Kinesiology Professor Crosses College Boundaries in Undergraduate Research Experience
Kinesiology Professor Crosses College Boundaries in Undergraduate Research Experience
Dr. Sudip Bajpeyi, associate professor of Kinesiology and director of the Metabolic, Nutrition and Research (MiNER) Laboratory, is crossing college boundaries to share his expertise in the impact of exercise training on insulin sensitivity and energy metabolism. Bajpeyi leads one of the BUILDing Scholars program’s Freshman Year Research Intensive Sequence (FYRIS) courses, appropriately named Exercise and Metabolism Laboratory. The course, based in the Department of Biology, has attracted 20 students from diverse disciplines including biology, kinesiology and the rehabilitation sciences.
The BUILD sequenced courses, funded through the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, are designed to provide freshmen with course-based undergraduate research experiences in fields of interest related to their majors. All participating students complete a research foundation course prior to enrollment in experiential research classes, and have the opportunity to continue enrolling in research courses throughout their undergraduate academic career, as well as participate in the annual BUILD symposium to present what they’ve learned.
In Bajpeyi’s course, the freshmen are offered hands-on research experiences under the careful guidance of current Masters in Kinesiology students Jasmin Jenkins and Michelle Galvan. Students are working on several small achievable projects, including the effectiveness of neuromuscular electrical stimulation as a novel strategy to improve insulin sensitivity, muscle mass, and energy expenditure in an overweight or obese population. Students in this class learn the theory of exercise physiology and are trained to use research equipment to generate data. Successful students are invited to enroll in a follow-up course “Exercise and Metabolism II” to continue with the project. The Department of Kinesiology and College of Health Sciences support student travel for dissemination of the data at state and national scientific conferences and prepare them for graduate school.
Sam Gonzalez, a freshman Kinesiology major and enrolled student in Bajpeyi’s course, shared his thoughts about his experience after participating in one of the scheduled lab activities. Sam stated, “This class not only includes the lectures but also provides us hands on experience with equipment that we will use in the future, either in our more advanced classes or in our jobs or both. To me, this is a priceless opportunity considering that some of my classmates and I are freshmen. Today’s research experience was amazing. I would honestly be really interested in having more courses like this.”
Mentoring the undergraduate students in the research process has also brought significant benefits to Jenkins and Galvan, both of whom are carefully considering their next steps in academia. “This teaching experience is a tremendous opportunity to provide mentorship to undergraduate students who are considering a future in research. If we had had this opportunity as freshman to have hands-on research experience, it may have led to better productivity as a graduate student. Teaching this research laboratory gave us the opportunity to sharpen our thought processes and critical thinking skills, and gave us a solid background for our thesis,” said Jenkins.
To learn more about Dr. Bajpeyi’s research, visit his laboratory website at https://www.utep.edu/chs/kinesiology/minerlab/ or Facebook page.
To learn more about the BUILDing Scholars program and the Freshman Year Research Intensive Sequence, please visit: http://buildingscholars.utep.edu/web/about-us/fyris.
