Students Take a Bus Ride to a Different Rutgers

A new seminar helps undergraduates connect their interests to research they never knew existed

For Dave Bushek, the obstacle to bringing students to Rutgers' field stations across New Jersey was getting them there.

A visitor to Rutgers' shellfish research facilities wondered why more students weren't seeing them, too. Bushek, a professor of marine and coastal sciences, explained that transportation from campus was the problem. The visitor offered a solution.

Following Honors College students on a first-ever journey to all of the Rutgers research stations in New Jersey to discover how science shows up for the state and its people.

"The person made it possible for us to purchase a shuttle," Bushek said.

This fall, a white, 18-passenger shuttle bus is carrying students into areas of Rutgers that many never knew existed. Their destinations include research farms, shellfish laboratories and centers devoted to clean energy and food innovation.

Along the way, the undergraduates at Rutgers-New Brunswick will investigate a question that reaches beyond any single stop: Where might they fit into this work?

The new interdisciplinary honors seminar, "Beyond Campus: Research at Rutgers Off-Campus Stations," brings together 12 students for a semester of Friday visits to places where university research meets the needs of New Jersey's communities and industries. Leading them are Bushek, and Peter Oudemans, a professor of plant biology, both faculty members of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

Over 10 Fridays, the students will visit 12 research locations in six counties.

For Kyle Yoon, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from Closter, N.J., the course offered a departure from familiar routines.

"Currently I have only taken lecture style classes at college and when I saw the hands-on approach this seminar provided, I wanted to experience it for myself," Yoon said.

Peter Oudemans, left, a professor of plant biology, and David Bushek, a professor of marine and coastal sciences, created a new honors seminar to introduce students to the breadth of Rutgers research and help them see how their own interests and skills could contribute to it.

The instructors, who oversee Rutgers' marine field stations and research farms, want students to discover how their interests could contribute to work happening throughout the state.

Already, some connections are emerging.

Bushek recalled asking students whether they thought their majors related to the work they would encounter. Nobody raised a hand.

He then asked a civil engineering student how people get around on a farm. Roads, the student realized, require engineering. Bushek asked a mechanical engineering student what farmers use to harvest crops. Machinery, the student realized, requires engineers, too.

For Oudemans, those moments of epiphany get to the purpose of the course. He wants students to see that rigorous research should also address problems that matter beyond the laboratory.

"You need to do your science well, but it has to be good for something," he said.

Veronica Girgis, an Honors College student majoring in food science, selects a Scarlet Sunrise tomato during an exercise in a new honors seminar designed to show students the hands-on aspect of science.

The first class offered a close look at what that means. After an introduction to Rutgers' land-grant mission, students visited the hazelnut breeding program led by plant biologist Thomas Molnar. Working in six groups, the students located assigned trees and harvested 50 clusters of nuts from each, Bushek said. They then analyzed productivity, comparing trees with different parentage and characteristics.

The exercise opened a window onto the work behind a possible new agricultural industry. Students learned breeding a successful hazelnut involves decisions about traits, size and commercial uses, along with the effort of connecting growers and companies.

In subsequent stops, students will learn about sustainable agriculture, Rutgers-bred cranberries that are used worldwide, shellfish breeding, coastal ecosystems and food processing.

They will witness efforts that span generations of Rutgers research, from shellfish work begun in 1888 and cranberry research in 1918 to newer food and clean-energy centers.

For Foysal Sorwar, an Honors College sophomore studying biological sciences, the itinerary offers a new perspective on a familiar state. Originally from Bangladesh and raised in Elizabeth, N.J., Sorwar learned to appreciate gardening through his mother and is curious about the research behind food production.

"It gives me a new perspective of the other side of New Jersey that I would not get to see this close otherwise," Sorwar said.

Rutgers professor and plant breeder Thomas Molnar explains his work developing new hazelnut varieties to students during the first field trip of a new honors seminar.

Students will meet scientists whose working days unfold in fields, among experimental crops and beside tidal waters. Bushek has spent his career in such places. Once, when approached about moving to campus, he declined. Asked why he would pass up being where the academic action was, he had a ready answer.

"My action is my research," Bushek said. "I can walk out the back of the lab, and I'm in the field where I'm going to do it."

That proximity also brings researchers close to the people who depend on their findings

At the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory in Port Norris, N.J., members of the oyster industry still walk in to discuss problems, Bushek said. At the blueberry and cranberry research center, Oudemans and his colleagues work with growers on concerns that can threaten a harvest or a livelihood.

After MSX, a disease caused by a single-celled Protozoan, began devastating Delaware Bay oysters in 1957, Rutgers researchers studied the parasite and bred disease-resistant oyster lines.

These relationships help explain why Rutgers maintains a presence throughout the state.

Brian Schilling, director of Rutgers Cooperative Extension, introduced students to Rutgers' land-grant mission, which combines teaching and research with practical service to the public. The university's farms and field stations are part of that statewide system, along with Extension offices in all the state's 21 counties.

The exchange works in both directions.

"A problem comes in from the field, often through extension, into our research community," Schilling said. "Answers are developed, and then they go back out through extension to the farmer community."

Sometimes the response involves breeding a disease-resistant plant. Sometimes it means testing equipment before growers commit their own money.

"Let us kick the tires and see if this is going to work," Schilling said. "If it doesn't, let us fail with it. If it works, let us help you succeed with it."

Students have work to do, too. They prepare questions before visits, keep field notebooks and write reflections. Their final multimedia projects will explain how research addresses a New Jersey challenge.

Hazelnuts gathered by students during a class exercise help illustrate how plant breeders compare trees for productivity and other desirable traits.

Kanishk Sharma, an Honors College sophomore studying computer science, data science and economics, already sees possibilities. A friend's account of working at the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve helped inspire an interest in the course.

"Hearing about how she used technology to study marine environments made me realize how much overlap there can be between computing and environmental science," Sharma said. "I am hoping this course gives me a chance to experience that connection myself rather than only learning about it in a classroom."

The instructors hope those connections will endure beyond the final assignment. Bushek said he wants students to be sharing their discoveries years from now. Oudemans said he hopes they will find places where their talents are needed.

Even ordinary surroundings could begin to look different.

At the Rutgers Plant Science Research and Extension Farm, often called the Adelphia Farm, in Freehold, N.J., students encountered more than 51,000 turf plots under evaluation. Rutgers has developed more than 500 improved turf cultivars with the seed industry that are used in high profile locations including several 2026 World Cup venues, at Yankee stadium and Augusta National Golf Club, where the Masters golf tournament is played.

Reflecting on the students' encounter with Rutgers' turfgrass research, Oudemans offered one prediction.

"You'll never look at turf the same."

Explore more of the ways Rutgers research is shaping the future.