Research
their chemistry program, has a tremendous number of opportunities – working labs where students can gain experience and really learn a lot about the research field.” Marc Hetu, in his final year of a BSc in biology with a minor in chemistry, processes plants for medicinal purposes. He harvests and cleans the roots, shreds and dries them, and carries out a variety of measurements and analyses after soaking them in solvent to obtain the plant extract. Hetu initially had a summer job in the lab. He is now working there as part of a Research Topics course, with the additional responsibility of training a new student. He has become the resident expert in using a particular microwave extractor, a skill he would never have developed in class. He plans to continue his work in the lab again this summer.
“It’s not a class – it’s actual experience,” Hetu says.
Value is multiplied Involving undergraduates in research is “good for all of us, working as a team,” says McFarland. “It’s not only beneficial for the undergraduate in terms of gaining experience, but also for lab assistants and upper-level undergraduates in terms of mentoring.” The research enriches the classroom experience, too. “How we get a drug for cancer, all the way from the lab, where somebody dreams up an idea on paper, to actually getting this to a human, is not straightforward at all,” McFarland says. “I can add a lot to teaching just by having been through it.”
ACADIA BULLETIN Spring 2014
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