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A Scientific Formula
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Why Leading Biologists, Chemists, and Physicists Keep Coming from Bethel
By Barbara Wright Carlson and Patty Thomson
As a freshman at Yale University, Jason Petersen was overwhelmed by the size of his biology classes—there were 450 students in some. When he approached a professor for the signature required to receive tutoring, Petersen was stunned at the reply: "‘Why should I help you?'" he says he was told. "‘I don't know who you are. Go find a teaching assistant.'"
A moment from Petersen's campus visit to Bethel one year earlier flashed through his mind. "Bethel is a teaching institution," he'd been told by a biology professor educated at Harvard. "Faculty here have time to mentor their students through the foundations necessary for a successful scientific career." Jason left Yale and transferred to Bethel, where he graduated in 1991. His career path has included research at Eppley Cancer Institute at the University of Nebraska School of Medicine, working to unlock the secrets of the body's immune system.
Certainly not all ivy-league professors are as dismissive as the one Petersen recalls. But the contrast he experienced coming to Bethel and the skills and confidence he recovered do represent what's best about Bethel's science programs. Some would say there's a formula etched into this Christian university, generating aremarkable numberofinfluential graduates in physics, chemistry, biology, and math/computer sciences, especially in the last 10 years.
Consider just some of the measures of success:
- Nearly 100 percent of Bethel chemistry majors who apply for graduate school are accepted, including 95 percent of those who apply for medical school. More than 90 percent of biology majors who apply to medical, veterinary, or dental school are accepted.
- Bethel's physics department is ranked as one of 21 great undergraduate physics programs in the nation, according to a study of 780 programs by the American Institute of Physics published in Physics Today magazine. In the past five years, the department has earned 33 separate national awards for faculty and student achievement.
- Bethel biology students have won the most awards among Minnesota private colleges for presentations at TriBeta honor society conventions in the past seven years, including the national Lloyd M. Bertholf Award for overall program excellence.
A Christian, liberal arts framework
At Bethel, professors who are
national leaders in their fields of
expertise are committed to teaching
their own classes and labs, not
assigning them to assistants.
Faculty member Tom Greenlee,
working here with physics major
Shalanah Backus, is an expert on
engineering problems related to
space travel.
What accounts for these achievements? Many elements contribute, but all of them emanate from Bethel University's strong Christian, liberal arts core.
"Bethel places great importance on liberal arts skills in addition to liberal arts content," says Jay Barnes, Provost of the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Adult & Professional Studies, and the Graduate School. "We want our students to learn to think critically, analyze carefully, and communicate clearly. We want them to be able to resolve conflicts and work with people whose backgrounds and life experiences are different from their own."
The results of such an approach, Barnes asserts, are clear. "We like to think our science programs produce better engineers, better biologists, and better chemists because they're ‘big-picture' people, able to see the long term. They find solutions, and can recognize where those solutions might lead not only this week but in the future."
A Christian worldview enlivens all scientific inquiry at Bethel. "We're always asking the value question," adds Barnes. "What difference does it make that you're a Christ-follower in a given scientific pursuit?"
This Christian, liberal arts outlook isn't mere lip service. It translates into key differences in how students are taught every day at Bethel—differences that are putting graduates on top rosters in their fields.
A difference in mentoring
At large research universities, professors are usually devoted to full-time research. Many undergraduate classes are assigned to teaching assistants. Bethel professors on the other hand—many known nationally and internationally for their expertise—are committed to careers in the classroom and laboratory teaching students firsthand.
Christopher Jahraus '95, a pediatric radiation oncologist, transferred to Bethel from Vanderbilt University for this very reason. "[The late Bethel biology professor] Weldon Jones was never too busy to listen," Jahraus says. "As often as I sought Weldon's counsel, I started referring to the chair across from his desk as ‘my chair.' Whether it was a personal matter or the organic chemistry test gone wrong, he would listen and help me see past the issue at hand to the point of resolution."
This student-centered approach is not the exception, but the rule for Bethel science faculty. "Bethel's science programs are at once very demanding and very supportive," says Ken Rohly, chair of the chemistry department. "As faculty we're available to help students as they take on challenging assignments, present papers at conferences, or fill internships."
Practical, daily help is also available as students deal with complex subject matter and laboratory work. The chemistry department has 25 teaching assistants (TAs) per semester who help grade, assist in labs, clean up stockrooms, and prepare for classes. This enables many student workers to practice their science, and creates a greater pool of tutors and peer mentors. Likewise, the physics department holds "help sessions" in its labs nearly every evening, and encourages students to "hang out" and discuss homework and research projects with one another.
