UA News

The UA will be hosting hundreds of high school students and their families during an annual program that his helping to drive more undergraduates into the life sciences.

Hundreds of high school students and their parents will soon fill University of Arizona laboratories as part of a program that is helping to boost the number of students with an interest in studying biology-related fields.

Called “The Age of Biology: Opportunities in Biochemistry,” the one-day program introduces the UA to students from across the state while also encouraging them to consider studies and careers in life sciences.

“We are especially interested in students who have an interest in and aptitude for proceeding further than the basic course material, and those who have a desire to become a part of a research program that can further enhance knowledge in the biological sciences, including medicine and agriculture,” said Olivia A. Mendoza, program coordinator for the UA’s biochemistry and molecular biophysics department.

“They come from all over Arizona – by the busloads,” Mendoza said, adding that students are coming from Payson, Flagstaff and the Phoenix area, among other locations.

Mendoza helped introduce the program at the UA six years ago, and said that since the program’s inception, her department has seen about a 40 percent increase in undergraduate enrollment.

“We’re bringing students who might not enroll in biochemistry,” said Mendoza, who tracks the enrollment of students who attend “The Age of Biology” event.

Mendoza said that roughly half of the students who attend the event enroll at the UA and that 80 percent of those students go on to study biochemistry.

“It’s been one of our signature events,” she said, adding that students also declare majors in chemistry, molecular and cellular biology or in another field in life science.

“Age of Biology” also informs students about fields in health care, business and law, and informs them about research.

This year, the program will be held on Nov. 15 from 10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. The day includes tours research labs and information sessions on the main campus, presentations and close conversations with students and faculty in the chemistry and the biochemistry and molecular biophysics departments.

Students will also get an introduction to the UA Honors College and UA student life.

“It’s definitely a good opportunity to introduce youth who are interested in science to what they could be doing at the University,” said Dawne O’Brien, a UA Honors College student and junior studying biochemistry and molecular biophysics as well as microbiology.

O’Brien, who participated in last year’s event, said she saw great value in undergraduates sharing their research experience with younger students.

“It gave me a fresh look at what it was like to be an undergraduate researcher and definitely opened my eyes to what academia can be,” said O’Brien, who is working in the biochemistry laboratory headed by Matthew Cordes, a UA associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics.

Andrea Hartzell, a National Merit Scholar and Flinn Foundation scholarship finalist, will be speaking during the event about why science and research are important to her.

“I think the most important thing to me is that they’re contributing knowledge to the world, which is the basic building block that all things come from,” said Hartzell, a UA sophomore majoring in biochemistry and molecular biophysics who is also an Ambassador for both the College of Science and the biochemistry department.

Hartzell, a UA Honors College student, had been introduced to the world of science and research through her Tucson High Magnet School teacher, Margaret Wilch, who maintains close ties to UA researchers.

“Before I met her, I had no idea what science actually did,” said Hartzell, who is currently an undergraduate researcher working with Bradley Davidson, a UA assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology.

“You see scientists in the movies and on TV and it seems like this obscure field that you can’t imagine getting in,” said Hartzell, who added that some young students may believe this to be true.

But she found that the field was not as obscure as she once thought. “With a program like this, you can have students involved and also let them know how they can get involved with research later.”