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Chemistry Student Stories

Diary of a Ph.D. Student – Stephen Budy

August 21, 2017…

As the first day of school starts at Southern Methodist University (SMU) for the Fall 2017, I am still excited about another school year and all the new things to come. I started as a PhD graduate student in the chemistry department two years ago and remember coming a few weeks earlier into Dallas, TX for the first time to find a place to live and then to start graduate orientation before the semester officially began. Since the incoming chemistry graduate students were all tasked with being Teaching Assistants (TA’s), at least our first year, we went through training to make sure we still remembered our general chemistry and could adequately help undergraduates in the classes we would be TA’ing for. We even had to do the problems at the back of each chapter and then get up in front of the class and teach it to the rest of our incoming group. I think everyone was terrified of that part because it is well known that whenever you are in front of the class your IQ drops dramatically! At least it felt like it.

Then we had to take three American Chemical Society (ACS) three-hour exams that week to determine which graduate classes we would register for. One day we met other graduate students from other departments for a more general teaching orientation put on by SMU. That was nice to see and talk to other new graduate students to realize we all had the same overwhelming feeling and it was nice to bond together, and SMU even provided some free ice cream sandwiches from Pokey O’s. It was an exciting week getting used to a new city, school, department, and group of friends which we bonded together very quickly already going through the same things together.

At the end of the week before school started we had a department lunch introducing the seven of us to the rest of the chemistry department. Since we all had already chosen our individual research groups before we came to SMU, we had already met at least our research advisor, our group, and the two professors in charge of the orientation. The SMU chemistry department has about thirty graduate students and about fifteen research professors so it has a nice small family feel where we all know each other. I am always surprised and enjoy when I stop in the halls and chat with the other graduate students, the undergraduates doing research, and even the professors. I’m looking forward to another exciting semester and year taking classes and learning, doing research and expanding my knowledge and experience, and teaching and tutoring undergraduates and graduates.

Stephen M. Budy grew up in Bakersfield, CA and attended Bakersfield Community College where he received an A.S. degree in Physics and Mathematics. Then he transferred to Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA where he received his B.S. in Chemistry and Computer Science. After some industry and research experience he received his M.S. degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ in Materials Science & Engineering. He then moved to Colorado to work as a researcher in the chemistry department of the University of Colorado, Denver and also in the Chemistry Research Center at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, CO. After meeting a former Dr. Son PhD graduate from SMU’s chemistry department at the Academy and meeting Dr. Son at a conference, they both convinced him to apply and attend SMU. He is now starting his third year and glad he took their advice and now happily working alongside Dr. Son, his group, and the SMU chemistry department.
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Anthropology Student Stories

Digging Through the Past in Dallas

Meet Anthropology Ph.D. student Rachel Burger an learn about her archaeology work right here on SMU’s campus.

As part of the Ph.D. program in Archaeology here at SMU, I have had the opportunity to work as the Collections Management Research Assistant in the Archaeology Repository of Collections (ARC) for several semesters. For decades, SMU Archaeology faculty and graduate students conducted research in Texas and neighboring regions, resulting in over 3,100 cubic feet of artifacts and associated archival documents now curated within the Anthropology Department. I supervise a group of undergraduate students and guide our day-to-day activities in the repository.

Most of our activities focus on the proper care and rehabilitation of the collections. This entails upgrading the storage of some of our older collections, conducting detailed inventories, and combing through the archives for information on past archaeological projects and the history of the repository itself. I have also participated in consultations with affiliated Native American tribes, facilitated the use of the collections for education and research by SMU faculty, students, and visiting researchers, and am currently helping to plan for the future of the ARC and the collections under its care. Through these projects, I have also had the opportunity to mentor and work one-on-one with undergraduate students that are just beginning their careers in archaeology.

Working in the ARC not only provides me with practical experience in the field of archaeology as I progress through the Ph.D. program here at SMU, but it is also an incredibly fulfilling experience. As archaeologists, we have an ethical responsibility to properly care for the artifacts resulting from our research, to ensure that they are accessible to other scholars, and to promote collections-based research within the field. The work I am doing now will help to secure these collections for the future so that others may benefit from them as I have.

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Biology Student Stories

Searching for Answers: Virus-induced Cancers

SMU graduate student Tetiana Hutchinson is currently in the Biological Sciences Ph.D. program, researching the development of virus-induced cancers.  Learn more about her work and how her research is at the forefront of such cancer experiments worldwide.  

Seven years ago, I came from Ukraine to the United States to pursue my dream of becoming a research scientist.  I joined the Ph.D. graduate program in Molecular & Cellular Biology at SMU in 2014 and am doing my dissertation studies in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Harrod.  My project involves research on the human T-cell leukemia virus type-1 (HTLV-1) –an oncogenic retrovirus which causes an aggressive white blood cell cancer, known as adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL).  My work focuses on characterizing the molecular interactions between viral and host cellular factors to better understand the underlying mechanisms involved in the development of virus-induced cancers and ATLL disease progression.

