Undergraduate research has helped enable more than 1,000 PLNU science students to unlock their passion for learning and to discover their calling. Undergraduate research has helped propel many Point Loma students to successful graduate and medical school acceptances. In fact, PLNU acceptance rates for medical, dental, optometry, pharmacy, and graduate schools are well over 90%, much higher than the national average.
Results like these don’t often happen by chance. At PLNU, the excellence of the sciences has been a goal and commitment of the faculty, alumni, and students for decades. In 1977, several chemistry alumni came together to establish “Research Associates,” an organization whose purpose is to support undergraduate chemistry research at PLNU. Now, as Research Associates celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026, we reflect on what has made the group such a key partner for faculty and students in not only the Department of Chemistry, but well beyond.
Matthieu Rouffet, Ph.D., dean of PLNU’s School of STEM, shared how experiential learning opportunities like summer research have a lasting impact on students’ career paths.
“Not only do our summer research students gather about 800 hours of lab experience, which provides them with hands-on skill sets that are transferable to a job in industry, graduate school, or whatever they want to pursue, but it also allows them to develop confidence as scientists,” Rouffet said.
Some of the nonscientific skills they learn are equally valuable. “Summer research students have to present their data to other students and make it accessible, which is not easy to do,” he said. “Yet with practice, they become better at it. Students also get to work on a challenging project with no simple solutions and many points of failure. This is part of the learning process, and it is okay. Students will learn from their mistakes and move forward. Working directly with a faculty member who cares for them will help students in this process. So overall, these facets of the program allow for students to really mature and develop career readiness skills.”
Rouffet understands these benefits intimately because, even as dean, he still conducts research and mentors undergraduates during summer research in the field of medicinal chemistry. His current project involves targeting new biological pathways to effectively shut down the malaria parasite using small molecules and develop a new series of antimalarial drugs.
This past summer, Rouffet and five PLNU students worked with collaborators at UC Riverside and a biotech entrepreneur and were able to make some great progress.
Rouffet’s work is representative of the exciting, relevant projects current students can engage in during summer research. It’s also part of a tradition that began with Vic Heasley, Ph.D., who arrived at Pasadena College in 1963. Two years later, Heasley began providing summer research opportunities for his students. Among the earliest to benefit were Ken Martin (70) and Michael McConnell (71), both of whom would later join Point Loma’s science faculty and assume leadership roles in Research Associates themselves.
“I remember what a struggle it had been for Heasley and Division Chair Val Christensen to find ways to finance the summer research program,” McConnell said. Perhaps having also noted the need for funds, in 1975, Dr. Tim Smith (68) reached out to Heasley and said he’d like to donate $1,000 for summer research in chemistry. Grateful, Heasley put the gift to use that summer. The next summer, Smith had another $1,000 to give, and this time, he brought along another alum, Dr. Byron Lais (68), who wanted to do the same. Smith said they knew of other alumni who had done research who were also interested in providing support.
“Thus was born the concept of an alumni research support group. Immediately, I talked with Val Christensen about the steps that we could take to form such an organization,” Heasley later recalled in an essay he wrote for a 2008 “Celebration of Math and the Sciences” event.
In March 1977, Heasley, Christensen, and Dale Shellhamer, Ph.D., met with eight alumni they had invited to be directors of a new alumni support organization. The initial group of eight included Bob Gore (65), Chris Griffith (75), Don Cotten (65), Gerald Oliver (65), Tim Smith (68), Clyde Gregory (53), David Barton (58), and Mike Anderson (63). At the meeting, the faculty pitched the idea of Research Associates — and the name.
“Our pitch to the assembled, potential directors consisted of four key points,” Heasley wrote in his essay. “First, the difference between a good chemistry department and an excellent one required about 10% annually in increased giving above what the college could provide; second, we could not [always] depend on [outside] grants to obtain these funds; third, the undergraduates in a small institution needed role models in order to succeed and for motivation towards a goal. Returning, accomplished alumni could provide this stimulus through presentations in their areas of expertise and social contact with the students. Fourth, we, the faculty, and the graduates had been close friends together at the college — we deeply wanted this relationship to last after graduation and into the future.”
