Author Archives: Ron Grunwald

I’m Excited for a Post-Pandemic (?) Summer!

Really looking forward to working with everyone this summer. Hope the weather stays cool!

Of warm weather and very red salamanders

Must be summer! Very excited at the start of another session with BSURF. Great start so far, not the least because of this delightful fellow up in the mountains:
(Pseudotriton ruber, Buncombe County)

New Post!

Hi Again

New summer, new babies

The start of BSURF 2018 coincided with a new clutch of corn snake eggs. Hard not to make comparisons – will they hatch successfully? will they thrive? what will they be when they  grow up?

Here’s to a great summer!

Dr. G

Week 1 – What do you expect from your summer research experience?

Due Sunday, 10 June, 5pm

Week 2 – Your mentor interview

Due Sunday, 17 June, 5 pm

Week 3 – Describe your research project

Due Sunday, 24 June, 5 pm

Week 4 – Life in the lab – what is your day like?

Due Sunday, 1 July, 5 pm

Week 5 – Chalk talks – pick one and reflect on that talk

Due Sunday, 8 July, 5 pm

Week 6 – The joys and woes of research – how is your project coming along?

Due Sunday, 15 July, 5 pm

Week 7 – Faculty seminars – pick one and reflect on that talk

Due Sunday, 22 July, 5 pm

Week 8 – Reflection on the summer – how has this experience influenced you?

Due *Friday*, 27 July, 5 pm

Snakes Hatching!

Update 6/15: Four more on the way!

First hatch today. I’m very excited for the new baby ball pythons.

Welcome to BSURF 2017!

I’m very happy to announce the first week of the Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellows (BSURF) for 2017!  Now in it’s 27th year at Duke (the first 25 as the Howard Hughes Research Fellows), almost 600 Fellows having completed the program run by the Undergraduate Research Support Office of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.

What was supposed to be a ‘seed’ grant to Trinity College from HHMI was renewed for 6 cycles as the premier undergraduate summer research program at Duke. In 2015, Trinity College assumed the major funding responsibility, with help from the Pratt School of Engineering.

Welcome to the 2017 cohort. Here’s to a great summer!
Dr. G

Welcome to BSURF 2016!

Hard to believe, but there have been 25 years of Howard Hughes Research Fellows Programs, at Duke, 576 Fellows in total.   What was supposed to be a ‘seed’ grant to Trinity College was renewed for 6 cycles as the premier undergraduate summer research program at Duke.

While HHMI still funds undergraduate-education projects at Duke, the summer program for rising sophomores is now growing with full support from Trinity College. I’m looking forward to our 26th year, under the new name – The Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellows (BSURF).

See you in June!
Dr. G

Hoping for good summer! (but you never know…)

So, what am I most looking forward to this summer? Well, here are two things:
1. Exposure to new ideas and approaches in biology. Some will be things that I didn’t know. And others will convince me that everything I know is wrong! I expect the Research Fellows to astound me on a regular basis.
Settling my relationship with etoposide. Two summers ago that drug left me bald and beardless. Hmm. This summer I’ll either sing its praises or curse its depravity, deepening on how the scans go. More about that later, but here’s a portrait of the two of us from 2013:

June 2013, Duke Cancer Clinic

June 2013, Duke Cancer Clinic

Let’s get started!

First week – new labs, new people, new routines. Hope it’s a good one!

Dr. G