Curators’ Distinguished Professor Michael Nichols (at right) talks to a group of prospective students as they tour some of UMSL’s chemistry facilities during a Science and Engineering Day event on Oct. 17. (Photo by James O’Brien/UMSL Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry)
The University of Missouri–St. Louis hosted nearly 60 prospective students interested in pursuing scientific degrees and careers during Science and Engineering Day on Oct. 17.
The students – including high school juniors and seniors, as well as prospective transfer students from area community colleges – had the opportunity to tour the facilities in the Science Complex and hear from faculty members as well as graduate and undergraduate students.
“This was our event, and we were excited to have so many students attend,” said Associate Professor Bethany Zolman, chair of the Department of Biology, who was one of the event’s organizers.
Attendees rotated through five stations to learn about some of the programs that UMSL has to offer.
One biology station, led by Assistant Teaching Professor Rebecca Polich, focused on health science and provided students with a chance to see preserved organs and work with the department’s Anatomage table.
Another biology station was focused on ecology. Graduate students Soren Johnson and Casey Ernest, postdoctoral fellow Bethany Williams and undergraduate Zoe Ellis showed the students the collection of fish in Professor Michi Tobler’s lab and brought them out to Bugg Lake to use traps to see what type of fish reside in its water.
Chemistry and Biochemistry Professors Keith Stine and Michael Nichols gave them a glimpse of UMSL’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, microscopy and X-ray facilities through guided tours.
Physics and Astronomy faculty members Erika Gibb and Mohi Saki hosted students in UMSL’s planetarium.
School of Engineering Founding Director George Nnanna, Associate Professor Hamid Sanei and advisor Iriah Wilkerson showed off some of their teaching and technology tools and lab projects.
“We love to show off our science facilities to prospective students,” Zolman said. “While it can be fun for them to visit campus, see classrooms, and tour dorm rooms, many students focused on science want to see the labs where they know they will be spending a lot of time. We took them to several different spaces over the course of a few hours, letting them really see a lot of the facilities we have, and they got to see a lot more as we walked them around, including classrooms and research areas.”
After the stations, all of the students gathered for lunch in the lobby of the Science Learning Building, where Megan Green Simonds, the executive director of enrollment management, talked to them about the admissions process. There were also representatives of each of the departments sitting at tables so that the prospective students had a chance to approach and ask more specific questions.
“I talked to one student from a local high school who said they were interested in biology, chemistry and civil engineering,” Zolman said. “At an event like this, prospective students can think about all three of those paths at the same time.”
