Graduate Education adds epidemiology program; serves 265 students across all programs
The Office of Graduate Education at Penn State College of Medicine supports the master’s, PhD and certificate programs of the college. Here are the latest updates from Graduate Education.
Doctoral program updates
A new doctoral-level program in epidemiology has accepted four students into its inaugural class. The objectives of this program are to train students to master current quantitative methods, obtain broad knowledge of major human disease epidemiology, and become experts in a specific disease or health status topic. This program joins the existing five doctoral programs in anatomy, bioinformatics and genomics, biomedical sciences, biostatistics and neuroscience at the College of Medicine, with a collective enrollment of 256 students. Furthermore, 16 new students are enrolled in residential master’s degree programs at the College in Public Health Sciences and Laboratory Animal Medicine. Additionally, 144 students are enrolled through Penn State World Campus in the Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security – Public Health Preparedness Option.
Graduate Student Oath Ceremony
The annual Graduate Student Oath Ceremony was held for all entering graduate students in August at the University Conference Center. The oath, one of the first of its kind for graduate students, was developed nearly a decade ago by a group of Penn State graduate students and reflects core values of integrity, professionalism and scholarship. In addition to the new students, senior students, staff, faculty and family filled the audience to watch the students recite the oath. Dr. Charles Lang, associate dean for graduate studies, provided the keynote address, Learned Optimism and Resilience, at the event.
Graduate student awards presented
Following completion of the Oath Ceremony, current graduate student were recognized for their exceptional research, academic performance and service achievements:
- Patrick G. Quinn Award for outstanding graduate student performance by a post-comprehensive doctoral student in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology:
- Martin Johnson
- Richard J. Courtney Graduate Student Award for the outstanding graduate student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, given in memory of Dr. Richard J. Courtney, former chair of the department:
- Matthew Lauver
- Graduate Alumni Endowed Scholarship and the Class of 1971 and 1974 Awards honoring individuals who have achieved exemplary academic records and outstanding community involvement:
- Melanie Eshelman
- Elizabeta Blandin
- Jordan Chang
- Ian Hayman
- Kristin Lambert
- Matthew Lauver
- Vishal Midya
- Praneet Sandhu
- Sarah Tilden
- Jaclyn Welles
- Melissa White
- Carson Wills
- Jenna Wilcox
- Graduate Alumni Endowed Scholarships awarded to students who are active in College of Medicine organizations and activities:
- Cecilia Bove
- William Harrington
- Jesica James
- Aubrey Juris
- Rachel Stanford
- Jillian Weissenrieder
- Karl H. Beyer Jr., MD, PhD, Scholarship recognizing academic excellence and leadership:
- Brian Chiou
- Sara Costalas
- Natalie Fuentes
- Taryn Mockus
- Aditi Sharma
- In addition to those awards presented at the Awards Ceremony, a number of graduate students have earned special recognition for their scientific achievements this past year:
- Taryn Mockus (Neuroscience): Excellence in Mentoring
- Kristin Lambert (MD/PhD): Alumni Association Scholarship for Penn State Alumni
- Brian Chiou (BMS): St. Jude Future Research Fellow
- Oliver Mrowczynski (MD/PhD); Student Award for Excellence in Innovation
- Michelle Green (BMS); AAAS Catalyzing Advocacy Science and Engineering Fellowship
Student travels to Nobel Laureate meeting
Robert Nwokonko, fourth year graduate student in BMS program, was selected to travel to Lindau, Germany for the 68th Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting (June 24 to 29). He joined other doctoral candidates and post-doctoral scholars under the age of 35 competitively selected for the rare chance to meet and exchange ideas with world’s most lauded scientists and researchers. Read more about Nwokonko’s experiences.
Research Retreat helps match students and projects
The Fifth Annual Faculty and Student Research Retreat was held at the Antique Auto Museum in August. This poster event is designed so that laboratories can highlight their research and first-year students can begin to identify research projects and mentors. This year more than 50 faculty and labs presented posters and more than 100 students and faculty were in attendance to share and learn more about the breadth of research conducted at the College of Medicine.
