Mentoring opportunity gives undergrad a ‘building block’ to future

Working part-time in the lab at the Red Cross Blood Bank and keeping up with her studies as a full-time student consume most of Fey’s day. Yet she’s spent what she calls her “free time” during her freshman and sophomore years working in Mourad’s busy lab, searching for the map location of the gene that transports DNA building blocks. For her efforts, she earns no pay and receives no class credit. But she may well find her life’s work in that lab.

Aware that research experience is vital to graduate school applications, Fey assumed she would have to wait until her junior or senior year to land such an opportunity.

“I don’t think I would have gotten this experience working on a specialized project as a freshman anywhere else,” she said. Fey is one of eight students doing active research in Mourad’s lab.

“Interaction with undergraduates is not a central part of the mission of most other institutions,” Mourad said. That IPFW offers such was a major attraction when he was searching for a job. “I wanted an ongoing link with students in an institution where that’s appreciated.”

“Working with Dr. Mourad and graduate students, I’ve learned to roll with the punches, make mistakes and adapt—all of which are essential to the research process,” Fey said.

Mourad sees Fey following the same path as past IPFW undergraduates who became well trained in research and were sought by the nation’s top graduate schools, because according to Mourad, “Sarah is distinguishing herself.”