Engineering undergraduate students get early research experience
Dozens of students have participated in the Undergraduate Research Co-op Fellowship Program
"Exposing students to research as early and often as possible is important to build the leaders of the next generation," said Gautam Pillay, associate dean of research at the University of Cincinnati's College of Engineering and Applied Science.
The college established the Undergraduate Research Co-op Fellowship Program in the spring of 2021 to expand the opportunities for students to engage in meaningful research in UC labs. The college values the importance of real-world experience for students through the cooperative education (co-op) program. Although most students will spend five semesters working in industry positions for their co-op rotations, students can also choose research positions in corporate, university, or government labs. Many students opt for a research co-op if they are considering a career in research or they plan to attend graduate or medical school.
Students can work with faculty in one of many research labs at the University of Cincinnati. Photo/Corrie Mayer/CEAS Marketing
In the Undergraduate Research Co-op Fellowship Program, students spend a full semester (15 weeks in the fall or spring, or 12 weeks in the summer) working one-on-one with esteemed college faculty members participating in scientific research.
"The research I've done at UC has been really meaningful," said Nicholas Schoenleb, UC biomedical engineering student and fellowship participant. "There's such a direct connection between what I've learned in class and what I work on in the lab."
Schoenleb was drawn to UC by the top-ranked co-op program, as he was eager to gain broad engineering experience as an undergraduate student. The college's emphasis on career-readiness was very important to him. Initially, he didn't set out to become a researcher, but he applied for the fellowship program after a recommendation from a mentor and never looked back.
Now in his last year as an undergraduate, Schoenleb has completed all of his co-op rotations in research and hopes to continue on that path in graduate school after earning his bachelor's degree and master's degree through the Accelerated Engineering Degree Program. On campus, he conducts research under the guidance of Douglas Mast, biomedical engineering professor, on ultrasound-based imaging in a variety of projects.
My research has really tied together the academic experience for me
Nicholas Schoenleb, Undergraduate Research Co-op Fellowship student
Nicholas Schoenleb has completed all five of his co-op rotations in research. Photo/provided.
"I've been doing anything from ablation research with the liver to work with speech biofeedback therapy and recently I finished working with a clinical trial," Schoenleb said.
"In the trial, Schoenleb was assisting a speech language pathologist to deliver therapy to children that have trouble producing the letter R sound, one of the most common production errors. He shared that this experience felt like a full circle moment for him, because he used to experience the same difficulty when he was a child.
He has worked extensively on a swallowing study that uses ultrasound technology to monitor swallowing in patients.
"We just received a grant for the swallowing study and we're going to be starting a full trial for that soon, taking a lot of data," Schoenleb said. "What we're working on is getting ultrasound established as an alternative technique to identify swallowing disorders at the point of care."
Through this program, students like Schoenleb are able to conduct meaningful scientific research that often ends in peer-reviewed publications, peer-reviewed conference presentations, and other recognitions. The fellowship program offers a unique opportunity for students to be introduced to this research before they are a master's or doctoral student and can enter a graduate program with research experience on their resume.
Through the Undergraduate Research Co-op Fellowship Program, Nicholas Schoenleb has had the opportunity to present his research to other scientists. Photo/provided
"Undergraduate research shows the excitement of discovering new things, putting them into application, and benefiting society early on for aspiring students," Pillay said.
Schoenleb has been involved with the swallowing study since the beginning stages. When he first came on to the project, the data consisted of a few lines of code and a handful of documents outlining the project and its goal. Now, it's thousands of lines of code and hundreds of folders.
"It's been a great experience to see how a project is developed from early pilot work to intense fully funded work," he said. "It's awesome to see how research really happens."
As an undergraduate researcher, he had the opportunity to present at the Acoustical Society of America Conference, a highlight of his Bearcat experience thus far.
Although Schoenleb initially stumbled into research, the work he completed during his first position empowered and excited him to continue. The work he is doing in the lab has a direct connection to what he is learning in class.
"I've never wondered if I am going to use what I'm learning in class in the real world. There have been times I've taken certain classes because I think they're going to help with my work, and I've also used real-world knowledge to help me in class," he said. "My research has really tied together the academic experience for me."
Featured image at top: UC students can apply to the Undergraduate Research Co-op Fellowship Program to engage in meaningful research. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand
Interested in research?
Learn more about eligibility and application requirements for the Undergraduate Research Co-op Fellowship.
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