STEM student experiences

Want to know what it's like to get hands-on experience learning science and technology in collaboration with professors who care about guiding your progress? Check out what our students have to say.

Brooke Brehm

Brooke Brehm ('08)

Biology major
Elizabeth McConnell Bliss and
Reid Jarl Bliss Scholarships

"The Bliss Scholarship endowment allowed me to work on the characterization of a bacteriophage of Bordetella avium during my senior year. I worked closely with biology professor Louise Temple researching the bacteria that attack birds and viruses that, in turn, attack those bacteria. I presented data from this …"

Curt Dvonch

Curt Dvonch ('08)

Integrated science and technology major
Gauldin Endowed Scholarship

"When I received the Gauldin Endowed Scholarship, I became more motivated to work hard because I was no longer working only for myself. I felt that I needed to justify Mrs. Elizabeth Gauldin's ('50) support, and that gave me the extra motivation that I needed to succeed. The support from a pioneering…"

Jacob Forstater

Jacob Forstater ('07)

Physics major
Robert Gordon Scholarship
2007 Outstanding Senior Physics Major

"I was able to excel academically through the generosity of Walter Curt ('85) and former JMU Physics Department head Raymond Serway, who established the Robert Gordon Scholarship. While this scholarship directly honors Dr. Gordon, a former physics department head, it serves an additional purpose…"

Ronaldy Maramis

Ronaldy Maramis

Major: Biotechnology
Minor: Chemistry

"I love my microbiology class. We have class four days a week. Monday and Wednesday are lecture days, Tuesday and Thursday lab days. Our project for the year is to isolate an unknown bacteria from a sample. Unfortunately for our group of four people, that means extracting…"

Ronaldy Maramis

Lizzy Nguyen

Major: Biology
Interests: Asian Student Union, relief work

"My thesis research topic is Group B Strep, a form of strep that affects infants and newborns. It can cause meningitis and other diseases. We are trying to culture human brain cells and then see how one of the Group B proteins affects the cells…"