UAA Undergraduate Research and Discovery Symposium celebrates community among scholars

A decade ago, Austen Rogers felt listless, marooned, and drifting in a life without hope or direction.

Adopted at age 5, Austen grew up on an animal sanctuary and farm in what he says was a "pretty complicated" upbringing. "I was pretty sheltered," he said. "My parents didn't have friends; my siblings didn't have friends. By the time I hit adolescence, I was so far behind with social norms I didn't know how to connect with anybody."

A self-described "nerdy kid" who enjoyed computers, mixing music, and programming video games, Austen moved in and out of public school, home school and distance education situations.

"I had a little bit of a shaky home life," he said. "My academic upbringing was rough around the edges. For me it was a pretty bitter experience. I got bullied, struggled a lot in my classes. I isolated myself, didn't see much in my future, didn't want anything."

A couple of years after Austen graduated from Houston High School, his father died of cancer. "That got me interested in the biology of it, what's going on with the disease itself," Austen said.

He didn't realize the tragedy would propel his life in a new direction. A neighbor who worked at the Alaska Native Medical Center mentioned a job opportunity in its research department, so Austen applied for and won the position. He left his pet store job and began taking plasma samples and recruiting volunteers. Then another opportunity offered itself: A doctor he met at ANMC offered a chance to come to the Oregon Health and Science University for a two-month internship, where Austen "was thrown into cell culture and rat brain surgery" learning how tumors affect children.

Austen experienced an epiphany.

"This is so cool," he remembered thinking. "This is what I want to do, the direction I want to take my life."

He enrolled in UAA and began studying science.

Forging new paths into knowledge

Three years later, Austen is one of a select group of UAA students who will be celebrated at this week's Undergraduate Research and Discovery Symposium.

The Alaska Heart Institute (through the UAA University Honors College) awarded Austen an AHI Biomedical Research Fellowship for his research with UAA's Dr. Holly Martinson - his faculty mentor - into the effects of immunomodulators in battling gastric cancers driven by the Epstein-Barr virus.

The researchers are evaluating whether chronic inflammation stimulates viral activation in EBV-positive gastric cancer cells; evaluating whether ibuprofen can inhibit this viral activation; and evaluating whether chronic inflammation induces an inflammatory response in EBV-positive gastric cancer cells.

"Big picture, gastric cancer affects three times as many Alaska Natives as white people," Austen said. "In some Alaska Native populations, colorectal and oropharyngeal cancers have an incidence two to 17  times higher than other populations."

The AHI support (which includes a stipend) will make it possible for Austen to continue his work with Martinson for nine months.

"She's a phenomenal freaking person," Austen said of Martinson. "I'm so overwhelmed with the support she has given me. I'm a pretty anxious person and she taught me a patience for myself, confidence of myself. The biggest thing she taught me is that it's OK to fail, how necessary failure is to be a good scientist and person - failure just means you're trying. Aside from the science, she has shown me what a mentor should be. She is the person I want to be when I'm an associate professor."

After his AHI fellowship concludes, Austen plans to attend graduate school, travel, and volunteer in the Mercy Ships humanitarian program.

"We'll go port to port in different African countries," Austen said. "I'm going to support that in some small way."

Moving forward

Looking back, Austen says he is amazed with the way his life has unspooled over the past decade.

"I gave up on a lot of dreams, didn't think I'd really go anywhere, that I'd be a loser," he said. "I was just like this kid that's really mad at the world. It's been a long metamorphosis and I wish I'd had that metamorphosis sooner."

His advice for other youths who are struggling, down on themselves, flailing in their lives?

"Never trust what you think you know about yourself," he said. "Don't underestimate your propensity for change. I still have issues, but they're better ones than I had 10 years ago."

UAA Undergraduate Research and Discovery Symposium details and schedule

• The annual Undergraduate Research & Discovery Symposium (presented by the UAA University Honors College) celebrates and connects undergraduate research taking place all across UAA, and fosters scholarly discussion between students, faculty and the community.
• The 2018 Symposium opens with a poster fair April 16-20 at the UAA/APU Consortium Library. Dr. Kelcie Ralph's keynote speech will take place at 7 p.m. April 19, in the UAA Student Union; Ralph's research centers on three themes: equitable access to opportunities; understanding urban planners; and encouraging a shift away from automobiles.
• Student researchers like Austen are eligible to receive honors like the UAA Honors College Fran Ulmer Transformative Research Award, Alaska Heart Institute Biomedical Research Fellowships, the ISER Policy Research Award, the Undergraduate Research in the Community Award, Meissner Creativity Award in the Visual Arts, the Consortium Library Prize, OURS/Alaska INBRE Undergraduate Research Assistantship and other research grants and awards.
• Research presentations are set for 8 a.m.-3 p.m. April 20 at Rasmuson Hall's Rooms 204 and 210 and Beatrice McDonald Hall's Room 220.
• A poster presentation session and reception are set for 3-4 p.m., April 20, in the Spine between the Social Sciences Building and Natural Sciences Building. An awards ceremony will follow, at 4-5 p.m.
• For more information, call 907-786-1086 or email uaa_honors@uaa.alaska.edu.

Written by Tracy Kalytiak for UAA