Mayo Clinic Researcher Got Leg Up at SAU

This summer, Matt Strub '12 will pack up his books and test tubes and move from the University of Iowa to Rochester, Minnesota, and the Mayo Clinic. The latter successfully recruited him to join a research team on diabetes. It will mark the end of a seven-year stay in Iowa City, where he was part of groundbreaking research in cystic fibrosis.

Strub has been conducting post-doctoral research in the McCray Lab at the University of Iowa since earning his doctorate in genetics in the spring of 2020.

He first discovered he had a passion for science and math as a child, but his four years in pursuit of a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at St. Ambrose gave focus to his passion.

Strub was part of the inaugural Undergraduate Summer Research Institute (USRI) in 2011. USRI is a six-week summer program in which students work closely with faculty and fellow students to research chosen topics. In Strub's case that research focused on the tracking of Blanding's turtles. Strub credits his participation in the USRI and his entire time at St. Ambrose for preparing him to work at a world-renowned research and medical institution such as the Mayo Clinic.

"The faculty in the biology program at St. Ambrose are world-class educators," Strub said. "That may sound a little strange when you compare a relatively small university in Davenport, Iowa, with larger and better known schools, but I have been able to observe undergraduate courses at other universities and I can tell you with certainty that there is nothing like St. Ambrose."

Specifically, Strub said the extraordinary emphasis SAU faculty placed on careful reading of research and equally disciplined writing fully prepared him for the post-graduate and post-doctoral path upon which he now treads.

The anxiety he felt when he interviewed for the graduate program at Iowa quickly vanished when Strub discovered he was better prepared than his colleagues from more widely known schools.

"St. Ambrose put a razor's edge on my critical thinking skills," Strub said. "When I walked in to Iowa, I figured the other students would be better prepared than I was. I was wrong. At the time, I was interviewing with students from places like Stanford and the University of Chicago, and I thought, 'How am I going to even compete?' Well, it turned out I probably had a leg up because of St. Ambrose."

Strub also credits the individual attention St. Ambrose faculty provide students, and noted Professors Shannon Mackey, PhD, and Katie Trujillo, PhD, helped him identify his passion for research.

"The amount of time St. Ambrose professors put into working with students on an individual basis is really important," Strub said. "I remember being in Shannon Mackey's office every week plotting targets. St. Ambrose professors go to the extreme to make sure Fighting Bee students can be whatever they want to be."

–Steven Lillybeck

About the Undergraduate Summer Research Institute

The Undergraduate Summer Research Institute has helped high-achieving students such as Matt Strub excel in challenging and rewarding fields since its inception.

USRI participants have gone on to pursue graduate degrees in a multitude of disciplines, including six who have entered or completed medical school, seven who have entered or completed physician assistant studies and another eight who are working or in advanced programs in the mental health and psychology fields.

Eight USRI grads, including Strub, received or are pursuing doctoral degrees and 11 have received or are pursuing master's degrees, most in high profile programs, en route to life-enriching outcomes.