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What's with worms? EWU science students learn about gene knockout.

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I walked into the seminar, and it was packed. Students took up every seat and stood against every wall. There were more students here than  I'd seen outside most larger events, all here for “Worms, Zebrafish, and Stem Cells oh my!"

I am not a scientist. I don't even much like worms. But that's what's great about college: here was an entire room of future scientists who did.

The researchers studied C. Elegans (referred to nonscientifically as "worms" from now on), a roundworm about 1 mm in length. This worm isn't your average worm: it's tiny, see through, and very simple with only about a thousand cells. Researchers love that the worms won’t bite or poop on them like mice will.

So why this worm? C. Elegans was the first multicellular organism to have its entire genetic code sequenced. What that means is we’re not sure what all the genes do yet, but we know where they are and we’ve named ‘em.

(At EWU, you can study worms as part of the Worm Wrangling Crew. For real.)

What the heck’s with the worms?

The big topic–and the reasons so many people were here–was the information about FER kinase, a gene present in most animals. So what is FER kinase?

If you’re a worm, it helps your skin stick together. It’s called FRK-1 in worms, and if you’re a worm without FRK-1, your cells end up all one type of skin and uneven. You end up looking like a really ugly raspberry.

This is important because we can use FRK-1 to study  how stem cells work in certain situations. For example, if we mistakenly add FRK-1 back to some of the worm’s skin cells and not to others, we don’t help the worm recover. Instead, it can actually cause the worm to explode!

You can see why scientists would want to study stem cells in other animals before they tried this type of work on humans. And at EWU, you learn about this.

But fish are different (somehow)

Zebrafish have FER kinase, too, so the same thing should be true in their bodies, yeah?

Nope.

Without the FER-kinase gene, zebrafish end up with big pools of blood just sitting in their bodies. The skin is perfectly fine and the heart still beats, but the blood doesn’t move. The lack of FER kinase also changes the way blood vessels work.

Why? It turns out that without FER-kinase, the blood vessels didn’t develop correctly, and the blood gets trapped in the aorta like water in a clogged sink.

It all matters for the future

So what does this all mean if the same gene ends up doing two things for different species?

The end goal to this kind of scientific research is to help prevent human diseases, and to do that, future scientists need to know how genes work in complex systems . Studying worms is a key step in an unending chain of discovery, and it’s the reasons so many EWU students attended a fascinating and very wormy lecture.

How to write a really bad resume (and then how to write a good one)

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We talked about getting a good internship in a previous post … but wait, we don't have a resume yet!

I went to How to Write a Really Bad Resume, the sequel to our previous Internships in the STEM Field, to meet with Career Services and see how we can change our boring high school resumes into professional, clean, and beautiful resumes.

Bad: ugly resume

We’ve all had a little difficulty getting Word to do what we want. (Okay: a lot of difficulty.) Documents might have had uneven spacing, or bullet points were frustrating to find. Fonts switched up on us when we moved from heading to subpoint and sometimes we got uneven lines. Font sizes also messed up a little but hey, people won’t notice that, yeah? Yeah???

Hold up. Employers look at resumes for an average of seven seconds. The first thing they’ll notice is whether your information is in the right place, but the second thing they notice is the layout. If there are hanging bullets or you’re using three or more fonts, they’ll notice that. If you have a hundred different colors, they’ll notice that too.

EWU’s Career Services recommends you keep your resume basic and clean. Stick to one readable font for section heads and another readable font for the actual information. Make sure there are no extra spaces, periods, or symbols.

Bad: Including your high school (once in college)

I fell victim to this one too many times. As a college student, you can safely delete your high school information. If you received an award from high school, put that in another section and leave it out of the education.

Instead, let’s use that space to talk about specific qualifications or accomplishments. If the job posting requires a set of skills, put them right up top so your future employer can see that you meet those requirements.

Bad: Objectives, Summary, Profile, Attributes

Now that we’ve got our education sorted, maybe we should put in our objectives for the job right? And let’s throw in a summary so our employer can see what kind of a worker we are!

No and no. What does an objective section say other than “I want to make money” or “I want to donate my time”? Your employer will have figured that out already because you’re applying for the job. One thing about summaries: They say nothing. Your interviewer is going to make their own judgement of you based on how they perceive your work ethic and communication skills. Telling them that you’re polite or punctual won’t be nearly as good as showing them.

Instead let’s use that space to break down your job experience into bite sized tasks. Let’s say your big task is “train some baristas”. Use the actual number (12) and then break it down into “train 12 new baristas; engage with customers, craft drinks, take customer orders, operate POC system, open and close cafe, organize and clean workspace”.

