Issue #4 SUMMER 2015
THE PULSE
Highlighting the accomplishments and contributions of Ursinus College alumni, students and faculty in the sciences.
BIOLOGY • CHEMISTRY • NEUROSCIENCE • ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES • PHYSICS • HEALTH AND EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY • PSYCHOLOGY
To see past issues of THE PULSE please go to ursinus.edu/thepulse
Have ideas for a story? Contact us. Editor: Jacqueline D’Ercole Email: jdercole@ursinus.edu ursinus.edu/thepulse
IN THIS ISSUE: - CSCG Fellows Make an Impact on Campus and Throughout the World - Externship Opportunities Provide Students with First-Hand Experience - Second Annual Dinner Event Teaches the Value of a Good Laugh - Alumni in the Spotlight: James Ward ’00 D.M.D. - National Science Foundation Grant to Increase STEM Success at Ursinus
THE CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND THE COMMON GOOD CSCG is Ursinus’s first interdisciplinary center, and through its programs, it seeks to promote leadership and encourage sound reasoning from the college’s science majors. Students from a multitude of academic backgrounds come together to explore research, policy and practice through the lens of the liberal arts. For more information about CSCG, or to make a gift in support of the program, visit: ursinus.edu/thepulse/cscg
CSCG Fellows Make an Impact on Campus and Throughout the World Last June, CSCG Fellows Christina Cromwell and Kevin Monahan, both Class of 2015, traveled to the Nicaraguan village of Limón, where they served as volunteers with the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC). During their month-long visit, they stayed with a host family and took part in public health missions, shadowing physicians as they visited with patients young and old. “I learned a lot of skills working at the clinic and spending time at the local hospitals,” says Monahan. “One of the most meaningful things I learned was how important it is to gain the trust and respect of patients and the local community.” Cromwell describes one particularly meaningful moment from her internship saying, “A child named Angel came into the clinic to see FIMRC’s pediatrician. He was severely malnourished and his lack of food intake had done irreversible damage. However, he was also one of the happiest children I have ever encountered. I was lucky to meet such an inspiring child.” Both students formed a strong bond with their host family, and were deeply affected by their cultural immersion in an impoverished region. They learned different methods for practicing
CSCG Fellow Christina Cromwell ’15
medicine in an atmosphere without much of the advanced technology that is taken for granted here in the U.S. Being CSCG Fellows enabled Cromwell and Monahan to understand what it means to be a “citizen scientist” and has ultimately contributed to their future career decisions. Both Cromwell and Monahan will continue their studies this fall—Cromwell will pursue a doctorate in physical therapy and Monahan will begin medical school.
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Externship Opportunities Provide Students with First-Hand Experience “It feels good to share my knowledge, thoughts and skills with students in an effort to help them become successful in their own endeavors.” - Paul Wagner ’92 V.M.D.
BECOME AN EXTERN SPONSOR If you are interested in serving as an extern sponsor, please contact the Office of Career and Professional Development at 610-409-3599 or career@ursinus.edu.
MAKE A GIFT: Please consider making a gift to support the students, faculty and programs at Ursinus College. Contributions can be mailed to: Ursinus College Advancement Office 601 E. Main Street Collegeville, PA 19426 Please make checks payable to: “Ursinus College” If you would like to designate your contribution in support of a specific program, like internships or externships, please be sure to denote that when you make your gift. You may also make a gift online at: ursinus.edu/makegift
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Paul Wagner ’92 V.M.D. and Holly Yost ’18 at the Harleysville Veterinary Hospital
John Sears ’99 Ph.D., MBA and Ivan Sokirniy ’15 at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Winter break 2015 was particularly fruitful for 37 Ursinus College students who participated in the Office of Career and Professional Development’s extern program. Alumni mentors were matched with students, whom they allowed to shadow them for three to five days. Many participants came from pre-health or science backgrounds and were placed with such organizations as Foundations Behavioral Health, Brandywine Orthopaedics, Main Line Gastroenterology Associates and Vertex Fitness.
can be like for a vet. This is an opportunity that was not available to me when I was deciding to become a vet.” Ivan Sokirniy ’15 shadowed John Sears ’99 Ph.D., MBA, who works in global strategic marketing for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson. Of his externship he says, “Although I knew what I wanted to do career-wise, Dr. Sears helped me assess the likelihoods and options of the various paths I can take.”
First-year student Holly Yost ’18 spent three days with Paul Wagner ’92 V.M.D. at the Harleysville Veterinary Hospital. Yost had some valuable takeaways from her experience saying, “The most memorable aspect of my externship was being able to listen to Dr. Wagner interact with his patients’ owners. I learned that in order to be a vet, you need to strike a certain balance between empathy and practicality.”
