by Betsey Norgard<\/p>\n
![\"Vivian](\"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2012\/10\/feng.jpg\" "\\"feng\\"")
The first semester she began college, assistant professor Vivian Feng found herself in a chemistry lab doing research. \u201cThat\u2019s what kept me in chemistry,\u201d she says. \u201cI had an excellent mentor who taught me so much\u2014of chemistry and life\u2014and that\u2019s what a liberal arts education offers.\u201d<\/p>\n
After finishing her doctorate, Feng found her dream job, teaching at the University of Puget Sound, another small, liberal arts college. But, she ended up moving to Texas where her husband found work, and she began teaching at University of Texas, Austin.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuckily, I got a position at UT that mimicked a small college environment,\u201d Feng says, introducing first- and second-year students to research skills and lab experience. She says she was able to mentor some great students, but the overall large university atmosphere wasn\u2019t her goal. A new job search brought both her and her husband to the Twin Cities.<\/p>\n
And Augsburg seems a perfect fit. \u201cIt\u2019s liberal arts, and seeing the way faculty and students interact is just what I\u2019ve missed.\u201d That interaction benefits both. For students, Feng says, \u201cit\u2019s important that you teach something through the research experience. For her, \u201cit\u2019s intellectually challenging and keeps me updated in the research field.\u201d<\/p>\n
This summer Feng received a faculty-student team research fellowship from the University of Minnesota. She and a student, sophomore Casey Ernst, collaborate with a material chemist and several graduate students at the university.<\/p>\n
Their project involves creating a new type of magnetic nanoparticle that could be used in pharmaceuticals, for example, to target the delivery of chemotherapy drugs to specific sites. The collaboration gives Feng access to equipment and facilities Augsburg can\u2019t afford, and Ernst can work closely with both Feng and graduate students.<\/p>\n
\u201cCasey is thinking about graduate school, so this chance to work side-by-side with graduate students helps her find out early if this is right for her,\u201d Feng says.<\/p>\n
With Professor Arlin Gyberg, Feng also co-advises another student\u2019s summer research in biodiesel fuels, introducing Feng to current research in this field and Augsburg\u2019s collaboration with SarTec Corporation.<\/p>\n
Feng looks forward in the fall to team-teaching the natural sciences keystone course, the final seminar for seniors that reflects on how science connects with faith, vocation, ethics, and society. \u201cI enjoy getting to know students from a different angle. The course helps prepare them for dealing with controversial issues in society related to science,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Betsey Norgard The first semester she began college, assistant professor Vivian Feng found herself in a chemistry lab doing research. \u201cThat\u2019s what kept me in chemistry,\u201d she says. \u201cI had an excellent mentor who taught me so much\u2014of chemistry and life\u2014and that\u2019s what a liberal arts education offers.\u201d After finishing her doctorate, Feng found <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-summer-2009"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7908,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659\/revisions\/7908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}