Student Profile: Rebecca Hunt '24MS

Q: Tell us about your summer research program.

Over the summer I participated in a research program through the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR). There I worked with Dr. Fernanda Cross from the School of Social Work on the MICEAL project, which focused on Black and Latinx experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to working with a faculty mentor on research, we wrote an abstract and presented a 3-minute thesis at the end of the summer. We also participated in workshops on social determinants of health, and health inequities. We worked closely with a community ethics review board from Flint, Michigan. We got to look at the work they are doing, which is amazing. There were people from all kinds of backgrounds that were getting involved in science. We got to sit in on meetings and watch what the process was like. It gave me a better understanding of the situation in Flint and how people who live there have been making a difference. At the end of the summer, we did manage to get a paper written which I’m super excited about. It’s still in the works, it’s not published yet but it was cool to be able to see that process. I am a research assistant at UMass so I usually see the beginning stages of a study and collect data. This program was cool because it was the opposite, the data was already collected and I was able to analyze it. 

Q: Why did you choose this research program?

I liked the idea of seeing the culture at another school. Obviously, I’ve been at UMass for four years and I’m doing my masters here too so I wanted to see what it was like in other places. I also really liked how interdisciplinary the program was. They gave us free rein to pick a mentor from a variety of fields. I’m interested in going into research in the future so I wanted to get more research experience under my belt. This program allowed me to explore research more and make sure it’s a path I want to go down. I had a really good summer, so it probably is.

Q: What are some of the most interesting findings from your research this summer?

One of the things that we were looking at was communication with Latinx groups throughout the pandemic. Language was a big issue. There was a lot of information that wasn’t communicated in the right language or jargon was used that wasn’t very accessible to people. One thing I found surprising was that many people said religion and religious groups were foundational for them throughout the pandemic. The reach of different spiritual and religious organizations was impressive to me. They were doing things outside of services, it was a community beyond that. They did food drives, connected people with resources, and held vaccination clinics so it was cool to see how much they helped people.

Q: How has UMass prepared you for this experience?

When we were talking about social inequities and social determinants of health I was able to pull a lot from both my undergraduate and graduate coursework. When we were in group discussion, my background allowed me to dig a little deeper. I was appreciative that I had a background in a lot of the research. I have my undergraduate degree in Public Health, which is broad, so it enriched all of the discussions that we were having and all of the material we were working with. It might sound a little more boring but I took a class on how to read a scientific paper. It’s not as simple as picking it up and reading it, so having that class's background also really helped.

Q: Tell us about your time as a peer advisor here at UMass.

I was a peer advisor for two years. Public health is so broad. You could take a sociology class or an anthropology class and it completely shapes your outlook from a public health standpoint, so don’t be afraid to explore. I think peer advising helped me see that a little. You find out that UMass has all these cool offerings that I never knew existed. In terms of working with the actual department advisors Brigid and Jesse, they are amazing. Both of them helped shape who I am. They taught me a lot about how the school works but also helped me learn more about myself and be confident. It was for sure the best experience of my four years as an undergrad.

Rebecca and the public health peer advisors

Q: What is your dream career?

My dream field is epidemiology. I’ve wanted to be an epidemiologist since the 6th grade. It’s always been my dream. I was in this club called Science Olympiad and there was an event called Disease Detectives, which was basic epidemiology. When I was looking at colleges I was looking at schools with 4+1 programs so I could study epidemiology as soon as possible and that’s what led me to UMass. Now when it comes to exactly what I want to do, I’m still figuring it out. If you asked me this two years ago I would say I want to be an infectious disease epidemiologist at the CDC and I would have such a concrete answer but honestly, I don’t know. I learned a lot being a research assistant here with Dr. VanKim. I think I would love to integrate social epidemiology and infectious disease epidemiology because it’s all intertwined and important. I’m just really loving being a research assistant. That’s something that I started last fall. I didn’t think when I was pursuing Public Health and epidemiology that I’d ever be putting on a lab coat and goggles and using a pipette in a lab but that’s been fun and an educational experience.

Q: What are some of your favorite areas on campus?

Durfee Conservatory is the obvious one. I feel like if you ask any student where they go if they just want to sit and relax in nature it’s Durfee. For people who like Durfee, I’d say go to the Morrill Greenhouses too. They are a little bit less catered to sitting down and studying but, they have a lot of cool plants and it’s just nice to walk around. They have four different greenhouses that you can walk in as a student. I used to do that before one of my particularly stressful classes last semester. I would just take a walk through the Morrill Greenhouses and it would help center me.

Q: If you could write a book or a blog on any topic right now, what would it be?

I picked up crochet. That’s been fun. I’m not crazy good at it by any stretch, but I think it would be fun to chronicle the journey. I’ve been making a lot of things, making a lot of mistakes but, it’s been fun to do something not school-related and put a lot of passion into that this summer.