Wednesday, Sept. 23, marked the 40th annual Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI) Symposium. Since 1986, the program has brought Vassar College students and faculty together to bridge important research gaps in a variety of STEM disciplines including, but not limited to, earth science, chemistry, biology and mathematics.
This year’s topics sparked a wide range of interdisciplinary conversations, from studies on anthropogenic stress on tadpoles and equations to depict black holes to looking at statistics on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement practices and finding ways to advocate for diversity in scientific communities.
The symposium began with an introduction by URSI Director and Professor of Biology Justin Touchon, who spoke to the longevity of the program. Touchon shared that 2,177 students have participated in summer research over the course of URSI’s 40 years, with around 352 faculty members assisting with 1,607 projects.
“It’s an absolute privilege to be at an institution that values undergraduate research and, more importantly, funds it,” Touchon wrote to The Miscellany News by email. “I went to a liberal arts college and conducted research as a student, so I understand the transformative power of that experience.”
He continued, “Getting to conduct your own project, to see something through from conception to data collection to analysis and writing, is just an incredible experience.”
Following his introductory remarks, three student research groups gave more in-depth oral presentations in the Villard Room, with each providing a unique outlook on their research, experience and meaning of their project results.
Before transitioning into the student research poster session, Vassar alumna and URSI participant Dr. Mina Cikara ’03, Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard University, gave her keynote address, “What Is a Group?” Researching how social group membership can psychologically disrupt empathizing with other people, Cikara presented on how different sociopolitical groups get pulled further or closer to each other in a divided society.
The latter half of the event was devoted to student poster presentations, functioning almost like a science fair, where interested students and faculty could visit the posters of their choosing.
Students participating in the URSI symposium told the Miscellany that they enjoyed their research experience and found themselves becoming closer to the Vassar community over the summer.
RJ Miller ’27 worked on “The Role of Astrocytic Glutamine Synthetase in Sustained Attention” as a part of the Psychological Science Department. When asked about his overall experience participating in URSI, he stated, “I really enjoyed it. I feel like our lab accomplished a lot of great things even outside the research part.” Miller went on to say, “Not only did I continue to build strong relationships with my professor and lab mate, but I got to learn about what other students are passionate about.”
James Lee ’27 helped support the resurgence of the Alliance for Diversity in Science & Engineering (ADSE) at Vassar over the summer. The organization helps facilitate events that support underrepresented students in STEM. “Through URSI, I was able to make a positive impact on the STEM community here,” Lee stated. He continued, “One of my favorite memories from the summer was putting together the ADSE slip and slide event for the other URSI students.”
Taking place both on campus and abroad during the summer, URSI gives Vassar students a chance to expand the horizons of scientific research and whom it reaches. In her project “Twins: Foraminifera Fusion in the Sargasso Sea,” Anna McFadden ’27 had the opportunity to travel to Bermuda to conduct Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement research with Assistant Professor of Earth Science on the Mary Clark Rockefeller Chair Laura Haynes and her lab group.
“My biggest takeaway from my URSI experience this summer was how unique and special this opportunity was,” McFadden wrote in an email to Miscellany reporters. “Getting the chance to research planktonic foraminifera is a rare gift as they are notoriously difficult to research, and being able to conduct this research in one of the most beautiful places in the world was duly unbelievable.”
Though all three students who spoke on their experience had very different projects, each of them found that the value of URSI lies in giving its students the opportunity to conduct research and make their own impact in the scientific community.