DSSI
What if you could spend a summer doing research with faculty and students who are as mad about science as you...
The Drew Summer Science Institute offers accelerated hands-on research opportunities.
GET ME TO THE LAB
For many students, summer is a time to shift gears and slow down. Not so for ambitious science majors at Drew. In fact, they use it to gain real-life research experience as part of the Drew Summer Science Institute (DSSI).
Up to 40 students participate each year, committing eight to 10 weeks of their summer break to conducting research with faculty mentors. This is in keeping with Drew’s emphasis on strong student-faculty relationships.
Some focus on topics they have developed themselves, and others participate in their mentors’ existing research programs. Subjects range from behavioral science to neuronal imaging to laser holography.
Another great benefit is the weekly meetings where everyone in the program gets together and talks about his or her project. It exposes you to work of other scientists and how they measure and explore problems in their 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.
Nearly 40 Drew science students spent the summer doing independent research on campus.
Research Made easy
more than meets the eye
DSSI provides opportunities to establish professional relationships with Drew faculty and their collaborators at research universities and local industries.
Each student receives on-campus housing during the summer, a budget for laboratory supplies and a weekly stipend.
The program 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.
Full-Impact Students
Jessica Alquist
Psychology
I studied how using self-control to override an impulse impacts subsequent acts. Over the summer, I gave half my subjects a difficult task—one they would have to fight the urge to quit—to see if they would take longer to make a decision right after completing that task. On average, I found that was true. The study will go into my honors thesis.
Full-Impact Students
David Newby
Physics
My particular experiment in DSSI was tied to finding materials that react to electricity and controllably slow down a laser beam. Chemists at the University of Wisconsin fabricated test materials, and at Drew we measured the change in the speed of light.
Full-Impact Students
Melissa Levinsky
Neuroscience
For my honors thesis, I’m testing a small chemical compound that can shut off a potentially destructive molecular mechanism in neurons that gets turned on during Alzheimer’s disease. We simulate conditions seen in the disease and, working with cell cultures, we test compounds on the model.
Full-Impact Students
Yang Yang
When I entered Drew, I was planning to go to medical school, and I now know that I want to be a physician who conducts clinical research. The Drew Summer Science Institute, where I did research full time for two summers, taught me that.
Full-Impact Students
Robert Scheffler
Goldwater Scholarship winner
I’ve done a lot of research in my major, including being part of a team studying the bacterium that causes cholera. Once I got into the lab, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. It really engaged my mind and allowed me to do a lot of thinking.
Passionate Faculty
Stephen Dunaway
Assistant professor
I’m a molecular biologist whose recent research focuses on DNA replication, exploring the machinery of replication and responses to damage and providing insights into the molecular biology of cancer. I’ve also been known to vacuum and clean the bathroom.
Ph.D., Rutgers University
Passionate Faculty
Mary-Ann Pearsall
Professor
My current research focuses on cluster chemistry, specifically the ability of metals to bond to one another.
Ph.D., Cambridge University
Passionate Faculty
Roger Knowles
Associate professor
My research lab has successfully harvested placental stem cells from rats, and our recent experiments have suggested that these stem cells can promote a protective environment in the brain. Our hope one day is to use these cells as a therapy for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Yankees fans alert: I’m a die-hard Red Sox fan.
Ph.D., Harvard University
Passionate Faculty
Jessica L. Lakin
Associate professor & chair
I once had a student tell me that my empirically validated dating tips (which I teach in Social Psychology) had been successful. As for me, I’m exploring whether people are as likely to mimic the nonverbal behaviors of others when those behaviors are negative as they are when those behaviors are positive.
Ph.D., Ohio State University
Passionate Faculty
Minjoon Kouh
Assistant professor of physics
I’m working on computational neuroscience research projects—we study the brain as a computational and information-processing organ, using numerical and theoretical methods. I also play the traditional Korean drum in the Pungmul tradition.
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Passionate Faculty
Christina McKittrick
Associate professor
I am interested in exploring how various central neurotransmitter systems are affected by pharmacological and environmental manipulations, and how these changes, in turn, are related to behavior. First-day-of-class question: Ask me about kayaking among orcas and minke whales.
Ph.D., Rockefeller University
Passionate Faculty
Ryan Hinrichs
Associate professor
My current work is in expanding the scientific understanding of the atmosphere—specifically the tiny particles that float in the air, like sea salt, smoke and windblown minerals, and how trace pollutants might chemically change these particles and affect cloud formation and the climate.
Ph.D., Cornell University
Passionate Faculty
Graham Cousens
Assistant professor of psychology
I teach learning and behavior, cognitive neuroscience and introductory and methods courses in psychology and neuroscience. I’m also conducting research on neurobiological mechanisms of learning, memory and emotion.
Ph.D., Rutgers University
Passionate Faculty
Arnold Demain
Microbial biochemist, RISE Fellow
Before coming to Drew I was professor of industrial microbiology in the biology department at MIT. I also founded the Department of Fermentation Microbiology at Merck & Co., Inc. I’m interested in the regulation of microbial fermentations, biotransformations and natural products.
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley and Davis
Passionate Faculty
Robert K. Murawski
Assistant professor
I once had a student tell me, “I never thought I’d be able to do math like that until now.” In my research, I’m working on a paper that will show a simple solution to a complex quantum mechanical problem.
Ph.D., Stevens Institute of Technology
Passionate Faculty
Barbara Petrack
Biochemist, RISE Fellow
A former research fellow at CIBA-Geigy (Novartis), I work on enzymology, regulation of metabolism, nitric oxide, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes
Ph.D., New York University Medical Center
Passionate Faculty
Patrick O. Dolan
Associate professor
My research interests include conscious and unconscious influences in human memory; attention and perception; cognitive illusions and how these change with increased age. I focus on all of these interests with students in Drew’s Cognition Lab.
Ph.D., New York University
Passionate Faculty
Vincent P. Gullo
Organic chemist, RISE Fellow
I am the former vice president of drug discovery at Cetek Corporation and senior director of new lead discovery at Schering Plough, Inc. I’m primarily interested in drug discovery, natural products, high throughput screening and medicinal chemistry.
Ph.D., Columbia University
Passionate Faculty
Adam Cassano
Associate professor
I’m investigating phosphodiester cleavage, the bonds that hold our DNA and RNA together. Because they are important in cellular signaling, they are tied to numerous diseases. I find diving into a topic like this, and trying to learn as much as possible, thoroughly enjoyable. I think that’s a big reason why I enjoy my job so much.
Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University
