UNM research group preps early undergrads for lab work

A research group in University College is providing first year University of New Mexico students the opportunity to get research experience. The Greenberg Research Group is led by its namesake Jake Greenberg who is a trained Ph.D. chemist.

Currently, he has 17 active undergraduate researchers. The group focuses primarily on biology and chemistry, but Greenberg says if a student has an interest in something outside of that, he will encourage and support them as best he can.

"I tell my students they have to treat my lab as a steppingstone. It's supposed to be something where you are learning a whole bunch so that you can now become the best at whatever you're doing next," Greenberg said. "I strongly feel that research is a really big piece of that puzzle because it allows you to push the boundaries of academia and what we know. Being at an R1 institution, it makes sense to me at least that everybody should be exposed to research and seeing what types of things that we can do."

Greenberg categorizes the type of research he does into three groups. His phytochemistry laboratory is interested in figuring out what Southwest plants do biochemically and what types of compounds they make, and if those compounds are things that can be utilized for things like renewable carbon resources or potentially new medicines.

The biology laboratory is interested in arbovirus transmission-essentially, learning about mosquitoes, who they bite and how the transmission of arbovirus in people, horses, cattle, and dogs can be stopped.

The third realm of Greenberg's research centers on liberal arts and student success. "It allows me to do anything because what I'm trying to do is expose them to research. I do have a program where I'm diving into the different courses that we have at the University of New Mexico," Greenberg said.

As for why Greenberg focuses on recruiting freshman and sophomores, he says anyone interested in research should get started right away. "It's about how much time you are thinking about a research project and what are you going to do or what questions that can you ask from your data that we can answer," Greenberg said. "And so, it's a cool place for first years to start thinking about, 'How can I actually change the world?' To change the world, you have to start really small in order to do something that's really big."

There are a few different options for students to participate with Greenberg's research group. He has 400 level research credits in liberal arts and chemistry. The Undergraduate Research and Design network (URAD) offers undergraduate scholarships for research if students want to pursue a research topic outside of those classes under the supervision of Greenberg. Additionally, Greenberg has students involved in Mellon Mays, El Puente, ASSURE, and the McNair research programs.

Many of Greenberg's students can be seen presenting at the annual Undergraduate Research Opportunity Conference put on by URAD.

"I just want students to know that even if there isn't an opportunity to be a researcher in the lab, that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't do research," Greenberg said. "There are many courses where you're able to investigate things that you care about. I highly recommend that everybody continue to ask questions, continue to talk to as many people as possible, because this is something where I think everybody who's interested in research absolutely has the opportunity to."