Michael Santoroski

This past January RC senior Grace England presented her research project at the Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB), in Austin, TX. Grace’s project was “Does the ventilatory pump affect the gill circulation in blue crabs and lobsters?” and her faculty mentor for this project was Dr. Dar Jorgensen. She and Dr. Jorgensen took data that previous students gathered for this project and combined it with data that Grace collected to support the hypothesis of the ventilatory pump’s involvement in the gill circulation. Grace has been doing research at Roanoke since May 2013.

Grace first became interested in research during her freshman year when she was in Dr. Jorgensen’s Biology 125 lab. Grace explains that he saw her potential for doing research and invited her to get involved and to shadow an upperclassman:

“Through watching research first-hand, understanding its relevance, and expanding my understanding of biology through my 2^nd-year courses, I became increasingly intrigued in the physiology research in Dr. Jorgensen’s lab.  I couldn’t wait to start my own research over the summer!”

This was Grace’s first time presenting this particular project and she states that:

“It was truly incredible to come together with Ph.D. scientists, post-doctoral students, graduate students, and undergraduate students like myself to learn from each other.  I went into the conference extremely nervous about presenting.  After the fact, I realized that my nerves had come from all of my previous presentations, in which the audience (a professor or judges) knew more about my topic than I did and were judging me based on how close I came to the ‘right’ answer.  In contrast, with this project, there was not a previously-know ‘right’ answer, and I quickly realized that the people talking to me about my research were not judging me, but were purely interested in the science involved in my project.”

For students considering research opportunities, Grace says:

“Go for it.  Don’t be afraid to approach a professor about research; their research is what they like to talk about most, and they’ll be happy to answer all the questions you have!  The professors at Roanoke will help you find your place, whether in their own lab or a different professor’s lab.  As a result of doing research, you will learn so much—about your subject, about the process of research (including perseverance!), and most importantly, about yourself.  This will help you in any and all future endeavors, wherever life leads you. “

For more information on the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, visit: https://www.sicb.org/

Six Roanoke College Students recently presented their research projects at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Ecological Society of America Conference at the University of Maryland on March 29, 2014. The students who attended and presented at the conference were Steph Clements, Thomas Granger, Hannah Johnson, Teresha Santos, Lauren Strong, and Elsa Wieboldt and their faculty mentor was Dr. Rachel Collins. Steph Clements won for best undergraduate poster presentation and Lauren Strong won for best undergraduate oral presentation.

Elsa Wieboldt (’15) is in her third year of doing research and her project is about “the way that land use affects earthworms and the way that the earthworms affect the productivity of the land.” As far as working with Dr. Collins, Elsa explained:

“I really love the experience of working in a close one-on-one setting with a professor. It allows for a personal as well as a professional relationship. Because the professor knows you well they are able to advise you about research in a way that really fits you and the way that you achieve best and succeed.”

Steph Clements (’14) is in her first semester of research and in her research she is studying “the effect that diversity has on ecosystem stability using a microcosm experiment including three diversity treatments and multiple trophic levels.” In terms of working with Dr. Collins, Steph stated:

“She was incredibly helpful every step of the way and I worked very closely with her on the whole project. She helped me figure out an experimental design that would be practical for me to complete in one semester and assisted me in the analysis of my results. I met with her a couple of times every week and she even came in on weekends to help me with the project when needed.”

This conference marked Steph’s first time presenting her research at a professional conference and she expressed that

“it was an incredible experience to get to present my research to others in the field of ecology. I enjoyed explaining the work that I have been doing and hearing what people thought about the research that I had been working on. It was also a neat opportunity to get to hear from other important people in the field of ecology who were presenting their own work at the conference as well.”

For students considering research opportunities Elsa feels that

“research at Roanoke is an amazing opportunity because you get to experience something that most people cannot until graduate school. You often have the opportunity to create your own project with the help of a professor, along the lines of what is interesting to you. The opportunity of getting to know a professor so well and be involved in research, both theirs and yours, is extremely valuable.  These relationships are resources for life.  You get to have real life experiences while still in college. Significant and lasting knowledge occurs through these out of class room experience – Don’t pass up this opportunity!”

For more info on the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Ecological Society of America, visit: https://www.esa.org/midatlantic/

Roanoke College junior Alex Berryman recently presented his research earlier this month at the Southern Sociological Society Annual Meeting in Charlotte, NC. Alex’s research project was titled “Managing Transportation and Economic Volatility: What Can Policymakers Learn from Rural Low-income Families?” He also presented this project at the Research showcase in Fintel Library last Friday. Alex’s research began in late 2013 and he is currently doing an independent study this semester. He is also going to be a summer scholars this summer.

Alex mentions that he chose to study transportation inequality

“to apply lessons from my variety of past courses as well as to hopefully contribute to social change that is personally meaningful. Coming from a rural home and offering free automobile repair to select families consistently exposes me to discrete aspects of familial hardship within America.”

His project addresses how owning an unreliable automobile affects a rural low-income family’s ability to keep employment.

“This social phenomenon contributes to the social reproduction of poverty as well as familial hardship- or the inability to afford proper medical care, housing, as well as nutrition.”

Alex’s faculty mentor for this project was Dr. Lane Destro who specializes in rural poverty and social policy. Alex met with her once a week and communicated almost every day when working on this project. Alex notes that working one-on-one with a professor

“develops a stronger bond that enables learning to continue within a personalized venture. A more casual friendship can also evolve which is atypical when we consider the formality of school.”

For students considering research opportunity, Alex points out that:

“Research is an additional avenue towards becoming integrated on campus. Independent research is extremely flexible and is designed to conform about the student instead of the student being forced to perform predefined tasks. I doubt that many other institutions provide such an abundant inventory of learning opportunities as Roanoke.”

