Poke your head into a 捆绑SM社区 research lab 鈥� particularly in the summer 鈥� and you might walk away thinking that some of those graduate students look awfully young. There is a reason for that. They probably aren鈥檛 graduate students.
In recent years, undergraduates at 捆绑SM社区 have had access to a growing number of opportunities to dive into serious research work. Those opportunities will continue to expand, says Interim Deputy Provost (Student Life & Learning) Fabrice Labeau.
鈥淲e pride ourselves on being a research-intensive and student-centred university, in which teaching and learning is informed by the latest research,鈥� says Labeau. 鈥淥ne of the key choices that 捆绑SM社区 has made is to focus on having our professors, who are star researchers, [teach] in the classroom.鈥�
Undergraduates with an interest in experiencing research for themselves should have the opportunity to flourish in such an environment, reasons Labeau. 捆绑SM社区 has an array of programs designed to promote undergraduate research and these programs 鈥渁llow students to apply their knowledge to real, current and cutting-edge research questions and problems.鈥�
Victor Chisholm, BA鈥�97, the undergraduate research officer for the Faculty of Science, plays a major role in coordinating some of those programs. 鈥溊Π骃M社区 is a special kind of university, where [undergraduates] get to participate in real research,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ot just lab courses that teach existing techniques, not just washing test tubes 鈥� they play active roles in research that pushes forward the frontier of knowledge.鈥�
Investigating the Three Bares
And, in at least one instance, that research has helped us gain a better understanding of something that many 捆绑SM社区ians stroll past on a daily basis.
Tara Allen-Flanagan, an art history and English literature student, spent much of last summer delving into art archives to find out everything she could about an iconic piece of 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 downtown campus 鈥� The Three Bares fountain.
The naked marble men holding up an earthen bowl on the lower field have been a familiar part of the 捆绑SM社区 landscape for generations of students, but information about the fountain鈥檚 origins is almost as scant as the figures鈥� clothing. The official name of the statue is The Friendship Fountain, and it was crafted by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, whose family fame and wealth often overshadowed her artistic talent.
Vanderbilt Whitney鈥檚 papers were recently digitized for the Smithsonian Institutes Archives of American Art, and an exhibition about her sculpture 鈥� the first since her death in 1942 鈥� was mounted this past spring in West Palm Beach. So the timing was right.
By poking through unlabeled files and cross-referencing letters, Allen-Flanagan, supported by an Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award (ARIA), pieced together a narrative. And by working out the timing of the sculpture鈥檚 creation, Allen-Flanagan was able to find preliminary sketches of the sculpture, 鈥渁s if it just popped out of thin air!鈥�
Allen-Flanagan discovered the sculpture was commissioned for the New Arlington Hotel in Washington D.C., which was never built. Auguste Rodin himself critiqued a sketch of the main male figure, and the sculpture was carved in 1913.
All of this was lost in time, however, and when the fountain was donated to 捆绑SM社区 in 1931, Allen-Flanagan says, 鈥渢he three figures were hailed as representing England, Canada, and the United States coming together to hold up a bowl for the fertile soul of the nation! And this was sculpted in 1913 to decorate a hotel, when she was studying Greek myth.鈥�
Gwendolyn Owens, director of 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 Visual Arts Collection, supervised Allen-Flanagan鈥檚 efforts. 鈥淚 expected Tara would find back-and-forth letters, but not all of this amazing material. It鈥檚 a very complicated story that Tara made much more complicated by all she was able to find and figure out about these early sketches.鈥�
The realization that there鈥檚 still so much to uncover in the world of art history led Allen-Flanagan to apply to graduate school.
What happens if a student isn鈥檛 enthralled by a research project? Owens says that realization can provide valuable insights of its own. She recalls one student who decided that art conservation 鈥搒pending weeks at a time focused on the preservation of the same object 鈥� wasn鈥檛 for her. She pursued a career in history instead.
The ARIA program is administered by the Faculty of Arts Internship Office. 鈥淯nlike in the sciences, where it is common practice for upper level students to work in their professors鈥� labs, the opportunity to work directly with a professor on their research is less common in many arts disciplines,鈥� says Anne Turner, BA鈥�81, manager of the Faculty of Arts Internship Office.
