Welcome back!
First of all, I want to apologize about the delay of the updates.(as some of you might know NCUR has kept me and the rest of the participants/attendees busy) Well for our trip in it went really amazing! The flight was much shorter than I expected(only 2 and a half hours). We arrived in Missoula and it was brisk, but the view was spectacular. There are literally mountains covering all 360 degrees of the skyline. We arrived at a fantastic hotel, and all the hustle and bustle ended with a nice Irish dinner(the food was good) and happy UWRF students. I slept like a baby(no, I didn't wake up every three hours)!
Day two was another fantastic day. For Thursday I had a presentation at 12:45 PM, so I was a bit nervous. I left for campus on the convenient bus routes at about 7:30AM, and as soon as I arrived I realized how big this event actually is! I kind of felt like an ant, but then I remembered that I am just as important as everyone else here. The epiphany came as this event is for undergraduates to lose the “jitters” of presenting, and be comfortable displaying there knowledge in the specific field. I then attended my first oral presentation. There were three different presentations based on “Applying molecular methods to identify human and ruminant fecal contamination sources in Forest Lake, Kirksville, MO”, “Improving Cre-based tools: The Cre Stoplight 2”, and “Epigenetic Control of Cellular Immortalization in Li-Fraumeni Cells.” All of these presentations were well done, and I learned quite a bit. I then went to the plenary speaker, who talked about the importance of undergraduate research and doing experiments in classroom labs that have “looming issues of social consequence”. He stated that if they could focus the research it will envelop more students to become stimulated in the project. After the plenary I grabbed lunch and presented!!! It went amazing I received a lot of good feedback about what SURSCA is doing. I also discussed a lot of good ideas.(don't worry I wrote them down) Some of the students then left back to the hotel to change out of the “monkey suit” and into some business casual. We then went back to campus, and went to the poster session. Yes it was a long day, but then one of my friends decided to climb the mountain!!! I agreed and we reached the top. (trust me I have pictures) It was amazing you could view the entire city. We came back and off we went to dinner, and then most of us hit the hay.
Day three turned out to be another “super” day. Friday was the day for me to present my poster on “Seeking to generate “induced pluripotent stem” (IPS) cells from the cervical cancer cell line, HeLa.” I was able to talk to many interested students and faculty from around the United States! I cited previous scientific literature relating to my topic, and I felt like I conveyed my message to every visitor. I also networked with people from many different schools, such as Kapiolani Community College out of Hawaii!!! They were extremely interested in our work, and I got their e-mail address. I also looked at many of the graduate schools there during the graduate school fair. I feel like I have a leg up now, because of some of the contacts I've made. I then went to the nearest department store, so I could get a pair of comfortable shoes. I only brought dress shoes, and man my feet were barking up a storm.
Then I grabbed a quick bite to eat, and off the Kyi-Yo Pow Wow. This was an awesome experience, where I learned what a real “pow wow” is. It is a meeting of tribes to celebrate, and man do they know how to celebrate! They danced almost the full 4 hours.(I was tired watching them) It was a fantastic cultural experience. I learned about some traditional dances and even saw some UWRF students on the dance floor showing off their moves (of course we were invited to, but I climbed a mountain yesterday I didn’t have the ability to dance myself)! After the Pow Wow I returned to my room and I am about fall asleep now. So I must say thanks for reading and good night.
Timothy A. Morris Jr.
Biotechnology Major
UW-River Falls
Resident Assistant
Co-President Biotechnology Club
President SURSCA
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