FIRE Looking Back and Moving Forward

As our time in FIRE at the University of Maryland comes to a close, we wanted to take a look at FIRE through eyes of three people who each play a key role in the program: Dr. Patrick Killion (Program Director), Dr. Catherine Spirito (Engineering Biosensors Research Educator), and Celine (Engineering Biosensors Peer Mentor)

 

What is your name and what is your history with FIRE?

Dr. Killion:

“…my name is Patrick Killion. I started here at the University of Maryland almost exactly 5 years ago. Umm, with the mission to envision what FIRE would be. We knew we would be building a program inspired by the University of Texas’ freshman research initiative, but perhaps with different missions here in mind as it relates to the University of Maryland.”

Dr. Spirito:

“My name is Dr. Spirito, and I am currently a research director at the University of Maryland… I currently run the Engineering Biosensors FIRE stream.”

Celine:

“My name is Celine…I came in freshman year as part of the BioFIRE program…and I originally started in the Found in Translation lab. But when it came time for Peer Mentoring, they opened up Engineering Biosensors and offered for us to move over here…”

 

How did you first get involved with FIRE?

Dr. Killion:

“ It (teaching at Cold Spring Harbor) was the first time I saw the marriage of real work, real research, and real learning. Because before, for me, my education is not fundamentally different from what yours is. Going to courses, lectures, exams, trying to pass classes…What I loved, there were two things that I loved about what I learned at Cold Spring Harbor, was that you could marry doing with learning at the same time and both would benefit. Right, you would get real work done that matters and then the learning would be more meaningful because you were actually doing real work, as opposed to trying pass an exam… in 2013, I got a call from Provose Rangan, here at the University of Maryland, and she basically said “I know who you are. We met a couple of times when you were a part of the University of Texas freshman research initiative. I know what you’re doing now. I need someone to build a new research program here at Maryland. Would you be willing to leave your faculty position and come do that and figure it out here for the University?”. And I was simultaneously super excited and pancied…”

Dr. Spirito:

“I finished my PhD the summer of 2017… at the time I was teaching part time at Cornell, and was doing part time pathogen research. I enjoyed both teaching, working with undergraduates, and researching, however I didn’t want to do Post-doc research… upon searching at an ASM career board, she saw the position… I later interviewed for the job as FIRE director, and eventually got it.”

Celine:

“After applying to Maryland and getting in, they sent this as like a secondary application being that I was Bio major. And I applied through that and I got it…”

 

What does the FIRE program offer undergraduate students that other academic programs don’t?

Dr. Killion:

“In academics there is always a tension, right, between deep scholarly thinking and pontification and like digging in, rolling up your sleeves and doing work and learning methods that allow you to work. And I hope from your FIRE experience you’ve had a good amount of this…our entire experience is set up for students to dive in and do really disciplined, authentic work at a really deep level. And that’s different than the experience that most students have in College Park Scholars or Honors.”

Dr. Spirito:

“The FIRE program allows undergraduate students to get involved in actual research programs immediately… students get the opportunity to learn through more than just lectures, and get to be more hands-on and active. Because students are exposed to a real lab and its environment, they are able to see early on what their interests are, and if they are even interested in working in this type of environment in the future… students are also given the opportunity to work with a team, and learn about actual research projects that are prevalent today.”

Celine:

“I think FIRE is really unique in that, it lets us as freshman in college get a jumpstart on research… So that way, weather or not you matriculate through the program and keep up as a peer mentor, you now have these transferable skills that you can go up to a lab as a junior or a senior and be like “I already know how to do this, you don’t have to train me. I about to save you a lot of time and do good research for you.”

 

As the FIRE programs continues, what are some changes you hope to see?

Dr. Killion:

“…[We] have research groups here, you know, in social sciences, in engineering, in public health, even in the arts & humanities. And so one of the things I hope as FIRE continues to grow, is that we continue to learn how to do that better. I’d say we’re still learning how to do this well in the social sciences and in the arts & humanities, it’s undergraduate research, at this scale, is new in those disciplines…”

Dr. Spirito:

“I love the fact that the FIRE program continues to add new streams… I would love to see more social science streams added to the FIRE program in the future.”

Celine:

“I think it would be cool to have more opportunities to learn about what other labs are doing… to kindof maintain that sense of community and like “oh, we’re all like in FIRE”.”

 

What advice would you give to students that aspire to base their careers off research?

