The Volkis lab is heating up as undergraduates from other universities and area high school students experience research activities this summer at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to see how their majors and areas of interest can fit into careers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture or those related to chemistry.
At a May 30 opening ceremony, UMES Department of Natural Sciences Chair Jonathan Cumming assured newcomers that it would be “a summer of discovery.”
This season, chemistry professor Victoria Volkis will host four non-UMES students as part of a paid internship through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Education and Workforce Development (EWD) Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU). The program is supported by a nearly half-million-dollar USDA-NIFA grant aimed at diversifying the future applicant pool for federal jobs related to agriculture and food. UMES is in its fourth year of participation.
Over the course of 10 weeks, REEU participants will hone their research, professional development and presentation skills as they embark on two separate projects related to aronia. “Team Power Drink” will build on last year’s efforts toward perfecting the formula for a patent pending drink, Hawk Power, including collecting taste testing and survey results from stops throughout their summer. “Team Gauge” will collaborate on designing the prototype for a device that could be conveniently carried into the field by farmers to measure peaks in anthocyanins and Brix° (soluble sugar content) to determine the exact time to harvest aronia, depending upon the application (pharmaceutical or food-related). Each team is assigned a UMES undergraduate student as team leader in addition to a UMES graduate student mentor who participated in the program last summer.
Bokary Sylla, a graduate student mentor with three years of experience in the program, said, “I learned to solve problems, work in a lab and lead a research group.” Ezra Cable, who was an REEU intern last summer, jokingly warned about red juice splashes that can stain light-colored clothing.
Outside of the lab, interns will visit agricultural facilities where they will do outreach presentations and service learning activities, as well as trips to Assateague, Chincoteague, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center.
Two area high school students representing underrepresented populations in STEM selected to participate in the American Chemical Society’s Project SEED Program assigned to UMES will join Volkis’ research lab for an eight-week paid internship beginning June 16. Unique this year, an additional group of high school students from the Northeast representing immigrant and minority populations with the Jookender travel camp will be incorporated with the research group July 11-18.
“Having the three programs work together supports the principles of my lab: generation teaches generation,” Volkis said. “Graduate mentors pass along their knowledge to undergraduate students, who in turn inspire high school students to pursue STEM careers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies.”
At right: High school rising seniors Ahmed Osman, left, from Washington High School and Mahmoud Hassan, from Parkside High School, are beginning an eight-week paid ACS Project SEED internship in Volkis’ lab.
At top: Interns along with student and faculty mentors with UMES AFRI-REEU’s 2023 program, from left, are: (front) Ludan Osman, project team leader, UMES junior pre-dental biology major; Makalah Wolfe, project team leader, UMES junior pre-vet agricultural major; (standing) Dr. Andrew Ristvey, (UMES, ’93 MEES) a UME specialist for commercial horticulture at the Wye Research and Education Center; Dr. Preeti Sharma, UMES visiting assistant professor of natural sciences; Albert Lluberes, REEU intern from Virginia State University; Dr. Victoria Volkis, UMES chemistry professor, AFRI-REEU and ACS Project SEED coordinator; Sade Omo-are, REEU intern from Virginia State University; Ashley Canton, REEU intern from Virginia State University; Ryan Buzzetto-More, UMES graduate student in chemistry; Ezra Cable, UMES alumnus (biochemistry) and prospective graduate student; Bokary Sylla, UMES graduate student in chemistry; Dr. William Weaver, UMES associate professor of analytical chemistry; and Leon Sirota, REEU intern from Kansas State University.
Gail Stephens, agricultural communications and media associate, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, gcstephens@umes.edu, 410-621-3850.
Photos by Todd Dudek, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, tdudek@umes.edu.
