Students gain research, mentoring skills in Penn State-SFU collaboration

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Jordan Pietrzykoski had never conducted research before. But the junior psychology major and neuroscience minor at Saint Francis University in Loretto was looking for research opportunities to broaden her educational experience.

So, when Saint Francis neuroscientist and Associate Professor of Psychology Shlomit Flaisher-Grinberg told her about an innovative collaboration with Penn State that would give her the chance to participate in a research project, Pietrzykoski jumped at the chance.

"I had taken a class with Dr. Flaisher-Grinberg previously, so I knew this was going to be an exciting and engaging opportunity," said Pietrzykoski, a native of Montgomeryville.

Last fall, Pietrzykoski was among a group of Saint Francis undergraduates who were paired with Penn State entomology graduate students to conduct a semester-long research project. The graduate students, who enrolled in "ENT530: Supervised Mentoring for Graduate Students," gained experience in mentoring and teaching undergraduates, and the undergraduates learned the scientific method from student and faculty mentors at a major land-grant research university.

The brainchild of Etya Amsalem, assistant professor of entomology in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, the program is supported primarily by a grant awarded to Amsalem, as well as by Saint Francis. In 2020, the National Science Foundation awarded Amsalem a more than $1 million CAREER grant, a program that supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models and leaders in integrating research and education.

The grant contained an educational component designed to increase diversity in science education by targeting underrepresented groups at three stages of development: in K-8, in high school and at the undergraduate level.

"It started from thinking about what it takes to succeed in grad school, and particularly, in STEM fields," Amsalem said. "Success in grad school often depends on early-stage exposure to research. Many underrepresented groups, such as prospective students of color, first-generation high school or college students, or students from rural or low-income communities, receive little exposure to the college environment or to STEM careers. This lack of exposure is one of the causes for the 'leaky pipeline' effect that leads to a loss of diversity at the upper levels of STEM professions."

She noted that these thoughts came up during a conversation with Flaisher-Grinberg. "She told me about Saint Francis students looking for research experience and seeking guidance when applying to grad school, while I told her about our grad students who would love to develop mentoring skills," Amsalem said. "This seemed like a win-win situation for everyone and the beginning of a fun journey."

The course is open to any graduate students in entomology who are interested in developing their mentoring skills. The mentor students develop a research project that takes place in their home laboratories during the semester. Topics can vary depending on the interest of the mentors.

"The grad students submit their proposals before the semester begins, and Dr. Flaisher-Grinberg and I help them to design the projects so they are feasible and can be completed during the limited time we have," Amsalem said. "We accept proposals within a broad range of scientific disciplines including entomology, biology, chemistry and psychology."

Saint Francis students are chosen based on their interest in the program, an application and an interview, according to Flaisher-Grinberg, whose research focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying psychopathological conditions, as well as the mutual benefits to the human-animal bond.

"We prioritize students who are in their second or third year, are interested in applying to grad school and have no, or very limited, independent research experience," Flaisher-Grinberg said. "Students come from various majors and minors — such as psychology, biology, chemistry and neuroscience."

Saint Francis student Pietrzykoski and her Penn State mentor, Anna Cressman, studied the variance in body composition between bees reared in a laboratory setting versus bees reared in the wild, focusing specifically on glycogen and lipids in the fat bodies of the bees.

"Getting to work with Anna was an absolutely wonderful experience," Pietrzykoski said. "I had never conducted research before, and she did a really great job of instructing me through the process while also letting me do a lot of the hands-on parts on my own so I had the opportunity to learn.

"This class was the perfect way to get introduced to how a laboratory is run," she continued. "Saint Francis is a fairly small school, so our laboratory supplies are limited, but being able to travel to Penn State and use their equipment was an incredible experience. I am so thankful for the opportunity that Dr. Flaisher-Grinberg and Dr. Amsalem provided."

For her part, Cressman was grateful for the mentoring skills she gained. "It was a new experience for me," she said. "This was the first time I ran through a whole experimental set up with a student from start to finish. Working with Jordan was a very positive experience."

Cressman, a master's degree candidate in entomology from Emmaus, was able to put her new skills to work right away. "Currently, I'm a mentor to an undergraduate student in the Amsalem lab," she explained. "The lecture portions of this course helped me improve ways I can deliver information to this student, who isn’t as knowledgeable on the subject. This course is meant to push your comfort zone as a graduate student by allowing you to be a leader of a small project, and that's what it did for me."

Amsalem agreed that the program has yielded positive results for the Penn State grad students. "They are developing and practicing mentoring skills that will be useful to them as they proceed further in their careers into supervisory roles," she said. "These skills in graduate students also can assist faculty — I expect the grad students who go through our program to be more successful in their own research since it often involves mentoring Penn State undergraduates."

Flaisher-Grinberg said she believes the collaboration has been a success for the undergraduate participants, as well.

"Our Saint Francis students have learned to ask valuable scientific questions, choose the appropriate methodologies to assess their questions, design and conduct research experiments, analyze collected data, and present their findings in scientific conferences, all under the direction and supervision of their Penn State mentors," Flaisher-Grinberg said. "The skills and competencies that they acquire through the partnership with Penn State have the potential to benefit their personal, academic and professional development."

Amsalem said she hopes the course, which will be offered each fall semester, will grow to increase the number of participating student pairs every year and to expand to other regional schools near Penn State.

"We would like to turn this into a multiyear experience for the participants with annual meetings of the cohorts and meetings across different cohorts," she said. "We view this course as an opportunity to establish long-term relationships between the mentees and the mentors as they progress in their careers, as well as between Penn State and the many regional schools around it."