STUDENT INSIGHT OF THE THESIS PROCESS: STARTING UP

An opportunity that the Honors College at Kent State offers students is to create and present a thesis project. During the last year and a half of their undergraduate career, all

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Honors and non-Honors students have the opportunity to create a thesis/project from the ground up. With the assistance of a faculty member of their choice, hundreds of past and current students have successfully completed or are in the midst of completing the written and oral defense of their work. Individuals may do projects that are research-based, creative, or an applied project. Any student is eligible to do a thesis, even if they are not a current member of the Honors College. 

The 6-credit-hour course gives students the opportunity to graduate with Honors with distinction in their major, practice professional level work, research experience, and much more. A large part of the thesis process is the time commitment. Since it has multiple stages of the process, students are recommended to start their process the spring semester of their junior year. This allows them to strategize and prepare for the most tasking parts, such as the actual research, writing of the project, and the oral dissertation. Current students Ahmed Barghout (He/Him), Alena Miskinis (She/Her), and Moira Armstrong (They/Them) are each in a different stage of the process and were open to sharing what they are writing about and the point of the process they are in and have completed thus far. This article is part one of a three-part series, each focusing on one of the students in the process of navigating their thesis project.

Ahmed, who is in his first semester of the thesis process, dove right into his work. As a senior honors biochemistry major and physics minor, he is very involved on-campus. He currently serves as the President of the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society (SAACS), the Vice President of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the Vice President and Co-founder of the Students for Environmental Change (SEC), the Student Representative of the Academic Complaint Committee for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, an Honors Peer-to-Peer mentor, and finally, the Recruitment Chair of Phi Delta Epsilon, a medical fraternity. With all of his involvement, he stated that, “I really enjoy helping people and wish to become a Pediatric Cardiologist!”

In order to start a senior thesis, one must have an understanding of what a thesis entails. Ahmed shared when he first heard of a project of this type, stating, “I actually heard about it my freshmen year as I was doing research on the Honors College’s website. I thought it was interesting but there was no way I had the capability to conduct an entire thesis. Here I am a few years later in the process of completing one! Other than it being interesting, I wanted to complete one because I wanted to see what it was like to conduct research and be a part of a team with the same goal. I am a pre-medical student and I thought it would be beneficial to learn what it’s like working with a team since the entire healthcare field is built on teamwork.”

After getting the footing of what the thesis journey will look like, a subject for the work is necessary. When asked about what his thesis was about, Ahmed shared, “The subject of my thesis is the development of an artificial membrane in order to put membrane proteins in and study. To understand this, one must go into a bit of biology, chemistry, and physics. Biologically speaking, all eukaryotic (human) cells have cell membranes that basically shield the inside of the cell from the outside. Similar to a semi permeable fence. The membrane is made up of these phospholipids which have hydrophilic heads (which like to mix with water) and hydrophobic tails (do not mix with water). The heads point outward while the tails point inward. Membrane proteins are proteins that sit inside the membranes. Membrane proteins are one of the most understudied proteins in biology. One of the reasons for this is because it’s difficult to move the membrane protein due to its specific arrangement in the partially hydrophilic, partially hydrophobic environment. The goal of my thesis is to create an artificial membrane so that when a membrane protein is dropped into the membrane, it behaves normally while still allowing for further studying of the mechanics and functionality of the proteins. The way I am creating an artificial membrane is by placing phospholipids inside a ring of modified DNA.”

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A crucial piece of the process is the faculty mentor and Ahmed was lucky to find his in the Introductory Physics Seminar (PHY 12000). Explaining how he found his advisor, he said, “For this class, we visited labs around the physics department and one of the labs I visited was Dr. Thorsten Schmidt’s lab. After expressing interest in his lab, he was very generous and gave me some more information about the lab. Since, he has been so helpful, informative, flexible, and easygoing. Dr. T Schmidt is very easy to work with and is very good at explaining the complexity of his research. Dr. T Schmidt is a chemist, working in the Physics department, doing biophysical research. My advisor was the biggest help in this aspect (researching topics). He is incredibly creative and helpful, he has given me numerous ideas and has been generous enough to even allow me to pick a different topic if I would like. I chose his initial pitch, the protein membranes, because of how much potential the project has.”

Only in his first semester of the process, he has loved what he has learned and investigated thus far. Reflecting upon what has been achieved and what is still to come, Ahmend said, “My experience has been fantastic! I have done research in the past but not this involved. I have been told multiple times that research is never consistent, some days you have a lot to do and other weeks there’s not much to do. I now know exactly what they are talking about and am experiencing that first hand. I enjoy the precision that is required in research. Even turning a pipet in a weird way could skew the data. For scientific research, precision is vital and one must be very fastidious.”

The first stage is essential for the success of the thesis project. Having a solid foundation to work off of has benefited Ahmed and will continue to benefit him throughout his project. The next Honors College story will feature Alena Miskinis, as she navigates the second semester of work on her Senior Honors Thesis/Project. To learn more, visit https://www.kent.edu/honors/thesis or contact Marsha Kraus at mkraus1@kent.edu with questions.

 

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PHOTO CAPTION 1: Sculpture on Front Campus

PHOTO CAPTION 2: Ahmed Barghout Smiling

PHOTO CAPTION 3: Ahmed Barghout in Scrubs

 

Media Contact: Stephanie Moskal, smoskal@kent.edu, 330-672-2312