University of Minnesota
COPE Liaison Feature Story
General College: Undergraduate Student
Name: Joshua Schmitt
E-mail address: schm1231@umn.edu
Phone number:
URL/website: http://www.gen.umn.edu/programs/ce/partnerships.htm
Primary Department: General College
Interdisciplinary College Partner(s): Lillihei Heart Institute Undergraduate Scholars
Community Partners Indian Health Board
Community Partners: Indian Health Board
Funding Sources: UROP
Title of Project: None
Short Description:
Joshua Schmitt is a 24 year old first year student in the General College. He is an
American Indian and a first generation college student. While enrolled in preparatory
mathematics courses and in a preparatory chemistry course, he has followed up on his
advisor’s suggestion, leading to his being involved in cardiovascular research at the
medical school, under a UROP with Dr. Robert Gallegos, Department of Surgery. That
work led him to invent a porcine vessel device, now in the patent process through the
Patents and Technology Marketing Office. Schmitt also volunteers one morning each
week at the Indian Health Board in Minneapolis and “shadows” Dr. Pat Rock there. This
volunteer service enriches the context of his medical research projects with Dr. Gallegos,
and both, in turn, underscore the importance of the undergraduate coursework he is
engaged in while a lower division student in General College.
Why is this program/project/research important to you, your department, your
college, the community at large?
As I indicated above, Joshua Schmitt has used his General College advisor’s
encouragement and the UROP Program opportunity to engage in real research with Dr.
Gallegos and to invent a patentable medical device which will allow practitioners and
researchers to test the strength and viability of human vessels. This research and
technology development has encouraged his interest in medicine, and has fostered his
volunteer work at the Minneapolis Indian Health Board, where he also “shadows” Dr.
Rock. That he is doing this as a first year student is quite remarkable.
What happened as a result of this work? What difference has it made?
In one way, this is not an extraordinary event: circumstances have simply come together
to allow a highly motivated first year General College student to take advantage of preexisting programs and opportunities in the University of Minnesota and in the
community. This set of circumstances has been of tangible benefit to medical
practitioners in the form of the porcine vessel Schmitt invented and is patenting. But I
University of Minnesota
think the larger benefits are yet to be realized, as he forms his interests and eventually, we
hope, pursues medicine, buoyed by the experience of his first year in the University
Testimony from a participant:
Joshua has been the subject of an article on his experiences as a student, as a science
researcher and product developer, and as an intern at the American Indian Health
Board—see http://www.gen.umn.edu/programs/communications/access/fa03/schmitt.htm
The key quote might be: “That’s what I strive for in my research and in the committee
work—to be of service. Each gives me an opportunity to influence people positively in a
way that’s never been there before for me.”
CIC institutions define engagement as the partnership of university knowledge and
resources with those of the public, civic, and private sectors to
•
enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity
•
enhance curriculum, teaching, and learning
•
prepare educated, engaged citizens
•
strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility
•
address critical societal issues
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and contribute to the public good.