Delaware Tech Student Presents Undergraduate Research to National Science Foundation

Brianna Kirwan is putting community college undergraduate research on the same level as doctoral and post-doctoral university research.

Kirwan recently presented her research on testing marine yeast for agents of biofuel and fermentation production at the National Science Foundation (NSF) virtual site visit for Project WiCCED, a grant-funded project to address water security, marking a rare instance where a community college student was invited to present to NSF. Most presenters are university students doing doctoral or post-doctoral research.

"I always thought I'd want to do research as a career," Kirwan said. "The problem-solving aspect with science really interested me.

"I felt like a real scientist (presenting to NSF), and I enjoyed representing Delaware Tech."

Kirwan, 26, of Lewes, is in her second year of the medical laboratory technology program while participating in undergraduate research. Because her topic was such a novel concept, and with the immense amount of coastal marine waterways across the state, it drew interest from NSF.

Project WiCCED (Water in the Changing Coastal Environment of Delaware) is a multi-year NSF/Delaware EPSCoR-funded effort bringing together graduate and undergraduate researchers from the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, and Delaware Tech to assess the major threats to Delaware's water quality and address the growing concern of water security in Delaware and the surrounding region.

"The notion of high-level, undergraduate research is not the norm for most community colleges," said Dr. Michael Buoni, genetics/molecular biology/microbiology instructor/instructional coordinator. "At Delaware Tech, we pride ourselves on providing students an opportunity to experience real-world, scientific problem solving through many research opportunities. Grants provided by NSF, including EPSCoR and Project WiCCED, have been a large part of the expansion of our undergraduate research opportunities."

Since very little work had been done on marine yeast before, Kirwan started her research essentially from scratch. She collected water samples from Delaware, Maryland, Texas, and Florida, isolated the yeast from the water, and sequenced it to determine the species. She is now ready to enter the testing phase for her current water samples, and also plans to continue to collect from additional marine areas throughout the state.

Kirwan's presentation to NSF consisted of a three-minute "thesis speech" with a PowerPoint that explained her research in easily digestible points. That was followed by 10 questions from the panel. Once all presenters were finished, they reconvened to answer additional questions before the virtual visit was complete.

"It was awesome to present and to be able to discuss the possibilities of my research," Kirwan said. "I enjoyed hearing what others are doing research on and seeing how they were interested in the research we are doing here."

Kirwan’s research, along with other research being done by her peers, is also impacting the course lessons for several of the core classes of the biological sciences major.

"Some of their work has been so successful that we have incorporated their research into the curriculum," Buoni said. "We felt it was imperative to expose all of our students in the biological sciences program to the discourse of how real science is performed across the globe, and it's even more meaningful that their experiences are born in worked performed by students at our college."

Before she pursues her career in medical research, Kirwan plans to pursue her bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory science and her master's degree in molecular diagnostics. She is on track to graduate from Delaware Tech in Dec. 2022.