How Clark undergraduates spent their summer vacation (Fall 2001)
Forget the beach—many undergraduates headed to the lab instead
By Judith Jaeger
Photos by Lisa VanLiew
By Commencement, most undergraduates have gone home for the summer to jobs, internships, volunteer work, and maybe even some time at the beach. But for many undergraduates, the summer lull on campus is the perfect time to dive into independent research projects—a hallmark of the Clark experience.
This summer, more than 15 undergraduates spent their summer vacation conducting research in chemistry, physics, urban development and environmental change. These undergraduates, supported by fellowships from Clark and other institutions, as well as gifts from donors, work closely with faculty advisers, who say research is one of the best ways to learn.
“Summer research is important for the students because it helps them develop as scientists, and it sets them apart from students from other institutions,” says chemist David Thurlow. He adds that summer research also gives students a taste of what it’s like to work in the laboratory full-time. “That’s an aspect of research you can’t experience during the academic year.”
Thurlow is working with Kuan Ju Lai ’03, Lored Asllani ’02 and Megan Albert ’02 on research into protein structure and function by creating mutant proteins. The protein they are studying is one of many that are essential for cell growth, he explains. By inhibiting this protein, Thurlow and his researchers hope to also inhibit cell growth, including uncontrolled growth associated with cancer. In addition, Elissa Larivee ’02 and Erica Pearson ’02 are working with chemist Donald Nelson on computer simulations of protein structure. All five students were supported by PolyChem, Bickman, Murdock and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals fellowships for eight weeks of research.
Emily Corday ’02 received this year’s Carlson Fellowship, which supports undergraduate research in natural and environmental science. She spent eight weeks this summer working with professor Robert Goble on an ongoing study of how three Native-American communities in the Southwest have been impacted by different aspects of the United States’ nuclear weapons program. Corday is determining how different nuclear tests have contaminated game, such as rabbits, in the test areas. Goble explains that previous research has shown that Native Americans have been exposed to radiation through the rabbits they hunt and consume.
Goble says the biggest challenge in working with undergraduate researchers is time. “The summer is a short period of time, particularly for studying a complicated problem,” he says. However, Goble adds that Corday and his last Carlson Fellow, Casey Burns ’01, have continued their research during the academic year.
According to Thurlow, most of these students are continuing their research for honors credit and Academic Spree Day presentations, or as a foundation for graduate school. Lored Asllani, a biochemistry major, has “always wanted to do research with a professor here at Clark” and found the summer experience so rewarding that he is continuing his research during the academic year. Megan Albert, who will continue her research this fall with support from the new Anton Fellowship Program, says she considers herself “incredibly lucky” to have spent two summers working in Thurlow’s lab.
“The research is exciting and promising, but the experience has been phenomenal. It has meant a lot to me as an aspiring chemist to carry out my own research and to observe science first hand,” she says. She hopes to earn a doctorate in biochemistry and one day design drugs that slow and stop cancerous growths.
More about Erica Pearson's research
More about Don Nelson's Research
Ryan O’Donnell ’03 and Eric Frederick ’03 worked in the physics lab this summer. O’Donnell, whose summer research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), is investigating frictional forces in granular matter. By slowly dragging a metal plate across a layer of tiny glass beads, he hopes to gain some insights about the forces at work when plates along a fault line rub together to cause an earthquake. Frederick, whose work was supported by a grant from the Physics Department, is using high-speed computer imaging to study how granular particles bounce around when shaken.
The beauty of these projects, says physicist Arshad Kudrolli, is that students need only basic physics knowledge to design and carry out the experiments. Students apply the theory learned in class and from text books, he says, and are challenged to find solutions to complex problems that arise during the experiments.
“Learning in the labs is much more open-ended. Students have to react to the problems and solve them,” says Kudrolli, who advises O’Donnell and Frederick. “Research is much more creative, and the students can take the work where they want it to go.”
Both O’Donnell and Frederick were attracted to the independent nature of research. “I’m free to make decisions about the experiment, it’s apparatus and procedure,” O’Donnell says.
Frederick, who worked with physics graduate student Dan Blair, says he learned a lot about problem solving.
“Dan has taught me a great deal not only about doing research and what it entails, but he also taught me how to research. When he presents a problem, he expects me to go out and find the answer on my own. I’ve learned a lot about asking the right questions to solve a problem,” Frederick says.
More about Arshad Kudrolli's research
Another group of undergraduate researchers used Worcester as a laboratory for studying urban development and social change (UDSC), supported by the new UDSC concentration. Research fellowships created by gifts from alumni and friends enabled Joshua Lappen ’02, John Mangiaratti ’02, Leo Waterston ’02 and Elizabeth Williams ’04 to spend eight weeks studying abandoned residential buildings and vacant lots in Worcester’s Main South and Piedmont Triangle neighborhoods. The goal of the project, which was led by geography doctoral student Sarah Niles, was to provide data to the Main South Community Development Corporation (CDC) and the Worcester Common Ground CDC that will help prevent or mediate residential property abandonment.
To get at the causes of property abandonment, the group focused on four major areas: crime, tax liens, code enforcement and real estate turnover.