She credits former dean of arts Christopher Manfredi (now 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 provost) as the driving force behind the creation of ARIA in 2010. 鈥淸He] recognized this [gap] in opportunities for arts undergraduates, particularly those who were contemplating academia as a career.鈥� The program is largely funded by donors and by participating professors鈥� research grants. The Arts Undergraduate Society of 捆绑SM社区 and the Dean of Arts Development Fund also provide support.
Students who take on a summer ARIA position benefit from the mentorship of a faculty member, while professors gain keen assistants who contribute to their research agendas.
ARIA is only one of several programs at 捆绑SM社区 that offer undergraduates the chance to take on research responsibilities under the supervision of 捆绑SM社区 professors during the summer months. The Faculty of Engineering鈥檚 Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering (SURE) Program, the Faculty of Science鈥檚 Science Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA) and the Faculty of Medicine鈥檚 Global Health Scholars program all offer undergraduates the opportunity to put their textbooks aside for the summer and to see what research looks like close up.
Like ARIA, these programs pay their undergraduate participants for their work. And, like ARIA, the programs all benefit from the support of generous donors. All four programs include major wrap-up events with research posters summarizing the projects that the students worked on.
听
Out in the field
Civil engineering student Amara Regehr took part in the SURE program last summer, working on a project that measured gas emissions from abandoned oil and gas wells in British Columbia. Her supervisor was assistant professor of civil engineering Mary Kang. Regehr worked closely with Kang on the planning for the project, on the data collection in the field, and on the data analysis.
Once in Fort St. John, B.C., (Regehr booked the flights and hotel, too), she and Kang drove around to examine sites. Because the wells were no longer in use, they should have been capped and buried quickly. But many were just abandoned and had been leaking gases like methane for years. 鈥淐ompanies don鈥檛 necessarily feel obliged to actually follow the protocol,鈥� Regehr says.
She hopes to work with Kang in the future and she鈥檚 definitely thinking of focusing more on environmental issues in her final years at 捆绑SM社区. 鈥淪URE is really a great program,鈥� says Regehr.
鈥淏eing able to learn outside the classroom is a wonderful thing,鈥� says Chidinma Offoh-Robert, the director of administration for the Faculty of Engineering and the interim associate director of the 捆绑SM社区 Engineering Student Centre.
Offoh-Robert says the SURE program often allows students to try their hand at something new. 鈥淵ou might see a student from mechanical engineering do a SURE [project] in electrical, or an architecture student who does one in civil. It allows our students to cross boundaries.鈥�
听
Northern exposure
The 捆绑SM社区 Global Health Scholars program also prides itself on its crossdisciplinary approach. While most of the students who take part in both its undergraduate and graduate streams hail from the Faculty of Medicine, students from other parts of the University are free to take part too. Steven Stechly would be one example.
Stechly, who is doing a double major in political science and psychology, worked on a project last summer addressing patterns of violence and intergenerational trauma. He took on the work in collaboration with the Cree Health Board in Waskaganish in the Eeyou Istchee territory that shares borders with northern Quebec. He was supervised by Anne Andermann, BSc鈥�94, MDCM鈥�02, an associate professor of family medicine.
Before heading north for his summer research project, Stechly did preparatory research in Montreal on 鈥渢wo-eyed seeing,鈥� which is a way to incorporate Western approaches with Indigenous knowledge. He had many long phone conversations with those up north, including Cree elder George Diamond.
Much of his work focused on lateral violence, a term that originated on the West Coast that describes how the treatment by oppressors becomes so culturally entrenched that the behaviour is perpetuated within Indigenous communities 鈥� people treating others as they have historically been treated.
听
Elders in the community had proposed a shift in focus to kindness and the positive. Building on this idea and the work done before him 鈥� even researching the neurological effects of kindness 鈥� Stechly designed workshops on lateral kindness, another West Coast term that emphasizes resilience and social support.
To make these interactive workshops culturally relevant, Stechly used the Cree language as much as possible, and turned to the goose, which is central in Cree culture. Creating games that play on how geese work together and fly, for instance, 鈥渞eally engaged the youth,鈥� he says. He adapted the workshop for different audiences. 鈥淟ateral kindness is going to be different in a health care setting, an educational setting, a youth protection services setting.