Recently, we are using an in vivo model of HTLV-1-induced lymphoma to determine if inhibiting certain candidate targets, identified through our cell-culture studies, can prevent tumor formation in experimentally-engrafted animals.  For this work, an immunocompromised NOD/scid mouse strain is injected with human HTLV-1-infected cancer cells, and then the animals are monitored for any changes to their health or appearance over a period of 8-12 weeks.  Thanks to Dr. Harrod and the SMU Laboratory Animal Research Core, I’ve had the opportunity to learn how to perform sophisticated tumor cell engraftment experiments in immunocompromised animals.  There are currently few laboratories worldwide using the in vivo NOD/scid model of HTLV-1-induced cancers, and I will present my research findings at the 18th International HTLV Conference in Tokyo, Japan in March 2017.  I am proud to be an SMU graduate student and a member of our research team.

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Anthropology Student Stories

From Dallas To Rio: Anthropology Research Around the Globe

The research of SMU Anthopology Ph.D. student (and Fulbright-Hays Fellow) Kerri Brown is taking her all over the world.  Learn more about her fieldwork in Brazil and how she is making new discoveries as she becomes part of the local communities there.  

I came to Rio de Janeiro one year ago to start ethnographic fieldwork for my dissertation. I had done short research stints in Rio three times before — two or three months at a time in the summers — but no amount of preliminary research, coursework, or proposal writing could have fully prepared me for the challenges of longterm fieldwork.

My specialty within anthropology is medical anthropology, which is the study of how social, cultural, and/or biological factors collectively influence human disease and illness. Medical anthropologists study everything from birthing practices, to HIV/AIDS policies, to how “suffering” is defined in different cultural contexts. My research is on how recent policies dealing with traditional medicine are affecting the traditional populations that they often target. Specifically, my work focuses on Afro-Brazilian groups, who are increasingly gaining an array of political rights.

The best way to describe anthropological fieldwork is “messy.” My research topic is broad in the sense that there are several ways to approach it, and several levels at which to analyze it. The “policies” that I’m referring to, for example, are both national and international, and span the sectors of human rights, the environment, and health. But my research is also narrow in that it focuses on a very particular group and topic, both of which are constantly being redefined and contested.

So, arriving in a metropolitan area of 12 million people to explore these issues was no easy task. What kinds of events should I attend? How do I find those events? What kinds of people should I talk to? What kinds of social groups should I be involved with? How should I balance reading and dissecting policies with doing on-the-ground work? Creativity, flexibility, and an open mind are indispensable. Many of my days consist of going to public events and/or demonstrations that are related to my research topic, and speaking to attendees and organizers. Other days consist of simply hanging out with research participants, conversing with them naturally about a variety of topics in spaces of their choosing. After I explain my research to people, conversations often lead to invitations to events, places, and even to their homes. It is in these moments and spaces that I gain the most valuable on-the-ground perspectives.

Kerri picking oranges, one of many examples of fieldwork’s “surprises.”

Perhaps the most gratifying moments of field research are the ones that come as complete surprises. I can never truly predict where or how I’ll meet people who will become significant to my research. An early example of this was when I was volunteering at media literacy workshops at a local NGO. After I mentioned my research to one of the workshop participants, she told me about a community traditional medicine pharmacy that she frequented in her neighborhood. She invited me to the pharmacy, which ended up being heavily involved in questions of traditional medicine policies. It was at that pharmacy that I first began to understand the disconnect between how communities organize around traditional medicine and how policies approach traditional medicine. It was also there that I learned that the use of traditional medicine is often related to a lack of government healthcare services in marginalized communities.

I often use these surprises as gauges: How relevant is my research topic in the daily lives of people in my field sites? Is it a topic that is hardly ever discussed, a topic that is prevalent but stays in the background, or one that is of constant focus? In the example above, my participation in a media literacy workshop, although not obviously related to my specific research topic, led to important information and research connections. The social networks and guiding questions of my research therefore end up looking quite organic. It is often the stories themselves of forming relationships in the field that are telling of larger societal and cultural patterns. Later this month I’ll move on to the second part of my research in the Amazon region of the country, which has a completely different social and geographical landscape from Rio. I look forward to the nervous excitement that navigating new landscapes will bring.

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Religious Studies Student Stories

Get to Know Ph. D. Student Andrew Mercer

At SMU, learning happens on campus and all around the world!  Andrew Mercer, a Ph.D. student in the Graduate Program in Religious Studies, had an opportunity to work in Massachusetts this summer.  Here is his story:

Earlier this year, I applied to serve as a teaching fellow for the summer studies program at the Pappas Patristic Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts.  This is a week-long program designed for masters and undergraduate students as well as clergy and laity to have an opportunity to study patristics under the guidance of faculty who are experts in the field. Participants choose two courses to attend, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Each course is designed and overseen by a professor, and most courses have a PhD student acting as the teaching fellow. In general, the professors choose the texts that will be read and give an introduction to the material, then the teaching fellows guide the daily reading and discussion of those texts. I t is a wonderful way for doctoral students to gain classroom experience, to get to know scholars in the field, and to discuss research projects with other graduate students.

2016 Summer Institute Attendees

I was able to attend this program thanks to a graduate student travel grant from the SMU Graduate Studies office.  I served as the teaching fellow for a course on the problem of evil in patristic theology and philosophy, a topic on which I had written for our core PhD seminar in philosophy of religion.  My role was to field questions on the material and to facilitate the dialogue, which naturally turned out to be a great way of solidifying my own understanding of the topic.  In addition to being a teaching fellow for this course, I attended another course which was more directly related to my area of specialization (patristic ecclesiology) and was able to make a significant contribution there as well.