Involvement in undergraduate research experiences influences a student's confidence and identity as a scientist. At traditional undergraduate institutions, undergraduate research requires a large commitment of a student's time. For summer research experiences, students are often required to dedicate the entirety of their time during the duration of the program and are restricted from working or taking classes. Metropolitan State University, of St. Paul, Minnesota, serves primarily older students (mean age of approximately 31) with diverse backgrounds. A large majority (63%) of our population attends part-time due to employment and familial responsibilities. Undergraduate research opportunities have been designed to better accommodate our students' more restrictive schedules. The independent study course has been limited to two credits, which equates to 60 hours of laboratory time per semester. The course has been designed to maximize the experience for students, through incorporation of essential soft skill assessments to better prepare students for industry or academic career paths in an effort to create a fulfilling experience.
During the transition from an in-person
Organic Chemistry II class
to a remote learning version of the class midsemester, a small-group
problem-solving session exercise was replaced with embedded video
questions as a low-stakes assignment with direct instructor feedback.
Whereas the in-person small-group problem-solving session was a group
submission, the embedded video questions were an individual submission.
The benefits of this change included direct feedback for each student,
which was proposed to assist all students, in contrast with the problem-solving
sessions, which may have excluded students not fully participating
in that particular social setting. Additionally, this was a way to
engage each student directly during a period of social isolation.
Costs include substantial time investment from the instructor and
a narrower selection of problems for the students to view, as well
as a lack of academic community building.
Phytochemical analysis of 3 members of the Urticaceae family (eg Pilea pumila, Laportea canadensis, and Boehmeria cylindrica) was conducted using GC-MS. P pumila and L canadensis have several recorded historical medicinal uses by Native American tribes, whereas B cylindrica does not. This study was conducted to understand the historical uses in terms of chemical composition. Plant material, separated into aerial or root portions, was dried and extracted using either ethanol or heptane at room temperature. Sterols, fatty acids and esters, terpenes and terpenoids, saturated and monounsaturated hydrocarbons, small oxygen-functionalized organic molecules, and tocopherols were observed using these methods. Plant sterols composed 30.3% to 62.2% of the observed extracts, followed by fatty acids and esters ranging from 0% to 49% and terpenes and terpenoids ranging 4.56% to 33.9%. All 3 plants contained γ-sitosterol as the dominant plant sterol and palmitic, linoleic, and linolenic acids and esters. The 3 plants differed significantly in the observed terpene and terpenoid composition. Germacrene D-4-ol, known to have antifungal activity, was the major terpenoid identified in P pumila (7.42%-7.76%), phytol (4.13%), α-cadinene (3.96%), and cadina-1,4-diene (5.53%) were observed in L canadensis treatments, and squalene (2.20%-7.04%), phytol (4.17%), and cadina-1,4-diene (6.68%) were observed in B cylindrica treatments . Possible rationales for Native American medicinal uses were evaluated.
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