"I had heard that one of the advantages of a small college is the chance to get to know the professors, but until I came to Bethel, I had no idea how great a thing it is," says Tom McElmurry '01, a Ph.D. candidate in physics at the University of Illinois. "The Bethel physics community is probably unique in all the world."
A difference in collaborative research
Department chairs from left to
right:
Ken Rohly, Chemistry (B.A. Spring
Arbor College, Ph.D. University of
Pittsburgh); Teresa DeGolier, Biology
(B.A. Calvin College, M.S. Florida
Atlantic University, Ph.D. University
of Minnesota); Brian Beecken,
Physics (B.A. Elmhurst College, M.S.
and Ph.D. University of Minnesota)
At Bethel, classroom teaching comes alive with early and authentic research. The kind of elbow-to-elbow lab work shared by faculty and graduate students at large universities is available to every science undergraduate at Bethel.
In fact, all Bethel chemistry majors are required to conduct both a junior and a senior research project supervised by a department faculty member. In physics over the last five years, faculty have published or presented 46 papers with 31 student co-authors.
In biology, the prestigious journal BIOS has published six articles authored by students over the past five years, and another 25 by faculty-student teams. One such project examined the diversity and reproductive success of birds in grassland habitats. The research, conducted by professor Jeffrey Port and two students, was funded by an Edgren Scholars Award, an endowment which funds two or three summer projects for faculty-student research teams each year. More such endowments are envisioned in the Presidential Science Initiative.
Under Brian Turnquist, chair of the math/computer sciences department, Bethel students have done research involving advanced computational science, including a neural signal processing project in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University. Much of the work has been conducted through automated reasoning on the 40-processor "Bethelwulf Cluster," a linking of personal computers that produces a supercomputer on campus. Using the system, Turnquist and student Erin Swanson co-authored the study "Automated Reasoning in Group Theory."
Such hands-on education pays off later, say alumni of Bethel's science programs. "Throughout my graduate studies I've been amazed at the solid research skills I learned at Bethel," says Jahraus. "I've seen colleagues at the graduate level grapple to pull together the concepts I was taught as an undergraduate."
A difference in qualifications
Bethel faculty would not have access to such rich research opportunities were it not for their own qualifications and reputations beyond the classroom. New, young faculty with exceptional backgrounds have joined Bethel in recent years, complementing the specialties of established faculty.
Chemistry instructor Ashley Mahoney is developing new chemistry curriculum and working on carbohydrate research. Paul Tavernier is conducting nucleic acid research with the help of students. Rollin King's work in computational chemistry is soon to be published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry. Professor Rohly has served as a consultant to Medtronic for 15 years on ways to improve the body's acceptance of implantable medical devices such as heart stents and pumps.
In physics, Professor Richard Peterson is a national leader as president of the American Association of Physics Teachers, an 11,000 member national organization. For five of the past six years, department chair Brian Beecken has conducted funded research on engineering problems related to space exploration, a field where Professor Thomas Greenlee is also deeply involved. Keith Stein, a widely recognized expert in the aerospace industry, is regularly invited to present his research in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
In biology, chair Teresa DeGolier and Professor Jeff Port are making their mark in the environmental sciences with research that contributes to reconstructing and maintaining healthy grasslands—a field more and more critical as suburbs negotiate a tricky co-existence with natural habitats.
A difference in facilities and location
Small class sizes and lab groups,
like one taught by Chemistry
Professor Don Albright, help
science soak in. Nearly 100
percent of Bethel chemistry majors
who apply for graduate school are
accepted, including 95 percent of
those who apply for medical
school.
Complementing top-notch faculty is access to unusually good science facilities and instrumentation for a university Bethel's size. The Department of Biology has a transmission electron microscope, human cadavers for anatomy studies, two walk-in environmental chambers, several photomicroscopes, a computer lab, boats for aquatic studies, a greenhouse, and a herbarium.
In chemistry, instrumentation is available for such super-specialized procedures as proton and carbon13 NMR, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and inductively couple plasma optical emission spectroscopy.
Bethel's physics department is noted for its state-of-the-art laser, electronics, atomic/nuclear, optics, and computer instrumentation labs, including one of the best holography labs in the Upper Midwest. (In physics, holography is used for minute measurements of vibrations and pressure differences.)
The fun and excitement of working with a wind tunnel in Keith Stein's fluid and dynamics class sold Matt Borg '03 on graduate work in aerospace engineering. Borg is now a research assistant in aerospace engineering at Purdue University, and aims to be an astronaut. Mentored by Stein, Borg was one of three Bethel students to receive a 2003 Minnesota Space Grant Consortium Scholarship.
