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It's not enough to be on top of your research game; in addition, the next generation of researchers needs to be able to talk about research findings in ways that others can understand. Top undergraduate researchers in the country converged at the University of Idaho this summer for eight weeks of intense research. Though from diverse fields, the students will walk away with one thing in common: first-hand knowledge of the benefits that an interdisciplinary approach brings to a project.

"These students are interacting with biologists, sports therapists, mathematicians, chemists and psychologists, among other students and professionals," said Jim Frenzel, associate professor of electrical engineering and research mentor. "It is important that they learn to convey research to people without the same background or knowledge. It helps shape their research."

The university's Microelectronics Research and Communications Institute (MRCI) Neuroscience Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program draws students from around the country for focused research in biology, neuroscience, chemistry, psychology, computer engineering and computer science. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense, the program encourages students to pursue graduate degrees in science, mathematics and engineering.

REU project teams meet weekly to discuss current findings and potential impact to other teams' research. Allen Flavell, a senior at Seattle Pacific University who is researching artificial neural networks to mimic psychological conditioning effects, said that when he first arrived on the University of Idaho campus this summer, he was convinced his research wouldn't be nearly as technical as that of the other students.

"The first time we met, I was blown away by how complicated other teams' research sounded, and was sure my team's project would come across as simple when we got up to present," he said. "But we were surprised with the reaction from the other students. They had no idea what we were talking about."

Rick Wells, associate director of MRCI and director of the university's graduate program in neuroscience, said to be effective, researchers need to interact and be interdisciplinary. "The trick is learning how to do that, because different disciplines speak different languages," he said.

While researchers may make life-changing discoveries, Wells said that if they can't communicate the benefit to external parties, the research virtually is useless. To help young scientists become better communicators, MRCI established the interdisciplinary component.

Meredith Drennan, a junior in electrical engineering from St. Louis University in Missouri, said the approach gives the students experience in translating technical topics for non-technical audiences. "It gives us a feel for how to talk to people without the technical jargon," she said. Though an engineering-neuroscience researcher, she said she's often confused by terminology used by other scientists. "Biologists use long words that are not understandable at all," she said.

The communication component has been a useful tool to student researchers. In the past two years, eight MRCI REU participants presented posters at the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference, and earned seven gold ribbons and one blue ribbon. "A gold ribbon denotes 'Excellent - Exceeds the basic level of research and presentation for a conference at this level,' while a blue ribbon denotes 'Superior - Exceeds the basic level of research and presentation to an exemplary degree,'" said Wells.

Sigma Xi is one of the oldest and largest scientific organizations in the world. With the outstanding level of research exhibited this summer, the group has high expectations of success at the annual meeting this November, as well as in upcoming publications. In the four years since the University of Idaho implemented the REU program, student participants have authored or co-authored 13 publications or presentations, contributed to seven additional publications and currently are preparing six future publications.

The fourth annual MRCI REU program at the University of Idaho included presentations by the 10 participants. With their new communications skills, the presentations were suited for non-technical audiences despite their technical titles. Topics included:

"Investigation of the role of the thalamus in neocortical learning," by Albert Bush, a junior in math at Southern Polytechnic State University in Georgia, and Linda Mummy, a sophomore in math at Whitman College in Washington. It translates to "How the interaction between different parts of the brain controls our learning."

• "Artificial neural networks to mimic psychological conditioning effects," by Meredith Drennan, a junior in electrical engineering from St. Louis University in Missouri, and Allen Flavell, a senior in electrical engineering and math from Seattle Pacific University in Washington. This translates to "How to train robots to learn from their environment and be able to anticipate situations."
• "Molecular correlates of anxiety-related behavior in zebrafish (Danio rerio)" by Shayna Williams, a sophomore in neuroscience from Claremont-McKenna College in California. This translates to "Finding genes that may increase anxiety." Williams said that one issue with trying to come up with a lay-person friendly title is that it almost inevitably makes the title less accurate.
• "The function of the sonic hedgehog gene in retinal development" by Kimberly Russo, a senior in biological sciences at the University of Idaho. Translates to "Why your eyes need molecules with funny names in order to develop vision."
• "Olfactory detection of CO2 in mice" by Kendra Puig, a junior in biology from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. This translates to "Mice use their sense of smell to detect carbon dioxide."
• "The effect of whole-body vibration training on single-leg balance in normal and ACL reconstructed populations" by Nick Simon, a sophomore in neuroscience from Bowdoin College in Maine. Simon said ACL tears are among the most common sports injuries. While ACL reconstructions are often successful in restoring the damaged mechanical functioning of the knee, the sensory information provided by the receptors in the ACL remains lost. This study will first look to see if differences in balance exist between ACL healthy and ACL reconstructed populations by examining muscle activation and weight distribution; it then will compare different training techniques to see if whole body vibration, which has been shown to increase strength and power, improves balance more than firm training.
• "Oligonucleotides for antigene and antisence strategies" presented by Joanna Hawryluk, a sophomore in psychobiology from Simmons College in Massachusetts, and Johanna Root, a junior in chemistry from the University of Puget Sound. "We are attaching hydrophobic - or water resistant - groups to modified nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) to make the modified nucleic acid hydrophobic and easier to pass through the cell membrane," said Root. "Once through the cell membrane, we want this probe containing the modified nucleic acids that have hydrophobic groups attached to it to bind to its complementary DNA or RNA, blocking either transcription or translation of the gene. This hopefully will prevent the formation of the protein. Eventually the lab hopes to be able to target mutated genes and block the formation of the mutated protein which is causing a disease of some sort."

MRCI develops technologies in microelectronics, power electronics, microwave ferrite research, battery development, intelligent control, computer security, communications systems and neural networks. Much of this research and development is performed by the University of Idaho's Center for Intelligent Systems Research, Center for Secure and Dependable Systems, and Laboratory for Computational Neuroscience and Technology Research. The research involves 35 affiliated faculty members from the University of Idaho and Washington State University. Research by REU participants provides important contributions to current research projects; some students return to the University of Idaho to continue the research they started as undergraduate students.