That is exactly the case for some students in the Oklahoma State University College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Through the freshman research scholar program in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology, students get a jump start on their future.

"The freshman research scholar Program pairs students with a mentor and gets them into a laboratory their first year at OSU, usually their first semester," said Eldon C. Nelson, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology.

In addition, students have the opportunity to meet in a classroom weekly to discuss issues in the biochemistry and medical fields and become acquainted with instructors and other students. 

Although the freshman scholars do not have specific projects, they do have the opportunity to work with upper classmen on their research projects. 

Brad Liston, biochemistry senior from Moore, Okla., said the experience was beneficial in many ways.

"It helped us because it not only kept us up on daily events about what was happening in our fields, but also helped us to make up our minds fairly quickly about our college career and to know if that's what we really wanted to do," Liston said.

Nelson said the program offers many benefits to participating students.

"It does two things ó it gives them an atmosphere that is different from a teaching lab and they get right into doing a real problem in biochemistry and molecular biology," he said. 

"The other benefit is every once in a while a student will find out this is not what they want."

"They get into a lab their first semester as a freshman rather than waiting until they are seniors," Nelson said. "So this is an undergraduate research project that the freshmen can get into." 

Liston said the scholar program also prepared him for classes he would face at OSU.

"It helped me out in the way that I knew what the instructors were wanting and what to look forward to," Liston said. "It gave me an idea of what I wanted to do while I was at Oklahoma State, and it gave me a better feel for the major of biochemistry right there in the beginning."

Fifty students receive the OSU Freshman Research Scholarship each year through the office of the OSU vice president of research. The scholarship is a non continuing $400 award and is determined by a student's high school grade point average and activities.

"My biochemistry adviser, Dr. Nelson, talked with me about the program when I made a visit as a senior in high school," Liston said. "He looked at my high school résumé, and he and the rest of the committee made the decision to give me the scholarship." 

"If the committee thought you would fit in the program and work hard at it, then they would grant you the award," he added.

Liston said biochemistry was the major of choice for him because it combined two of his top priorities.

"I liked biochemistry because it was in the college of ag," Liston said. "I enjoy, of course, the ag field, and biochemistry is really the only major in the college of ag that fulfills all the requirements to get into medical school."

For more information concerning the freshman research scholar program, contact Eldon C. Nelson at 405/744-6201.

By Kristi Manning

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