Nearly 30 University of Utah undergraduate researchers presented their work to lawmakers at the state capitol this week, including several from the College of Science.

“This is a premier event that showcases the positive impact research has on society,” said Annie Isabel Fukushima, associate dean of Undergraduate Studies and director of the Office of Undergraduate Research. “It also fosters a deeper connection for students with community and their governmental representatives.”

For 26 years, the University of Utah and Utah State University have partnered to connect legislators with the innovative work of undergraduate researchers by hosting the annual Research on Capitol Hill event. As Utah’s two Carnegie-designated R1 institutions, both universities play a key role in shaping the state’s future.

“I have a firm belief that ideas in the hands and the minds of the next generation create nothing but hope and opportunity for society,” said Taylor Randall, U president. “Research is a major tool that we use to make change.”

A fourth-year student studying biology and philosophy of science, Katherine Berensen, is one of the students who participated in the Feb. 26 event.

“My experience doing undergraduate research has been truly nothing short of transformative, Berensen said. “Being able to be in my lab and work in such a collaborative, warm and encouraging environment has changed the way that I think about the world, the way that I think about myself and the way that I view the future.”

As AI reshapes the job market at a rapid pace, undergraduate research equips students with the human skills they’ll need to stay competitive— critical thinking, communication, teamwork and creative problem solving.

“There are so many ways research helps undergraduate students grow,” said Sara Grineski, a  professor of sociology and environmental studies at the U. “From their own personal feelings of self-confidence to connection with their major and other students working in the same area.”

Many student researchers who met with legislators and the public during the event stem from from the School of Biological Sciences. Three of them, Katherine Berensen, Sydney Brooksby and Monica Weeden are representative of this impressive showing. Their stories, as featured in "Humans at the U" in their own words, are featured below.

Katherine Berensen
biology and philosophy of science

My whole life I was a STEM girl. I believed in right answers and black-and-white thinking. Being in the philosophy of science program really changed my mind about categorical thinking. The deeper you get into biology, the more you realize it’s not so simple.

My experience doing undergraduate research has been truly nothing short of transformative. I
never thought that was something that I was going to be able to achieve. Research in academia
felt like there were a lot of walls and barriers and things they don’t tell you — things you’re
supposed to learn at some point that aren’t clear. Being able to be in my lab and work in such a
collaborative and warm and encouraging environment has changed the way that I think about
the world, the way that I think about myself and the way that I view the future.

I am currently in a philosophy of biology lab here at the U run by Professor Matt Haber. Being able to work around people who are so knowledgeable and so supportive and who want you to understand has been an incredible opportunity. Watching the process of how research gets conducted, especially in the humanities, has been incredible for me. It’s broken down the wall of what it means to be a researcher and what it looks like for a professor to embark on a project. It’s demystified it in the best possible way, so all of it feels so much more achievable to me. My confidence and my competency have increased exponentially since being in undergraduate research.

I’ve always loved being in school and always known I wanted to go to graduate school, but undergraduate research has taught me what it would mean to have a career in academia. It’s solidified my desire to continue in academia for the rest of my life in whatever shape or form that could be. I hope I’ll get my Ph.D. and would love to be a researcher and a professor and have a lab of my own. That goal used to seem so far-fetched and it’s been really rewarding to see the incremental progress I’m making toward my own goals.

Sydney Brooksby
biology and genomics and genetic engineering

My research is based on a disease I have called Turner Syndrome, and Turner Syndrome is a severe chromosomal disorder caused by the complete or mosaic loss of the X chromosome. So, you have a bunch of biological issues that follow that absence of that chromosome. This mutation occurs in one out of 2,500 females, and 99% of these patients don’t make it until birth, actually.

I really started to get into the word incurable in high school because I didn’t know what it meant for my next steps of life, including college. With the U, having the genomics major, it made it very easy to explore those unknowns of my condition.

I learned about undergraduate research when I was first admitted to the U as a freshman. I was accepted into the Science Research Initiative and that program is when they place you in a classroom for one semester to learn about scientific inquiry, research theory and what it means to be a scientist.

And during the second semester, you compete for a stream, which is a lab placement to explore a science field of your choosing. My stream was the cancer biology stream up at Huntsman Cancer Institute with Sheri Holmen. I studied metastatic melanoma in mouse models, and it was more of a genetic engineering lab that allowed me to understand the complexities and repair mechanisms of DNA and cancer alike.

I joined three different research labs after that and I couldn’t stop.

My proposal explores a curative strategy that combines the CRISPR-Cas9 system, homology-directed repair, and transient mRNA delivery to restore SHOXa gene expression, first in human stem cells, then in mouse models. To get there, I’ve outlined specific aims to achieve genomic correction, cellular phenotypic rescue, and ultimately a scalable platform for treating chromosomal deletion disorders beyond TS.

I usually describe it as I copy and paste DNA, I fix it, I alternate it, I play around with it to create something really, truly beautiful and not perfect, but something that works well to give people the quality of life that they can hopefully achieve.

Undergraduate research has been everything to me. It’s allowed me to think systematically while also bringing about peace with my condition and bringing about hope that incurable is not a stopping point for us, but a challenge to overcome and to chase towards.

After graduation, I hope to apply to med school. I would love to stay at the University of Utah if I can. They have an amazing genomics program and very cutting-edge research up here that I think would very much benefit me as a patient and as a future provider.

Whenever I wake up in the morning, I always tell myself,  "Sometimes you have to be crazy to make things seem not as crazy, but possible."