STUDENT DIVES DEEP INTO UW-L
research
UW-La Crosse student Yer Lor wants to one day be a
marine biologist and explore the mysteries of the deep sea. While she looks forward to that adventure, her undergraduate education has already been adventurous, she says.
Through fellowships, grants and programs, Lor has pursued her research interests in places from UW-L’s basement biology laboratory to the largest independent oceanographic research institution in the country. Amid the water tanks and ocean waves, she has learned her love of marine biology.
“When I came to UW-L, I knew I was interested in science and I knew I wanted to do research, but I wasn’t sure what kind,” she explains. Lor first landed a summer internship as a UW-L freshman through the National Science Foundation–Research Experience for Undergraduates, which kicked off a chain of connections with researchers in UW-L’s Biology Department and beyond.
16 Science & Health News Winter 2013-14
UW-L senior Yer Lor is a cellular and molecular biology major and chemistry minor.
“One way our students benefit is that most of our faculty came from somewhere else and have connections outside the university,” says Tisha King-Heiden, assistant professor of biology. “I helped Yer find applications so she could find research experiences in a new environment. That’s something we strive to help students do because it gives them the ability to take different approaches to asking questions and gives them a broader research perspective.” UW-L’s commitment to excellence in undergraduate research was recently recognized among an elite group of 39 universities nationally that provide excellence in undergraduate research in U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 America’s Best Colleges list.