Below is a transcript of our conversation with Dr. Stephen Juris, faculty member in CMU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry:
David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from Central Michigan University students and faculty. K-12 schools, colleges and universities have continued to push science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, subjects that are the focus for skill sets needed in future careers. This spring, Dr. Stephen Juris, faculty member and CMU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was given the Outstanding College Level Science Teaching award from the Midland Section of the American Chemical Society. At present, there are concerns about the sustainable funding for the work Dr. Juris’ students are preparing to do after they leave CMU.
We kind of have to pause a bit and look at the status of funding for research funding for a particular aspects of things that can happen in in higher Ed to your current students. Is (is) there concern are (are) there if the if, especially if they're headed more into a research type of field, what is their anticipation…
Stephen Juris:
Right. Now, yeah, absolutely I think that's a real there's. That's on a lot of people's minds right now. You know, students who are thinking about Graduate School and obtaining a PhD, which is what you would normally do if you want to get a professorship. There's a lot of, pause, for those individuals just because there's a lot of uncertainty in the field. The funding phenomenon is certainly a (a), an area of concern, and that's not only true of, I think the (the) people, the students that I instruct, but I think nationwide, we're actually worried about the gap that might occur because of the fact that students are really worried about, well, what's going to happen after I graduate? Is there going to be something for me on the other side of that fence? And that brings with it the secondary concern of, we're losing, we're losing a lot of talented individuals who would be able to continue the pool and continue, you know, bringing in fresh ideas into science. So, it's (it's) amazing the (the) snowball effect that what's happening now at the federal level can really have, as you consider, not only the impact it's having on researchers that are here, but the (the) future of science and the future of stem, that's certainly a huge concern and I think students are really taking pause and thinking about is this really a field I want to get into if I don't know what's going to be there for me after I graduate.
DN:
If that's the concern, let's flip that a bit to (to) talk about some of the recent success stories students that you would point to that have gone on, any that come to mind, that are working on some particular specific research or are now have moved on to be affiliated with another institution, perhaps, or (or) a research facility. What are some of the (the) good stories and the alumni feedback you have coming back?
SJ:
Yes, that's, it's always cool to (to) hear the cool stories, right? So, a lot of my students, because I do a lot of (of) medically based research, I tend to attract students into my laboratory who were thinking about health-related fields, right? So, I had a recent graduate who just graduated a couple weeks ago, who's going to be moving on to med school at Wayne State University. I have had a lot of students who have been successful in medical school. I've had students who recently graduated, who have gone on to their Master’s degree at, I have one student who was an undergraduate here who's doing his Master’s degree at the University of Michigan, developmental and cellular energy and then a lot of placement in labs in the area, right? So, I know of students who have been involved in the area or in Grand Rapids, in some industry there. One of my recent graduates is a chemical analyst at DuPont. So, while Graduate School may be a little bit scarier in (in) terms of thinking about the traditional movement of undergrad to say a professorship, there's certainly opportunities in the industry. To be able to (to) move forward.
DN:
Dr. Steven Juris from CMU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the recent recipient of the Outstanding College Level Science Teaching award from the Midland Section of the American Chemical Society, Dr Juris, congratulations again on the award and thanks for sharing the story with us. Continued good luck as you move on!
SJ:
Thank. Thank you very much for having me and I appreciate the time!
