Student research spotlight: students present their research from the summer

Muhlenberg is not only a home for students, staff, and learning during the fall and spring semesters. Each summer, roughly 50 students remain on campus to complete summer research, and about ten more complete research off campus during this time. In recognition of their work and as a venue to present their findings, Muhlenberg hosts the Celebration of Student Research and Scholarship Poster Session. This year it was held the morning of Saturday, Sept. 24 in the Center for the Arts (CA), the first time this event was held in conjunction with Alumni Weekend, according to organizer Dr. Keri Colabroy.

“We are excited because this not only provides our student presenters with a wider audience, but also many of our alumni were themselves student scholars, and they enjoy viewing our scholarship and supporting it,” said Dr. Colabroy.

Presenter Melanie Goetz ’17 was also looking forward to presenting during Alumni Weekend, saying “it’s a nice networking opportunity.”

The presented research ranged in discipline from English to physical chemistry. The audience included parents, professors, students and alumni; there were even some children enjoying both the free snacks and the posters. When walking into the CA it was difficult to miss the rolling bulletin boards lining the walls, complete with posters presenting the methods, data and findings of the research. Each student stood by their poster and excitedly explained what they spent their summer working on to those who approached.

“It’s nice to be presenting to people who are familiar with the field and to those who have no idea,” said Shaelyn Casey ’17, who spent her summer studying how light affects the bonds of vibrational molecules when in a confined space. She jokingly said the lab she worked in spent time “putting stuff in really small spaces and seeing what happens.” The idea for her research came from Dr. Justin Sparks, with whom she worked very closely.

“I did research with him last spring and over the summer, and will be continuing this semester,” said Casey.

Many of the students expressed similar feelings of support from the professors they worked with. Chris Rudzitis ’18, worked with Kieran Lorenz ’17, and Emily Kosinski ’17, to study how effective the drug Losartan was at helping to create extinction memories in rats. He said their advisor for the project, Dr. Gretchen Gotthard, “was an active part of it.” Rudzitis continued, saying, “We couldn’t have done it without her.” Not only did he complete the research with Dr. Gotthard but also his fellow research partners.

“We worked really well together,” said Rudzitis, “What we did required a lot of different functions and really all the work we shared.”

Casey and Rudzitis both spent much of their summer in labs, as did many of the students who completed research. Not all students spent their time in a lab however, as was the case with both Melanie Goetz ’17, and Shoshana Fishbein ’17, who were researching the treatment of Myeloid Leukemia in elderly patients at Lehigh Valley Health Network and the relationship between prenatal and pediatric vaccination, respectively. Both spent much of their summers in local doctor’s offices and hospitals.

Goetz explained that her research mainly consisted of analyzing data, but Dr. Savitri Skandan had her doing much more than that.

“That was the best part. I would shadow the doctor and go on hospital rounds, to patient regular checkups and conferences,” Goetz said. She explained that on the days Dr. Skandan was unable to be with her, she would complete her research by analyzing the patient cases that she received from Dr. Skandan.

Fishbein surveyed mothers and mothers-to-be at local doctor’s offices as well as online through Amazon Mechanical Turk. She would ask about whether the women were vaccinated while pregnant and if their children were then vaccinated again after birth.

“Almost all of June I was in pediatric offices giving moms my survey,” said Fishbein. “Then in June and July I was in an OBGYN clinic.”

The rest of her time she analyzed the data received from those surveys to complete her research.

Andrew Berdahl, ’17, also stayed away from the labs, as his research time was spent analyzing the current political and military situation in a small island chain called the Spratly Islands off the coast of Southeast China. His summer consisted of reading articles and reports on the Islands and the nations who lay claim to them. He then viewed U.S. interests in the area and wrote three possible policy approaches.

“It was great. I was pretty independent. I’d stop in [to Dr. Richard Niesenbaum] and ask him questions,” Berdahl said on working over the summer with his professor.

Later in the year Berdahl will actually be traveling to the Northeastern Political Science Convention in Boston to present a slightly different take on his research with Dr. Niesenbaum. Many students are also hoping to be able to present their findings at similar conferences. Some are also going to complete their senior honors thesis or similar projects based on what they have accomplished this summer.

Students looking to conduct research next summer are encouraged to start thinking about it now. Those who are interested in completing their own summer research should meet with the faculty members whose own research has a similar focus. From there students should check out the Student Research and Scholarship: Funding Opportunities page under Academics on the College website.

Dr. Colabroy would like to remind students that “staying here for the summer requires financial support, and there are several ways to accomplish that goal.” She suggests speaking with your faculty mentor to see what funding can be applied for to help or to cover the cost of housing during the time of your research.

Photo courtesy of David Budnick