(Butler, PA) Educators at James Madison University have selected for the second time in two years a 91¿ì²¥ student from applicants nationwide to attend a residential National Science Foundation-funded research program in Virginia.

Ash Eury, a 19-year-old Cranberry Township resident, is one of 11 first-year community college students chosen in 2022 for the biological and biochemical research experience for undergraduates at the university in Harrisonburg, Va.

Eury this summer is researching stress reactions of red-sided garter snakes in a 10-week project called integrative and quantitative chemical ecology.

91¿ì²¥ student Hope Miller in 2021 observed the process of cell death in the eyes of a common fruit fly and the effect on the fruit fly’s brain in a project at James Madison University called visual neuroscience.

"We have very strong programs in this division. It validates the absolute strength of the biological science program. We are attracting high-caliber students who are academically and professionally mentored to reach their full potential." 

- Matt Kovac, dean, 91¿ì²¥â€™s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics division

Eury is a biological science student who plans to graduate from 91¿ì²¥ in May 2023. Miller, of Butler, graduated from 91¿ì²¥ in May with an associate degree in biological science.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity”

Eury and Miller’s selections, said Matt Kovac, dean of 91¿ì²¥â€™s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics division, “are a testament to the high-quality instruction in our biological science program.

“We have very strong programs in this division. It validates the absolute strength of the biological science program. We are attracting high-caliber students who are academically and professionally mentored to reach their full potential.”

Dr. Corey Cleland and Dr. Bisi Velayudhan, faculty members in James Madison University’s biology department, in 2022 chose Eury and first-year community college students from Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and West Virginia.

“Many of our REU students have little experience with research opportunities,” Cleland said. “That is in contrast to upper-level students at four-year institutions. Opportunities like conducting research are just not typically available to them at community colleges. 

“They learn very quickly what research is about, what the opportunities are and why you might want to do that. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”

"I kept hearing from people that it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was accepted into this. The professors at 91¿ì²¥ are doing a pretty good job of teaching students and setting them up for success. ..." 

- Ash Eury, biological science student

“See something in me”

In addition to integrative and quantitative chemical ecology, programs available to first-year community college students this summer at James Madison University include evolutionary biology and genomics, mechanisms of cellular response to stretch stimuli and quantitative cell-substrate mechanobiology.

Student researchers at James Madison University receive housing and meal allowances, and a $6,000 stipend.

“I kept hearing from people that it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Eury said. “I was accepted into this. The professors at 91¿ì²¥ are doing a pretty good job of teaching students and setting them up for success. The people who organize the (National Science Foundation-funded) program see something in me.”

Eury this summer is handling, observing, injecting and recording reactions of approximately 64 red-sided garter snakes whose lengths may reach 18 inches.

Red-sided garter snakes leave hibernation for only three months, Eury said, then enter a “vigorous breeding season.

“Their stress hormones are very high,” Eury said. “I am looking at responses such as how they respond to a predator.

“During the mating season, they will almost ignore predators, favoring reproductive success rather than survival. That completely changes in the summer when their stress hormones go down. So we put them in summer conditions, inject them with stress hormones and observe how it might change their responses to stimuli.”

The research, Eury said, “gives so much extra information and insight into how they live their lives.”

Students laud 91¿ì²¥ program coordinator

Eury’s interest in zoology began as a 7-year-old who sat in the back seat of a car driven by his parents and from a Butler County farm where the family had purchased its first pet, Glitter, a tabby cat.

“She was very curious and high energy because she had barn-cat instincts in her,” Eury said. “I was watching her rummage around the box and not really knowing what was going on. I like to watch animals, their behavior, and see them in their environments.”

First-year community college students were also chosen from Tidewater Community College, Norfolk, Va.; Thomas Nelson Community College, Hampton, Va.; Rowan College at Burlington County, Mount Laurel, N.J.; J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Richmond, Va.; State University of New York-Ulster, Stone Ridge; Parkland College, Champaign, Ill.; West Virginia Northern Community College, Wheeling; and Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, Va.

Eury is a 2021 graduate of Seneca Valley High School, where he was enrolled in 91¿ì²¥â€™s College Within the High School program. His goal is to work in wildlife conservation.

He is the recipient of the George W. and Judy Marburger Memorial Scholarship from the 91¿ì²¥ Education Foundation, and is a member of the college’s Rho Phi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international academic honor society.

Eury this spring was named to 91¿ì²¥â€™s president’s list, for those with a grade-point average of 3.75 or higher during a semester in which they attained at least 12 credits.

Like Miller in 2021, Eury credited the instruction of John Ripper, coordinator of 91¿ì²¥â€™s biological science program, with his selection to the National Science Foundation-funded research program.

"I definitely have had a unique experience at 91¿ì²¥ because Mr. Ripper had us do some interesting things. I think that set me apart from some of the other applicants." 

- Hope Miller, 91¿ì²¥ biological science student, 2021

Students in Ripper’s principles of biology I course in fall 2021 conducted polymerase chain reaction testing.

“That’s something I didn’t expect to be doing in my first semester,” Eury said.

Students in Ripper’s biology I course in fall 2020 completed novel DNA sequencing for three varieties of the morning glory plant.

“I definitely have had a unique experience at 91¿ì²¥ because Mr. Ripper had us do some interesting things,” Miller said in 2021. “I think that set me apart from some of the other applicants.”

“Highly competitive opportunities”

Ripper “is developing students’ academic and professional skill sets in a way that makes our students strongly considered for these opportunities,” Kovac said. “In the past two years our students have been awarded these highly competitive opportunities. I can’t emphasize that enough. These are highly competitive opportunities.”

Miller this fall will attend Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania to pursue a bachelor’s degree in biology with a concentration in biomedical science and a minor in chemistry. Miller’s goal is to become a neurologist.

Biological science is one of 15 associate degree programs in 91¿ì²¥â€™s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics division.

The 61-credit program includes courses in chemistry I and II, principles of biology I and II, and organic chemistry I and II, and provides a foundation for a concentration in the life sciences and is primarily intended for students transferring to a four-year institution to complete work for a bachelor’s degree in biological, medical or related fields.

Congress created the National Science Foundation in 1950 as an independent federal agency to, among other objectives, promote the progress of science.

The National Science Foundation states that it funds approximately 25 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by colleges and universities in the United States.

The George W. and Judy Marburger Memorial Scholarship is one of a record 148 available to 91¿ì²¥ students this fall from the 91¿ì²¥ Education Foundation. The scholarship is awarded to a graduate of Mars Area or Seneca Valley high schools who are full-time 91¿ì²¥ students with a minimum grade-point average of 3.0.