News from The Mahurin Honors College

Jesse Thomas (WKU ‘26) is from Gallatin, TN with a double major in biology and chemistry, a minor in biophysics, and a pre-Optometry concentration. “The longer that I worked in that field, the more interesting it became to me, the more I got to see people's lives changed by the restoration of sight, or the improvement of sight at least. And that was very impactful.”

Jesse has been involved in the pre-Optometry club on campus since his freshman year and as of this semester serves as president. In this position, he organizes meetings with optometry school representatives and local eye doctors and has the opportunity to “Introduce some of our underclassmen members to…the field of Optometry.”

Jesse says, “I always knew that I wanted to do some form of medical. I just always knew that I wanted to help people.” This added to his love of biology and science led him to choose his eye doctor for an internship opportunity in high school. “They let me shadow them. They got to teach me how to be an optometric technician, and I got to work very closely with all of those doctors.” This led to a multiple summer internship with the business that solidified his career plan to be an Optometrist.

Jesse spends multiple afternoons a week working in an organic chemistry research lab for Dr. Rui Zhang, a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Jesse utilized both listings on handshake and reaching out to professors to explore undergraduate research opportunities. It happened that Dr. Zhang, his organic chemistry professor, was looking to fill a position. 

Jesse spent the first semester working in the research lab training by “doing experiments that have been done in the past, but they're all important for me to make sure that I knew how to be safe in the lab, but also make sure that I knew how to collect data correctly, [and] run experiments correctly.” Since then, Jesse has moved into his own research trying to understand the mechanisms of how certain biomimetic catalysts speed up oxidation reactions. He has had the opportunity to present his research at the Kentucky Academy of Science in Frankfort, Kentucky and will be traveling to San Diego in the Spring 2026 semester to do the same.

Jesse received a FUSE Grant for Fall 2025 which he applied for at the suggestion of Dr. Zhang. To apply for this grant, he wrote a proposal that “talked about my future plans for my research and how the money could help fund it… [and] the potential opportunities that the grant would open up for me.” His grant provided him with lab supplies, chemicals, safety equipment, and travel expenses. When his project is over, he will send a report on his progress and how the money was used.

While working in research, Jesse has learned the art of discussing research with peers and professors from his experience presenting at conferences. “That taught me a lot about communicating in the science world.” Other skills Jesse has been able to take away from his research position is research integrity, collaborating with other students, and building connections with professors. There are multiple students working in the lab exploring different pieces of the same overarching research goal. “It's still important for us to share data and make sure that things that we found make sense with each other and are all aligned to support the overall research project of the lab,” Jesse said.

Making a connection with his professor was also helpful when applying to Optometry school. “I got my recommendation letter from Dr Zhang, and I felt like that was really important to have a professor that I was really close with, that knew my personality outside of class, but also knew my character, my hard workingness, and integrity.” Jesse notes that sometimes it is hard to get to know professors in a lecture setting so it is helpful to be able to interact with them in other areas as well. He also had the opportunity to get a recommendation letter from a local optometrist that teaches at WKU and has interacted with the Optometry Club in various capacities.

When asked to give advice to those that want to get into undergraduate research, Jesse says to reach out to professors as they are very receptive to students being interested in research. “Reach out to a professor and express your interest in the field and explain to them how a research opportunity would benefit your future career.”

Jesse has completed his honors credit and reflects on the differences in honors science courses on the Hill. He says the honors courses often involve an additional project at the end of the semester that includes personal research that has taught him various skills that he can carry into his current research position. “Even now that I've been done with taking honors courses for a few semesters now, I'm still using the skills that I learned from the really early on courses.”

Jesse has been accepted into the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, TN for graduate school and will attend starting Fall 2026.