Natural Sciences

How postdocs help faculty take research to another level

lblouin — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 16:34:51 +0000

How postdocs help faculty take research to another level lblouin Mon, 03/31/2025 - 12:34

When students complete a doctoral degree, they’re at the top of one of the highest mountains in higher education. But just like undergraduates facing post-graduation anxiety, postdoctoral life can represent a fraught time for recent PhD graduates. For those interested in long-term careers in academia, they’re likely embarking on job searches for highly competitive faculty positions. And if someone wants to work in the private sector, employers in at least some industries seem to balk at hiring highly trained applicants with little industry experience — simply because they generally command higher salaries than those with less-advanced degrees.

Director of Research Development Vessela Vassileva-Clarke
Photo by Julianne Lindsey

But there is another option for recent PhD grads: working as a postdoctoral researcher. As the name suggests, this is a research position at a university, typically lasting one to three years, that someone takes after they finish their PhD. 51��Ƶ-Dearborn Director of Research Development Vessela Vassileva-Clarke says this may be an attractive route for a number of reasons. For example, if a person isn’t quite sure whether they want to go into academia or industry, a postdoc position can simply buy someone a little time to figure it out, while they continue to stay active and build a research portfolio. And for those who are definitely interested in faculty positions, doing a postdoc can help someone burnish their CV if, say, they weren't able to publish as much as they’d liked during their PhD program. In addition, depending on the arrangement between the researcher and their faculty advisor, Vassileva-Clarke says a postdoc position might give someone a chance to log some teaching experience — or even pursue an externally funded grant for a research project that they co-lead with a faculty member. Moreover, a postdoc gives recent PhD grads experiences in other core parts of academic life that they may not have gotten in their doctoral programs, like proposal writing.

51��Ƶ-Dearborn currently has about a dozen postdoctoral researchers working on campus, the vast majority of whom are working with faculty in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Rongheng Li, who finished his PhD at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn under Mechanical Engineering Professor Ben Q. Li in 2019, says the opportunity to do a postdoc actually grew organically out of his doctoral research experience. His research focused on some of the advanced mathematical challenges associated with the use of nanoparticles in photovoltaic systems, which is seen as a promising way of improving output from solar panels. But then one day, toward the end of his PhD program, Li found himself chatting with Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Xuan (Joe) Zhou. The two of them discovered that a lot of the same mathematical methods Li was using in the area of photovoltaics might have interesting applications for battery research, which is Zhou’s specialty. Now, as a postdoc, Li is working on several of Zhou’s funded projects, including one exploring how well used EV batteries perform when used in a grid-tied storage system.

“A lot of my prior work has been very theoretical, so working with Dr. Zhou is giving me a chance to learn in a more experimental setting,” Li says. “I’m learning new instrumentation, and I got to visit the clean room in Ann Arbor, where they are working on a variety of projects. So I think it’s going to be quite valuable for me to get this hands-on experience, including with batteries, which is a technology that’s so important for the future.” Another big payoff for Li: He’s getting to work closely with the research team’s industry partners, which is helping him see how private sector projects are managed and how their teams work. After his postdoc, he thinks he’ll likely be applying for faculty jobs in the United States. But he’s not opposed to a position in the private sector, and he thinks the practical experience he’s logging during his postdoc will make him a more competitive candidate.

Rongheng Li completed his PhD at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn in 2019 and now works as a postdoctoral researcher. Photo by Annie Barker

Gajendra Singh Chawda followed a different path to 51��Ƶ-Dearborn for his postdoc. Chawda finished his PhD in electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in early 2022 and took a postdoctoral research position there after graduation. But he really wanted to get experience at an American university, and when he saw a posting for a postdoctoral research position working with Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Wencong Su, he felt like it would be a great fit. Chawda’s work focuses on the complexities of integrating renewable energy into the electric grid and renewable energy access for economically disadvantaged communities — which happen to be two of Su’s research interests. Currently, Chawda is working on some foundational research on high-frequency AC microgrids — a technology that many researchers and industry experts see as vital for modernizing the electric grid so it can accommodate more renewable energy and battery storage. Chawda says one of the other big perks of the position is that he gets to work as a lecturer — the first time he’s had the opportunity to teach students outside of a lab setting.

Moreover, it’s also been an exciting time for his family. His wife and daughter accompanied him for this adventure in the United States, and Chawda says his daughter loves her school in Dearborn Heights. “She’s always so excited to come home and show me what she’s done at school,” he says. “The American education system is a lot different. In India, I would say it’s more focused on books and, here, students seem to do a lot of activities. For example, she came home the other day and was so proud to show me the house that she built.” Like Li, Chawda says he’s hoping to find a faculty position at an American university after his postdoc and thinks having that experience on his CV will boost his chances of success.

Aside from the professional benefits to postdoctoral researchers, Vassileva-Clarke says there are huge benefits for their faculty supervisors. “The impact is tremendous. Postdoctoral researchers are just so helpful to faculty members because they are already trained and highly skilled, so they can help a faculty member with so many things that are so time consuming, like proposal writing, hands-on research in the lab, or research training and mentoring of students,” Vassileva-Clarke says. “PhD students are super helpful too, but you still have to train them, advise them, and then some of them find out research is not their calling. So a postdoc really extends the bandwidth of the faculty member.”

Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry Christos Constantinides
Photo by Annie Barker

Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry Christos Constantinides can vouch for that. As an early-career faculty member working towards tenure, he was excited to recently land a large grant from the U.S. Department of Energy supporting research that could improve nuclear magnetic resonance-based technologies like MRI. But with a demanding course load teaching organic chemistry to undergraduates, he frankly needs help with the very labor-intensive, advanced chemistry that the DOE-funded project demands. A postdoc was really his only option, since some of the work is too advanced for the undergraduate students he’ll also be hiring for the project, and his department doesn’t have a PhD program he can use to recruit doctoral students.