鈥淚t was an incredible experience,鈥� says Stechly of last summer. He has applied to law school, and plans to focus on the challenges in administrative health, about which he learned so much.
Jill Baumgartner, an associate professor with the Institute for Health & Social Policy, has overseen the efforts of several undergraduates in the Global Health Scholars program and she is a firm believer in their ability to make significant contributions. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e dynamic, they鈥檙e smart. I schedule meetings with them on Fridays because I leave [work] feeling better about the world.鈥�
Her projects, which employ both undergraduates and graduate students, explore the impact of air pollution on health, and are truly global in span from the Tibetan Plateau to Colombia. 鈥淚t鈥檚 helpful to just have extra hands,鈥� says Baumgartner. 鈥淲e work [students] pretty hard, long days and there are lots of challenges from equipment breaking to bad weather.鈥�
Baumgartner is often right there along with them, helping to troubleshoot and fix equipment, even scouring shops for a specific screw for an instrument. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for them to see these are not jobs we鈥檙e giving to them because they鈥檙e below us, these are jobs we do as well.鈥�
听
Not all cut and dried
The Faculty of Science鈥檚 Victor Chisholm estimates that more than half of the undergraduates in his faculty take on at least one significant research project of some kind 鈥� some as part of an honours degree, some through the SURA program, and some through a series of independent research courses for undergraduates that are growing in popularity.
These classes, designated as 鈥�396鈥� courses in most departments, also frequently offer undergraduates a chance to explore unfamiliar terrain. 鈥淚t allows students to do research outside their own home department,鈥� says Chisholm.
鈥淚 think undergraduates recognize that research is an interesting thing to do, and they鈥檙e motivated [to do it],鈥� says Earth and planetary sciences professor John Stix, the associate dean (research) in the Faculty of Science.
Stix, a volcanologist, frequently incorporates undergraduates as part of his research teams, taking them on expeditions as far afield as New Mexico and Iceland. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not everybody鈥檚 cup of tea,鈥� Stix says of research work. 鈥淸Some undergraduates] think there鈥檚 some sort of truth out there. Well, there may be some sort of truth out there, and research is trying to find the answer to something, but it鈥檚 not cut and dried.鈥� Projects go awry, expected results go south, directions shift. Students learn that perseverance and an ability to adapt are key.
Biology student Oc茅ane Marescal found that out herself, working on a SURA project in the lab of associate professor of biology Frieder Sch枚ck. 鈥淩esearch can be a lot of fun, but it鈥檚 also at times frustrating.鈥�
听
Marescal spent the summer focusing on fruit flies 鈥� specifically a certain protein related to muscle fibers. She gained an appreciation for how fruit flies can serve as useful analogs for people in some ways 鈥� the work in Sch枚ck鈥檚 lab could have implications for muscle diseases that afflict humans.
She is grateful for the chance to have contributed to such work and she is now applying for graduate studies 鈥渂ecause of the amazing time I had in Dr. Sch枚ck鈥檚 lab.鈥�
David St-Amand, BSc'17, now pursuing a master's degree in neuroscience, says his SURA experience helped prepare him for graduate studies. He gained confidence in his own skills and developed a better understanding of the interpersonal dynamics involved in working on a research team.
"I learned how important it is for [team members] to listen and communicate with each other in order to improve the experiment and do better research."
There are other opportunities for students to take part in research at 捆绑SM社区. The Faculty of Law supports research assistantships and travel grants for research projects. Students in engineering and science-oriented faculties can apply for NSERC Undergraduate Research Awards (co-funded by participating professors and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council). 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 Social Equity and Diversity Education Office also supports undergraduates in summer research initiatives in collaboration with the ARIA and SURA programs.
Fabrice Labeau can list several ways in which these programs benefit undergraduates: 鈥淎n understanding of the complexities and realities of research at the cutting edge; skills in terms of work prioritization, management and teamwork that will be applicable in any future career; an inspiration to maybe pursue a career in research.鈥�
Looking back at her SURE experience, Amara Regehr says the chance to get involved in research was eye-opening.
鈥淵ou see the university as not just your classes, but as the research university that it is.鈥�
听
-
Maeve Haldane is a Montreal-based writer and a former editor of the 捆绑SM社区 Reporter. Her work has recently appeared in Concordia University Magazine and The Montreal Gazette.