Putting research skills first

When Marco Salgado was accepted into Mines, he was undecided on what major he wanted to pursue. But he did know of Mines’ strong reputation in the oil and gas industry.

“Being from the north of Texas, oil and gas is a big part of the economy over there, so when I started thinking about college, I looked at universities with good petroleum programs,” Salgado said. “Of course, Mines is one of the top ones. I applied, not thinking I would even get in, but I did. And when I got accepted, I figured I’d give it a shot, even though I wasn’t sold on going into oil and gas. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

Then, Salgado found the FIRST program.

FIRST—short for First-Year Innovation and Research Scholar Training—is a selective fellowship program for highly motivated first-year students at Mines to participate in research with a focus on innovation over the course of an academic year. FIRST students are introduced to academic research, connected with a faculty or graduate student mentor and take part in hands-on work in research labs on campus. At the conclusion of the paid fellowship, FIRST students present their work at the Undergraduate Research Symposium, which takes place twice a year.

“Getting students involved in research early is key to their academic and professional growth,” said Lakshmi Krishna, founding director of Undergraduate Research Scholars. “To make this happen, we created a program just for first-year students, offering one-on-one advising and dedicated funding—helping them get off to a strong start in research.”

For Salgado, FIRST was a way to expand his experience in the sciences. He connected with Andy Herring, professor of chemical and biological engineering and vice provost of strategic initiatives, who introduced Salgado to electrochemistry.

“FIRST really is the reason that I was able to figure out, hey, this is what I want to do,” said Salgado, who is now majoring in chemical engineering. “I had no idea what electrochemistry was when I started, but I just thought it sounded cool. I figured I’d give it a shot, and now, three years later, this is the thing that I love, and it’s what I want to do with my career.”

For Caitlyn Castellion, whose parents are both researchers, conducting research was always in her future. FIRST seemed like the perfect way to jump-start her time at Mines. 

Castellion was paired with Ramya Kumar, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, who is researching the use of polymers in delivering genome-editing proteins in genetic therapies.

“The drugs of the future will be DNA-based drugs, so you need a completely different tool kit in order to make those kinds of drugs, and that’s where engineers are solely needed,” Kumar said. “There are a mix of skills that go into this research project. It’s a very exciting training opportunity for my students who are working on it, because they’ll be exposed to all aspects of this research, and Caitlyn is a good example—I’m sure she’ll be ready to pursue a PhD somewhere.”

Castellion has been working on developing substrates for cell cultures to grow stem cells. Working with Kumar exposed Castellion to how chemistry, which she is majoring in, is a vital part of gene therapeutics, and how STEM disciplines can overlap and work together. Being part of FIRST also helped Castellion master her time management skills.

“Having to learn to balance my research work on top of schoolwork was a really good thing to learn,” Castellion said. “It’s a lot to juggle, but I’ve had a 4.0 [grade point average] my whole time at Mines. I don’t think I could do well in classes without research work as well, because that’s something else to do that I really love, and I can also focus on that.”

Both Salgado and Castellion said they hope to work toward earning a PhD, continuing to do research in the fields they’ve grown to love while also teaching the next generation of scientists.