When he posted the position, Constantinides was surprised to get 65 applicants. He finds that pretty encouraging given that 51��Ƶ-Dearborn just recently earned an R2 designation and he’s still in the process of making his name in the field. But as someone who did a three-year postdoc himself, which he says is a prerequisite to getting a tenure-track position in his discipline, Constantinides gets the logic. “You can go work for a big name at a big university, and if everything goes well, you’ll get your publications and, most importantly, get a letter of recommendation from your mentor. You’re basically going to get a job at that point. But if you don’t get the letter, it can be the kiss of death,” Constantinides says. “That big name — you’re going to see that person maybe one or two hours a week. And, frankly, they don’t need the publications. Me, though? I need the papers. So if you come work with me, you’re going to get more support, more mentorship and hopefully more publications. It’s kind of a gamble either way, but for some people, this postdoc opportunity is going to feel like a good bet.”

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Story by Lou Blouin

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Office of Research

Off

Mon, 03/31/2025 - 16:31

Postdoctoral researchers on campus are another sign of 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s growing research culture. But what exactly do postdocs do, and why can they be a game changer for university research?

Postdoctoral researcher Gajendra Singh Chawda is currently researching high-frequency AC microgrids with Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Wencong Su. Photo by Annie Barker

Helping nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy go hi-res

lblouin — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 13:48:43 +0000

Helping nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy go hi-res lblouin Wed, 02/19/2025 - 08:48

Whether you’re talking about MRI, which doctors use to image tissues in the body, or the brand of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy used by organic chemists, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Christos Constantinides says the core idea behind the technique is basically the same. You start with a sample — in organic chemistry, it’s a compound you want to know the structure of, and in an MRI, it’s your body — and you surround it within a powerful magnet. The magnetic field causes the nuclei in the atoms in the sample, which have naturally occurring random spins, to momentarily align these spins with the external field, either in a parallel (lower energy state) or antiparallel orientation (higher energy state). Then, you shoot radio waves at the sample, which causes the spins of the parallel-spinning nuclei to momentarily flip to an antiparallel state. When you turn off the radio waves, these flipped nuclei then “relax,” returning to their original orientation. That releases a small amount of energy as an oscillating magnetic field, which induces an electrical signal. This signal is detected and processed to generate an NMR spectrum in the case of molecular analysis. For MRI, it can be used to create an image of tissues in the body.

Constantinides says NMR is an extremely powerful technique, but it still has some limitations. Notably, certain substances give off very weak signals when they relax out of their “excited” state, which means the spectra generated through NMR often don’t tell you everything you want to know. Scientists have discovered various ways to enhance NMR’s powers. For example, with MRI, contrast dyes can help doctors see more details in the brain, heart, blood vessels, soft tissues and tumors. In materials chemistry, Constantinides says organic chemists use what are called polarizing agents, which are chemical compounds that are added in solution with the sample. Chemically speaking, these compounds are “radicals,” meaning they have at least one unpaired electron (most atoms have electrons which orbit the nucleus in pairs). In an NMR environment, Constantinides says these unpaired electrons are able to influence the nucleus of the molecules in the sample through spin polarization transfer mechanisms, indirectly assisting the “flipping” process that is essential to NMR imaging. “This basically increases the sensitivity of the technique,” he says. “So for molecules that are difficult to get a good NMR spectrum because they give very weak signals, by adding a little bit of this organic radical substance, it basically amplifies the signal and you get more detail.”

Polarizing agents have greatly enhanced NMR spectroscopy, but they aren’t universally effective. For example, Constantinides says today’s most common polarizing agents, known as nitronyl nitroxides, can only be used with certain kinds of substances, because these radicals react with compounds that oxidize easily. With a new $600,000 project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and in conjunction with the Ames National Laboratory, Constantinides is looking to create novel polarizing agents that don’t have these limitations. He says when he describes this project to others, it ends up sounding like a lot of physics, because of the potential applications for NMR and MRI. But the day-to-day work will be a lot of advanced and, at times, unglamorous synthetic organic chemistry. During the three-year project, Constantinides estimates they’ll create 50 to 100 new derivatives of a class of molecules known as Blatter radicals — each of which takes weeks and a carefully planned sequence of chemical reactions to create. “Each compound requires six to 10 different steps,” he says. “One step can take multiple days to set up the chemical reaction, then you have to process it, clean it up a little bit and remove all the inorganic stuff, purify it, and then characterize it to see if you’ve made what you think you’ve made.” To assist with the labor-intensive research, Constantinides is hiring a postdoctoral research fellow and several undergraduates, which will give students an opportunity to get hands-on experience in some very advanced chemistry.

Constantinides in the lab with student research assistants Haidar Dakdouk (middle) and Carter Allen (front). Photo by Annie Barker

Even with this patient, methodical approach, Constantinides says success in organic chemistry is never assured. Over the years, he’s refined multiple techniques for creating certain kinds of molecules. But when you’re making something totally new, he says you never really know which methods will give you the best result — or whether your plan will even work — until you actually try it. “Maybe all of them fail, and then you have to try something totally different. It can be a lot of trial and error,” he says. As each new polarizing agent is created, Constantinides says they’ll first characterize it using the NMR setup at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn. After that, they’ll send the new compounds to the Ames National Laboratory, where they will be mixed in solution with substances that have well-known NMR profiles. By seeing how much of a boost in the signal the nuclei give off, they’ll know which new polarizing agents have the most potential to enhance NMR techniques.

Constantinides says some of his preliminary published research on this topic has shown a lot of potential for Blatter-type radicals, which is why the DOE has funded further work in this area. He says if all goes well, he’s hoping for two big applications: One, it’ll give materials chemists like himself tools for providing detailed characterizations of molecules which have been hard to study using other techniques. The even bigger payoff would be if one of the new molecules they create is suitable for use in MRI, which would give doctors much higher-resolution images of tissues and tumors.

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Story by Lou Blouin

Technology

Off

Wed, 02/19/2025 - 13:48

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, used in technologies like MRI, helps scientists see the unseen. New research from Assistant Professor Christos Constantinides could help magnify NMR’s powers even more.

