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Summer Scholar Program (USS)
Interview Questions
Click on the following questions to see
what Summer Scholars have to say:
How did you become interested
in being involved with this program? How
did you hear about it?
Jennifer Venable: Several people
recommended the Summer Scholars program
to me as an opportunity to get University
support for Study Abroad ventures. I
have always been fascinated by the Irish
culture, and was hoping to study abroad
there at some point. My future plans
include teaching and the time I spent
there while doing my Summer Scholars
project gave me a better idea of whether
or not Ireland was a place I’d
like to do that.
Lori White: I plan to go to
Grad school, and was looking for ways
to get some research experience to help
prepare me. Professor Kittredge, my
mentor, recommended the program to me
as a great way to get some practice
with independent research.
David Jones: I had
been working in the lab on this project
previous to this summer. I wanted to
get more involved with the research
that was going on in the lab, and was
looking for a way to do it. I wanted
to gain more experience and knowledge
and actually be able to see things progressing
in the lab. Summer Scholars enabled
me to do that.
Laura Portalupi: I
took HON 480 in the fall of my junior
year, which is a preparatory class for
writing your honor’s thesis. Professor
Haynes was the instructor for this class,
and suggested the Summer Scholars program
to me as a way to launch me into my
honor’s thesis in my senior year.
Matthew Beeler: I heard about the Summer
Scholars program through the Honors
Program and it was also mentioned in
a number of my math classes as an opportunity
to receive University support for independent
research projects.
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Did you have a firm
idea of what you wanted to do when you
started?
Jane Woodward: Yes
and No. Yes, in that the project was
already underway and I had worked on
it previously, so I had a pretty clear
idea of what we were doing ahead of
time. However, I didn’t know exactly
what I would be doing for my part.
Kristina Grooms: No.
I knew which professor I would like
to work with, but not exactly what I
wanted my project to be. Michelle Taylor
was my professor for a class involving
Early American Literature. I liked what
we read in class, so I asked her if
she would be my mentor. She helped me
narrow down what I wanted to study and
come up with a project.
David Jones: Yes,
because I am actually continuing work
on a project that was previously begun
in the lab. Having worked on this project
prior to this summer meant I was already
pretty familiar with what I would be
doing. Summer Scholars allowed me to
dedicate more time to the project.
Brian King: Not really.
I knew that I wanted to work with the
cultural use of plants, but I was not
really sure how to do it. I didn’t
quite know how this was going to materialize.
Then, Daryl Baldwin sent an e-mail to
the Botany department asking if anyone
knew someone who was interested in working
with some information about the Miami
tribe. Daryl Baldwin is a Ph.D candidate
in linguistics from the Miami Tribe.
He is working on a project involving
the Miami Language. He was looking specifically
for someone with a background in plants.
This guided me into my project of identifying
local plants by their Latin names, common
names, and, finally, their Miami names.
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Any advice to future
summer scholars?
Sheri (Ihle) Shaw:
Don’t be afraid if your project
changes. A proposal is just a proposal,
it’s not set in stone. The point
of the project is to learn, and the
more educated you become about things,
the more your ideas will change.
Brian King: Do something
that’s interesting to you. Don’t
worry if it’s not a traditional
project, you don’t have to do a
scientific research experiment. Even
in the natural sciences, there is room
for alternative projects. Even if there’s
no faculty member in your exact interest
area, you can probably find someone
who’s willing to work with you.
Jane Woodward: The
most important things are to find a
mentor that you’ll work well with
and find a project idea that really
interests you. In looking for a mentor,
try a professor that you had for a class
that you really liked. Go to that Professor’s
office hours and ask them about their
interests, ask if they have any projects
upcoming that they would like to work
with a student on, or if they have any
ideas for something you might like to
look into.
Laura Portalupi: Do
something you really want to do, this
is such a good opportunity to study
something you really have a passion
for. Discipline yourself, but be open
to change. New slants, opinions will
emerge, you shouldn’t ignore those,
but examine them and be willing to adjust.
