Author: Linni Kral & Ana Chamberlain
You’ve probably all seen the digest posts. If you skip over those, you’ve almost certainly gotten a departmental e-mail about them. They’re research grants, arguably one of the most under-appreciated resources at Oxy.
Many Oxy students remain unaware of the immense opportunities available to them through the Undergraduate Research Center (URC), while others are taking advantage of the chance to study or present research findings at various locations throughout the world.
To many, the word “research” evokes images of lab coats, test tubes and microscopes. But at Oxy, undergraduate research projects go on in every academic department from social sciences like Politics, History and Sociology to sciences such as Bio-Chemistry, Kinesiology or Physics.
Many students use their research to jumpstart their senior comprehensive project or parlay it into their career field of choice, while others are simply looking into topics that interest them, regardless of the potential benefits for their future.
The URC, located in Johnson 100, is the organization on campus that facilitates and distributes grants and funding for undergraduates to participate in individual or faculty-mentored research projects.
According to the URC Web site, the organization strives to uphold the College’s long-held commitment to undergraduate education. This is reflected in the emphasis on providing opportunities for students to participate in research or related scholarly endeavors. The URC focuses on undergraduate participation in the creation of knowledge because they believe it to be a principal ingredient of the academic experience of an Occidental student.
Undergraduate research has been going on at Oxy since the 1950’s, but the scale and scope of these projects has grown significantly in the past few decades. In the 1980’s, several Occidental scientists helped found the Council of Undergraduate Research under the leadership of President Richard Gilman and Dean David Axeen in an effort to expand opportunities to students beyond the field of science. They received a quarter-million dollar grant from the Ford Foundation in 1987 to pursue this effort, one of 19 schools supported by Ford.
Support for undergraduate research grew both on- and off-campus throughout the 1990’s. The URC was officially established in 1998 with the help of a half-million dollar Award for the Integration of Research and Education from the National Science Foundation. This was under the leadership of former President John Slaughter and with Chemistry professor Chris Craney as the founding Director.
While research programs have taken place on our campus since the 1950’s with a small handful of students working with a few faculty members during the summer, it wasn’t until recently that these projects gained momentum. Initial modest numbers have since grown to include over 125 students and 60 faculty members during the summer research program. At present, the URC provides funding for anywhere from 100 to 300 Oxy students throughout the summer and the academic school year.
Research is now considered a signature component of an Occidental education and nearly every national award-winning student on campus in the last two decades has participated in such projects. The URC values original and creative research, as well as close faculty-student relationships that encourage students in their scholarly pursuits.
Current Administrative Director April Mazzeo considers Oxy’s undergraduate research program to be much broader than programs at other undergraduate institutions. This is largely due to the diverse research taking place in all of the departments.
“Compared to [other] liberal arts schools, Oxy has the largest program,” Mazzeo said. “Compared to larger schools like UCLA, Oxy supports research for a higher percentage of students.”
Additionally, the URC has been known to fund students over a longer period of time than many other schools. Some students begin a project in their first or second year and may continue the research until graduation.
“Some students pursue their line of research after graduating,” URC Advisory Board Member and Psychology Professor Nancy Dess said. “Conducting research allows students to develop skills and attitudes that are highly transferable to diverse professional paths.”
The URC has information on various post-graduate fellowships, most of which have winter deadlines between November and January.
Post-graduate funding provides opportunities for students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to do graduate work. It can also fund research conducted by students in graduate school. One example is the nationally renowned Fulbright Scholarship. The Fulbright Program, administered by the Institute of International Education, offers fellowships to U.S. students for study, research or teaching assistantships abroad. In the 2006-2007 school year, four Occidental students received renowned Fulbright Scholarships.
The Carnegie Junior Fellowship offers a $2750 monthly stipend plus benefits for one year of work as a research assistant. Student applicants must be seniors or recent graduates and have an interest in international affairs. This fellowship requires a nomination from Oxy that students should seek by contacting a professor in the appropriate department.
The Goldwater Scholarship also requires a nomination and offers a maximum of $7500 per year to students interested in the math, natural science or engineering fields.
There is also the more general Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, available to all fields of study. This scholarship offers up to $50,000 per year for up to six years to anyone pursuing either a Master’s Degree or PhD. Applicants must be seniors or recent graduates with a Bachelor’s degree, minimum GPA of 3.5, demonstrated financial need and appreciation for or participation in arts or humanities.
Oxy students can also pursue one of the famous Rhodes Scholarships, offered to all fields for study at Oxford University. Rhodes scholars receive up to two to three years of funding for tuition, travel, housing and a stipend. Applicants must be seniors or recent graduates with a 3.75 GPA, proven intellectual and academic achievement, demonstrated integrity and character, leadership ability and U.S. citizenship. This scholarship also requires a nomination from Oxy.
Students can visit the Fellowships Advising Office in Johnson 108 for more information on these post-graduate opportunities.
Current students of any class standing can pursue research abroad through Summer Richter Fellowships or Richter ASP grants. Each year, the Richter Trust gives Oxy money to fund independent undergraduate research abroad. Students who are chosen for the Richter Fellowship are awarded funds for a research project overseas that can last anywhere from eight to 10 weeks.
The Richter ASP Grant is a smaller award which funds students to travel domestically or internationally for anywhere from one to three weeks to pursue independent research or study with a significant intercultural or international emphasis.
Sadia Afolabi ’08 used a Richter ASP to conduct research in the spring of 2007 in the DWA department. The title of her project was “The Coping Behaviors of the Togolese people in response to the Socioeconomic Impacts of International Economic Sanctions,” which she conducted under the mentorship of DWA Professor Horacio Trujillo.