Clyde Gregory was elected the first chair of the board, and Heasley became the first faculty representative to the board. Each board member gave $1,000 before the meeting concluded, meaning the organization began with $8,000 to fund research, equipment purchases, and student scholarships. They then sent invitations to all the chemistry alumni for whom they could find addresses, inviting them to join RA for a donation of $25.
Although RA had started with chemistry alumni supporting chemistry students, by 1983, the auxiliary included biology alumni as well.
“By the end of the first year of operation, at the board of directors meeting in May of 1978, more than 100 graduates and friends of the department had joined Research Associates,” Heasley wrote. “Research Associates had become an auxiliary of the Point Loma College Alumni Association. More than $10,000 was budgeted for pre-med public relations, departmental speakers, student academic year scholarships, department and research equipment, faculty travel, support of research (student summer stipends, faculty salaries for summer, chemicals and supplies), and entertainment of students.”
Also in 1978, President W. Shelburne Brown hired McConnell to teach both chemistry and biology at Point Loma. McConnell remembers well the significant role Research Associates played in helping him initiate a summer research program in a relatively new field that bridged chemistry and biology, which was known as “molecular biology.”
Although RA had started with chemistry alumni supporting chemistry students, by 1983, the auxiliary included biology alumni as well. Dr. Cindy Lewis was the first full-time biology professor to be supported in her summer research by RA, according to McConnell. Another milestone came in 1987.
“I still vividly recall driving up to the Grand Hotel in Anaheim in 1987 with biology department colleagues David Brown, Cindy Lewis, and Sue Justis,” McConnell said. “We were there to attend a Research Associates banquet that had been organized by RA board member Melanie Irwin Oakes (77). That gathering led to the creation of the RA Endowed Scholarship Fund in 1988. By 1995, this fund had grown to $100,000, and scholarship support for science students has been a regular, dependable purpose of the organization ever since. These scholarships have helped many students remain at PLNU and complete their degrees.”
McConnell succeeded Heasley (1977-1986) and Dr. Dale Shellhamer (1987-2001) as faculty representative to the board in 2002 and has stayed on in that position ever since. He plans to retire from the role in February 2026, following the Research Associates’ 50th anniversary celebration at Homecoming.
“When I became the position of biology department faculty representative to RA in 2002, the organization was raising on average about $20,000 per year,” McConnell said. “Working first with RA board chair Nathan Kemalyan (83), followed in order by Chairs Tim Peppers (88), Ed Gutierrez (86), John Rodgers (84), Jeff Conner (84), Brad Oliver (77), and, most recently, Rick Bravo (79), I have seen support for RA swell to over $100,000 a year, an amount of money sufficient to impact the quality of PLNU’s science program in a very positive way. That is deeply rewarding for me.”
McConnell also pointed out that RA’s support helps demonstrate to outside funding organizations that PLNU’s strong science programs are sustainable and worth supporting. “As a result, several million dollars have come into our program from the NSF [National Science Foundation], NIH [National Institutes of Health], Research Corporation, HHMI [Howard Hughes Medical Institute], and numerous other private organizations.”
Dr. Michael Cater (65), retired pediatrician, joined RA in the early 1980s and has remained committed to its mission ever since.
“I would like to say that I’m proud of the achievements that RA has attained,” he said. “The faculty has been very instrumental in providing the research projects and supporting the students. Students often get to be coauthors on publications. To have that type of research on your CV looks very good if you are applying to graduate school or medical school. It’s very beneficial to them. I’m proud of having an entity like RA to support their research, purchase equipment, and support the building of the new science building. I’m proud to be a member.”