Discuss your expectations with your
faculty mentor, both formally and informally,
so you both know how exactly you envision
your project and the process that it
entails. Find another independent study
Buddy, to make sure that you have a
network of support.
Lyndsey Godwin: Take
it seriously and make your contacts
early. Expect it to change, and have
fun with it!
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What is the largest
obstacle you’ve overcome thus far?
Laura Portalupi: It’s
been hard to work against my structured
nature’s inclination to plan everything
out to the minute. I have found that
the creative process just doesn’t
work that way. Instead, I might be thinking
about my subjects or mentally revising
poems while I’m grocery shopping.
I have had to accept that I am going
to be working on my project at odd hours
and have to be fairly flexible.
Lyndsey Godwin: Trying
to figure out how to put all the data
together. I have a phenomenal amount
of information to work with and I have
to decide how I can make it all coherent.
Brian King: Making
the field guide has turned out to be
a very extensive project. Creating botanical
descriptions of 100 plants took two
of the ten weeks all on its own. Another
difficulty was in making sure that I
wasn’t plagiarizing any other field
guides’ descriptions. Many plant
descriptions in field guides look very
similar, but you have to make sure your
description isn’t the same as any
others.
Lori White: Determining
which route to do the synthesis by.
You always start with the easiest possible
option and then if that doesn’t
work, you try another method that’s
harder, and if that doesn’t work,
then you try the hardest and most involved
way until you actually accomplish your
synthesis.
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How do you keep yourself
on track? Is it hard to stay focused?
Jane Woodward: There’s
always something that needs to be done.
Having a goal at the beginning of the
day really helps. Plus, I have a lab
buddy who works with me, which is nice
because it keeps me motivated and focused
on the task at hand because I’m
not alone in the lab all day.
Sherri (Ihle) Shaw:
My advisor gives me a lot of deadlines
to try and help keep me on track. This
really does help me, because otherwise,
I would just concentrate on the things
that are most interesting to me, and
the things like economic theory that
are very important to my project but
not necessarily the easiest material,
would get neglected.
Matthew Beeler: I’m
never lonely in the lab, my mentor and
other students are always there working.
Professor Bali is around so much, that
it’s hard to get distracted. You
have a task to do, and you do it.
Laura Portalupi: I
make myself work on the things that
I know will be challenging. I draw up
plans regularly to check my progress.
I outline one week at a time and gives
myself specific goals. I also highly
recommend having an independent study
buddy. It has been helpful for me to
have another summer scholar whom I can
pair up with. We motivate each other
and create rewards for ourselves after
we have gotten a significant amount
of work done each day.
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Has your initial plan
evolved since the proposal stage? If so,
how?
Sherri (Ihle) Shaw:
Yes! It has become almost an entirely
different project. As I did more research,
I realized that the original plan I
had proposed to deal with deteriorating
school facilities was only a temporary
solution. My focus has shifted much
more towards the funding issues now.
I am researching different states’
funding systems, and what has worked
and what hasn’t.
Laura Portalupi: It
was difficult preparing the proposal
so far in advance. Although my topic
has remained pretty much the same, some
of my plans for how to address it have
changed. At first, I wanted to research
and write one poem and autobiographical
sketch for each of about fifteen women
from the Bible. However, upon beginning
this process, I realized that I could
not adequately present these women or
their situations in only one poem and
without being “surfacey”.
I decided to narrow my focus and only
focus on about 8 or 9 women and write
2 or 3 poems about each of them. This
would allow me to delve further into
the identity of each of these women
and produce more meaningful work about
them.
Matthew Beeler: We’re
still working on fine-tuning the trap,
which is a bit of a change of plans.
We had hoped to have it up and operating,
but it’s always a lot harder than
you expect it to be. Every time you
think you’re close to being able
to move onto the next step, you find
that something else needs to be done.
Lyndsey Godwin: Yes!
