BTRUE Architect: Dr. Dwayne D. Simmons Ph.D.

Dr. Dwayne D. Simmons Ph.D.

Biology Chair and Director of Baylor Transdisciplinary Research Undergraduate Experience program. He currently performs research on aging brain function related to hearing and balance, neurodegeneration, and neuro-immune responses. Most recently, his research focuses on the effects of Oncomodulin elicits on the regeneration of the spinal nerve following injury.

Q. Can you please state your name for me and what your position at Baylor is?

A. Dwayne D. Simmons. I am a full professor and also chair of the Department of Biology. I hold the endowed chair of the Cornelia Marshall Smith endowed chair. And I also am a professor in Psych/Neuro.

Q. Thank you so much for that little brief introduction. Can you please tell me what your experience has been in academia as a minority here at Baylor?

A. Well, in general, probably being a minority here at Baylor is no different than being a minority at any of the other institutions that I have been a part of. And I did my undergraduate at Pepperdine in California. I did my graduate work at Harvard. I have had faculty positions at UCLA and also at the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis and now, here at Baylor. So that aspect of being a minority really has not changed in those various venues.

As an underrepresented minority, I get asked to do a lot of things. Especially when I was at UCLA, I was pretty much asked to be on every single committee that ever dealt with minorities. Here I am not asked to do that just because being chair, I have a little bit of a buffer from being asked that question. Although my dean keeps saying there are so many things, I want you to do. But one of the things that I have done is that rather than being asked to do things, I have adopted the approach of being more proactive. And I just go ahead. And I am always creating programs that are related to helping increase diversity on campus. That has something that I view as being really, really important. So when I got here, I started a program in the sciences called BTRUE, which is the Baylor Transdisciplinary Research Undergraduate Experience. And although it is open to everyone and anyone because I am the director, I have an eye towards using it as an opportunity to be proactive, especially for minority students.

We have the McNair program, which I am not directly involved in, but indirectly involved in. But I try to make sure that McNair students have an opportunity in BTRUE, for example, to do their summer undergraduate research. We are trying to write grants. The current one that we are trying to write is the HHMI grant, which HMMI is probably the largest private biomedical funding entity in the world. They have billions of dollars that they spend. Well, I do not know if they spend billions, but they spend probably very close to a billion on research and different research mechanisms. A lot of it is just pure research in biomedicine, but a significant amount of that money is used to fund programs that help increase inclusiveness and one of the grants that I am working on right now is HMMI inclusivity grant, which is called I3. So Inclusive Excellence Round Three. We are trying to figure out ways to increase retention in our S.T.E.M and specifically in biology and chemistry as well as ways to enhance the experience of first-generation and ethnic underrepresented groups.

Q. Perfect! That flows slightly into my next question. Thank you. That was really good

A. So that is why I meant that I also wrote a grant. Research Experience for Undergraduates, SITE grant, REU-SITE Grant. And that is to bring in undergraduates from HBCU and from HIS’s, Hispanic institutions and minority-serving institutions emphasized overall. I have several that I connected with, Delaware State University and University System of Puerto Rico and also Tennessee State University.

Q. What changes have you seen at Baylor to aid minorities in feeling included at this PWI? We can focus on a broad spectrum and then tie it in specifics other than what you have mentioned with the pre-health department.

A. I cannot really speak to what changes have happened. I have been here for three years. In that three-year time period, what I have been impressed by is that Baylor made a commitment a decade ago, or maybe slightly more than that, to increase the diversity of its undergraduate student population. And I would say that when you walk across campus, I would say that Baylor is as diverse in terms of the undergraduate student population as UCLA, which is hugely diverse.

What Baylor does not have probably is as many Hispanic students, but definitely as many African American students. I have been really impressed by what they said a decade ago which was 'we're going to do this thing' and they did it and they are continuing to do it and that is extremely impressive in my mind. We need to increase the diversity of our faculty. The staff is extremely diverse, but the faculty are not. And, you know, I was part of that.

Here at Baylor, especially in the sciences, we have several things going against us when we are recruiting faculty. Number one is the Mission fit. We want faculty who have a commitment to some kind of faith community and although many scientists believe in a higher power or God, not many scientists have an active faith. Baylor really wants people here who have an active faith life. So that narrows the pool already. And then if you have someone, especially in the sciences who is a credible scientist, that helps since we are trying to become an R1 University (Tier 1 Research University).

We really want people who are actively researching and able to get grants and such things like that. That pool is going to be small, especially when you put on there any kind of racial or ethnic criteria. You are looking at a very small pool because we just do not have a lot of people who are diverse and pursuing Ph.D.’s/ M.D.-Ph.D.’s. And when we do have those people, they are actively sought after. I get asked for positions all the time. It is just because I have a research record, I have published papers, etc... And I just happen to be African American.

Q. For my next question, let us say you are here for the next 10, 15 years. What do you hope to see starting with a shift for the student population and then a shift in the faculty population?