“I had such an impactful experience in summer research because of the impact of the professors”
Dr. Nathan Kemalyan, a retired burn surgeon who has spent many years serving on the RA board, noted that the impact of summer research on students is more than academic. “I had such an impactful experience in summer research because of the impact of the professors — four had an outsized impact on me,” he recalled. “It wasn’t just the science and that it was the best you could do at the time, but the effort they put into us was just unbelievable.”
Dr. Chris Griffith, a surgeon who was one of the original founders of RA, also emphasized the importance of faculty relationships in what makes undergraduate research at PLNU stand out.
“It provides an opportunity for undergraduates to have a unique experience outside the classroom with professors who are interested in them as individuals,” he said. “Working one-on-one with a professor during summertime is unusual for anybody, developing a friendship and being mentored by one of your professors. In a big university, you might know the TA [teaching assistant] but maybe never the professor. Point Loma students, however, work closely with a professor for one or more summers. That helps them want to continue in research and academic work.”
The relationships between professors and students have always been deeply important at Point Loma, and the connections between students are vital as well. One way RA has been a blessing to its members is by keeping them connected both to their former professors and to each other.
“When we have our get-togethers with RA, it’s always great seeing everybody and rehashing what we are doing and what we went through,” said founding board member Don Cotten, who taught biology and chemistry at a high school in Montebello, California, until his retirement in 2002. “The faculty also encouraged us on the board to sit down at the table with the students, to talk to the students and find out what they are doing in research and what it means to them.”
“Some people shy away from intellectual debates or don’t assess their convictions in a thoughtful way, but the science professors at Point Loma do a great job of equipping us and that makes us better witnesses.”
Having alumni support, encouragement, and even mentorship can make a significant difference for current students as they complete their education and contemplate their future careers. Katie Friederich (07), a pediatric neurologist and an RA member since 2018, pointed out the value of enabling students in the sciences to be mentored by people of faith.
“By supporting RA, you allow more students to have that mentorship that is harder to find, especially in scientific spaces,” she said. “Within the fields of science, there have always been camps that think faith and science are mutually exclusive, but I don’t see it that way at all. I think by allowing students to be mentored by people who see the connection between faith and science, you allow them to exist in that space while also helping them grow in faith. One thing that always stuck with me was our professors preparing us for conversations such as those about evolution. They said: ‘we would be doing you a disservice if we sent you out into the world unaware of this.’ Some people shy away from intellectual debates or don’t assess their convictions in a thoughtful way, but the science professors at Point Loma do a great job of equipping us and that makes us better witnesses.”
At PLNU, science students not only gain valuable research experience but also have the opportunity to grow in their faith and identity.
Friederich was a keynote speaker at last year’s RA Breakfast during Homecoming. She shared 10 things she’s learned since graduating. “I encouraged students to be more than their studies,” she said. “I told them ‘I’m not my grades, my test scores, my marks. I’m going to fail, and that’s okay. You can learn just as much if not more from failing. It’s good to be willing to do things you aren’t good at.’”
At PLNU, science students not only gain valuable research experience but also have the opportunity to grow in their faith and identity.
As RA celebrates five decades of support for the sciences at PLNU, there is still much to look forward to in the future. In 2020, Rancho Santa Fe physicians Tim and Celeste Bailey decided they wanted to do something to help PLNU’s science program. They asked Kelly Mitchell, senior director of philanthropy in PLNU’s University Advancement Office at the time, to assist them. With Mitchell’s guidance and encouragement, the Baileys provided the seed gift for establishment of a new RA Research Endowment Fund.
“That fund has since grown to $226,000, and once it reaches $1 million, it will become a major source of funding for PLNU summer research far on into the future,” said McConnell.
McConnell and Rouffett both look forward to a day when RA expands its support of biology and chemistry to cover all of the STEM disciplines, including mathematics, computer science, physics, and engineering.
For Rouffet, the 50th anniversary is an ideal time to reiterate the university and faculty’s gratitude to Research Associates.
“It’s essential. Their support is essential. It is a massive blessing. We’re truly grateful for that. And we want to tell them thank you. We don’t take this for granted.