With a new $600,000 project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Assistant Professor Christos Constantinides is hoping to create novel chemical compounds that can enhance nuclear magnetic resonance-based technologies, like MRI. Photo by Annie Barker

Is pH the GPS of our cells?

lblouin — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 14:35:53 +0000

Is pH the GPS of our cells? lblouin Wed, 12/04/2024 - 09:35

Acids, which, technically speaking, are molecules that give off positively charged hydrogen ions when dissolved in water, play a role in some of the most important functions in our bodies. Your stomach contains something very close to hydrochloric acid — a highly acidic substance that helps your body dissolve food and nearly bottoms out the pH scale, scientists’ measure of acidity. Amino acids and fatty acids are, respectively, the building blocks of proteins and lipids, two of your body’s most essential complex molecules. The A in DNA? That stands for acid. But even with all that acids do for us, Associate Professor of Biology Kalyan Kondapalli thinks we may still be underestimating their power. With a new National Institutes of Health-funded project, he’s investigating whether pH may be functioning like a cellular GPS, helping our cells route important cargo within their borders to perform functions that are fundamental to our health.

Kondapalli’s latest work focuses on immune cells called macrophages, which he says are sort of the paramedics of the immune system. When a bacteria or virus enters your body, the macrophage is often the first to arrive. It engulfs the invader, enveloping the bacteria or virus inside the borders of its cell membrane, where it is packaged into a transport vesicle called a phagosome. This transport vesicle then begins a journey away from the outer edge of the cell toward the interior of the cell, where it eventually merges with a lysosome — an acidic organelle that dissolves the bacteria or virus into its component parts. After this process is complete, the bits and pieces are attached to the outside of the macrophage's membrane. Here, more specialized immune cells interpret these components of the virus or bacteria and start the process of manufacturing antibodies — kicking off a counterattack by the immune system that’s tailored to the specific disease.

This process is a classic showcase of the body’s use of acids to break things down. But Kondapalli says that when you start looking at the finer details of the phagosome’s journey within the cell, it’s not the only role that acids appear to be playing. One of the most peculiar things is that as the phagosome begins its journey of ferrying the bacteria or virus from the cell membrane to the interior part of the cell, the environment inside the phagosome gradually gets more acidic. What’s especially weird, Kondapalli says, is that the change in acidity doesn’t appear to be strictly associated with breaking things down. So what exactly is going on?

Kondapalli had encountered similar phenomena when he was doing his postdoc work at Johns Hopkins, where he studied a type of specialized protein that are found on endosomes — the class of subcellular transport vesicles of which phagosomes are one type. He says the proteins function sort of like a fine-tuning knob for controlling the pH within endosomes by constantly allowing more or less acid to leave the vesicle. Changes in how this protein behaves, or having too much or too little of the protein, is consequential across an array of organisms. In some plants, for example, fiddling with this knob, and hence fiddling with the acidity of the transport vesicles, can change the color of flowers. One of Kondapalli’s studies found that some people with autism didn’t have enough of these knobs, which meant that a transport vesicle responsible for disposing of excess neurotransmitters was failing to do so, leaving the brain flooded with chemicals. A significant number of people with glioblastoma, one of the most lethal forms of brain cancer, appeared to have too much of this knob. “With this cancer, one of the proteins that is supposed to be transported to the lysosome to be degraded instead gets delivered to the surface of the cell. And that cargo is a receptor that signals the cell to grow and divide. That can be a big factor in developing cancer,” Kondapalli says.

Kondapalli knew that this knob was associated with the regulation of pH within endosomes. And he also knew that irregularities with this knob often meant transport vesicles were struggling to deliver their cargo to the proper places. So he began formulating a bold hypothesis: What if pH was somehow regulating the directional movement of the transport vesicles? What if acid was functioning not just as a fundamental building block of something else or something that dissolves other things, but as a sort of GPS within the cell?

To test his hypothesis, Kondapalli first formulated a way to fiddle with the knob so he could manipulate the acidity of the endosomes and see what happened to their behavior under different conditions. Using a genetically engineered virus that triggered the endosomes to make more or less of these proteins, he could make the environment inside the endosome either more acidic or more alkaline. But then he needed some way to precisely measure how this influenced the endosomes’ directional movement. Assistant Professor of Physics Suvranta Tripathy, who specializes in experimental biophysics, still remembers Kondapalli’s very specific line of questioning on the day Tripathy was interviewing for his position at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn in 2020. “I was doing my presentation on my research, and I remember Kalyan said, basically, ‘Do you think you can solve this problem?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I think we can definitely do that,’” Tripathy recalls. “Then, of course, after formally joining 51��Ƶ-Dearborn, I sent him an email reminding him that he asked me this question and that’s how we started working on it.”

Kondapalli (second from left) and Tripathy (far left) have been collaborating on their phagosome transport research since 2020. Photo by Annie Barker

Tripathy, it turned out, was also very interested in how phagosomes move through the cell. He was particularly focused on two types of proteins located on the outside of the phagosome that function like motors, propelling the phagosome either toward or away from the center of the cell, depending on which type of motor protein was more abundant. He had been studying exactly how these motor proteins know where to go, and he found Kondapalli’s hypothesis that pH was potentially driving their directional movement to be surprising and exciting. On their first project, Tripathy used a 2018 Nobel-prize-winning technique called optical tweezers to track the movement of phagosomes within the macrophage, while Kondapalli manipulated the phagosomes’ pH using his genetic engineering process. To do this, Tripathy attached a tiny plastic bead to a bacteria, which was then engulfed by the macrophage and packaged, along with the bead, inside a phagosome. Using a tightly focused laser, Tripathy was then able to measure the mechanical parameters related to the movement of the bead inside the phagosome under different pH conditions as it traveled throughout the cell. The results confirmed Kondapalli’s general hypothesis. If the maturing phagosome never got acidic enough, it wouldn’t reach its intended meet-up point with the lysosome, the invader would not be dissolved and the rest of the immune system would never be alerted. pH, it seemed, was indeed linked to the directional movement of phagosome transport — and, fundamentally, to our health.

