Research experience powers relationships with historically Black colleges and universities

Donovan Hardy was a rising junior when he traveled to Virginia Tech to study darkling beetles. 

“The project was to study their circulatory and respiratory systems to get a better understanding of micropumps,” said Hardy, who was a student at Morehouse College at the time.

It was his first semester-long research experience, and Hardy quickly began obtaining a new skill set. He learned how to collect data using an array of fiber optic sensors and mounting platforms and utilized visual data to gain a better understanding of his subject.

“My experience doing research there was very new to me,” said Hardy, who graduated in 2021. “It helped me learn how to solve problems while thinking outside the box,” said Hardy, who graduated in 2021.  

Hardy is one of several students from a historically Black college and university (HBCU) who have spent a summer working in Virginia Tech’s Socha Lab since 2017. Each summer, at least one undergraduate student from an HBCU conducts research alongside a Virginia Tech Ph.D. student. The undergraduate students have primarily come from Morehouse College, a historically Black private liberal arts college for men in Atlanta.

Headed by Virginia Tech researcher Jake Socha, the lab primarily studies animal biomechanics, asking basic questions about how they function mechanically. Though the work is engineering-based, the lab’s members also ask fundamental science questions that can open doors to other disciplines.

Undergraduate students choose to participate in one of the lab’s many ongoing projects. Past projects include topics such as:

• How ducks land on water
• How flying snakes land
• Circulation in insect hearts
• How cicadas connect their wings

This opportunity is primarily funded by the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science’s (ICTAS) diversity and inclusion grant. The grant offers up to $10,000 per year for two years to support a partnership between faculty at Virginia Tech and faculty at HBCUs or minority serving institutions. Qualifying faculty can apply for the diversity and inclusion grant beginning in January 2025.

The institute's primary mission is to increase research at the intersection of disciplines, which is exactly what this program does.

“Even though the [Socha’s] lab was more of an animal-based lab, having that experience showed me that bioengineering was the discipline I was interested in,” said Ira Moore, who graduated from Morehouse College in 2021 and is currently studying nano engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. “After that, it was more about finding those other experiences and trying other labs. [From there], I ended up falling into biomaterials and polymer behaviors.”

The Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, a summer research program led by David Schmale and Shane Ross, and the National Science Foundation provided additional funding.

The program began after Socha attended Virginia Tech’s second annual HBCU/MSI Research Summit in 2017 where he was seated beside Willie Rockward, formerly the physics department chair at Morehouse College.

The two came up with the idea for the program, and then later utilized funding from ICTAS to further develop it.

“This just came from talking to someone at lunch and them saying, ‘Yeah, that’d be a good idea,’” said Socha, the Samuel Herrick professor in the department of mechanical engineering. “And because there was this grant opportunity from ICTAS, we were able to make it happen. It was not something that I would’ve done otherwise if it were not for the efforts and structure put in place by the university.”

Socha now works with Eddie Red, the interim dean of Morehouse College’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Division, on program specifics.

Red has also collaborated with Schmale and Ross to send Morehouse students to their summer research program.

“The role of Morehouse in these collaborations is to identify physics and engineering students with interests in bioengineering and research,” Red said. “Having research experience is not a requirement. However, having an interest in learning is a must. We use this opportunity to mentor students about the importance of research with the hope that they will consider Virginia Tech for their future educational goals.”

According to Red, the history of successful collaborations has both parties hopeful of establishing Virginia Tech as one of Morehouse College’s dual-degree partner institutions.

“We both see the value of a continued relationship between the two universities in supporting the next generation of STEM leaders beyond the borders of Morehouse,” Red said.

Each spring, Socha and his Ph.D. students, typically Joshua Pulliam and Jeff Anderson, travel to Morehouse to hold an informational student session about the program. 

Pulliam, an engineering mechanics student, and Anderson, who is studying biological sciences, not only have experience with animal biomechanics, but they are also HBCU graduates. Pulliam and Anderson graduated from Morehouse College and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, respectively, and said they understand the value of an HBCU experience, as well as navigating a public institution as a racial minority.

“I didn’t have someone to look up to in my field for advice that only a Black man can give to another Black man, but now, I can be that,” Anderson said.

Prospective students had various questions, but Anderson noticed that the following three were the most popular:

• How will this help me get a job after I graduate? 
• If it’s paid, will it pay me enough so that I can live comfortably in Blacksburg while I’m there?
• Is it worth my time? 

Having colleagues available to field such questions has not only helped students with the specific topics but has also helped them navigate some of the biggest questions of their careers.

“Having that encouragement, not just from Jake, but from the other students who want you to be your best and give you that support, taught me to look for that type of environment,” Moore said. “That definitely helped me pick the right schools, pick the right programs as I matriculated.”