Have scooter, will travel

Jordan Wong got hooked on science while playing video games when he was a kid. One game, “Bioshock,” was about a super hero stranded in an underwater city who altered his own genome in order to shoot various powers, such as electricity, from his hand. These powers helped him defeat his enemies and escape the city…

“Bioshock” made Jordan curious about altering cells and molecules to create new powers.

Last year, he had a research experience in the laboratory of Daniel Bond, a faculty member in the BioTechnology Institute, which sounds equally fantastic. Bond makes fuel cells using bacteria to transform organic sludge into electricity. Jordan conducted an independent project in Bond’s lab experimenting with arabinose, a sugar, to increase the capacity of bacteria to generate renewable energy.

It might make a good video game. But who would believe it?

“Like so many of our students, Jordan is bright and motivated,” says Genetics Professor Mike Simmons, who nominated Jordan for the Leon Snyder Scholarship. “He never misses a class, thanks to a dependable push scooter. He clearly appreciates that a university education is a gift that can make each of us better than we are.”

Jordan is a kind of student superhero. With a 3.87 GPA, he finds time for the U of M marching band (he plays the snare drum) and volunteering as well as laboratory research. Marching band alone is a minimum 11-hour-per-week commitment, in addition to his practice time. When there’s an afternoon game on Saturday, the drumline reports at 5 a.m. to rehearse. Jordan has tutored Somali students all through college. And he spent most of this summer in Ghana as a Global Health volunteer and in Taiwan as a volunteer English teacher. (He speaks and writes Chinese.)

“I think about time management a lot. My Dad always told me, ‘There are only 24 hours in a day. You spend half of them sleeping and eating. So you want to make the rest of them count.’”

One of his time-management strategies is using a scooter to get around campus. It’s faster than walking and, unlike a bike, he can fold it up and bring it into his classroom or lab.

Scholarships play a vital role in allowing Jordan to do so much. He was awarded the Leon Snyder Scholarship for the 2010-2011 academic year. The award will go toward his tuition.

Genetics Professor Leon Snyder, who did his undergraduate and graduate studies at UC Berkeley, joined the University of Minnesota faculty in the 1950s. His research addressed basic genetic mechanisms, especially mutation, in plants and fruit flies. He taught rigorous genetics courses and co-authored a genetics textbook. Snyder was a founding member of the College of Biological Sciences. This scholarship was created when he died in 1989 to support outstanding students with an interest in genetics.

Jordan received the Biological Sciences Alumni Society award in 2009, and also has won several scholarships from the University of Minnesota and external organizations.

Like lots of top CBS students, Jordan makes sacrifices to meet his goals. He doesn’t have much time for partying, but he has a close circle of friends who share his values. “We’re here to learn. You only get one shot at college,” he says.

A senior this year, he hopes to attend the U of M School of Dentistry next year. If he is successful, he plans to donate a portion of his time to provide dental services for underserved communities in Minnesota and in developing countries such as Ghana.