The results were exciting, but Kondapalli and Tripathy say they’re hoping their new NIH-funded project will reveal many more details of how exactly pH is regulating phagosome transport. Their general working hypothesis is that changes in acidity inside the phagosome drive changes in the kind of lipids that make up the phagosome’s membrane. These lipids then “recruit” corresponding motor proteins, which, again, come in two varieties — one that drives movement away from the center of the cell and one that drives movement toward it. So, stitching it all together: An increasingly acidic environment inside the phagosome means the phagosome’s membrane will contain more of a kind of lipid that attracts motor proteins that move the phagosome to the center of the cell. A more alkaline phagosome creates a cell membrane full of different kinds of lipids, which attract the other kind of motor protein and propel it in the other direction. And Tripathy says the process may be more complicated than that. For example, it appears that motor proteins may require a binding protein to attach to the lipid, and that binding protein can be pH-sensitive.

Kondapalli says if they can more thoroughly document this connection between pH and directional movement in phagosomes, it could have a variety of implications. On the practical side, it could provide a path to new types of therapeutics. He says the bacteria that cause tuberculosis and Legionnaires' disease, for example, have defenses that specifically disrupt the phagosome’s acidification process in an effort to keep from being destroyed. So if scientists could discover chemical pharmaceuticals that do what Kondapalli currently does with genetic engineering, we could also control acidity — countering the effects of the bacteria’s defenses and steering phagosomes to their proper destinations.

Bigger picture: Establishing this new role for pH would be a pretty big-deal revelation in the world of cell biology, given that acidity is generally thought to only perform certain kinds of functions in the body. Moreover, what would make this finding so interesting is macrophages aren’t the only type of cells that have transport systems. Many types of cells depend on similar endosomes to ferry cargo, so it’s entirely possible that pH is functioning as a GPS all over the body, though that would take more research to fully establish. Indeed, Kondapalli thinks there may still be other roles for pH that scientists have yet to explore. “If you think of the different organelles in the cell as rooms within the house, what’s really fascinating is that each room has a unique pH,” he explains. “You take mitochondria, where the cell’s energy is made, the pH is slightly alkaline. The lysosome is acidic, around 4.5 or 5. The nucleus is neutral, it’s around 7. The cytosol, the media in the cell, is also close to neutral. Why is this? We still don’t have the answer. So we may really just be scratching the surface with this new work. Acidification may be doing a lot more in the body than we ever thought.”

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Story by Lou Blouin

Faculty and Staff

Off

Wed, 12/04/2024 - 14:35

Scientists used to think acids in our bodies were mostly for building things up or breaking things down. But new research from 51��Ƶ-Dearborn faculty Kalyan Kondapalli and Suvranta Tripathy is pointing to a new fundamental role for pH in our cells.

Associate Professor of Biology Kalyan Kondapalli (far right) and Assistant Professor of Physics Suvranta Tripathy (far left) in the lab with undergraduate researcher Mariam Duhaini (second from left) and graduate student Lanqin Cao. Photo by Annie Barker

The mysterious impacts of head trauma on the blood-brain barrier

lblouin — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 11:22:39 +0000

The mysterious impacts of head trauma on the blood-brain barrier lblouin Mon, 09/30/2024 - 07:22

For people outside the world of cell biology, the term blood-brain barrier tends to conjure images of a large singular membrane surrounding our brains, as if it were a stone wall protecting a medieval castle. But rather than encasing the brain, the blood-brain barrier exists within it, winding its way through the brain as a tightly packed network of blood vessel cells and tissues. Moreover, since our brains, just like any other organ, must be nourished by nutrient-rich blood, this barrier can’t only keep harmful things out. The secret to the BBB’s effectiveness is its semipermeability: It works its magic by selectively allowing vital nutrients, like oxygen and glucose, to reach our brains, turning away pathogens and toxins, and funneling other things, like waste, away.

It’s a complex system that consists of many types of cells and processes, and it’s one that still presents many mysteries for scientists, says Elena Zhang, an MD and associate professor of neurobiology. One of the most exciting research frontiers is the relationship between the BBB and an arguably even more enigmatic cerebral feature called the neurovascular unit. The NVU, like the BBB, isn’t so much a discrete part of the brain as it is a system. A relatively new concept in neuroscience, the NVU generally describes a set of neurons and blood vessel cells that work together to support the metabolic needs of the brain at vital locales where substances are moved to or from the bloodstream and surrounding cerebral tissue. As such, it’s not surprising that the NVU is thought to play a critical role in regulating the BBB. But Zhang says it actually wasn’t that long ago that scientists thought neurons really didn’t play an important role in the BBB. “Now we understand that the NVU is this complex team of cells that orchestrate the two-way traffic across the blood-brain barrier,” she explains. “And it’s not just one process. Sometimes molecules might diffuse across the barrier. Other times they might need transport. So it takes an incredible amount of cooperation between all the cells on the team.”

Neurobiologists are still working out the particulars of all the mechanisms that are vital to the NVU’s functioning, and Zhang is hoping a new $465,000 National Institutes of Health-funded project with Assistant Professor of Biology Jie Fan could help scientists untangle a few of the key mysteries, particularly how the NVU helps regulate the BBB. To accomplish this, they’ll be looking at an instance when the BBB is particularly vulnerable — namely, after a head trauma. Zhang, who’s done previous work on pediatric head injuries, says even small traumas, including quick accelerations and decelerations of the head, can damage cerebral tissue, including the NVU. And her previous research indicates that this damage does indeed threaten the integrity of the BBB, though what exactly is going haywire within the NVU after injury isn’t yet clear.

For Zhang and Fan to understand what might be going on, they have to start with some pretty involved science. Direct observation in the brain at this neurovascular level after an injury is simply not possible — you can’t just cut people’s heads open and look at what’s inside. Nor is that even possible in the mice models they’re using for this stage of their research. To peer this deeply into the brain, Zhang and Fan will actually first have to get tissue out of it — extracting samples from mice that have sustained head trauma. They then have to meticulously separate the different types of cells in the sample, isolating all the most important cell types of the NVU and culturing each one so they have enough to study. Then it’s time to start looking for answers. Zhang will be using a variety of techniques to look for ways trauma may be expressed at the cellular level, including testing for genetic markers. “A trauma can cause our cells to turn on or off different genes as they try to respond to the injury, and they can even change into different cell subtypes,” she explains. “Some ‘good’ cells might turn into ‘bad’ ones, and it’s even possible for the same cell to sometimes be ‘good’ and sometimes be ‘bad.’ So we can look for these genetic markers to see if, for example, certain proteins are being made or a certain cell type has become overactive.”

