Research

At 14, He Began his Mission to Treat Autism

Nicholas Page was just 14 when he started working in the lab of a Rutgers–Robert Wood Johnson Medical School professor.

He landed that gig by simply asking for it. Page was participating in the Brain Bee, a competition for high school students hosted by the Medical School.

“I was mingling with faculty and asking about research opportunities for high school students,” he says.

Climate Change Is a Major Concern for Rutgers Senior

Rutgers senior Lauren Rodgers examines tiny shells found in sediment at the bottom of the Southern Ocean near Tasmania. Photo: Nick Romanenko/Rutgers University

“Climate change is one of the biggest issues right now,” said Rodgers, who is 22. “Organisms are dying off and going through mass extinctions. The climate is completely changing and you can see it all around us. It’s not something you can ignore. We are causing it and we can make changes to lessen the impact, but at this point we cannot prevent it. Many people in power don’t seem to have climate change on their agenda, which is really disappointing.”

How I Found My Research Opportunity—A New Student Series

Photo of Zoe Reich in front of the Driscoll lab

As an Honors College Changemaking Mentor, my mentees often ask me about doing research. For this reason, I thought a series highlighting how students find their research opportunities could be helpful.

Many students embody the tenets of the Honors College—Curiosity. Knowledge. Purpose.—through the amazing research they are doing across Rutgers. Through this series, we’ll share student experiences in research and how they found their opportunities. Before we dive in, there are some things you should know:

Human Advice from a Successful National Science Foundation REU Applicant

It’s August 5th, 2022. I turn my car key and crank the AC. At 7:00 am, the New Mexico sun has already warmed my black car. It’s hot, but I find patience. I’ll need it–today, I’m driving home. I lift my eyes, glancing out the windshield at my new friends. They wave and smile, and vignettes of our time together flood my mind. I crest the dirt road that rollercoasters away from the field station and towards I-25. A happy tear grazes my smile.

Phong Nguyen, Acclaimed Author and Storyteller, Comes to Rutgers

Photo of Phong Nguyen (left) with an Honors College student, Honors College Dean and a professor of English, Richard E. Miller

A tale of Vietnamese independence and defiance of gender roles, the story of Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị is passed down from generation to generation in Vietnamese culture, as it was from Dr. Phong Nguyen’s father to him. Storytime included all the classics: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and the Trưng sisters. Only when he compared stories with his classmates did he find that no one else had heard of the sibling heroines of Vietnam. “I soon realized that if I ever wanted to read a story about the Trưng sisters, I would have to write it myself,” Dr. Nguyen said.

“I Know What I Need to Do Now.”

As I watched and listened, the students got the feedback they’d been waiting for. After a year or more of hard work, almost fifty soon-to-graduate researchers, investigators, and creators were finishing up presentations of their projects at the annual Honors College Capstone Showcase on April 12, 2019.