A. Well, for one, I want to see more students of color pursuing Ph.D. and M.D.- Ph.D. here at Baylor because I think we could make a huge impact on the biomedical research community. Then number two, I want to see a greater number of color on our staff. So we have two issues actually at Baylor, because Baylor also, especially in the sciences, has not fared as well in terms of gender issues. For example, we have way too many male faculty members who are in the research ranks.

We have plenty of female faculty who are in the lecturing ranks, but not as many in the research ranks. For Biology, now we only have one female faculty member who is tenured. It should not be that way. We have 12 tenured faculty and one who happens to be an African American woman, Dr. Bessie Kebaara Ph.D. There is no reason why we should only have one female with tenure.

One of our goals is to try to increase the number of women who are going to get tenure here as research faculty. And then, of course, faculty of color in the lecture ranks because although we have plenty of women who are lecturers, all of them are Caucasian except for one and that is Dr. Mojgan Parizi-Robinson Ph.D. It should not be that way either. My goal has been to actually increase the number of male faculty who are in the lecturing ranks because there are so many women and we need to bring in more men. I have been able to bring in two.

Q. As a faculty member, when you see an increase in diversity among prehealth students, how do you feel that further inclusion can be created in order to accommodate those students, in order for them to feel a bigger part of the actual pre-health experience?

A. Great question. I cannot speak specifically about pre-health, but I can say in general, for anyone who is going on to any kind of graduate program. I think what we have to do is create synergies and strategies for more or greater inclusiveness.

It is easy to say that it is hard to actually do that, but we need to have programs. So one of the things that we are going to do for Biology 1305 possibly is we are going to create probably a 1001 level class. What we are going to do is people look at 1305 as being one of those gatekeeper courses or weed out and it is not designed or meant to be that, but that's the student's perception of it.

What we are going to do is basically anyone who scores below on the first exam like below a 60 or 65 or something along those lines will be required to go to a study skills, a bio study skills course. So on the first exam, we are going to look at all those scores and all the sections where they have people below 65 say you have to go to this. And if you do it, you will get like five points on your first.

That is added back to your first exam. That is huge right? This course will meet every week and the whole point is- because what happens typically and you probably have direct experience with it, I know I did as an undergradif I don't do as well as I want on the first exam or whatever, all I do is I work harder, I don't change how I work. All I say is that I have to put more time into it. But if what I had done did not work, even if you put more time into it, it was still not going to work. I had to figure out why then change the strategy.

Statement: Working smarter, not harder.

A. Exactly. And that is one thing that undergraduates fail at. What we are going to do - and hopefully as early as next fall, we will see - is to try to get this class so it would be open to everybody initially because it would be a class. It will be credit, no credit. But the students who on the first exam score below a certain score will be forced to enroll in this course. I think it will help. It addresses everybody. But in addressing everybody, we are going to hit specifically, I think because if you look at the data, it is the Hispanic students, African American students and first-gen students who do poorly in Biology 1305 as a group. I mean, as a group, they just do less well than the majority group. And mostly that is because of study skills. I know I was fortunate and went to a really hard and tough high school. But if I had gone to my public high school, I would have been valedictorian easily. And would not know how to study.

That happened to me actually going from junior high to high school. I was in junior high. I was in a public junior high and I just showed up for class and basically got an A. Then I went to high school in this, hard, top-notch, all-white high school and that first year was hard. I had to learn how to study differently. Before I could just open the book and read it. I could retain things and regurgitate on the test. No big deal. But they were asking for a little bit more. My point is that I think a lot of our students of color have an experience that is like that and so they are really good, they are really smart, but they have not learned how to study? Because they are really good and really smart.

That is one of the ways by addressing early on with 1305 and 1306 in the first term. So if I can get this course off the books and actually taught next semester. I just identified a teacher as of today. That part is that. I just have to actually get it. Hopefully, I will make it into an official course. Those are the kinds of things, and that's actually the reason that I took this position as chair because, in my position at UCLA, where I was directing a lot of undergraduate research programs especially for minority students and created a whole bunch of stuff that was really cool, I just felt that my impact was more limited. I wanted to have a greater impact on more students. I ran what was called a MARC program at UCLA (Maximizing Access to Research Careers) where we took 16 students and it was basically a scientific boot camp.

They had to maintain a certain GPA. It was really structured. All the students are either Ph.D. students or M.D.-Ph.D. right now at Harvard, all the best schools. They were already smart. So we just took smart kids and just made them better. I wanted to have a broader effect. I love my kids at UCLA.

I was at a conference a couple of months ago and several of the latter bred ones who graduated later were there. It was so cool to see them. My previous student is amazing. She is at an M.D.-Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts. She is a neuroscience person and her first lab that I put her into at UCLA, she flopped miserably, and she was doing poorly. But a lot of counseling, a lot of encouragement, getting her into the right lab environment. All of the above and making her stick with it. She is doing amazing. And I have story after story like that.