Another thing Zhang and Fan are interested in is a phenomenon called cell chirality. This refers to the slight helical twist that’s characteristic of the endothelial cells that make up the walls of blood vessels. This twist allows the cells to lock together very tightly, and Fan’s earlier work on cancer metastasis has found that a loss of chirality can lead to leaky vessels. Given the crucial role endothelial cells play in the NVU, Zhang and Fan want to know whether chirality may be playing a role in the malfunctioning of the BBB after injury.

Since the NVU is really a team of cells, Fan and Zhang will also be trying to observe changes in how the cells work together post-trauma. To do this, they’ll culture the different cell types and then reintroduce them to each other in a Petri dish to see how well they play together. “This is probably the most challenging part of the project, because when we isolate the cells and put them together and observe their interactions, whether their interactions are true, or represent how they would function in the body, is difficult to say for sure,” Fan says. “But this is how you have to start. You look for interactions that seem interesting and go from there. Unfortunately, you can’t put everything back in the brain, because everything is mixed together and you can’t see it.”

If successful, this research could be a significant contribution to scientists' quest to more adequately describe the various processes of the NVU. But in many ways, Zhang and Fan say it’s just the starting point. The ultimate goal is to develop therapeutics that could help the brain regain healthy function after injury. And to do that, scientists first must have a thorough understanding of how the NVU works and what processes are malfunctioning post-trauma. Zhang, whose background also includes nanomedicine development, says the best therapeutics will likely be ones that target restoration of specific processes — and can get past the blood-brain barrier, which is what makes nanomedicine a promising option. One unfortunate side effect of the BBB’s effectiveness in keeping pathogens and toxins out of our brains is that it also keeps most medicines out. “There are many pharmaceutical companies trying to develop drugs for the central nervous system, but many of the clinical trials haven’t been very successful — primarily because of this challenge of the blood-brain barrier,” Zhang explains. “We’re seeing very little bioavailability or uptake in the areas we want, so they’re not performing as they should. Nanomedicines may have more success not only crossing the blood-brain barrier, but, if you design the medicine correctly, they can repair the specific cells and tissues. But before we reach this amazing future, we need to figure out what’s really going on. Only then can we target the specific receptors, transporters, cells or cell-cell interactions that our body needs to heal itself.”

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Story by Lou Blouin

Off

Mon, 09/30/2024 - 11:22

With a new NIH-funded project, Associate Professor Dr. Zhi “Elena” Zhang and Assistant Professor Jie Fan are going deep within the brain to learn how head injuries impact one of our body’s most vital systems.

Associate Professor Dr. Zhi “Elena” Zhang (right) and Assistant Professor Jie Fan

From collaborative research to a Ph.D.

lblouin — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 16:21:40 +0000

From collaborative research to a Ph.D. lblouin Mon, 02/19/2024 - 11:21

When Professor of Geology Jacob Napieralski published a new study last month, it grabbed headlines in a host of local and national outlets, including Bridge Detroit, Michigan Radio and Next City (stay tuned for that one). But there is another notable aspect to the project, which examined the impact of buried “ghost streams” on flooding in Detroit’s historically redlined neighborhoods: Napieralski’s co-authors — both master’s students at the time — are currently pursuing doctoral degrees. Napieralski, who chairs the M.S. in Environmental Science program, says the program primarily attracts working students who stay in their fields after graduation. But not only did Cat Sulich and Atreyi Guin both decide to continue their studies, their interests dovetailed so well with Napieralski’s work that the three became a research team.

Sulich and Guin took very different paths to the master’s program. Sulich completed her undergraduate degree in biology at Madonna University. She works as a clinical research coordinator at Michigan Medicine, and U-M’s generous tuition reimbursement, plus a partial match from 51��Ƶ-Dearborn, made pursuing her master’s at Dearborn a no-brainer. Going on for a Ph.D. didn’t take a lot of deliberation either. “It had been my childhood dream,” Sulich says. “I remember the first time I sat down with Jacob, I told him that, and he was, like, ‘Oh, yeah, we can get you set up.’ He was very encouraging.” She is pursuing her doctorate in public health with a concentration in environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Guin came to 51��Ƶ-Dearborn as an international student after receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees in biotechnology from Mount Carmel College in Bangalore, India. “I don't think I ever thought that I'd do a Ph.D.,” she reflects. “But then, through the course of this program and working with Dr. Napieralski, I realized how much I really liked it. So I think a Ph.D. was automatically the next course of action for me. I just wanted to stay in this field longer and do more research.” She is pursuing her doctorate in geographical sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Sulich and Guin’s research interests were, naturally, influenced by Napieralski, who was their advisor. But they proved a perfect complement to his ongoing work as well. “Cat and I published a paper where we looked at surface water inequities in Phoenix and there were lots of different concepts and data that were brought into that. One of them was redlining, which fascinated us,” Napieralski explains. “My previous research focused a lot on the Rouge watershed, and Atreyi’s thesis focused on comparing flood risk from different models. So our collaborations came from overlapping projects and required the integration of collective expertise, creativity and persistence.”

The project the trio worked on together used historical maps to identify once-active, now-buried waterways in Detroit. They then correlated those waterways with flood risk data and historic Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps that graded neighborhoods on perceived financial risk, a now outlawed, highly discriminatory practice known as redlining. The team confirmed that flooding disproportionately impacts historically redlined neighborhoods and that the buried waterways contribute to flooding risk. They published their results in the January 2024 issue of City and Environment Interactions.

Their hope is that their research will be used to direct resources to the communities that need them the most. “Cities should begin mapping their ‘hidden hydrology’ so that residents know they are at increased risk of flooding and can make informed decisions and prepare,” Napieralski says. “We need to step back and evaluate how we manage water in urban environments, and also think about the people and history and mitigating factors that we invest in one community and not the other. All these things add up and people who have the least bear the greatest burden.”

Professor Jacob Napieralski poses for a photo on the banks of the Rouge River in Lola Valley Park, Redford, Michigan.

