Scholarship

In my efforts to keep current within the field, I am currently a member of the

following organizations:
American Association of Immunologists
Indiana Academy of Sciences
American Society of Microbiologists
Indiana College Biology Teachers Association
These affiliations not only keep my knowledge in the field current but also help me
practice what I preach as a scientist. Scientists dont learn from a textbook but
rather each other and through current publications.
Manuscripts and grant writing
In the last five years, I have had two papers published. These are all a result of work
I did as a graduate student at the University of Notre Dame.
Polando, R. C.R. Carter, J. Whitcomb, B. Jones, M.A. McDowell. Role of
complement receptor 3 and Fc receptor in phagosome maturation during
Leishmania infection. J. Leukocyte Biology, 2013.
Carter, C. R. M. Favila, R. Polando, R. Cotton, K. Horner, D. Condon, W.
Ballhorn, J. Whitcomb, M. Yadav, R. Geister, J. Schorey, M. McDowell.
Leishmania major inhibits IL-12 in macrophages through CR3 and down
regulation of ETS mediated transcription. Parasite Immun. 2013.

I have a co-authored paper currently in review with PLoS One, an open source
journal, and am awaiting reviewer comments.
Grant writing has proven to be quite challenging. I submitted a small grant with
Matthew Helm (a current student at the time) to the Indiana Academy of Sciences in
2012. Our grant focused on his interest of potential antioxidants and their cancer
fighting or inducing abilities. The feedback we received on the grant was that our
question was too unfocused and that we could not possibly conduct all the
experiments necessary on the budget we proposed. While I disagree with the
reviewer comments, we chose not to resubmit the proposal as Matt ended up in an
Research Experience for Undergraduates and could not have completed this project
as we had hoped.
I have spent many hours researching several grant options through the National
Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). As mentioned in
my third year review, the NSF is not a funding agency that is interested in any aspect
of human health. In fact, their funding award information explicitly states that the
research must have no human health implications. It would be extremely difficult
for me to qualify for an NSF grant since all of my experience focuses on this aspect,
and any project I propose would have underlying health applications. In addition, I
attended an NIH information session in 2013 at the Autumn Immunology
Conference in Chicago. This was a great opportunity as the panelists of several
review committees presented the workshop. I was able to speak one on one with
the review panelist who is most likely to review my grant. She was enthusiastic
about my topic and the potential data that could be generated, but when we talked
about timeline and institutional support she was highly concerned. My heavy
teaching and advising load leaves me less than two hours a day to conduct research.
While I would include students in my work, it is difficult to have them find time to
dedicate at least 10 hours a week to research. I am currently tweaking and
rethinking a method to get all the pieces of the project done in the summer. By the
time students master the research technique they only have 2-3 weeks to generate
data. Additionally, funding is extremely competitive and many more prestigious
researchers are losing their labs and funding.
Student Research
One of my roles as a faculty member is to get students interested and engaged in
research. Since Manchester is not a research institution, my time is best spent with
students and encouraging students to apply what they learn in class. My goal is not
to pressure students to attend graduate school, but to make them think critically. I
intentionally let senior students pick their own research projects even if it is outside
my area of expertise. This means that I am learning along with the students, which
further demonstrates the importance of continued learning to students.
Instead of focusing on one overarching and complex project involving a limited
number of students, I have created opportunities for many students by helping them
create smaller projects that are more aligned with their individual interests.
Without formal funding, I have been fortunate enough to judiciously used limited
resources from the department to achieve these goals. In the last five years, I have
constructed research projects for five seniors that needed a project for graduation
and 1 honors project for a first year student. Most of the senior projects focus on
microbiology questions not cell-based questions (my expertise) due to time and
budgetary constraints. It also allows the students a lot more freedom in pursuing a
question that they are interested in, rather than one that I need answered to meet a
grant deadline.
In the summer of 2013, I was fortunate enough to win a Deans Award for research
and with it employed three students. One student was paid by the grant, one was
paid by my stipend, and the third worked for free. The grant was able to cover most
of the cost of supplies along with some help from the biology department. I covered
the extra supply cost. The three students each took a different aspect of the project
and together we have compiled their research into a paper to submit to Beta Beta
Beta the biology honorary publication. The data are not convincing enough to
submit to a more prestigious journal and is fairly inconclusive due to high
variability. This is a result of having only 10 weeks to conduct all the research; once
the students were comfortable with their project they had 3 weeks left to do their
experiments. I greatly enjoyed seeing the light bulb go off for each of them as their
projects came to life. We also spent a substantial amount of time together in my
attempt to simulate a graduate experience. Every Friday, we had a lab meeting
where we presented our data, thought through problems and strategized the next
weeks experiments. The students also ate dinner with my husband and I on
Monday nights. This really cemented our relationship, much like what happens in
graduate school and at many conferences with your advisor. These simple acts gave
the students perspective and helped make them realize that graduate school is not
really as scary as it seems.
I have made it a priority to take students to conferences, even if they have not
completed research with me. I have taken three students to the Butler
Undergraduate Research Conference and five students to the Autumn Immunology
Conference in Chicago. I have also had five students present their research at our
own Research Symposium. It is very important for students, especially those
desiring to attend graduate school, to experience a conference and have a chance to
present their data and interact with other researchers. It is beneficial for budding
scientists to experience a professional meeting and interact with seasoned
researchers. I attend these meetings with the students so that they have the support
and reassurance. I encourage all of my research students to present their work, as
some lessons and experiences cannot be taught in a classroom.

Meetings and Presentations
I have had the opportunity to attend a wide variety of conferences, some focused on
pedagogy and teaching and some focused on current research in the field of
immunology. Attending both types of conferences has allowed me to explore new
ideas and incorporate current topics into my courses. I have been able to learn
about learning communities and retention, as well as new technology to spice up
lectures. Every time I attend the Autumn Immunology Conference, I am
reinvigorated about immunology and able to incorporate groundbreaking research
into class. This is both refreshing for me as well as the students.
I have also been able to attend 90% of the faculty forums and faculty development
seminars at Manchester. These meetings expand my knowledge, and I also have
incorporated what I have learned into my courses when appropriate. It is incredible
to be able to learn so much from my colleagues and put it into practice in the
classroom. For example, Michelle Calkas presentation on different Autism online
forums gave me the ability to discuss another side of Autism with my cell biology
course that I had not known before. I have also presented at a faculty forum and
science seminar on my graduate research, which forced me to stretch and really
think about how other people with different interests would connect with this
information. It is important to share ideas and methods as colleagues to make good
use of their great resources as a member of the community.
Overall, I continue to make strides in research even if my focus is more on small
undergraduate sized projects than a large overarching project. It is more important
that students have a research experience they can see to completion than it is for a
large and complicated project to be pieced together. I seek to continue to think and
strategize how to incorporate a large project and would likely reach out to
collaborate with my advisor Mary Ann McDowell.