Bethany Moore
Year in School
Senior
Major Degree Program / Department
Public Administration and Policy
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Fiorella Carlos Chavez
Why did you want to become an Ambassador?
“Participating in research was the best experience of my Freshman year. I was able to develop skills in communication, leadership, and collaboration; meanwhile, I made lasting academic connections and gained personalized mentorship. I wanted to become an ambassador to encourage other undergraduates to pursue research opportunities. Coming to college, I thought “research” was solely defined by lab experimentation with test tubes and microscopes; I quickly learned that there is a vast space and great need for research in all areas of study. As an ambassador, I hope to demonstrate that people of all majors and all interests – whether STEM, humanities, or anything in between – have a place in undergraduate research.”
Carissa Bersche
Year in School
Sophomore
Major Degree Program / Department
Biochemistry
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Antje Heese
How did you get started in undergraduate research?
“I always knew I wanted to be involved in research, and that was a big reason that I came to Mizzou. The summer before entering my freshman year, I was looking at the Undergraduate Research page and I found FRIPS (Freshman Research In Plants) applications and I applied for that, and then throughout my first week at Mizzou I took several lab tours and went to a bunch of the Undergraduate Research events and got connected with other professors, and then I joined Dr. Heese’s lab through FRIPS.”
Connor Hall
Year in School
Junior
Major Degree Program / Department
Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Joseph Santin
How did you get started in undergraduate research?
“I took Genetics my second year of college, and I was in the discussion section talking with my TA, because he’s a cool guy, and he said that he knew a professor that was looking for undergraduate students to help out in his lab. I was interested, so I looked at some of his research and read some of his papers, and I thought it was absolutely fascinating so I just walked into his office one day when I knew he was available and brought about 3 pages worth of questions, and we just talked about his research for about 3 hours. He liked the passion that I brought and I loved his research so he offered me a position in the lab.”
Devanshi Patel
Year in School
Senior
Major Degree Program / Department
Health Science
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Gary Baker
Why did you want to become an ambassador?
“The desire to make it easier for freshman to get into research is how I reached out and became an ambassador.”
Dylan Fowler
Year in School
Senior
Major Degree Program / Department
Chemistry and Mathematics
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Kurt Brorsen
How did you get started in undergraduate research?
“When I was a freshman, I did the S.T.A.R. program and I took an “Intro to Undergraduate Research” workshop with Dr. Sarah Humfeld. In this workshop, she told us that if we wanted to get started in research, we should look at our department website and find faculty whose research interests us. Dr. Brorsen was the first and only faculty member that I emailed, and I joined his lab the beginning of sophomore year and have been there ever since.”
Haley Hultz
Year in School
Senior
Major Degree Program / Department
Psychological Sciences
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Timothy Trull
How did you get involved with undergraduate research?
“During my freshman year I joined the Discovery Fellows program through the Honors College application. I was applying for other scholarships and then just happened to apply also for the Discovery Fellows and got it, and then I researched the labs online, read all of the professors’ ‘About’ bios of their labs, and then I found Dr. Huang’s lab and we meet over Zoom and I started in her lab.”
Jillian Voskovitch
Year in School
Senior
Major Degree Program / Department
Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Monique Lorson
How did you get started in undergraduate research?
“I knew about Dr. Chris Lorson’s research before I came to college and his work in spinal atrophy and all this neuro degenerative research. It was something I was super interested in and passionate about, so I reached out at the end of my freshman year and got in touch with Drs. Chris and Monique Lorson and then I started working in the lab and have been there ever since.”
Kameron Hahn
Year in School
Junior
Major Degree Program / Department
Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Laura Schulz
How can students get involved in undergraduate research?
“I would recommend that you attend workshops. We have plenty of workshops through the Office of Undergraduate Research, as well as the S.T.A.R. program. If you attend five of these workshops, you receive a S.T.A.R which verifies that you’re interested in joining a lab.”
Karan Kommu
Year in School
Junior
Major Degree Program / Department
Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Jaume Padilla
Why did you want to become an Ambassador?
“During my freshman and sophomore year, I joined two different labs. With that experience, I thought I would be able to better help other people join labs, and I wanted to let other students know that to switch to different labs if you haven’t found the right fit yet.”
Kristen Barwick
Year in School
Senior
Major Degree Program / Department
Biochemistry
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Antje Heese
Why is undergraduate research at Mizzou important?
“There are a lot of unanswered questions we have about biological systems and in biological research that need to be answered. I want to help to understand our growing population, and understand how to improve biochemical processes we already have.”