The process leading the group to look at ghost streams was iterative. “Anytime you map real world entities, you can always learn something new. And then that leads to further questions,” says Napieralski. “If you have people like Cat and Atreyi, who are smart, ambitious and have creative ideas, you just lay it out on the table. We would have a number of brainstorming sessions where we would just flesh out the key ideas. For many students, that works better than me telling them what to do, just because you never know what ideas someone else has that could be really valuable.”

Sulich and Guin both say their 51��Ƶ-Dearborn research experiences prepared them well for their next academic step. “If you want to know which parcels flood more, if they're redlined or not, you can't just open Google and search it. You have to just solve the problem yourself,” Sulich observes. ”That was what my master's thesis was like. Whenever there was a problem, because it’s original work, you can't just look it up. You have to find a way to solve that. And that's literally what a Ph.D. is.”

Guin says the research project helped her become more selective — a key skill for an academic. “All the work that we did during the research, we did not present all of it,” she observes. “To understand what to choose and what not to, what would be the most important thing to tie into this paper, that was also a big takeaway for me.”

Napieralski says he learned from Sulich and Guin as well. “I can just sit around at home and spitball great ideas, but it takes a team to see it through,” he explains. “I don't know if I ever saw it as mentoring so much as just collaborating. It was always sharing ideas and tasks, and we all had the same final goal. It wasn't for a grade, it was, ‘Let's get this published. Let's go to a conference and present this.’”

Napieralski has a long history of involving his students in his research, and he’s found they tend to form strong bonds. “There's a connection that lasts much longer,” he says. ”I don't like it when students just pack up and leave and I never see them again. I think it's healthy for faculty members to lean heavily on talented students and then also have that long-term partnership that lasts well beyond this stay on campus.”

Proving that point, Sulich recently enlisted her former advisor as a collaborator in her doctoral research. “I get to sit on the other side of this,” Napieralski reflects. “Just like our research evolves, so does the partnership that I share with them.”

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Article by Kristin Palm

Graduate Research

Student Success

Off

Mon, 02/19/2024 - 16:14

Two M.S. in Environmental Science grads are taking what they learned working with Professor Jacob Napieralski into prestigious doctoral programs.

Jacob Napieralski, far right, and his students at the American Association of Geographers annual meeting in Denver in 2023. From left: Atreyi Guin, graduate student Renato Marimon, undergraduate student Audrey Taylor and Cat Sulich.

Kristen Dage explores how the universe works

lblouin — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 18:10:03 +0000

Kristen Dage explores how the universe works lblouin Thu, 08/10/2023 - 14:10

As a 51��Ƶ-Dearborn undergrad, Kristen Dage asked Astronomy Associate Professor Will Clarkson if there were any openings for research work. After receiving a list, Dage chose a project where she would measure the effect that a neutron star — a compact stellar remnant with extreme properties like gravitational pull — has on the movement and appearance of a relatively normal stellar companion near it.

“This particular neutron star has about the same mass as the sun but it’s about the size of Dearborn. If it were any more compact, we’d get a black hole,” Clarkson says. “There’s a lot of really compact exotic nuclear material. We wanted to see how the system works.”

That was a decade ago. Dage graduated from 51��Ƶ-Dearborn in 2014. But her observation and data collection with Clarkson is ongoing — as is Dage’s interest in astronomy, astrophysics, neutron stars and black holes. Dage earned her Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Michigan State University in 2020 — her acceptance letter is hanging in Clarkson’s office. She recently completed an independent fellowship at McGill University in Montréal.

Now she’s working with NASA. Dage was named one of the 24 people internationally that NASA selected for its prestigious annual postdoctoral NASA Hubble Fellowship Program.

As a 2023 NASA Einstein Fellow, a subset of the award, Dage is designing research around the question, “How does the universe work?” Her study will explore how compact objects evolve in dense stellar environments. Her work will enable, for the first time, the creation of a catalog of putative — or presumed to exist — intermediate mass black holes in young star clusters.

“Neutron stars hold so much information. They are a key to unlocking the universe’s secrets,” says Dage, noting that neutron stars are rich laboratories to understand physics, including gravitational physics, nuclear and particle physics, and plasma astrophysics. Dage says since the processes that happen in a neutron star cannot be replicated in labs on Earth, researchers study them where they are.

The NASA fellowships, which are limited to individuals only a few years post-doc, provide three years of independent research support. Because the applicant needs to be sponsored by an institution, only top candidates are put forward.

For her NASA fellowship, Dage will work out of Wayne State University. She says this will give her the opportunity to stop in at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s campus and see some of her favorite people. She says doors were always open to her as a student and that continues today.

And, in one of those offices, there are now two papers hanging up with her name on them. After she read her NASA acceptance letter, she sent it over to her mentor. “I wrote, ‘Print this and put it next to the other letter’ to Will,” she says. “I am where I am today because of Will. I feel very lucky to have gone to 51��Ƶ-Dearborn. I met wonderful people who opened doors. Those opened doors made opportunities like this happen
for me.”

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Story by Sarah Tuxbury

Student Success

Off

Thu, 08/10/2023 - 18:09

Dage was one of the 24 internationally selected researchers for the postdoctoral NASA Hubble Fellowship Program.

Photo by Michigan Photography

Helping solve the mystery of world's largest gecko

stuxbury — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 17:16:01 +0000

Helping solve the mystery of world's largest gecko stuxbury Mon, 07/17/2023 - 13:16

For nearly 200 years, a mysterious giant gecko sat in a French natural history museum’s storage area. No one knew anything about it except that the Natural History Museum of Marseille’s records show it had been there since at least the 1870s and the style of taxidermy pointed closer to the 1830s.

Its size got the attention of researchers who wanted to know more. Larger than any gecko known today, its main body was 380 millimeters or nearly 15 inches — and with the tail, it’s nearly two feet long. Giving a comparison, today’s largest gecko species is in New Caledonia, the archipelago east of Australia. The largest known of those measured about 10 inches, minus the tail.

Helping uncover the mystery is noted herpetologist and CASL Professor Matthew Heinicke. Heinicke said a frequent research collaborator of his, Villanova University Biology Professor Aaron Baur, learned about the gecko from the French museum in the mid-1980s. But DNA analysis wasn’t advanced enough at that time to get conclusive results. About a decade ago, Baur reached out to Heinicke to get involved with this extensive research project.

