Some students play intramural sports in their free time. Some study at the library. Others nap.
Weinberg senior Sriram Rangarajan spends his free time hidden in a lab in the Technological Institute, looking for a cure for pneumonia.
Anywhere from 75 to 90 percent of chemistry majors do research in on-campus labs during the school year, Rangarajan estimated. In addition to classes for his chemistry and biology majors, Rangarajan spends at least 35 hours a week in lab — including 10 hours on weekends — and said his experience there is worth the extra workload.
“It’s kind of tough to find time, but this is the most exciting and rewarding thing compared to those classes,” said Rangarajan, a second-year student in the Honors Program in Medical Education, which puts students on an accelerated track to the Feinberg School of Medicine. “This is what I want to do with my life, so of course that would be more important for me.”
Time spent in the lab gives practical experience and training that he can’t get in the classroom, Rangarajan said. His research — which, under chemistry Prof. Richard Silverman, deals with drug design and may someday be applied toward treating pneumonia — has helped him fuse his passions for organic chemistry, physiology and medicine.
“It’s helped me better articulate my interests,” he said.
Many students work in labs on campus in order to fulfill the independent study requirement for earning honors in chemistry, Silverman said. Students in Silverman’s lab volunteer their time, while some students who work in labs are paid on a work-study basis. Sometimes, Silverman said, the experience of hands-on research can alter a student’s career plans.
“There are several students who come in settled on med school, and after doing research for a few quarters, they decide they want to get a PhD in research instead,” he said.
Sandra Goyal, a Weinberg sophomore and chemistry major, spends about 15 hours a week in a Tech lab where she studies chemicals that could be used to create an antibiotic someday. Goyal said she does it to gain experience and to help her decide between becoming a medical doctor or a researcher once she graduates.
“I’m interested in seeing what the lab atmosphere is, and I want to see if it’s something I want to do as a profession,” Goyal said.
Usually, undergraduates in Prof. Silverman’s lab stay for a few quarters. But Silverman — who created Lyrica, a drug that treats neuropathic pain and partial seizures and is awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval — estimated his lab holds the campus record for the shortest time an undergraduate has stayed: eight hours.
“(The student) came in, did one experiment and at the end of the day came into my office and said, ‘I can’t do this, this is crazy, who wants to spend their life in the laboratory?’ and dropped the course on the first day, ” Silverman recalled.
But Rangarajan said lab experience has been vital in his scientific education.
“How quickly I want to make progress in a day is totally on my shoulders,” he said. “I think it helps you grow as a scientist, being given that independence.”
Like Rangarajan, Goyal said she sometimes likes lab more than class.
“In lab you’re kind of calling the shots,” she said. “So you’re doing what you want to do instead of just listening to someone lecture, which can be kind of boring.”
Reach Tina Peng at [email protected].
