WeHBSee TV host remarks on quality of undergraduate student research

A crew from WeHBSeeU TV, a national digital streaming network that spotlights Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), visited Central State University (CSU) on Sept. 25. Crew members spent a full day to see for themselves the scope and nature of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research CSU faculty and students are undertaking at Ohio's only public HBCU and 1890 Land-Grant University. CSU was the 44th HBCU the crew has visited so far.

"This has been an awe-inspiring experience — to be able to capture this in southwest Ohio," said Dr. Erin Lynch, host of WeHBSeeU TV and president of its affiliated nonprofit QEM (Quality Education for Minorities) Network in Washington, D.C.

After visiting four CSU laboratories and meeting with teachers and students who worked on semiconductors with Intel funding last summer, Lynch was impressed.

"Your undergraduate students are literally being trained like graduate students, which is a remarkable thing that you have 19 and 20-year-olds sounding like 25 and 27-year-olds, talking about the science (projects) that they are doing," she said in an interview recorded at the end of the day for Research Connection podcast.

The mentoring professors visited and also interviewed included Dr. Craig Schluttenhofer (Hemp Lab), Dr. Rajveer Dhillon (Unmanned Aerial Systems Lab), Dr. Sakthi Kumaran (Agriculture and Natural Resources Information and Management Lab) Dr. Krishna Kumar Nedunuri (Hydraulics Lab), Dr. Mohammad Hadizadeh, and Dr. Mubbashar Khan (Semiconductor Project).

At every stop, the students told Lynch that their CSU professors are supportive and always encourage them to trust and follow their imagination in their research.

"I would say that ingenuity is my favorite part always," Sharnelle Coicous, a senior computer science major from the Bahamas, told Lynch. "When Dr. (Rajveer) Dhillon comes to me with a project, it's always something that I never would have thought to do with computers and agriculture. ... So I like how it taps into my creativity and ingenuity." 

"I'm like wow, I didn't know we could do this. What else can we do?"

Dr. Erin Lynch on CSU Research Connection Podcast

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"From what we have been able to see today, you all at Central State University have really created a niche in terms of the research dedicated to sustainability. ... The best part has been the students who've been involved in all these different initiatives."

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