Q. What advice would you recommend to prospective students and how would you help them frame their mindsets appropriately to attack ambition here?

A. For one, really take advantage of your faculty. Most of the faculty who are here are simply here for you. Currently I am recruiting my research faculty. This is the season of recruitment right now and we have four active searches going on. But one of the things they tell the faculty is that we not only want outstanding researchers, but we also want people who are passionate about teaching. And although they will not do very little teaching in one course, two courses at max per year, because we want them to do their research, I still want people who are passionate about teaching.

I would say, right off the bat, get to know the faculty really, really, really well. Most of the faculty will be your advocates. Do not wait until June of your senior year to try to get to know faculty. Go to office hours, go visit them as much as possible. Take them out for a coffee break. We have a Starbucks in this building. It is easy to do. And get involved in lab research. Because you will find that it is not that every lab will be initially compatible with your ideas. I had a student at UCLA who wanted to be an oncologist. His mother has suffered through breast cancer. And as you may know, African Americans, we have a higher proportion of triple-negative breast cancer than anybody else.

We are making some breakthroughs in that area. It is just amazing. His mother made it through. And so he wants to be an oncologist. He got battered his freshman year and I saw him in his sophomore year. He had low selfesteem. 'I should switch over to psychology' because people were telling him and they were not saying, 'you're black, you should be a psychologist', but that's kind of what happens. It is not something that people do intentionally.

It is kind of interesting. It is not necessarily, ‘Oh, you're black’, but it's oh, ‘you're struggling, and you happen to be African-American’. Well, maybe you should switch over to social work. And those are all great things. He was being told to switch over to either psychology or social work. And guess what? My heart is in biology and physiology. I said, ok well, you do not want to lose your dreams. And that is what I tell everybody. Never give up on your dream.

Now, it may be that you are not cut out for a particular path toward that dream. But do not give up on the dream. You may have to alter your path. As I told him that you may have to alter your path, but do not give up on your dream. I told him, he said, ‘OK, I'm not.’

I do not work on cancer. I am a neuroscientist. But the basic tools and techniques of research are kind of the same. In labs, you have to learn how to do PCR. You have to learn stuff like that. So come into my lab, learn the basics, and then with that toolset, then go try to find a lab that you would like. So he did that. And then I had a student who was a native Indian from India. And he was like a 4.0 student. And so I paired Eric with him. Eric was at that point. I think he did not have a good grade point average. I think it was a 1.98 GPA. So below a 2.0, which cannot go anywhere. Even from UCLA, you are not going to go anywhere. He went on to graduate with over 3.0. He had his last four terms were straight A's. He did so because of several things.

One, he stayed in my lab because he went on to say, why should I want to go anywhere else? "I'm learning what I need to learn, and I love the environment." And he was. And my native Indian student became one of his good, good buddies. Eric learned how to study from him and realized that he is just as smart as him. It was just a matter of how to study. And he is now doing Ph.D. cancer research at one of the best cancer facilities in the nation. He is doing super. When I met him, he was a 1.98 student, but it was not because he was not smart. So those are the kinds of things I recommend to students. This was really if you are interested in biomedicine, then you need to get into a lab. You just need to get into a lab, get into research as early as you can. And it may be that it will not be the right lab and you switch into another lab, ok fine. And then you work on your study skills. And you get to know faculty.

Q. You have already answered this but how can you effectively succeed in your academics? What advice can you give to do that?

A. The way I phrased it to MARC students at UCLA. You guys are very privileged. You are always standing on the shoulders of somebody else, always, and so one of your obligations is to make sure that you are lifting up the next generation. It is just one. It is because you have been helped. Then you have to help. I think college is an experience and you want to take advantage of that. There are some kids, of course, who go overboard. But the point being is there is balance. There is balance, right, so you really take advantage of these things and then do well so that then Baylor helps propel you to the next level. You do not slide by, no. There are institutions where you can slide by. This is not one of them.

Another piece of advice to any young person coming is do not be afraid to seek out help. It is okay. That some of the best students are the ones who realize that. Early on. But it is hard because you have been at the top of the pole or usually, you are in that group then it is, 'I need help.' It is so important to do that early on. And that is why, again, we are going to try to create this study skills course to really help the students who obviously did not do well in that first exam. Let us see how we can change that and evolve you as a student.

Final Regards: Dr. Dwayne Simmons

Dr. Simmons’ comments here are important because it reminds us that the Baylor Science Building is bigger than just pre-med. For students that are looking to excel in science and gain doctorates despite whichever background you hail from, Baylor is constantly looking for new, more innovative ways to accommodate your needs and to motivate students to excel in a field that most would shy away from at first glance. Programs such as BTRUE and McNair exist to push students of all backgrounds further in a career in science that otherwise may not have been possible had they attended another university.