Month: February 2020

Savannah Faith Clark and Christian Sanchez are current juniors at Roanoke College. They had the opportunity to present their research at the Virginia Academy of Science Undergrad Meeting. I asked them questions to get an insight of their experience presenting and what conducting research at Roanoke College is like.

Can you describe what your research project is about?

The purpose of this study is to examine strength, muscle power, and range of motion in the affected arm (arm where breast cancer was present) compared to the unaffected arm in breast cancer survivors. Since breast cancer treatment results in impaired upper body function, more research is needed to examine the extent of losses in the affected arm compared to the unaffected arm. In addition, we plan to examine individual arm strength, muscle power, and range of motion in the upper body of breast cancer survivors compared to women who have not had breast cancer.

What made you decide to pursue your topic?

This project is an extension of research that our adviser, Dr. Ashley Artese, has previously done where she found that body fat and bone mineral density were lower in the affected arm compared to the unaffected arm of breast cancer survivors. Therefore, we are interested in how these body composition and bone deficits can impact strength, muscle power, and range of motion.

Talk about the conference experience?

After submitting a research proposal to the Virginia Academy of Science in October, we presented our proposal at a poster session at the Virginia Academy of Science Fall Undergraduate Research Meeting. The competition consisted of 40 undergraduate posters from other colleges in Virginia. Each poster was presented to three judges who evaluated the written proposal and our oral presentation. We were the top nine posters that were awarded a $750.00 research grant. We will present the results of this project at the Annual Spring Meeting.

Why would someone be interested in presenting your findings at a conference?

Findings from this study will provide a better understanding of long-term side effects of treatment on strength, muscle power, and range of motion in affected and unaffected arms in breast cancer survivors and how those outcomes compare to women who have not had cancer. Results may impact how healthcare providers use exercise as an additive during and after treatment to prevent potential losses in functional outcomes in the upper body.

I had the opportunity to talk to Stephanie Zemba a current junior at RC. Not only did she have the opportunity to conduct research in the summer, but she also presented her research at MARCUS (Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference of Undergraduate Scholarship). I asked Stephanie a few questions to get her insight about what her experience was like.

Can you describe what your research project is about?     

I am doing a research project with Dr. Mehrotra that examines whether and how social isolation is experienced by older immigrants living in Southwest Virginia, an area with few large ethnic communities. In addition to exploring the factors that contribute to isolation and loneliness among this group, I was also interested in how they reduced loneliness. I conducted over 40 semi-structured interviews with immigrant elders this summer and fall. For MARCUS, I presented on the three primary ways that older immigrants described reducing their loneliness—maintaining strong family and friend relationships, becoming involved in a religious community, and continuing to practice their culture (cultural continuity).

What made you decide to pursue your topic?       

The topic of immigration was brought up in my Global Perspectives on Family class (SOCI-329) and I was interested in learning more about it. My grandfather was an immigrant from Germany, which also contributed to my interest in immigration. In addition, I came across a news article about the growing problem of loneliness among older adults. I was talking about my ideas for potential research topics with Dr. Mehrotra and when I mentioned both these interests, she said, why not look at both? One of the first articles I found presented a seeming contradiction—late-life immigrants who came to join family members still experienced loneliness despite being embedded in a strong family network. Moreover, since so few researchers have actually focused on isolation among foreign-born elders, it was a promising area. Once I looked into it more, I was hooked!

Talk about the conference experience?      

 I think presenting at MARCUS was a great experience. I wouldn’t describe myself as much of a public speaker, so the idea of signing up to do a 12-minute presentation seemed really daunting at first. However, everyone I talked to said it would be a good way to become more comfortable with speaking in front of people, especially considering that I want to present at a regional sociology conference in April. I also plan to earn a PhD and become a sociology professor, so public speaking is definitely a key skill to build. Before the conference, Dr. Mehrotra and I met every 2 or 3 weeks so that I could become more comfortable with public speaking and get feedback about how to improve. Despite all this preparation, I was still nervous on the day of the actual presentation, but it went very well and I received a lot of interesting questions from the audience.

Why would someone be interested in presenting your findings at a conference?      

Presenting at an smaller undergraduate conference like MARCUS is a great way to “get your feet wet” and practice for larger national or regional conferences. It’s also a good strategy for getting feedback on your work and exploring new directions for research, as audience questions can make you think about your findings in another way.