PRL undergrads participate in 2024 Mid-SURE
By Kara Headley
The MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, or PRL, had five undergraduate students participate in the 2024 Mid-Michigan Symposium for Undergraduate Research Experiences, or Mid-SURE.
Mid-SURE brings students from across the country to present on their research projects from a variety of disciplines. Of the five PRL students presenting, four shared their projects from summer research programs.
Two students participated in the Plant Genomics @ MSU REU, a ten-week program that allows for an immersive laboratory experience. The students work with mentors in their labs on a research project and attend workshops for professional development.
“We provide students with information about graduate school and careers in STEM, help them develop their presentation skills, and teach them some basic skills in computational biology,” said Cornelius Barry, primary investigator and director of the REU program and Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture. “These are transferable skills that will help them in any future STEM opportunity they choose to pursue.”
Image 2: Karla Gomez Lopez presents research from the Benning lab.
Image 3: Dylan Minor presents research from the Walker lab.
By Kara Headley
Olivia Grace Conhagen worked in the Hu lab and was mentored by Amanda Koenig, Hiruni Weerasooriya and Jianping Hu. Karla Gomez Lopez worked in the Benning lab this summer and was mentored by Timothy Nicodemus and Christoph Benning.
“The amount of plant-based resources [at MSU] was incredible,” said Conhagen. “The whole REU program was great, and my mentors were amazing. Everyone was super kind and very open to teaching me… I learned a lot.”
By Kara Headley
An additional two students studied in the PRL through the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center Summer Undergraduate Research Program, or SURP. Those students included Anastasiya Buryak, mentored by Federica Brandizzi, Sang-Jin Kim and Clayton Lewis in the Brandizzi lab, and Dylan Minor, who was mentored by Binod Basyal and Berkley Walker in the Walker lab.
The final student who participated in Mid-SURE from the PRL was Murtaza Barkarar from the Vermaas lab.
“Thanks to this program, I was able to, I think more or less, find my future career path,” said Buryak. “I'm planning to do my master’s and work in the industry… it's definitely a more clear path than before.”