In the past, students have conducted their research at various exterior institutions such as City of Hope Beckman Research Institute, Kaiser Sunset Research Center and Keck Graduate Institute. Some have even participated in an exchange program with the Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Lisa Bullard (junior) conducted research in the spring of 2007 at the City of Hope Beckman Research Institute in Los Angeles, where she examined the effect of women’s perceived risk for breast cancer on their health behaviors, breast cancer screening practices and anxiety levels. This opportunity l
anded Bullard a job as a part-time clinical research intern at City of Hope, where she says she could get a full-time job upon graduation if she so desired.
“It was an awesome opportunity and opened a lot of doors,” Bullard said. “I am still getting good research experience while making decent money.” Bullard said the URC was very helpful and accessible, providing her with a feeling of productivity and accomplishment without being stressful. “It was an amazing opportunity to work in a large research institution that is nationally recognized, to truly experience what it means to conduct research and to study something that I am interested in.”
The URC also sponsors research projects both on- and off-campus through Academic Student Project (ASP) grants, usually worth anywhere from $50 to $400 during the school year.
These funds are to be used for equipment or consumables for an independent study project, senior comprehensive research or travel to local field research sites. Supplies can also be provided for art, video and performance projects or education outreach in the community. The projects must be academic in nature, though they need not be for credit. The ASP is not meant to be the sole source of funding for any project.ASP grant recipients may also request funds to cover their attendance of a conference to present their research, as Kevin Adler ’07 or Stephen Bent (senior) did.
Adler attended the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and Midwest Political Science Association conferences in Chicago, IL to present research on civic engagement that he conducted domestically and abroad in England under the guidance of Politics professor Roger Boesche.
Bent’s research was in the Music department under the guidance of Music Department Head Irene Girton and his ASP grant sent him to the Pasadena Community Orchestra Young Artist Competition.
Despite the draw of exotic countries, some of the most exciting research generated by Oxy students is produced right here on campus. This summer and many summers in the past, students have lived on campus for a ten-week Summer Research Fellowship program, worth $3900. Students participating in this program work closely with a faculty mentor, participate in small weekly group meetings and social activities, make a formal presentation and have their work published.
In the summer of 2008, Biology major Luca Valle (junior) stuck around to work with lab partner Dina Abdel-Massih (junior) under the mentorship of Professor Roberta Pollack on a project called “The Equine Immune Response to Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis: A Murine Model.”
“My lab partner and I were investigating the equine immune response to the bacterium Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. This bacterium causes a disease called Pigeon Fever in horses and there has been little headway in developing a vaccine,” Valle said. “Our goal is to learn more about the disease so that we can present our research to a pharmaceutical company equipped with the quality control to mass-produce a vaccine for this deadly disease.”
Valle and Abdel-Massih were not alone in their efforts to affect the field of biology beyond Oxy. Biology major Erin Brinton (senior) conducted summer research studying agave cactus and its root system in an effort to better understand the role of hormones in stimulating or inhibiting root contraction. She was advised by Dr. Gretchen North.
“It has been by far the best experience I have had while being at Occidental,” Brinton said. “I absolutely love doing research.” Brinton is no stranger to research at Occidental. After her third year of summer research, she said, “I recommend this program to everyone. There are not many undergraduates out there who have access to the breadth and depth of summer research we have here at Occidental.”
There were numerous summer research programs in 2008 in the social sciences as well, with Politics and Psychology having 10 projects each. Mackenzie Israel-Trummel (senior) undertook a project under the guidance of Politics professors Caroline Heldman and Larry Caldwell that studied the impacts on students who partake in the January term Disaster Politics course in New Orleans.
In the Psychology department, senior Sarah Aronow-Werner (senior) studied individual differences in spirituality to strive for a further understanding of paranormal beliefs.
Additional projects were undertaken in the AHVA, Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Cognitive Science, Critical Theory and Social Justice, DWA, Economics, ECLS, Geology, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Psychobiology, Sociology, Theater and UEP departments.
This year, Oxy student researchers will have a chance to present their research at the Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research on Nov. 22 at Cal Poly Pomona. In the past, Oxy has earned a reputation for sending more students than any other institution in Southern California to this conference, and will pay the registration fee for students accepted to it.
Presenting research and entering into the academic community is an important step in the undergraduate career. “It is an excellent opportunity to share research with a wider audience,” Mazzeo said.
“When students get involved in research, they transition from consuming or modifying knowledge to producing it… At its best, engaging in research is deeply transformative,” Dess said.
Occidental will send students to conferences in a variety of locations throughout the year to present their research. Students must apply for a grant to cover travel and registration or entrance fees and be sure to meet the deadlines for whichever grant they are seeking. These deadlines fall at various times and are often advertised in the digest or in e-mails from the related department.
In addition to external conferences, Occidental holds its own Summer Research Conference (SRC) at the end of the summer program for students to present their findings. The 2008 SRC took place on July 30 and students showed posters or gave oral presentations reporting on their work. The Remsen Bird Fund sponsored keynote speaker Dr. Lemeneh Tefera, who graduated from Oxy in 1995 with a major in Biochemistry and now works at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York as a clinical educator for resident doctors-in-training, medical students and other health professionals.
The SRC displayed over 80 student presentations this summer, a number that grows as more students become aware of these research grant opportunities.
To receive grants, students must write a proposal. For research grants, this must include a definition of a problem, possible strategies for solving it, a request for the resources to search for these strategies and explanations of expected effectiveness and probability for success to justify the funds. Students should work closely with an advisor to prepare their proposals, which should include an application form, project description, personal statement, budget outline and letter of support from a professor or advisor. The early decision deadline to apply for and ASP grant for the spring semester is Dec. 1. The final deadline is Jan. 30.
For more deadline information for the specific scholarships and grants mentioned above, students can visit the URC website at departments.oxy.edu/urc. Or for more information visit the URC in Johnson 100.
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