CLEMSON, South Carolina When biochemistry student Leland Dunwoodie interviewed to be a part of Clemson Universitys Student Government (CUSG) nearly four years ago, he thought he was a shoo-in for Undergraduate Student Senate. However, he ended up being placed on Freshman Council instead, where he learned the principles of servant leadership and how to be an effective collaborator.

Dunwoodie will serve as President of theUndergraduate Student Senateduring the 2017-18 academic year.Image Credit: Bryce on a Boat Photography

Now a rising senior at Clemson, Dunwoodie saidthat losing out on Student Senate as a freshman was exactly what he needed when he needed it. The skills he gained on Freshman Council inspired him to try for Student Senate two more times, eventually landing him his current role of 2017-18 Undergraduate Student Senate president.

Student Senate president is a role that Im really excited about and a role that Im really honored to take, said Dunwoodie, who is from Milton, Georgia. My past roles in Student Government have had me doing projects, directly mentoring my peers in some of their projects, as well as collaborating with others on theirs. This role will be more about empowering others and empowering others to empower others. Its going to be a shift in the way Im looking at problems, which I think will be really good for me, and I hope for everyone involved.

Dunwoodie will direct Senates committee chairs and executive team, as well as lead Student Senates weekly meetings. Dunwoodie will also serve as a voice for the universitys student population in meetings with campus administrators.

Beyond these basic duties of the position, Dunwoodie hopes to move Student Senate in a fresh direction.

For me, that means helping senators take on initiatives that will impact Clemson students, Dunwoodie said. I think Senates done an awesome job in the past of handling the finances, structure and legislation involved with Student Senate. Id love to see us carry on that tradition, but I also want every senator to do something collaborate on something, finish something that they can point to and be proud of and that personally impacts Clemson students. At the end of the day, thats what I think were all here for in Student Government: to positively impact Clemson students and grow in the process.

Dunwoodie also wants to implement a system that allows all Clemson students to feel comfortable encouraged, even when seeking help from Student Government.

Every student that steps on campus should know they have a friend in CUSG regardless of who they are. I dont know if thats attainable, but its something Im going to shoot for, Dunwoodie said.

Next to CUSG, Dunwoodies other passion is his undergraduate research, which he conducts under professor Alex Feltus in the department of genetics and biochemistry. There, he investigates gene networks, which are groups of genes that work together to control a specific process or protein. Dunwoodies gene network of interest is specific to glioblastoma, an invasive form of brain cancer.

I think its interesting, because many traditional scientific approaches have been: Lets find one gene that we can knock out to make the tumor go away. But, by understanding coexpression how groups of genes are expressed and controlled together we can look at a broader, network-level approach that leads to some interesting insights, Dunwoodie said.

Research intuition like this is what Feltus emphasizes about Dunwoodie.

Leland has been an excellent collaborator, Feltus said. He aggressively dissects biological problems using wet and dry lab methods and is already making an impact in biomedical research. For example, he has identified several genes that appear to be mis-expressed in brain cancer and has authored a scientific manuscript currently in peer review.

Dunwoodies success in his undergraduate research has helped him acquire three external internships during his summer breaks from Clemson. He spent summer 2015 and 2016 at the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he studied pancreatic cancer and autophagy, or the breakdown of proteins and organs within a biological cell. Currently, he is finishing up another study of pancreatic cancer at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Its his research with Feltus and his efforts in Student Government that have inspired Dunwoodies career plans after graduation.

My passion for interacting, leading and empowering people through Student Government, in addition to the informatics side that Dr. Feltus has taught me, have put me in a unique position, Dunwoodie said. Im hoping to become a clinician that uses informatics to gain new insights into diseases and to help researchers advance the standard of care. I think, as a physician-informaticist, I will have room to navigate. Its a unique career path, and it could be an interesting bridge between working with people and working with the newest technology.

His future career is something he might not have discovered, if it wasnt for the problem-solving skills that Feltus urged him to develop.

Dunwoodie plans to graduate in May 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry.

Ive been blessed to be in the right place at the right time, he said.

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College of Science student named Undergraduate Student Senate president - Clemson Newsstand