This connectedness between professor and student also cultivates clinical opportunities. APU’s proximity to and relationship with City of Hope, a major biomedical research and treatment center, means valuable internships. For years, APU science students have gained practical experience in cellular biology, protein chemistry, and more under the expert supervision of Ganesaratnam K. Balendiran, Ph.D., assistant professor, Division of Immunology, City of Hope. “APU students are superior,” he said. “They come to me with an excellent theoretical foundation, are incredibly motivated to learn, and contribute significantly to the process of solving medical problems with chemistry. I am fortunate to work with these bright students every year and am happy to help prepare them for the next step on their journey.”
To prep for these coveted internships, APU science students draw extensively from an academic program led by faculty who bring a high level of expertise to the classroom. Every professor in the department creates an atmosphere of challenging academics coupled with real-world opportunities. A recent example includes nationally recognized professor of mathematics and physics Donald Isaak, Ph.D., who received significant funding for a three-year mineral physics research project from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through his research lab at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The grant provides for research in geophysics of a mineral called pyroxene, which is found in large amounts within the earth 100 to 400 kilometers deep, promoting further understanding of the earth’s interior, and benefiting the study of earthquakes. The grant money supplies equipment, as well as travel for Isaak to Japan, where he and several of his APU students will work with and learn from Japanese researchers. “Our primary goal is to study how seismic waves travel through different types of pyroxenes at different temperatures,” said Isaak. “Since most earthquakes occur in the upper 400 kilometers of the earth, the more we know about the composition of this layer, the better equipped we will be to understand earthquakes.” Because of his research, Isaak serves as the principal investigator at UCLA for the research of pyroxene.
APU professors encourage students to similarly engage at the national level by participating in important research. As a result, three scientific papers listed APU undergraduates as collaborating authors and multiple other students presented at the American Scientific Affiliation Conference, the National College Media Convention, the Society for Neuroscience Convention, and the Western Psychological Association Conference, to name just a few. Building on that momentum, nine students recently presented papers at national conferences, one of which was accepted for publication in the American Scientific Affiliation Journal. Taking advantage of cutting-edge equipment at collaborating institutions, six APU undergraduate students participated in a UCLA research experience, leading to 10 students presenting or co-presenting results at national or regional research meetings/workshops and 19 peer-reviewed scientific publications, 7 of which included APU students as co-authors.
This uncommon undergraduate experience tips the scales when APU graduates seek advanced degrees. Many even receive multiple offers to prestigious schools – an impressive feat given the national trends. In the United States, students applying to medical schools file an average of 12 applications each, hoping for at least one positive response. However, the highly selective admissions process weeds out all but the top few. According to U.S.News & World Report, Johns Hopkins University accepts only 5.9 percent of total applicants, and Duke University only 4.4 percent. During the last three years, APU graduates earned acceptance to both those universities’ graduate programs as well as the University of Southern California, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Albert Einstein Medical School, University of Southern California School of Dentistry, University of Washington School of Medicine, Pennsylvania State School of Medicine, Campbell University Master of Science, and many more, and internships at the American Heart Association, the Claremont Colleges, and City of Hope.
Such successful science programs yielded significant growth, tripling its enrollment and quadrupling its number of majors and professors (see sidebar) since its inceptions. APU’s 30-year-old science facilities stand in need of serious upgrading. The administration and Board of Trustees consider a new science building to be the top capital project with fundraising underway and a projected groundbreaking in 2007. As Azusa Pacific University approaches this project and long after its completion, the unparalleled rigor and unique experience afforded students will remain an APU distinctive and medical applicant advantage.
Hear Milhon and APU science graduates capture in their own words the way APU impacts people, one life at a time. Visit www.youtube.com/user/UniversityRelations.
1See http://usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/articles/premium/gbhealthcareers.b.php.
Cynndie Hoff is a freelance writer living in Walnut, California. ceh.hoff@verizon.net