Sears was impressed by the strong foundation of knowledge with which Sokirniy was already equipped. He sees the future in these ambitious students and says, “Working with Ivan, I saw all of the potential this generation has to solve global, complex problems through their want to collaborate multiplied by access to information.”
For Wagner, there is satisfaction in knowing that he is benefitting students during a very impressionable time in their studies. He says, “It is valuable to give a prospective veterinarian an idea of what a normal (or abnormal) day
The externship program at Ursinus continues to grow each year, and is open to students from every major. Next year’s extern program is scheduled to take place between January 4-15, 2016.
SUMMER 2015
Second Annual Dinner Event Teaches the Value of a Good Laugh
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
James Ward D.M.D. Class of 2000 Clifford C. Kuhn ’63 M.D. presented on the healing power of laughter on March 19, 2015
It’s the truth: laughter really is the best medicine. That was the message that keynote speaker Clifford C. Kuhn ’63 M.D., aka The Laugh Doctor, shared with alumni, faculty, students and friends of the college who gathered for the second annual celebration of the Brownback Anders Pre-Health Society and the Minority Association of Pre-medical Students. The event, held Thursday, March 19, brought together more than 70 attendees, who had the opportunity to mingle, enjoy dinner and listen to Kuhn’s uplifting presentation. Kuhn spoke about the heavy toll that stress places on the human body, resulting in diminished energy, depleting the immune system and ultimately leading to chronic illnesses like heart disease, stroke and diabetes. He then challenged the audience to embrace humor in their lives by filling their “HA HA HA Prescription” and offered a few key methods for doing so. Kuhn is an award-winning professional speaker, trainer, personal coach, doctor and author, as well as a
professor of psychiatry at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. The evening also featured opening remarks from Interim Dean and professor of Biology Peter Small, who introduced the college’s planned Innovation and Discovery Center and took attendees of the event through a video tour of the proposed facility for the sciences. Students, Ina Hysko ’15, Alvin Varghese ’15, president of the Minority Association of Pre-health Students and Rachel Philip ’15, president of the Brownback Anders Pre-Health Society, also spoke at the event. For more information about Dr. Clifford Kuhn and his methods for leading a happier, healthier life, visit his website www.drcliffordkuhn.com or read his latest book, It All Starts with a Smile: 7 Steps to Being Happier Right Now.
Oral and maxillofacial surgeon, James Ward ’00 D.M.D., has Ursinus to thank for his chosen profession. “I was inspired to pursue this career after being exposed to it during an internship I did as part of my elective curriculum at Ursinus,” says Ward. Upon his graduation from the college, Ward completed a D.M.D. degree at Temple University as well as training in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Temple Hospital, serving as chief resident from 2007-2008. He now works for Pottstown Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, Inc. in Pottstown, Penn., where he treats a variety of conditions of the face and jaw. Ward has remained involved with Ursinus, returning to campus to meet with and mentor today’s students. He advises them to “be determined” as they explore future career options saying, “Once you have found the career that makes you excited to go to work each day, don’t let anything stop you. The only thing standing in the way of your future is the work it takes to achieve it.”
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SUMMER 2015
National Science Foundation Grant to Increase STEM Success at Ursinus
Professor of Biology and Associate Dean Rebecca Kohn is leading the grant, with assistance from co-principal investigators
Kathryn Goddard, associate professor of Biology, Carlita Favero, assistant professor of Biology and Jennifer Round, assistant professor of Biology. The grant will provide for academic advising, curricular and co-curricular activities, mentoring and research opportunities. It includes a bridge program to facilitate the transition between the first and second semesters of introductory biology, a series of workshops offered by the Office of Career and Professional Development and research to strengthen students’ connection to the STEM community.
- National Science Foundation Grant to Increase STEM Success at Ursinus - Alumni in the Spotlight: James Ward ’00 D.M.D. - Second Annual Dinner Event Teaches the Value of a Good Laugh - Externship Opportunities Provide Students with First-Hand Experience - CSCG Fellows Make an Impact on Campus and Throughout the World
IN THIS ISSUE: Highlighting the accomplishments and contributions of Ursinus College alumni, students and faculty in the sciences.
THE PULSE 601 E. Main Street Collegeville, PA 19426
NSF grant will support students pursuing STEM-related studies
Ursinus College was recently awarded a fiveyear, nearly $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation in support of highachieving students studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields who demonstrate financial need. The new grant will develop the Supporting Inclusive Excellence (SIE) project and provide scholarships to 30 students as they complete majors in biology, biochemistry or neuroscience, and look toward entering the workforce or STEM graduate school programs.