By Cheryl Fogle
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Project Kaleidoscope recognized the International Undergraduate Biology Research Program and the Biomedical Research Abroad: Vista's Open program as promoting excellence in undergraduate science education at the UA.
"These programs give students hands-on, investigative experience which provides a model for reform in science education," said Judy Dilts, scientist in residence for Project Kaleidoscope 1995.
International UBRP and BRAVO send 10 to 12 students abroad every year to work in research laboratories.
UBRP director Carol Bender said, "Our students are scientific ambassadors.
"(They) go everywhere," she said.
Most students go to both developed countries and the Third World.
Cindy Gentry worked in a biochemistry lab at Utreecht in the Netherlands. She studied how nutrients enter developing insect eggs.
"I learned some new research techniques, and how to say 'I like powdered sugar' in Dutch," Gentry said. "I worked weekdays and traveled on weekends." Gentry said she was in Europe for eight weeks, with stops in Amsterdam, Paris and Germany.
Robbie Kellar, an exercise sciences senior, went to Regensburg, Germany, where he used polarized light to map the brain anatomy of locusts.
"I became really good friends with my two German roommates," Kellar said.
Kellar said that he enjoyed traveling by himself in Switzerland. "The Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps looks just like the ride at Disneyland called 'The Matterhorn.'"
Kellar went abroad with International UBRP for two months.