other words, I wanted to see how doing one act of self control, or self regulation, would impact decision-making.

Over the summer, I tested 37 subjects. I assigned half of them a task that was somewhat easy and the other half a task that required persistence. If my hypothesis was right, the half that had the more difficult task – who had overcome the urge to quit – would take longer to make a decision right after completing that task. On average, I found that this was true, although the results weren’t conclusive. The study will go into my honors thesis and is jumping off point for another experiment that also will be part of it.

The whole experience was fantastic. I knew I wanted to go to grad school for social psychology, and DSSI let me fine-tune my area of interest. I was able to pursue something I’m really excited about on my own – but with plenty of guidance and support. The professors are very involved and invested in their students. They really want us to do well.

The weekly lunch meetings were such a bonus – I learned so much seeing what everyone else was doing. It’s exciting to see how other people are conducting new research in their fields. These are the people we are going to hear about in 10 or 15 years because they are so ahead academically and so enthusiastic about what they are accomplishing.

My DSSI Experience: David Newby, Physics major

I always have had a great interest in science. I love being a Physics major at Drew – my classes, my professors, everything about it. DSSI was a great opportunity for me.

I worked with Dr. David McGee in his lab on a continuing research program focusing on ways to integrate everyday electronic equipment with fiber optics. From TV signals, to phone calls, to internet access, all types of communications today are sent over fiber optics. In order to make all these things faster and better, we need to make new, cheaper electro-optic devices.

David Newby presents his research at the annual Science Poster Session.

My particular experiment in DSSI was very closely connected with the Materials Engineering Department at the University of Wisconsin, where one of the Drew chemistry students spent the summer. There, they are working to find materials that react to electricity in a certain way that can controllably slow down a laser beam. The chemists fabricate test materials, and at Drew we measure the change in the speed of light.

For me, the most interesting part of the experience was learning about lasers. When most people think of lasers, they picture pointers or grocery store scanners. In DSSI, I worked with a water-cooled laser that was 10 feet long. Just the process of starting it up and getting it ready every day was so cool. Lasers are everywhere, and now I feel like I have a more extended knowledge of their inner workings. I really get a kick out of working with them.

I also gained new appreciation for the process that goes into making what seem to be the simplest things around you. I spent several weeks trying to align one specific device, trying to get the laser beam in just the right place. Now I look at things like my laptop in a whole new way.

DSSI was an amazing opportunity to see what real research is like. Having worked directly with Dr. McGee all summer, I feel like I’ve drawn from his personal experience. There’s no comparison between what you do in a high school lab – or even a college lab – and what goes on in a real physics lab.