Dr. Killion:

“…I’d say the simple answer is be eyes wide open and FIRE is well aligned with that….I would hope through FIRE, focused specifically on a research career, is that you get guys get real experience where you get to say “Hey, I’ve seen graduate students, I’ve seen Postdocs, I work with faculty, I know what research looks like in a lab at a University, I know what disappointment looks like. I can know picture in my head, if it took my six years to earn a PhD, I know exactly what that is going to look like, I know what I’m phoning up to.””

Dr. Spirito:

“Undergraduates are in a great position to find their preferences in different types of research… One of the best things students can do is to talk to their professors and see if they have actual research positions in their labs… although it is beneficial to stay with a particular stream of research, it may be beneficial for a student to explore multiple streams… can help to narrow down their preferences and see how different labs are run with different projects. When contacting a professor, students should make sure to express their interest in their research… they should also learn to become more independent while doing research in order to get more out of the experience… One other thing students should make sure to do is talk with other researchers and attend seminars around campus.”

Celine:

“…FIRE is…helpful for students that are planning on going into research because it’s a very nurturing community. Sometimes like when you get into a lab, it’s intense and everyone knows what they are doing already and you’re like the only undergrad, so it can be a bit overwhelming. So if you’re interested in research, find something like FIRE, practice reading research papers, I would subscribe to different forums and newsletters about research or pharamsucticals or whatever kind of research you’re into so that way you kindof get accustomed to the language. And keep up to date so when it comes time to maybe try and join into the lab, you have an idea of what the community is like.”

 

What made you want to work in a field of research?

Dr. Killion:

“I still consider myself a scholar, I’m a scholar of undergraduate research of how we marry… research practice with educational practices and create professional development experiences for young people. And why do I want to do that? Well I think of it as opportunity generation for you guys. I want you guys to be able to go to market with awareness and capacities that you wouldn’t have had and be more purposeful about what you’re giving. Life will happen to you less and you will make more purposeful choices because of your experiences with FIRE.”

Dr. Spirito:

“I started doing research in civil engineering because I enjoyed working in applied studies… later on I got involved with in environmental research. Once I got to graduate school, I got involved in experiments pertaining to anaerobic digestion through the use of inorganic molecules that are able to produce methane… I was doing a lot of searching and found a lot of interesting projects that nobody was taking initiative in developing… I found this stream to be perfect for me because a lot of the skills I learned in my past research was connected to the research techniques of this stream.”

Celine:

“…there’s still a whole aspect of research that goes in behind medicine and feeds into what medicine gets to become. Medical devices and medication and treatments, like there’s a whole backstory to medicine that I figured that if I’m not going to do research forever then I would know how to understand that kind of knowledge as a doctor and in that sense I get to appreciate it more because without that there really is not medicine.”  

Do you think the research from FIRE will have an impact on society at all?

Dr. Killion:

“Oh absolutely, yeah yeah….The answer would be no if we just focused on these things (education, mentorship, professionalism)…But the generally answer is: yes, because its a clear part of our mission. We ask out research educators to be authentic research leaders. And in doing so, they are targeting those outcomes.”

Dr. Spirito:

“I do believe that our research can have an impact on society… Dr. Winkler’s lab may be published soon, and I am hoping our own research can be published in the future, and used by other researchers. Our research is only a small part of a big picture, but all the research does begin to stack up… Our lab is also beginning to collaborate with professors in other universities… In addition to providing students with real research opportunities, FIRE is also used as a way in aid professional researchers in their studies.”

Celine:

“It’s hard to say that we will impact society but my first research educator would always say: “You’re not going to cure cancer. Don’t tell people you’re going to cure cancer but you are getting insight into these genes that may impact it. That maybe not you or even Dr. Didman, like we may not do it but someone may read this one day and find this information useful”.”

 

Hanna London:

I am a sophomore Civil Engineering major from Chicago, IL. I like the FIRE program because it gives you chance to see what real, long-term research looks like. In a normal science lab where you do a different experiment each week but here the projects are a semester long. It also allows you to build a relationships with you classmates, peer mentors, and research educator that expand well beyond the program.

 

Michael Meir:

I am currently a Public Heath major at the University of Maryland. I am an out-of-state student from New York. I enjoy FIRE because I may want to do research in the future, and the FIRE program exposes me to this type of environment earlier on, and allows me to get valuable experience.