Now you turned one big task into a few smaller tasks that show off your skills. When you break down all your big tasks into smaller ones, you have more opportunities to showcase your skills. Skills should end up being two lines tops, so make sure you have a good cutoff point.

Bad: Assisted, helped

Okay so you built cart wheels with a team. You did your share but you didn’t do all the work. Wouldn’t it be great to write “assisted with building cart wheels”?

No it wouldn’t.

If you did your share of the work, don’t diminish that experience with an “assisted”. The person who screwed in one nail or brought you juice one time “assisted” so write it as “built cart wheels with a team of five”. If it’s a team project then list it as one, but don’t weaken your resume by saying you assisted.

Bad: What you can do for me

Look, you need this job for experience or money so tell your employer that yea?

No. When you focus on what your employer will do for you, you’re telling the employer “this job is all about me. I don’t care what the company stands for or whether I’m busy doing work… I just want to take my money and get another job as soon as possible.”

Instead focus on what you can do for the company. If the employer wants to know why you want to join, they’ll ask. If not, tell them what you like about their company and why you chose to apply to them. Keep in mind that employers are paying for your time. They want to hear how you can best spend it.

Putting it all together

1: Keep your resume black and white, and stick to one font for section heads and one for body. Keep them simple and readable.

2: Be specific about how you qualify. If you managed 7 people, write that down.

3: Build a section that reviews how you meet the qualifications of the specific job.

4: Break down your job into bite sized tasks.

5: Don’t use weak words like “assisted”. Be bold.

6: Think “what can I do for my job” not “what can my job do for me”.

When to think about internships? Let's do it now.

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Selfie containing three presenters and thirteen visible students.

We’ve all heard about how difficult it is to get a job after college. And you may have heard jokes about the “entry level job” that requires “three years prior work experience”. Sometimes it feels like employers are looking for an 18-22 year old college graduate with 30+ years of experience! That’s where internships come in. Internships allow students to gain experience in their field before graduating.

That’s insane. “How the heck do I do this?” you might ask. That’s what I asked too, so I went to an Internships in the STEM Field workshop to find out (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

Prior Work Experience

Let’s take care of the scary stuff first: employers will want prior work experience even for internships. By the time you apply to internships, you should have a few projects listed on your resume. So what counts as a project? Here’s a short list of things you might not have considered:

Volunteer projects—Environmental Science and Biology students: head on over to Turnbull (Don’t know what Turnbull is? EWU is the only college in the nation with campus on a wildlife preserve) and volunteer. VCD students: make some flyers or advertisements for a local business or nonprofit. You can use both of those opportunities in your resume, especially if they’ve been for six months or more.

Team projects—Had a cool team project you contributed to for class? Put that in as a major project. What was your role? That’s important too, especially if you lead the team or had a specialized role.

Clubs and Organizations—Clubs at EWU are super cool in that they often have projects members can help out with. I’ve seen or heard of students who built trebuchets and rocket engines.

Imagine having that on your resume.

Fieldwork—Most majors will have a thesis/capstone class where you work on a project for real employers. Many science students have outdoor projects or experiments too. One of my friends in Anthropology told me about times she’s been out on archaeology digs for her classes.

Not in a class that offers fieldwork? Don’t fear. There are plenty of volunteer opportunities out there, and most of them will look fantastic in your resume. If all else fails, contact your department head and ask if there are any opportunities nearby.

Stockpile Skills

There are always ways to get ahead of the crowd and stand out. You can get ahead by stockpiling your skills. How many Computer Science students have experience with Photoshop or web design? Probably not too many. How many designers know Python? I sure don’t. This is where stockpiling comes in. Here’s a neat way to stockpile skills courtesy of the workshop.

1: Find intelligence—Start off by asking questions and keeping your eyes peeled for companies looking for specific needs. Skills can range from very specific like “Adobe Dreamweaver” to something general such as “organizing folders”.

2: Call and ask—This step might be a little overwhelming for some people. If it’s a little scary (or hey, even if it isn’t), contact EWU’s Career Services and let them know you want practice with calling employers. Good questions to ask might be “what skills are you looking for in an employee?” or even “do you have any internship opportunities available?”

3: Research areas to contribute—What skill does your internship need that you don’t have? Find a club with a project that uses that skill and practice! If one doesn’t exist, find some people and make a project.

4: Cover letter writing—When writing a cover letter, focus on what services you can provide the company, not what the company can provide you.

5: Post-Grad work—Build your resume even more with the skills you built up in your internship. I had to learn InDesign for an internship I had a couple of years ago. I was terrified of InDesign projects until that internship, but now it’s my go-to Adobe product.

