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For her senior research project she focused on SUN1, a gene involved in the transcriptional control of genetic information in yeast. Studying how genomic DNA can be activated or silenced helped to activate her own interest in biology. "I thought that's what I wanted to do with my life, but I wasn't sure," says Fitzgerald, who plans to attend graduate school in biology. "I had a view of science as sitting in a corner with a microscope all day." Instead, she found the laboratory to be extremely social. "I didn't expect it to be so interactive," she says. "The postdocs, the grad students, and Lorraine all take so much time to explain everything. You don't get that in your regular classes."
For a senior project, Skinner worked to develop a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probe that can measure metabolic processes in riboflavin-deficient chicken embryos. "No one person knew how to do this," he says, "so I had to talk to the people on campus who know about NMR, and to some researchers in Canada, and to the people in the electronics shop who know how to solder the pieces together." Named one of the top 20 undergraduates in the country by USA Today, Skinner is "the model of a person who can do everything," according to his research supervisor, biochemistry professor Harold White. That description also applies outside the laboratory. Originally a biochemistry major, Skinner switched to the liberal arts to pursue broader interests in theater, art, philosophy, and English. He has acted in a number of plays and helped design the sets for others. He has tutored young biochemistry students at the university. And he is the founder and co-president of IMPACT, a residential community service organization that works with students and disadvantaged members of the local community. Skinner has not yet decided whether to go on in research. "There are a lot of things that interest me," he says. "So I'm trying to think about a career that combines a lot of different things."
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At Yale University a group of undergraduates organized a series of meetings where they compare their experiences with classmates majoring in other disciplines. "I've learned from studying molecular biophysics and biochemistry how multidisciplinary science is," says Jorge Torres, who helped plan the symposia. "I thought students should learn science in a multidisciplinary fashion." The Undergraduate Science Symposia also help students polish their presentation skills and provide an informal support network, especially for minority students who participate. "When you see someone from your ethnic origin presenting, you say, 'Oh, I can do that,'" says fellow organizer Gabriel Ortiz, who presented a talk on using metal affinity chromatography to purify the binding domain of botulinum toxin, a neurotoxin used to treat certain neuromuscular disorders. "It helps to motivate you," he says. Like Torres, Ortiz came to Yale from a Puerto Rican family in New York City.
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eather Fitzgerald, a senior at the University of Colorado at Boulder,
got involved in undergraduate research the traditional way: she responded
to an ad for a dishwasher in the laboratory of Lorraine Pillus, an assistant
professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.
It didn't take long before Fitzgerald was assisting a postdoc with a project
and, with a research stipend from the university, undertaking her own experiments.
or University of Delaware senior Michael Skinner, research was the culminating
experience of a rich undergraduate life. Yet the experience simply whetted
his appetite for something more.
Peer support also is important among minority students
at the 
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