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In her role as a supervisor, animal sciences major Christy Jones oversees both students and cattle at the Purdue Dairy Research and Education Center.(Photo by Tom Campbell) |
Management trainee
Christy Jones has added the role of supervisor to the one of student. The animal sciences major is in charge of other student employees at the Purdue Dairy Research and Education Center.
"Working with cattle and people at the same time—two things that I love to do—is the best part of my job,” Jones says. The human side of her job includes hiring, training and supervising student employees, while milking and caring for the cattle occupy the bovine side.
In addition to supervising other students, the Star City, Ind., senior also has learned to deal with the paperwork, such as standard operating procedures and material safety data sheets, that accompanies the position.
"This job is helping me prepare to manage other people in the work force,” Jones says. “I had never interviewed, hired or supervised others in a work environment before.”
With job interviews and graduation on the horizon, she is ready to put these skills to work for a future employer. Ideally, she'd like a job where she can continue to work with cows and people. “I also thoroughly enjoy organizing and planning events, so the perfect job would combine all of these things and dairy cattle.”
A cut above the rest
When Sarah Knapke was accepted into an internship program at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center last summer, she credited her Purdue laboratory experience with helping her make the cut. The senior plant science major from Rockville, Ind., was one of only 12 students selected to intern at the prestigious research facility, located in St. Louis.
"I know that academic standing and research interests played a large role in determining which undergraduates were accepted as interns; however, past research experience was also a factor,” Knapke says. “I feel my laboratory research at Purdue helped my application stand out.”
Knapke has been a fixture in Purdue laboratories for six semesters, working her way up from washing glassware and cleaning labs to collecting data and conducting small experiments on her own.
Robert Pruitt, associate professor of botany and plant pathology, who works with Knapke on her research project, says there is no substitute for experience in scientific research. “Sarah is just about the perfect undergraduate research student,” he says. “She is very motivated, works hard, is technically very good in the lab and has the intelligence to make all those things come together.”
These are skills that served her well in her internship, where she worked on a research project developing plants for use as oil alternatives. “My research may not revolutionize the world of science,” says Knapke, who plans to attend graduate school this fall, “but I am excited to know that I made a contribution.”
Related links:
Department of Agricultural Economics
Department of Food Science
Department of Animal Sciences
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology
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