The annual Undergraduate Research Symposium was held on April 25 in Tobin Hall. This event gives undergraduates the opportunity to share their excellent research with faculty, graduate students, and peers. It’s a celebration of our students’ honors theses and research projects, their hard work, and the valuable outcomes of their studies. This event is also a great primer for the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference held the following day. Hear what students had to say about their research experiences:
Pictured left-right: Yashika Issrani and Eleanora Vosburg
Eleanora Vosburg on a big takeaway from her research experience:
"I would 100% say it’s the collaboration I’ve had with other research assistants, graduate students, and professors. It’s not just a couple people, it’s a whole group working on [each] poster. You realize through seeing other people’s posters as well that there’s a lot of overlap between who worked on what, it’s like one big project that everyone has been working on. The collaboration is amazing, you learn so much from it. Like one big family."
"I will be attending graduate school in the Netherlands so I will be doing a lot more research within psychology. I want to be a clinical psychologist."
Yashika Issrani on her big takeaway from the experience:
"There were a lot of collaborators on this project, really everyone contributed their own unique piece, Ivan was the one who created our [online] platform for the dialogue, and Hema was the grad student who guided us and worked with us ever so closely to be able to prepare this presentation. It’s been a really great experience learning how to do data analysis, how to come up with really solid research methods…and how to conduct research. This topic of social change is something I’m really passionate about, [it’s been] a win-win situation."
Their project is entitled, The Role of Online Campus Dialogue in Shaping Students’ Social Change Attitudes.
Pictured middle: Regan Woodnutt
Regan Woodnutt about her thesis The Role of Social Attitudes in Predicting Support for Universal Basic Income:
"One really valuable experience that came out of the research in general was that I absolutely want to go to grad school now, I was undecided before. [This came about] after working under Professor Lickel and my Post Doc mentor Melis, who were very supportive of me pursuing social research and grad school. This was the most eye-opening experience for me as an undergrad. [My thesis] results are super interesting especially for the 2020 presidential race and the economic issues we see in the U.S. right now. It was great to do something that’s really applied right now."
On the Undergraduate Research Symposium:
"It's super helpful. I have never presented [a poster] before, and I'm presenting at the Mass URC tomorrow morning. It’s really good practice, especially with faculty walking around because they’ve done so many of these. To get their feedback was really important."
Katelyn Loring on her research project, Attitudes towards the Sexuality of Adults with Intellectual Disability: Perspectives from Typically Developing Young Adults:
"I learned a lot from the process, I’m attending graduate school and will probably continue with research. I’ve been in [Ashley Woodman’s] lab 2 ½ years I’d say, worked on other projects, but this is the first project I’ve done pretty much by myself."
On the Undergraduate Research Symposium:
“I definitely think it’s good practice for [MA Statewide URC] and for presenting research in general. It helps you summarize the key points of your research. It’s really interesting to see what everyone else is working on, some [projects] are very different than mine and others are not so different.“
Shira Kahn-Samuelson on a big takeaway from her research experience:
“Data collection is harder than it seems, but analyzing the data is rewarding. Once you have findings [from your project] or even if you don’t, at least you have something that you know.”
Her project is entitled, Do Infants Represent Others Based on the 'Kind' of Moral Behavior They Engage In?
Chung Ji Kim, The South Korean Juvenile Delinquency Pandemic: A Qualitative Assessment of the Key Driving Correlated Factors
Lan Ba, Cutural Difference on Couterfactuals: An ERP Study of Economic Decision Making
Aazam Najeebi, Neural Substrates of Superior Learners During Normal Aging
Nicole Tommasi, Emotion Recovery and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Older Adults