“For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the broader scientific community didn't have knowledge of this specimen’s existence until one of my colleagues became aware of it,” said Heinicke, who reached out to the museum with Baur and asked for tissue samples. “We hoped that DNA technology, which they obviously didn’t have at that time, would be able to tell us a lot more about it.”

Known in the scientific community for his reptile DNA analysis work, Heinicke received the specimen’s femur from the museum so that he could extract and analyze its DNA makeup in his 51��Ƶ-Dearborn lab.

Researchers originally thought the gecko was from New Zealand based on similar physical characteristics–like toe pads and color patterns – to the country’s geckos. In addition, it resembled a lizard known in folklore from the Māori, the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Herpetologists felt so confident in their hypothesis that they scientifically named it Hoplodactylus delcourti. Hoplodactylus refers to geckos originating from New Zealand and Delcourt is the last name of the museum worker who rediscovered it.

So did this giant gecko, which is presumed to be extinct, come from New Zealand?

To answer this question, Heinicke, his co-researchers from across the nation and his 51��Ƶ-Dearborn undergraduate student research assistants created a dataset that included DNA from 160 species of gecko, essentially creating a family tree. Heinicke then dropped the giant gecko’s DNA sample into the dataset to see where it falls.

They learned the mystery gecko is not from New Zealand. Instead, it’s related to those large — but not as giant — geckos from New Caledonia. The team’s findings were recently published in Scientific Reports and featured in ScienceNews. Heinicke and his colleagues are proposing a change in the lizard’s scientific name. They have dubbed it Gigarcanum, or “giant mystery.”

The importance of this new finding? Heinicke said it helps us understand how different species evolve.

“It’s really nice to live on a planet that has so much variety,” he said. “One of the big questions in the evolution of biology is what are the big factors that promote the evolution of diversity? What causes organisms to change and differentiate from one another? Isolation, when there is a lack of competition, seems to be one of these things. We want to better understand these evolutionary processes because they help explain where biodiversity comes from.”

“Now that we have identified its closest living cousins, we can start to investigate how it adapted to become so large compared to other geckos,” he added.

Also, if there are any more giant geckos out there, researchers and reptile enthusiasts now know where to look.

Article by Sarah Tuxbury and contributor Kristin Palm.

Off

Mon, 07/17/2023 - 17:14

Professor Matthew Heinicke extracted DNA from a femur to clarify origin of the almost 2-foot-long lizard.

Professor Marilee Benore receives honor from American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

stuxbury — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 13:44:30 +0000

Professor Marilee Benore receives honor from American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology stuxbury Mon, 03/27/2023 - 09:44

In Biochemistry Professor Marilee Benore’s office, there are custom printed 3D models of protein structures and copper pipes shaped and painted to look like DNA strands. Near these science sculptures, there are several whimsical pictures featuring the characters of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

It seems like juxtaposition, but Benore says what they represent complements each other.

“Things are not always as they seem. When you look at me, you don’t see chromosomes, genes and proteins. But they are all there,” she said. “You can’t see anything in biochemistry with a naked eye. You have to believe it and be open to learning. That’s where these models come in. They introduce us to this world that’s under the surface.”

Listening to Benore talk with students about biochemistry substances and processes, it’s obvious that she values labs, practice-based learning, research work and those 3D models.

As she snaps a vitamin into an alpha ribbon niche on the protein model, Benore says many of her students go into medicine. She wants them to understand how things work so they can pass information along to others.

“I tell them, ‘Let’s pretend you are a physician and you have to tell a parent about a genetic disease. I want you to show me where the mutation might be on the chromosome and explain it to me,” she says. “When you are looking someone in the eyes and giving them news about something they cannot see, you need to be more than a doctor. You need to be a trusted source and educator.”

Benore has taught at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn since 1989, and she explores different ways to educate her students. That has built trust. Just a few examples, among many: Benore mentors scores of students in her lab, and she is organizing a study abroad experience to Italy for students to learn from an ancient medicinal garden, and she created custom take-home lab kits for students during the pandemic.

For her work, Benore was named a 2023 Fellow by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The honorific program recognizes 20 scientists annually who’ve made outstanding contributions to the field through their research, teaching, mentoring or other forms of service. She was named along with faculty from institutions that include U-M Medical School, Yale, UC-Berkley and Rutgers.

“Because biochemistry is considered challenging to teach, biochem educators have ways — like the ASBMB — to collaborate with leaders in the field and make sure that our lessons remain relevant and student-centered,” said Benore, who’s been a member of the society for 20-plus years. “A recognition like this means my work is appreciated, has value and it opens doors.”

Benore said the ASBMB supports innovative science education and promotes the diversity of individuals entering the scientific workforce — something she’s passionate about.

As a young chemical lab researcher in industry, Benore experienced harassment and discrimination from male colleagues. And when she graduated with an advanced degree in chemistry at the University of Delaware, she was in a class with only four females. “In my journey, I’ve learned that opportunity doesn't exist for everyone. I wanted to ensure that girls and women had access to STEM careers.”

Before Benore was a professor, she was a girls’ basketball coach, a feminist newsletter editor and a domestic violence shelter advocate. As a professor, Benore organized and ran a Girl Scouts STEM summer camp, advised the 51��Ƶ-Dearborn chapter of Women in Leadership and Learning and team-taught with colleagues in the Women and Gender Studies program.

Students use copper alembic stills in Benore's biochem lab.

Benore said female representation in biochemistry has made huge strides in the 30-plus years since she entered the field (2022 data shows that 44% of U.S. biochemists are women). But she says there are still gaps in representation that need to be addressed, specifically for people of color. Looking at 2022 biochemist demographics, 9.9% identify as Hispanic/Latinx and 6.6% identify as Black.

“Everyone likes to talk about DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and I’m glad we do. But there needs to be more action, more movement,” said Benore, who teaches a biology-oriented diversity in healthcare course at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn. “And this lack of diversity goes beyond biochemist professionals. It’s in our drug discovery process and in healthcare policies too.”

