Harrisburg students promote, encourage undergraduate research

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Two Penn State Harrisburg undergraduate students are passionate about research — and about making sure their peers know that research can be an option for them, too.  

Through the Penn State Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Mentoring Office, Harrisburg students Mane Khachatryan and Charli Nowak both work as undergraduate research ambassadors — a role in which they use their own experience as student researchers to help guide, mentor and inspire other students who might be interested in research, too.  

As research ambassadors, Khachatryan and Nowak offer one-on-one mentoring to students, virtually or in person, share information about research opportunities, and participate in research ambassador events — often held at University Park, so they participate virtually. They are working to try to bring more in-person events to the Harrisburg campus.  

Both students said they want their peers to know that research is a possibility. 

“A lot of people get started in graduate school, and I think if you can, why not start sooner?” Khachatryan said. 

Nowak said the ambassadors want to help make research less intimidating. 

“We’re just kind of educating and letting anybody know it’s not scary and daunting, and if it is, we’re here to help,” she said. 

Khachatryan and Nowak represent different areas of research — science and public policy. 

Khachatryan, in her second year as an ambassador, is a biology major planning a medical career.  

She started research projects her first year on campus as an intern in the Central Pennsylvania Research and Teaching Laboratory for Biofuels. That led to a summer experience in the Multi Campus Research Experience for Undergraduates program, working full time in the same lab. 

She now works as a research assistant with David Williamson, associate professor of kinesiology, helping to research the role of a particular protein in skeletal muscle and the heart, in the context of diabetes. 

Khachatryan said she wants to one day be a practicing doctor, seeing patients but also conducting research. 

“I think that's what medicine should look like,” she said. “I think we need more innovations in medicine, and I think science and medicine are really far apart from each other. I kind of want to bridge them back together.” 

Nowak, a human development and family studies major, got her first taste of research as a first-year student at Penn State Mont Alto. She presented at a campus research conference on work she’d done with faculty member Barrett Scroggs, now interim director of academic affairs and chief academic officer at Penn State Greater Allegheny, about car accidents and the impact on mental health. Scroggs submitted their work for a national conference, and it was accepted. Nowak presented at the Society for the Study of Human Development national research conference in 2023. 

“I was definitely the youngest person there,” she said. “I got a lot of business cards, a lot of emails, a lot of really great advice. I got to learn a lot from professionals in the field that I'm interested in and to see what other people are researching and make those connections.” 

She’s now working on research for her honors thesis related to juvenile mental health courts with Hannah Mudrick, assistant teaching professor of human development and family studies. She also works as a research assistant for Daniel Mallinson, associate professor of public policy and administration.  

Nowak said she hears from students who are interested in research but don’t know how to get started. She encourages them to check out their professors’ research interests, which are usually listed online. If they find a common interest, she said, they should talk to the professor. 

“This is what [professors are] passionate about, so they're going to love to hear from you,” she said. 

Khachatryan encourages students to take any opportunity they can. She said she knows students are busy, but the material they learn in classes is directly translatable to research they could be doing in labs.  

“The earlier you get the experience, the better,” she said.  

Students interested in learning more about the research ambassador program, whether to learn more about research or to become a mentor, should visit the Undergraduate Research Ambassadors webpage.