Research Forum showcases student work, allows networking
The Graduate Student Research Forum is organized and sponsored by the Graduate Student Association of Penn State College of Medicine. The primary goal of the forum is to promote interaction and the exchange of ideas between students, faculty and alumni. The forum introduces students to the format generally used at scientific meetings, and it provides an opportunity to recognize excellence in graduate research at Penn State College of Medicine. This past year’s event was the 30th Anniversary of Forum and the keynote speaker was Dr. Dave Antonetti who spoke on “A Career in Research: Expect the Unexpected.” Dr. Antonetti was a graduate student at the College (PhD, CMBIO ’92) and organized the first Forum. He is currently a professor at the Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan, and his research focuses on treatments to prevent or reverse vision loss that can result from diabetes. Planning for the next Research Forum is well underway and this years’ keynote speaker will be Joshua Anthony, PhD, MBA who is alumni of the Cellular and Molecular Physiology Graduate program (’01) and is Vice President, Global Health Sciences and Regulatory Affairs, Campbell Soup Company. Dr. Anthony career highlights the diverse range of career options available to the graduates of our doctoral programs. Read more about this year’s Forum.
Career services support offered
Compared to years past, fewer doctoral students are pursing academic research careers upon graduation. To address the students’ need for increased advice and mentoring in what are generally considered non-academic careers, the Office for Graduate Studies now houses an Office of Career Services. Jessica Kirkwood, career services coordinator and Stacey Zygmunt, assist biomedical and public health sciences graduate students in preparing for and pursuing meaningful and rewarding careers through a comprehensive array of programs and services.
Summer research programs help undergraduate students develop research interests
The College of Medicine through the Office of Graduate Studies organizes and runs several summer undergraduate research internship programs. These programs are highly competitive and select students nationwide who are intent on pursuing a research career in the biomedical sciences. These 10-week programs permit talented undergraduate students to work one-on-one with faculty, fellows, and senior graduate students in conducting clinical or basic science research. Additionally, a variety of career development and scientific research seminars are offered weekly as part of the program, and the program concludes with a Research Symposium where students present their work either orally or in poster form. Leadership for these programs is provided by Gail Matters, PhD (SURIP Program and STEP-UP Program) and Chris Yengo, PhD (American Heart Association – Undergraduate Student Fellowship).
T32 training program receives grant renewal
NIH has renewed the long-standing T32 training program with a grant (T32) for pre- and postdoctoral fellows in the area of cancer virology; the program director for this training program is Craig Meyers, PhD, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. The trainers associated with this training grant application conduct studies with both cancer-causing and cancer-associated viruses. These well-established scientists throughout the College of Medicine are part of a long-standing training program (year 21) that provides a dynamic training environment for young scientists. Because they are transmissible and changeable, viruses are among the most worrisome of all carcinogens, presently causing 15 to 20 percent of all human cancers. The complex mechanisms associated with viral oncogenesis requires a broad understanding of aspects of virology and immunology, and is the area of study for this research program.
Other updates from Graduate Education
- In the past year, the College has graduated 29 doctoral students who have collectively published 181 peer-reviewed publications.
- In the past year, Graduate Education has conducted internal and external review of the Biomedical Science (BMS) and Neuroscience graduate programs. In general, these reviews have emphasized the numerous strengths of these programs related to curriculum and teaching, program leadership and administration, available resources, mentoring, and student training and development. These reviews pinpointed several areas for improvement which are being actively addressed by the program directors, Ralph Keil, PhD (BMS) and Alistair Barber (Neuroscience).
- Two of the most pressing issues faced by graduate students relates to mistreatment and burnout. In the past year, Graduate Education has completed two surveys of graduate students focused on these areas. Results from these surveys have been shared with the students and faculty as well as College executive leadership. Efforts are underway to address key elements identified in these surveys reaffirming the College’s commitment to a learning environment of respect, collegiality and collaboration.
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