“This helps us gain a picture of how properties become abandoned. We can compare this information to properties that are not abandoned, see what’s different and what might be done to prevent the downward spiral of some properties into abandonment,” Niles explains. If more attention is paid to residential properties experiencing high rates of turnover among different owners and possibly underinvestment, for instance, that downward spiral could be stopped.
Niles takes special pride in the fact that the undergraduate researchers were involved with every aspect of the project from beginning to end. They first met with the CDCs to formulate a research question that addressed the community’s needs. They used GIS technology, walked the neighborhoods around Clark, attended public meetings, met with public officials and, with some helpful advice from Worcester’s Registrar of Deeds Anthony Viglotti ’65, spent many hours at the Registry of Deeds conducting title research on 100 properties. Niles adds that all four undergraduates involved with the project are continuing research this year, and three of them are focusing on this UDSC project.
John Mangiaratti, a geography major with a UDSC concentration, hopes to pursue a career in urban planning. He says this research gave some focus to his career goals and also helped him get to know the Worcester community.
“I gained some experience and knowledge in urban issues, as well as experience in the research process,” he says. “But I have also become more familiar with the neighborhoods and streets of the city. I like Worcester, and I wanted to know more people in the city—residents, officials and community leaders.”
Leo Waterston, a psychology major who plans to attend graduate school, interviewed neighborhood residents about crime. Although it was outside his major, Waterston says the UDSC project “was a good opportunity to learn a lot more about the research process.”
More about Urban Development Research
The UDSC project is a perfect example of the kind of research that can benefit from the data being collected by the Human Environment Research Observatory (HERO) for Central Massachusetts. Clark is one of four sites in the country that are part of the HERO Network, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Through HERO, Clark faculty and students are collecting information that will eventually help other researchers at Clark and colleges and universities across the country study long-term interactions between humans and the environment, including urban development.
“Clark will become a central clearinghouse for all digital data about human-environment interface for Central Massachusetts,” says environmental scientist Gil Pontius, who supervises the undergraduate HERO researchers. The project is led by geographer B.L. Turner II. Ke Chen, a postdoctoral fellow at the George Perkins Marsh Institute, also supervises the student researchers and helps guide the project.
Beate Born ’02, Ethan Frost ’02, Jory Hecht ’02, Jeff Malanson ’03, Emily Shusas ’02, Sam Stratton ’01 and doctoral student Menzie McEchearn spent eight weeks this summer as HERO fellows. Each received a $2,000 fellowship from the NSF to develop his or her own research project examining how humans use land in Central Massachusetts, and how those uses might change with climate change. The HERO fellows are continuing their research this academic year as part of a course taught by Pontius and will present their findings at Academic Spree Day in April. The projects range from studies of development issues, such as urban sprawl, to water quality and deforestation.
Emily Shusas, for example, is creating a carbon budget for Central Massachusetts. A carbon budget shows where carbon is collecting in the environment, whether it is in the atmosphere, vegetation, soil, man-made objects or fossil fuels. This study fits the HERO mission because carbon-dioxide is a key greenhouse gas, and because humans influence where the carbon collects in the environment. Specifically, Shusas is examining how private deforestation in Central Massachusetts is affecting the carbon budget.
Shusas spent her HERO fellowship gathering information on the Internet and establishing contact with carbon experts at Clark and other institutions. She applied for a fellowship because she wanted to try in-depth research.
“I wanted to see if this would be something I’d like to pursue later in graduate school and my career,” Shusas says. “I’m learning a great deal about scientific research in general, including how to avoid and deal with the many problems that inevitably pop up.”
Sam Stratton, who is in the fifth-year master’s degree program in International Development, Community Planning and Environment, focused his study on development issues and citizen involvement in the municipal decision-making process regarding land-use change. The HERO fellowship fulfills the internship requirement of the fifth-year master’s program, Stratton says, but it has been a much more rewarding experience.
“Because of my HERO research experience, I will be able to learn more from my master’s program and to contribute more to the discussions,” Stratton says. “I have such faith in the quality of the final project that will result from my HERO work that I will submit my findings as an article for publication in a peer-review journal.”
Outreach is another important component of the HERO program, Pontius adds. For instance, this group of HERO fellows began working with Harvard University’s Harvard Forest in Petersham, Mass., to create a map of timber harvest on private property. They also regularly attended public meetings at Worcester City Hall, including planning board, airport commission, conservation commission and Tatnuck Brook Watershed Association meetings. Pontius says creating opportunities for this kind of community participation is a good example of Clark’s educational approach—applying classroom learning to real world problems. It’s also the part of his job he likes best.
“I help open the doors to all of these community groups,” Pontius says. “For students who want to see if they can make a difference in the world, here’s their opportunity. And I know of no other university that offers that opportunity.”
More about Gil Pontius' Research
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Chemistry researchers (from left) Megan Albert '02, Lored Asllani '02, Elissa Larivee '02, Erica Pearson '02 and Kuan Ju Lai '03.
HERO researchers: (back row from left) Sam Stratton '01; (middle row from left) graduate student Menzie McEchearn, Emily Shusasa '02, (from row from left) and Jeff Malanson
USDS researchers: (standing from left) John Mangiaratti '02 and Leo Waterston '02; (sitting from left) graduate student Sarah Niles, Joshua Lappen '02 and Elizabeth Williams '04
Physics researchers Ryan O'Donnell '03 and Eric Frederick '03