For more info on the Southern Sociological Society, please visit: https://www.southernsociologicalsociety.org/index.html

Three students recently presented their research projects at the Eastern Sociological Society Conference. Alex DeLaricheliere presented her project on “The Influence of the Media on HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Attitudes among College Students: 1980’s to Today,” Amelie Rives presented her project on “Victim Blaming and Slut Shaming, the Media’s Influence on Victims of Sexual Assault,” and Marc Berenson also presented another phase of the HIV project.

Alex has been doing research at Roanoke for three years now and she got involved in it when her advisor recommended it to her. “Coming into Roanoke, I didn’t think that sociologists could conduct research at the undergraduate level, but I’m really glad that so many professors were talking about all of the opportunities in the department. Research for me was almost like an internship: learning how to do research has helped me to obtain the skills I will need to continue into graduate school and conduct my own research projects.”

Amelie started doing independent research last year although it has always been an interest of hers. “What people initially don’t realize is how creative the scientific process is. Being able to apply my imagination to a social problem really keeps me coming back to research.”

Both Alex and Amelie worked with Dr. Shannon Anderson on their research projects. Alex explains that they “worked very closely together during all of the phases of the project, and she became a really valuable mentor for me. She let me have a lot of ownership over the project, which I appreciated, but was always there to answer any questions I had.” Amelie also points out that she has “made a lasting relationship with her and we really see eye to eye. I also feel so comfortable asking her questions, which is something everyone should be doing!”

As for advice to students considering research, both Amelie and Alex feel it is a valuable experience. Alex points out that “getting involved in research may seem daunting at first, but there are research opportunities in nearly every academic field that will suit your interests and really help you to expand your skills and your resume. Plus, you get to form even more close bonds with faculty members who can guide you, provide you with advice and become strong mentors for you.”

For more information on the Eastern Sociological Society, visit: https://www.essnet.org/

This past semester, several Computer Science students attended the annual conference of the Southeastern Region of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges at Furman University. The research of four students was accepted for the poster presentation at the undergraduate student research competition at the conference. Thomas Lux and Randall Pittman were two of the students chosen to present their joint project and their project won the competition (scores being based on their abstracts, poster presentations, and oral presentations). Eight students, in two teams of four each, participated in the programming contest at the conference and out of 30 teams, Roanoke’s team, consisting of Natalie Wilkinson, Maya Shende, Thomas Lux, and Randall Pittman, came in third place.

Thomas Lux (Junior) has been doing research at Roanoke since his first year here and he will be starting a new project this semester.

“From the start of my college career I’d shown an intense interest in pursuing side projects for my computer science classes. In the spring semester of 2013 the professors of our computer science department approached me and two of my classmates about the possibility of doing research in the coming summer. Needless to say I was ecstatic, and immediately began working with the professors to decide what it was that I was going to pursue.”

The project that Thomas and Randall worked on was about “robotic localization and mapping, and to compare various sensor platforms for the purpose of mapping indoor environments with robots.” The project came about by their interest in the topics of robotics and artificial intelligence. Their faculty mentor for this project was Dr. Durell Bouchard and Thomas explains that working with him was an amazing experience.

“The experience has forever changed the way that I will approach new problems. Every other day we would meet to discuss progress, plans, and problems that we had encountered. This really helped us with time management and learning to set achievable goals. By setting goals, we were able to break down the immense amount of work we had into manageable chunks.”

Thomas highly encourages students to get involved in research opportunities here at Roanoke:

“Research is an experience unlike any other that you would receive in a classroom. Roanoke gave me a great opportunity because I simply showed interest. So show interest and try to learn about new things that you previously didn’t know existed.”

For more information on the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges visit: https://www.ccsc.org/

Joe Gutowski recently had the opportunity this past November to present his research project at the VAHPERD convention. Joe was asked by Dr. Michael Maina if he would be interested in presenting his project that stemmed from a Team Sports activity class that Joe took with Dr. Julie Maina.

Our assignment was to present and teach a “team sport” activity to our class. A few other Health and Physical Education majors and myself decided to present a non-traditional team sport…We were brainstorming ideas and curling, a well known sport during the winter Olympics, was brought up. After researching the sport and its history, we became really interested in how to incorporate this activity into a physical education class. After our initial idea, the lesson and presentation had to be modified several times before we had our final product to be presented.

Joe first began doing research during the spring semester of his junior year and he has now done research for more than three semesters. Joe had the opportunity to work with both Michael and Julie Maina for this project. He explains that:

When presenting research with a professor, you develop a bond with them outside of the classroom and get to know them on a personal level. Dr. Michael and Julie Maina guided us in the right direction with our presentation and facilitated our research, while still being available for any questions or assistance we needed.

This presentation marked Joe’s fourth time presenting at a professional conference and second consecutive year presenting at VAHPERD.  Joe mentions that:

Presenting research is a very unique experience, especially at VAHPERD. VAHPERD generally consists of professors from Virginia Colleges and Universities, as well as Health and Physical Education teachers. Because of this, I was one of the few, if not the only undergraduate presenter. I was very happy at the turnout of our presentation though. It was a great experience to have professionals coming up to me and asking questions and my opinion on areas or modifications. These experiences serve as evidence and demonstrate to myself and my advisor that I am prepared to be an educational professional.

Joe feels that students should be encouraged to present research while at Roanoke.

Not only does it strengthen academic skills in ones content area but it also helps develop confidence in your field of study and public speaking abilities. I am fortunate for the opportunities I have had to present while at Roanoke and am grateful that Dr. Michael and Julie Maina presented research opportunities to me and pushed me in the direction to present research.

For more information on the VAHPERD convention check out: https://m360.vahperd.org/event.aspx?eventID=70329