Being a co-author on a research paper happens all the time, but for the very first time, while still in college – priceless. That’s how Edwardsburg alum Kenneth Fletcher and Ginger Anderson, Keith Campbell and Tajay Haywood felt when they recently found out their research findings were part of a scientific paper published in Tetrahedron Letters, a well-recognized chemistry journal.

Their work was supervised by Associate Professor Sherine Obare, Department of Chemistry, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo and Assistant Professor Desmond Murray, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Andrews University, Berrien Springs.
This experience is also especially priceless because three of these students began working on the project while in or just leaving high school.

It is known that while, by many measures, the U.S. remains a global leader in science and technology, especially at the level of higher education, its high school students ironically ranks 21st in science and 25th in math compared to other students in the world.

This has been part of a 30-year decline, according to several reports, especially when it comes to high school science and mathematics.  It has been cited by the 2001 Hart-Rudman report, among others, not only as a challenge to America’s global economic competitiveness but that “the second biggest threat to American National security is the failure of math and science education.”

In addition, a 2005 National Research Council report, about the state of American high school science, indicates that “the quality of science laboratory experiences is poor for most U.S. high school students.”  Closer to home, the 2007 educational attainment data from the U.S. Census ranks Michigan 34th nationally in 25- to 34-year-olds with post-secondary education.

This is the backdrop to the work that professors Obare and Murray have been doing right here in southwest Michigan for more than 10 years to encourage, educate and engage students in early hands-on participation in research, discovery and innovation.  Much of this is done under the nonprofit organization founded by Murray called Building Excellence in Science and Technology (BEST).

The Obare-Murray research collaboration began after a spring semester independent research project that Campbell worked on as part of Murray’s sophomore organic chemistry lab course. Campbell was making and testing synthetically modified plant pigments called azachalcones as sensors for metal ions. Then based on a hunch and some preliminary experiments Murray discovered that azachalcones could also be sensors for toxic phosphorus-containing compounds similar to those found in many agricultural pesticides and chemical warfare agents, like VX, Soman and Sarin.

Campbell then agreed to continue this study as a summer job in BEST research program directed by Murray.

Later on, Fletcher, Edwardsburg High School class of 2006, working with Murray as an incoming chemistry freshman successfully developed an improved high-yield method for making another synthetically modified phytochemical called azastilbenes.  Testing and comparing both azachalcones and azastilbenes then began in earnest when Obare, after conversations with Murray, assigned the project to a graduate student, Chandrima De, for her master’s thesis at Western Michigan University.

Both Anderson and Haywood were high school students when they began working on the project. Haywood is now a junior chemistry major at Western Michigan University with career goals of becoming a professor.  He attended Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo and was an American Chemical Society Project SEED student in 2006 and 2007 under Obare’s guidance. Prior to this publication, Haywood presented posters about fluorescence-based detection of organophosphate pesticides at two national scientific meetings.

“Before doing research in my junior year of high school I had intentions of becoming a lawyer,” Haywood said. “I took my first chemistry class in my junior year and heard about a summer research opportunity that I would get paid for.  I applied and was accepted and this was the start of my career in chemistry. I feel that my early research experience has given me some advantages in my labs. I already knew how to use many lab instruments as well as great techniques for conducting research. I would recommend early research to students because the more experience and research you have under your belt, the better.”

Anderson, from Covert High School, Covert, Mich., began working in the BEST program the summer after completing grade ten. She was first involved with improving the synthesis of azachalcones and also during her second summer worked with Professor Obare on spectroscopically following the interaction of toxic organophosphates with the sensor molecules. This involved tracking color and fluorescence changes instrumentally.
Anderson is now a graduating senior in nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

“Doing research early on definitely influenced my decision about which career I wanted to go into,” she said. “It helped me gain the confidence that I needed to pursue a challenging career in the sciences. It was also a great introduction to different applications of science so that I could think outside the box and pursue a career in something that is not only challenging but also unique.”

Campbell, a 2005 Andrews University biology/biomedical sciences alum, is currently a high school biology teacher in Jamaica. There, he has also served as head of the science department and developed two programs for high school students, including a research program “aimed at improving scientific curiosity, creative thought and critical thinking.”
“The experience I have gained in participating in BEST research projects played and now represents a significant part of my career,” Campbell, who intends to pursue a graduate degree in molecular biology or forensics, said. “I have realized how effective and progressive the research projects at Andrews University have been through my own implementation of new laboratory techniques at the high school where I now teach.”

Fletcher, a 2010 graduating chemistry major at Andrews University, who recently accepted an invitation to do Ph.D. studies in physical chemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, conducted research every summer as an undergraduate at Andrews University and at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend. This resulted in three poster presentations at regional and national scientific meetings. His first poster – “A New and Improved One-Step Synthesis of Donor Acceptor Cyanostilbenes” – was cited and referenced in the recently (2010) published book, “Stilbenes: Applications in Chemistry, Life Sciences and Materials Science.”

In addition, Fletcher’s work as an incoming freshman has spawned a host of other ongoing projects, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, including its contribution to the synthesis of azastilbene chemosensors and to the recently published paper in “Tetrahedron Letters.”

“I enjoyed great benefits from doing research so early in my career,” he said. “I believe that my research experiences have helped me get admitted into other research programs and graduate schools. If you are a science major, do not delay in  finding a research experience.”