Editors Note: Dr. Louise Temple, professor of integrated science and
technology, had the opportunity to teach her viral discovery course in India in
February 2012. The viral discovery course at JMU is a year-long course filled
primarily by freshmen interested in getting their college careers off to a
flying start with some real research. Dr. Temple, an avid advocate of
undergraduate research, taught the course at Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University
of Science and Technology in two weeks. Here is her account of the eye-opening
experience.
Dr. Louise Temple receives a warm welcome at Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science & Technology.
Exotic India—the
rumor is that when Westerners travel there, they either love it or hate
it. In spite of the poverty, odors, pollution
and gender discrimination, I found on my first trip that I fall squarely in the
first category. The reason? The people.
Not that they are homogeneous:
far from it. But their warmth and
hospitality extends across their own ethnic and religious lines, and guests in
that country can depend on being treated like royalty. So, besides enjoying the cultural experience
and loving the people (and the food), why would a science educator want to ply
her trade in India?
At first I had
only family interests, but I was drawn to educational issues when I learned
that undergraduate science students don’t get to DO anything in the lab—and
since lab and research experiences for undergraduates is my passion, naturally
I would take umbrage with such a system.
As I began to meet and communicate with Indian educators, I found that
my assumptions were true, but I was in for a few surprises as well, which I
think could inform our U.S. form of science education. On an NSF-sponsored exploratory trip in 2010,
Dr. Brad Striebig (engineering) and I visited five universities where we had
made viable contacts. We explored all
kinds of potential programs, collaborations and exchanges and left with a
commitment to follow up as well as we could.
Subsequently, we have submitted several unsuccessful proposals of
various kinds, and those attempts are ongoing.
However, two proposals were successful.
The first is my being chosen to be on a Fulbright Specialist panel,
specifically for education projects, and I am awaiting a successful invitation
from one of my Indian colleagues to travel again to further these
relationships. Secondly, American
Society for Microbiology India-U.S. funds were awarded for me to teach a course
at the university of one of our most viable contacts from the first trip: Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science
and Technology (DCRUST, for short). This
trip took place in February 2012, during an educational leave granted to me by
JMU.
Dr. J.S. Rana,
Dean of the Biotechnology School, has been hoping to increase the research
efforts of his faculty in this relatively new school. The challenge is not what you might expect—facilities,
funding—but instead it is more cultural.
First of all, undergraduates truly do not get involved in research. Then in the graduate programs, research
opportunities for those students are not easy to attain, and often students
have to travel to major institutions for a one- or two-year research
experience, so most of their graduate training is more intellectual or computer
based than real hands-on work. Thus,
these very fine, intelligent, hardworking faculty members really have never
experienced how to run a successful research program. My model of simple, inexpensive research is
the discovery and analysis of virus bacteria that reside in the soil. This is an experience we offer to freshmen
here at JMU, and some 70 other schools in our country are doing similar
work. Dr. Rana was familiar with my
work, and thus he envisioned that having his faculty and students actively
participate in this work would illustrate how research can be done right there
in their facilities with their level of expertise.
So, the workshop
was born. I crammed a year’s worth of
work into a two week schedule, worked with one particular faculty member in
advance, and by the time I arrived, most supplies and equipment were available,
and computers were loaded with the necessary bioinformatic software. Dr. Rana had advertised the workshop, so we
had 34 participants from the region, of which—at my insistence—six were
undergraduates. The others were a mix of
graduate students at different levels and faculty members. To say that we worked hard would be an
understatement. My biggest mistake was
not taking an experienced undergraduate or two from JMU with me to help out,
since I was literally the only expert.
But the participants’ enthusiasm, energy and intellectual preparation
made up lack of more leadership. We
alternated between wet lab work (getting the viruses from the soil and
purifying, for example) and the bioinformatics (analyzing the genome of a virus
isolated at JMU but never studied). We
would have worked 10 hours a day, but the obligatory tea break (everybody
stops) and a good number of celebratory meetings, lunches and social occasions
demanded that we not just keep right on working. At the end, I was exhausted, but certainly
exhilarated. I also brought home a
number of new viruses that we are continuing to work on here at JMU.
So, what did I
learn?
- I
could be a vegetarian if I had a good Indian cook
- You
should visit India in January or February—the weather is exceedingly nice
- Undergraduate
science students—in fact, the graduate students as well—are hungry for
experiences like the one I provided
- Their
faculty are interested in providing such experiences for their students and
have a challenge ahead in trying to change the system
- There
are good reasons to continue collaborating with science educators in India—let
me elaborate on this one:
As a science
educator, I’ve always wished that there were obvious reasons for me to
recommend study abroad for my students.
Of course, recommending this for cultural exposure is obvious—but why
should they study science abroad, especially the kind of science that I do,
which doesn’t require obtaining samples from exotic places and can be done in
any well-equipped lab. My visits to
Indian institutions have shed some light on this. In general, it is very educational and
broadening to experience similar work in different cultures, and this is as
good a reason as any to develop these relationships and encourage students to
go to India to do science. But I also
was extremely impressed with what excellent science is done in circumstances
where we Westerners would either not attempt it and would assume it simply
couldn’t be done. I came away with the
strong sense that our students would benefit greatly from seeing and
experiencing this themselves. They would
then understand that good science is more about the scientists themselves than
about their trappings. A student
spending time doing research with Indian faculty and students would get more
than a cultural experience.
A couple of
other things really struck me from this experience. First, I was treated with respect as I have
never been before, at least not from groups of people. An American coming to this regional
institution was fairly unheard of, and I was touted as “the most respected
scientist from Virginia” in the publications.
Students are extremely respectful of their teachers and practice such
things as rising when the professor enters the room or requesting permission to
enter if they are late. On the other
hand, they are not stand-offish, but instead crowded around me and hung on
every word when we were in the lab and wanted to engage me in conversation
about everything—scientific and cultural.
The formal respect paired with the intimacy was endearing, really. Secondly, I had assumed that because the
students did not have the lab/research experience that they would not become
engaged in theoretical questions, which of course I love to pose, but in this I
was mistaken. They were excited to
engage in such conversations, even in the classroom where (of course) I had to
call on each one as they raised their hands.
In spite of their lack of personal experience with the scientific
process, their depth of knowledge and understanding of the subject matter, a
hallmark of the Indian system, gave them the foundation to think deeply about
scientific processes. Could we figure
out how to harness some of this for our U.S. system, where many students don’t
seem to remember fundamentals from one semester to the next? I’m thinking about this question.
I am still in touch with several students from the workshop who are
doing viral discovery work in some form or another. One is looking in Ganga water for viruses—it
is supposed to have amazing healing qualities.
I am also supporting further applications for funding being submitted by
two of the faculty there and looking for other opportunities to go back, to
send students there, and to get Indian students and faculty over to JMU. We all have a lot to learn and these
experiences will be mutually beneficial.
Posted Feb. 25, 2013
