Today we hear from Jamie Saroka, a high school teacher in New York who is just finishing up our online CH 584 course for STEM instructors. Thank you, Jamie, for sharing your story with us!

I was born in Ithaca, NY in 1959. The family moved to Harpursville, NY in 1968 and I graduated high school in 1977. I went to Cornell and received my BS in Animal Science in 1981 and my MS in Nutrition Biochemistry in 1984. I worked as a Research Support Specialist in a nutrition lab at Cornell until 1989 when I took a research position with ISA Babcock, an international breeding company in the poultry layer business. I spent the next 15 years in genetics, after which the company moved to Canada. I went back to school, took all the education classes I needed, and became a teacher in 2004. I have been teaching Chemistry ever since to sophomores and juniors, with an occasional senior thrown in. I did teach AP Biology for two years (as well as my normal Chemistry classes), until a full time biology teacher replaced me.

I was the oldest grandchild and one of my grandfathers was a professor at Cornell. It was pretty much a no brainer where I was going; however, all my siblings went to Penn State. I really enjoyed science in high school and did very well in all subjects. Between a positive high school science experience, a grandfather who was a professor in biochemistry, and my love of the outdoors—Boy Scouts, hiking, fishing, etc.—I went into the science field. I entered teaching as a third profession, bringing a plethora of experience in academia and industry to my high school classroom.

What motivated me to pursue CH 584 was receiving a letter, from the OSU Department of Chemistry, informing me that the class existed. We do receive payroll advancements for earning so many graduate credits. I have taken classes before, but a Chemistry class focusing on different laboratory learning techniques intrigued me. I like the format of the class and have enjoyed what we have done so far. I am always looking for new ways to stimulate my students and make science fun for them. I am hoping that I can pick up something from CH 584 that I can use in my class and pass on to my students.

As for hobbies, I mentioned that I am involved with the Boy Scouts. I like working with youth, and teaching is not confined to the classroom. I am currently an Assistant Scoutmaster and work more with adults at the Council level. When I was Scoutmaster, I had 8 boys attain the rank of Eagle, which I am very proud of. I enjoy exercising and running, although my running has waned the last few years. I have run 2 marathons, New York and Scranton. I enjoy playing golf, but I rarely find time to do that. My biggest hobby now is my 10 month old granddaughter Eliana.

(The picture was taken in the summer of 2015 when I was hiking with the Boy Scouts at Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico.)

New Student Programs & Family Outreach and the Welcome Week Committee are now collecting event submissions for Welcome Week 2016 (Sept. 18-24, 2016). The purpose of Welcome Week is for student to begin to create a shared sense of community, belonging, social responsibility, and will begin their path to engagement.  To view the current schedule and for information on how to submit an event go to:http://connect.oregonstate.edu/.

As part of the events planned for the Year of Arts and Sciences we are looking for labs/researchers/grad students that would like to host or work with art student interns.  Most students would be interested in 1 term, of 1-2 credits, although for some it may develop further.

In the experiences I have had the student shadowed a graduate student to learn what goes on in the lab and helped with experiments – it was fascinating to see the dialog and ideas that developed. But there are a lot of different interaction models. We will extend the invitation to writers, musicians and students in new media – so think about data visualization and videography. This could be a great experience for some of our students, and we are working on opportunities for them to reciprocate and work in art media. We hope that one outcome will be a collaborative art show and/or a catalog of projects, with contributions from both the scientists and artists.

The first step is to create a list of those interested so that the students can contact you personally. If you are interested, please provide the following:

1. A brief description of your research and/or a website

2. The terms that an internship would be available.

3. Contact email

4. anything else I forgot to ask or that you think would be interesting.

Please send this information to bartholj@science.oregonstate.edu.

thanks
Jerri

—
Jerri Bartholomew
Professor/Head, Dept of Microbiology
Director John L. Fryer Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory
Department of Microbiology, Nash Hall 226
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331-3804
Phone:  541-737-1834
Fax:    541-737-0496

My name is Ed Brnardic and I work as a medicinal chemist in the Heart Failure group at GSK (GlaxoSmithKline).  I am writing to you with an internship opportunity for your students beginning in September/October of 2016.  We will be hiring 3 synthetic organic students for a 12 month internship to work in our medicinal chemistry teams synthesizing novel organic molecules as potential drug candidates.  One of those positions will be in our Heart Failure group and the other 2 will be in our Muscle Metabolism group.  To qualify for an internship we are looking for one of the following???.

A Ph.D. student who is working towards their degree (i.e. not yet graduated otherwise they would be classified as a post-doc).

OR

A student who has completed a master???s degree within the past year (i.e. graduated after September 2015)

For the Ph.D. students they could be at any point in their studies.  In the past we have had students who are half way through their Ph.D. studies, as well as students who have completed their lab work and are interested in the internship while they write up their thesis.  Either situation is fine.

Please feel free to pass on this information to any students or colleagues that may be interested.

Students can apply online
https://gsk-zerochaos.icims.com/jobs
Job code for Heart Failure: 2016-15076
Job code for Muscle Metabolism: 2016-15077

They can also contact me or Tony Handlon directly with any questions.

edward.j.brnardic@gsk.com
tony.l.handlon@gsk.com

Thanks!
-Ed
GSK Co op Opportunity

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