Wait! How do I find an internship?

Internships can be pretty tricky to find, so EWU has options available to anyone looking for an internship. First of all EWU students have access to Handshake, a website designed for students trying to find jobs and internships. Internship advisors work in each college and they can find fantastic internships for you to apply to.

EWU’s Career Fair is another event you can attend. Dress up, bring resumes, and meet professionals who are looking for new employees.

Effective note taking

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Students smiling and taking notes in a classroom setting

One thing that students seem to be worried about (I’m a perfect example of this) is note taking. How should I take notes to ensure I understand the material completely? Students want to find the best way to fit our social life and time off around college and work. Although effective work and cutting corners both give us more time to ourselves, working effectively will give you more time and prevent the issues that cutting corners presents.

That’s where note-taking comes into play. Many websites offer different pathways to note taking that can be effective for different people, but no one method works best for everyone. Taking effective notes can range from writing down key words to drawing out a chart. The biggest part of note taking is whether you’re taking notes and actively listening to the professor.

Note: If taking notes on paper, leave some space on the page between lines or off to the side. Future you will be happy when you go back through and add something from a textbook.

Let’s talk about outlines for a moment…

Students who write outlines get better grades and do less work than students who didn’t write outlines. Students who spend half an hour writing an outline end up cutting out the time required for a full draft of the paper. That’s because outlines function as guideposts. Students who work to make an outline know what they are going to talk about beforehand and don’t divert from their topic.

…And bring it back to note taking.

Note taking also works as a guidepost. You put down information that will likely be on the exam, point out important details and dates, and create a path for your study time. What’s more amazing is that writing down information is very effective for memory. Not only will you sett up a guidepost by taking notes, you cut out brush and build a road to success.

That’s the weird thing about note taking. When you spend time writing notes in class you save time later that you would have spent trying to find that one date your professor mentioned. One hour in class taking notes is worth two or even three hours in class not taking notes.

We’ve got the notes down, so what’s next? Look through the notes throughout the quarter to refresh your memory. If you leave spaces between lines you can fill in those spaces with questions to ask about the assignment or notes from the book. Once you go over that information a few times you’ll be better prepared for exams and essays.

Five tips for surviving your first (and second) week of school

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Swoop High Five

I graduated high school with the assumption that college would be stricter and more difficult than anything I had ever faced. I brought along my backpack with all the books for the quarter, about twenty assorted pens and pencils, and enough paper to write a novel.

I used none of that my first day. Instead, we got a syllabus with some expectations for the quarter, maybe a little homework, and often times (especially in smaller classes) we introduced ourselves to the class.

I ended the first week feeling pretty confident in my ability to get through the class. Perhaps I was a little too confident.

By the time the second week starts up, the snooze button on my phone became a huge temptation. Classes were definitely fun but hey, so is sleep.

I end up going to class on time. Because I show up, I have info on the tests that might not be in the book, my homework turned in, and I’ve built rapport with the professor by contributing to class.

First Week

My humorous advice for the first day, especially for shy people? Write down a movie and a book you enjoyed and keep it on you. I can’t remember how many times I’ve forgotten what my favorite book is the first day of class. You don’t usually need to get your books on the first day as long as you can get them before your first assignment is due. If the bookstore is packed the first day, wake up a little early and stop by the next day when it opens.

The first week is usually a good time to explore. Are there any secrets around campus? What are the different places to get dinner? The first week might be a great time to visit EPIC for some outdoor adventures.

Got your homework done for the week? Great! College homework can be more challenging than high school work, but it’s usually a lot more fun too. I’m interested in writing and design, and I’ve done projects ranging from writing short stories to designing lightbulb packaging and booklets.

Second Week

Week two can catch people buy surprise if they aren’t prepared. One myth I hear from parents, high school teachers, and other freshmen is that classes aren’t “mandatory”. I had a CPLA class where we learned tricks in class I wouldn’t have realized otherwise. If I hadn’t shown up I wouldn’t have passed the tests and I would have to retake the class!

Now that you’ve done your homework and attended class, it’s a good idea to build rapport with your class and teachers. Many classes have required group work. It’s great to already have a few classmates you’re comfortable working with.

A brief note—while you might be tempted to work with close friends that already know, make sure you’re working with people you can be certain will help your group succeed as a team!

Showing your professor that you’re interested in learning will help in the long run. Professors are people too, and they want to know they’re doing a good job at generating interest. Once you get on good terms with your professor to start out, you’ll find it easier to communicate with them outside of class.

