![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/281\/files\/2011\/04\/Bob-Jacobs-smiling1.jpg\")
<\/a>Bob Jacobs, with an image of a cell from an elephant\u2019s cortex projected on the computer screen behind him.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cOur students are capable of this depth and quality,\u201d said Bob Jacobs, CC professor of psychology and co-director of the neuroscience program, which routinely involves students in laboratory studies. \u201cThis is about as high-level of research as is available to students, whether undergraduate or graduate,\u201d said Jacobs about recent work that provided the first glimpse into what the elephant cortex is like. Elephants are intelligent animals with complex social and cognitive skills, and \u201cwe found out their brains are wired differently than primates,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 said Jacobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis opened our eyes to how different brains can be across species\u2026 and to how anthropocentric we can be,\u201d expecting elephant brains to be like human ones, said Kaeley Anderson \u201909<\/strong>. Anderson, now in medical school at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Ore., co-authored three papers with Jacobs while a neuroscience undergraduate at CC.\u00a0 \u201cIn my 18 years at Colorado College, many students have been co-authors on papers, and one other has been a first author. However, Kaeley is the only one to have two first author publications with me,\u201d Jacobs said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get passionate about science by\u00a0reading it in a book.\u201d<\/span> Jacobs is careful to pick enthusiastic, dedicated students and then \u201cpush them with high expectations,\u201d he said. Each year, he takes such students to meet with other professionals at an international neuroscience meeting.<\/p>\n Stephanie Furness '09 (left) and Associate Professor Neena Grover<\/p><\/div>\n The process of studying the cortex of the African elephant was slow. Anderson says preparing brain tissue, making slides, and then tracing intricate neurons to get a three-dimensional representation, as well as analyzing and writing\u00a0\u00a0 up the findings, has given her an appreciation for the amount of work that goes into each and every scientific discovery. She believes these research experiences helped her get into medical school and now inspire\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 her to keep her options open for the future. \u201cI always keep it\u00a0\u00a0 in the back of my mind that I know this cool technique,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think it\u2019s important for students to have the opportunity to engage in inquiry under the tutelage of a faculty member,\u201d said Victor Nelson-Cisneros, associate dean of the college. Nelson-Cisneros chairs the Dean\u2019s Advisory Committee, which offers grants to support faculty-student studies each summer at CC. Endowments currently allow the faculty-student collaborative research program to provide student wages of $2,500, along with $500 for the faculty member\u2019s research account. Nelson-Cisneros said the undergraduate\u2019s role must be truly collaborative to get funding. \u201cThe students are not go-fers, but are involved in all aspects of the research,\u201d and exposed to the intellectual process that characterizes a scholar, he said.<\/p>\n Since 2004, the program has been able to fund from 10 to 19 projects each summer.\u00a0 While the natural sciences account for a majority of the awards, Nelson-Cisneros said the program supports research across the disciplines, routinely including projects from the humanities and social sciences.<\/p>\n Associate Professor Kristine Lang<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cWe are giving these students one of their first professional job experiences and part of that is getting paid,\u201d said Kristine Lang, associate professor of physics. She regularly includes CC undergraduates in her research and believes paying them is a priority. Lang applies for either internal or external grants to get such support.<\/p>\n \u201cI try to make opportunities for students in my projects,\u201d said Lang, noting it helps her remain intellectually engaged, moves her research along, and leads to publications. \u201cWe are a teaching college and in my opinion, educating them to be scientists includes having them in my lab\u2026It\u2019s not about publishing as many papers as possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cResearch experiences are an important part of what students need for success,\u201d Lang said, explaining that it makes students competitive for graduate school and helps them decide what they want to do. But, really, she said, \u201cI want to teach them about thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u2014Associate Professor Neena Grover<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/a>