UWS Student Earns National Scholarship

Senior biology student Jennifer Gravrok during a NSE trip to Montreal. Photo from Jennifer Gravrok.

University of Wisconsin-Superior senior Jennifer Gravrok has earned a scholarship from the National Student Exchange (NSE) for her outstanding work through exchange participation.

Gravrok participated in an exchange to the University of Maine at Farmington, with the intent of furthering her academic coursework in Biology as well as experiencing a new region of the United States. A quiet, polite young woman, who seemingly was simply attending classes and getting to know some students, was in reality getting involved in numerous research projects, making connections with faculty, attending and presenting at conferences and participating in campus clubs.

Lynn Eustus is the National Student Exchange coordinator at University of Maine at Farmington and said Gravrok stood out from other exchange students she has worked with.  “In my 10+ years working with NSE students, I’ve never seen a visiting NSE student become so involved on campus. Her participation in course research, independent research, conferences and presentations was highly impressive, not to mention all of her other involvement on campus.”  Gravrok lived with the visiting international students and scholars, and she quickly made friends from all over the world and became part of a very tight knit community. Eustus added, “We at UMF are impressed by Jennifer’s work and found it to be a pleasure to have her on our campus this past year.”

They were not surprised that she earned a competitive summer internship opportunity during her stay there. Eustus said, “It was especially gratifying to attend her UMF Symposium Day presentation and see all of her international friends and UMF faculty supporting her. The initiative shown by Jennifer to participate in a science lab experience during her February break in order to gain more practical experience, rather than to spend the week relaxing as many other students choose to do, speaks to her commitment to education and working toward her academic and career goals.”

Gravrok said the experience she had with (NSE) will make an impact with her throughout her lifetime. “I have a new desire to travel the rest of the United States and throughout the world because of the wonderful people I met and the eye opening experiences travel offers.” She is also a Swenson Scholar at UW-Superior and said she made lifelong friends. “My eyes were opened to many other cultures. I also took every opportunity to travel the East Coast and visit New York City, Boston, Montreal and many places in Maine throughout all seasons.”

Her career aspirations changed because of this experience from veterinary medicine to research through the opportunities she took part in during her exchange.

Gravrok academic accomplishments include:

• Animal Behavior Independent study 2nd half of 1st semester through second semester. Title: Boldness and aggression in crayfish Procambarus spp.: the relationship is not that simple.Abstract: Crayfish, Procambarus spp., display consistent personality traits of boldness and aggression in captivity (Kortet et al. 2011).
• Presented animal study research at the NURDS Conference at University of New England.
• Wrote a publishable quality paper on animal study research.
• Participated in Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory during February Break as an INBRE funded “short course” with other genetics students, gaining experience in DNA barcoding at a REAL Lab and being published on BOLD systems database.
• Research for Physiological psychology class during fall semester – conducted an experiment on the change in skin conductance of people when they were looking at themselves in a mirror for an extended period of time (5min).
• Research for Genetics during spring semester – conducted an experiment on the effects of alcohol exposure on fruit flies and the impact on future generations. Title: Alcoholism in Drosophila melanogaster.
• Presented animal study research and genetics research at UMF Symposium Day on campus.
• Earned her first 4.0 in college courses.
• Secured a fully paid summer internship in the Integrative Biology of Social Behaviors at Michigan State University, an R1 school (research). Jennifer was one of only eleven students chosen for this nationally recognized program, funded by the National Science Foundation. She will be conducting research with Dr. Fred Dryer who studies vision, navigation and decision making in the honey bee.

Additional activities during her exchange:

• Active member of the French Club*Participated in many campus activities such as hiking trips, talent show, bingo, theater productions, multicultural events, art shows, club activities, residence halls activities.
• Traveled to New York City, Boston, Montreal, Portland, Old Orchard Beach, Acadia/Bar Harbor
• Met wonderful people from Maine and all over the world.

When she completes her undergraduate degree at UW-Superior, Jennifer plans to attend graduate school for research, specifically in comparative canine cognition and then continue on to for her PhD. She is currently trying to find a graduate school that has a lab focused on canine cognition (there are very few) as she wants to research the ways the canine mind works, including ways to help service dog performance and overall understanding how dogs make decisions and how they trust.

*Information from National Student Exchange was used in this story.