The first classes that were inside my major was initially a little scary. I ended up in a writing class with nobody I knew. I asked my teacher questions through email and asked a few questions in person. By the end of the quarter my teacher wasn’t just another professor, she was a friend and someone willing to work with me towards my goals.

Recap

1: Write down your favorite book, movie, and a hobby before your first day.

2: Explore campus a bit and see what you can find early on. You might be too busy to explore later!

3: Finish homework.

4: Show up to class.

5: Take part in class.

These tips might sound a little basic … because they are! Here’s a little secret:

A couple years ago I was working in an early design class with some absolutely amazing students, but somehow I had a higher grade. Their work looked professional, but I was still struggling to master Photoshop despite intense effort. I remember asking my professor, “Everyone else has fantastic designs, and I feel like I’m falling behind. How are my grades higher?” My professor smiled at me and said, “It’s because you’re the one doing the homework.”

That’s such a weird secret isn’t it? Doing the work is the difference between just going to college and being academically successful.

19th Annual Creative Works Symposium Shows what EWU can do for You

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EWU undergrads and grad students show off their final projects and give presentations at the 2016 EWU Research and Creative Symposium. It is the culmination of countless hours of research, and critical thinking, data analysis, and presentation design. The event encompasses all majors, from STEM to the Humanities. For a complete list of the more than 500 presentations, check out the PDF here.

The Hargreaves Hall reading room was packed with undergrads and grad students showing off their research and colorful poster presentations, everything from green infrastructure, to geological research, biology and robotics.
Not only college students presented: High School students from North Central High School in Spokane presented their own scientific research, too.
Chris Golden, an incoming EWU Freshman, and his classmates David Song, and Oliver Miller, discussed their findings after sampling for the presence of metal reducing bacteria Geobacter sulfurreductens’s in Spokane regions contaminated with metals from industries like mining and smelting. The hope is a certain bacteria when released into the polluted water will actually eat the heavy metals.

NC HS Students Chris, David and Oliver
NC High School students Chris, David and Oliver (Nick Thomas:photo)

They took their samples back to the lab and successfully incubated them in low-oxygen petri dishes filled with iron oxide and salt, the bacteria’s preferred environment. They pointed out that more information is needed to make sure that releasing the bacteria in the environment will not backfire and get out of control in the environment.
Zoe Zywiak and Nadina Mrkaljevic, both from North Central High School, presented their findings confirming a fish called the Montana Big Hole River Arctic Grayling, found in Montana streams and rivers and suffering from genetic mutations and health problems is originally from Asia, and that the current species is too genetically isolated causing it to inbreed, with the hypothesis that a low genetic variance of ATP-6 loci would be detected.

NC high school students Zoe and Nadina explain research on isolated Arctic fish species found in the northwest
NC high school students Nadina and Zoe explain their research on genetically isolated fish species (Nick Thomas:photo)

Current efforts to boost the dying population by simply reproducing the local species in hatcheries are not working, they said. “Compare it to what would happen if people were only marrying their cousins,” they said. The Arctic Graylings need a wider genetic pool to draw from.
Miranda Street, also a North Central HS senior, tested fish guts, specifically sturgeon guts. More specifically, she tested their frozen fecal matter for the presence of certain bacteria to confirm whether hatchery sturgeon lack the correct gut flora to flourish when released in the wild.

North Central High School senior Miranda Street presents research at EWU (Nick Thomas: photo)
North Central High School senior Miranda Street presents research on fish gut flora (Nick Thomas: photo)

While research is still ongoing, the death rate of hatchery sturgeon is alarming, and Miranda is proud to help biologists in their quest to solve this problem.
EWU freshman Jessica Blackwood presented on geology research conducted as part of the “Cataclysms of the Columbia,” taught by professors of Geology, History and English. Students in the First Year Experience (FYE) pilot-course tested basalt formations at dramatic Rock Lake, located south of EWU.

EWU Freshman Jessica Blackwood explains her classes geology research
EWU Freshman Jessica Blackwood explains her Rock Lake geology research (nick thomas: photo)

They used a Brucker Tracer 3 portable X-ray fluorescence gun to confirm boundaries of basalt flows, and examine regional basalt layers eroded by waterfalls, such as above spectacular Palouse Falls. The 2 credit introductory class led by Prof. Chad Pritchard combined English and History with Science. She found that studying with Eco-Poet Prof. Paul Lindholdt helped inspire her passion for a broad range of learning.

EWU Admissions intern Afaria McKinney spoke with Beanca Thai about her presentation “Not Going to write you a love song.” Beanca found that multicultural relationships are viewed as  comedic relief, whereas white couples are seen as either serious, dramatic, or comedic, meaning that some cultures are not allowed the privilege of emotions in media.