With ASBMB colleagues, Benore helps run workshops that focus on anti-racism practices in biochem labs and courses, gives advice during panels on how to respond to harassment, shares practices that help eliminate bias from hiring (like screening out applicant names and locations), and conducts research reviews to support biochem researchers. On campus, Benore is part of the team that landed a $1.44M National Science Foundation grant to start the STEM Scholars program, which is in its first year. The program tailors impactful education practices — like research, cohorts and professional development — to connect underserved and underrepresented populations to STEM futures.

Benore is at a point in her career where she could retire. But she’s not ready for that yet. She says there’s still work to do.

In her office, Benore shows a student how to set up a copper alembic still. She uses a computer program for a colleague to see how a prescription drug they are taking impacts complex molecules in the body. Still using visuals to explain the unseeable, Benore gestures to her Alice in Wonderland art and back to the biochemistry papers and books around the room.

“We are all a little mad around here,” she says with a smile. “But there is a method in this madness. We, as faculty, want our students to learn about how things affect them, even if it’s something that can’t be seen. Because once you know it’s there, you can learn about the impact that it has. Awareness is always a good first step.”

Article by Sarah Tuxbury.

Awards

Office of Research

Off

Mon, 03/27/2023 - 13:42

Biochemistry Professor Marilee Benore is among 20 scientists who’ve made outstanding contributions to the field. She's named along with faculty from institutions that include U-M Medical School, Yale and Rutgers.

Photo of Professor Marilee Benore holding a 3D model of a protein structure. Photo/Sarah Tuxbury

'Art is a bridge to learning'

stuxbury — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 17:41:04 +0000

'Art is a bridge to learning' stuxbury Wed, 03/15/2023 - 13:41

Dental students often take art classes, like calligraphy, for finger dexterity. Engineers and architects use illustration to visually highlight their projects to audiences. And studying art improves bedside manner — research found that medical students who study art are better able to interpret the emotional expressions on patients' faces.

“Art is a bridge to learning. These are just a few examples to show that you do not need to be an art major to benefit from studying art,” said Lecturer Madeleine Barkey, who teaches in the applied art/art history program. “Art also has a wellness component that will benefit you at work and at home. It gives us ways to express ourselves and alleviate stress.”

In short, art benefits everyone. And so does nature. Thinking about these two universally available mental health boosters, Barkey wanted to connect them to show students how closely aligned the two are.

To do this, Barkey created the course ART 327: Scientific Illustration. Students worked closely with subjects related to geology, biology and botany. For their last project, they created a layered anatomy of an animal.

“Students in the class majored in biomedical engineering, environmental science, psychology, pre-health disciplines and more,” Barkey said. “They didn’t all see themselves as art students and were concerned that they wouldn’t deliver. By the end of the course, they were amazed at the level of work they produced."

Art in the Scientific Illustration Showcase by Bella Porbe and Keziah Eggert. Photo/Sarah Tuxbury

Barkey, who wanted to expand her student’s experience beyond the university’s art studio, worked with 51��Ƶ-Dearborn’s Environmental Interpretive Center. The EIC provided the students with resources when they needed samples and references. Barkey and EIC then partnered with the class to showcase the work. The art exhibit “Scientific Illustration” is on display in the EIC’s lobby now through the end of April. Hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

EIC Program Supervisor Rick Simek said he’s impressed with the caliber of work in the show and encourages the campus community to take a look.

Simek also wants 51��Ƶ-Dearborn community members to know that EIC staff is available to share hands-on nature and environmental studies lessons and the EIC team welcomes ideas for course collaboration. “We are here as a resource for professors and students. We have classroom space, an observation room and acres of natural areas. Our natural areas have lessons that change by season, so there’s a lot of ground we can cover.” Interested? Let the EIC staff know.

Senior Alexis Kott is a student in the Scientific Illustration class. The urban and regional studies major dreams of designing cities and neighborhoods. And she is especially passionate about bringing green spaces to heavily developed areas.

Growing up in northern Michigan, Kott said the woods were just steps from her home. She’d birdwatch with her grandmother and hike with her father. And sometimes she’d be inspired to draw. A lily pad painting in grade school ended up in an art show at her local museum.

With her dad’s military career, Kott moved around a bit. With each move, she began to realize the lakes and woods that inspired her as a child weren’t a universal experience. She saw factories that lined bodies of water and neighborhood streets that had much more gray than green.

“We need nature to live. If we embrace it, nature can provide a lot. It reduces pollution and improves mental health. If you don’t consider the environment when planning, there are consequences like poor air quality, flooding and decreased health outcomes,” Kott said. “Everyone should have access to parks, trees and greenspaces. One of my professional goals is to help make that happen.”

Kott, an applied art minor, said she uses art skills she’s learned from Barkey’s classes in her work. In addition to the Scientific Illustration course, Kott also took Barkey’s intermediate drawing class that allowed her to focus on her own interests, like architectural and perspective drawing.

Alexis Kott draws birds that she sees outside of the EIC observation room.

Kott said potential employers in the city planning industry have told her that they like how she merges art and function. At a recent Michigan Association of Planning Conference, Kott interacted with city managers and planners. She’d talk about green infrastructure ideas for a community and share some of her artwork.

“Art is important in the urban planning field because it’s a language that helps people understand future projects no matter your age or background,” Kott said. “Even if your community members speak different languages, art can help communicate an idea clearly.”

But until graduation comes, Kott connects communities with nature by serving as a student naturalist at the EIC. She takes out elementary student groups to teach them about the land and nature’s benefits. She birdwatches with them in the observation room and even shows them her sketches.

A group of children on a field trip to the EIC recently told Kott that they’d never seen the woods. She said there was wonder in their faces as they looked for wildlife and viewed tapped maple trees that dripped sap for syrup.

Kott said she’s proud to be on a campus that provides that type of education and experience. After graduation, Kott’s goal is to take the lessons she’s learned from her time at 51��Ƶ-Dearborn and meet communities where they are by creating spaces outside of their homes that will evoke wonder, promote wellness and possibly even inspire a future career.

Article by Sarah Tuxbury.

Arts

Nature or Environment

Environmental Interpretive Center

Language, Culture, and the Arts