As current as Bethel's science facilities are today, the warp-speed changes in science require ongoing investment to keep the programs competitive. Also, more laboratory and classroom space is needed for the programs to accommodate additional students in the future. These needs are addressed in the Presidential Science Initiative, a four-year effort to raise $2 million to strengthen endowments and facilities.
Corporate affiliations off-campus richly supplement the laboratory experiences available on-campus. Bethel professors have cultivated strong relationships with many of the Twin Cities' Fortune 500 companies. An average of six students work with professor Rohly at Medtronic each year, and typically five or six interns work each summer at the 3M Corporation. Students often work part-time on corporate projects during the school year, and are sought for positions after graduation. Although future employment is never promised, proximity to key employers seems to give Bethel students a leg up in placement.
A difference in personal development
In labs like this, taught by
Biology Professor Ian Johnston,
student-faculty teams conduct
authentic research. The
prestigious journal BIOS has
published six articles authored
by students over the past five
years, and another 25 by
faculty-student teams. While science thrives in Bethel's liberal arts incubator, not all the outcomes are scientifically measurable. Often a great education shows up in social, personal, and spiritual development—attributes valued from a larger perspective.
Standard engineering curricula place minimal attention on oral and written communication. At Bethel, though, these liberal arts skills are integrated into a unique dual-degree engineering program. These graduates of Bethel enjoy a high placement rate, suggesting that employers recognize and value the difference.
"The strong Christian and liberal arts environment at Bethel molds individuals who are well-rounded and seek what is most important in life," says Troy Kopischke, vice president of electrical engineering and chief operating officer of Logic Product Development. Kopischke launched the fast-growing biomedical engineering firm with several other Bethel graduates and now hires interns from his alma mater. "The [Bethel] physics department provides classes and situations which build and develop strong character, and create strong problem solvers," he adds.
Leadership preparation is also a part of the liberal arts mix. LoAnn Peterson '67, a pathologist and director of the hematopathology program at Northwestern University in Chicago, is the president of the 140,000-member American Society for Clinical Pathology. "Much of what I do now is not science," she says. "It is dealing with people. The liberal arts education I received at Bethel prepared me for the responsibilities I now have."
David Asprey '84 agrees. As program director for the physician assistant program at the University of Iowa, he says the scientific studies, liberal arts courses, and biblical influences at Bethel made him a well-rounded individual, equipped to teach and administer.
As physics department chair, Beecken has noticed that a number of his students also happen to be very musical. "It must be something in the brain," he says. "A person who likes physics tends to like music." Unlike larger research universities where specialized departments live in greater isolation from one another, Bethel's size and philosophy encourage these students to pursue their other talents in the performing arts.
Opportunities to explore other career fields, or to get involved in sports, the fine arts, and Christian ministry are what many science students seek at Bethel. Rohly's own daughter, Amy, is a thriving science major at Bethel academically, socially, and spiritually. "I know she'll get an extremely sound education here," he says. "She plays soccer. And she's involved in service projects."
The difference of a Christian perspective
Undoubtedly, one of the key distinctives of science at Bethel is that all the faculty are committed followers of Christ. Scientists grapple with some of the deepest questions of life. Bethel prepares students to face possible moral and ethical issues in their fields of choice, and to answer those questions from a Christian worldview.
"When discussing questions about the origin of life, we are concerned not only with how life began, but also who guided the process and why the creation of life has meaning," says Provost Barnes. Biology Department Chair Teresa DeGolier puts it bluntly: "We challenge the view that the only good scientist must be an evolutionist or atheist." And Rohly adds that, at Bethel, the coexistence of scientific rigor and passionate faith enriches both. "As we learn the wonders of His creation," he says, "we learn more about God, the world, and ourselves."
Through class discussions and from professors who model Christian virtues and values, Bethel science students learn integrity in research, excellence in teaching, and professional collegiality and dedication. "I think of Bethel often, and how it prepared me to use my gifts to serve God," says Melissa Terpstra '91, who went on to earn her Ph.D. in medical physics from the University of Minnesota and now serves on the faculty there. She thanks her former professor, Richard Peterson, for his encouragement in those early years when she struggled most. "Sometimes I still find myself surprised by my own success," she admits.
Jahraus recalls that he spent a lot of time talking with his professors about anything and everything— especially about the Creator. "As the years went by," he says, "I was helped to understand the depth of God's character as revealed in the intricacies of the biological sciences. I learned that the truths of science I once found threatening are not a challenge to the sovereign nature of God; rather they are a beautiful expression of His supremely creative ability."
For more information about science at Bethel, please see the individual science department Web sites at:
- http://cas.bethel.edu/dept/chemistry/
- http://cas.bethel.edu/dept/biology/
- http://cas.bethel.edu/dept/physics/
- http://cas.bethel.edu/dept/math-cs/index.html