When I first began my project, I really
believed that I would be writing a liberal-positive
paper about the debate surrounding homosexuality
in the Presbyterian church. After I
had done some research and had some
interviews, I realized I would be writing
a paper that wasn’t really a positive
representation of the conservative OR
liberal perspective. My project is about
the power struggle between liberals
and conservatives in the debate. This
is an unflattering light for any religious
person to be cast in, and I hadn’t
expected to be presenting the debate
in this way.
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Describe your Faculty
Mentor Relationship. How is it going?
Was the contract in your proposal useful?
How involved has your mentor been in your
relationship? Has that relationship evolved?
Lori White: In the
lab, we spend a lot of time working
side by side. Professor Kittredge has
been very supportive in explaining things,
and making sure that if I need help,
he’s there. He goes out of his
way to make sure that I’m getting
the most out of this project.
David Jones: My mentor
and I knew each other already before
the summer. We had a standing relationship
with each other from working in the
lab together previously. This helped
us to have clear understandings and
expectations of each other from the
outset. Since we had worked together
previously, there was not a long adjustment
period. She knew that I would get my
work done and I knew that she was open
and available for questions. Having
this standing relationship helped us
use the time we had most productively.
Jennifer Venable:
Professor Hazelton also has an interest
in Ireland and we worked together to
design the project. We met frequently
second semester to work on the specifics
of the project. Professor Hazelton gave
me articles to read to help me narrow
my project down, and helped me with
the Human Subjects approval process.
He helped me find contacts in Ireland
that would be useful to me with my research
once I arrived. Professor Hazelton made
a big effort to make sure that I was
prepared before I left on my trip. We
were a great match.
Lyndsey Godwin: We
pretty much stuck to the contract we
had laid out in our proposal and met
almost once every week. He doesn’t
give me directions, he just asks me
questions that will lead me in the direction
I need to go. It’s nice because
when we started the project, he was
just another professor, and now I consider
him to be someone I could potentially
go to for a reference for Graduate School.
Kristina Grooms: She
guides me on some things I might want
to be thinking about or focusing on
while I’m reading. She gives me
questions and assignments, to help keep
me on track. She sent me articles and
tells me some places that I might look
for more information. It’s great
because we talk about it as equals.
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What’s been your
favorite part of the process thus far?
Matthew Beeler: Doing
the research is rewarding in itself
It’s awesome to know that you’re
contributing to something that will
eventually have implications to all
sorts of different things.
Sherri (Ihle) Shaw:
My favorite part has been finding out
new information. I understand the school
funding system so much better now, and
when I go to vote, I will actually understand
what’s on the ballot and will be
able to make informed decisions.
Kristina Grooms: It’s
given me a chance to explore a different
aspect of Literature. You read so much
in your classes from the standard literary
cannon and it’s really refreshing
to get to read the work of these women.
They had such an impact, and yet, no
one ever mentions them.
Jennifer Venable:
Going to Ireland was a huge growing,
and learning experience. Everyone that
I met was really warm and hospitable.
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Have you done any traveling?
Been to any cool conferences?
Brian King: I got
to go to Oklahoma for the Miami Tribe’s
annual Pow Wow. I went the week before
and the Miami Tribe’s land manager
showed me around, and introduced me
to a lot of people from the Tribe. I
also got to go to NYC for the Society
of Economic Botany Conference. I had
the opportunity there to speak with
another researcher who is doing a very
similar project and using different
methods.
David Jones: The
whole lab got to go to Missouri the
first week of June to present research
at the Midwest Developmental Biology
conference. Previously, the same lab
had presented their findings at the
Cleveland Clinic. It was a great experience
to come together with the other students
who work in the lab and see each other
outside of the academic setting.
Jennifer Venable:
I got to spend a month in Ireland! I
got to see another country and talk
to students from another part of the
world. It was amazing.
Jane Woodward: Yes!
On May 28th, myself and four others
from the project went to St. Louis to
an ACSM (American College Sports Medicine)
National Conference. We did a partial
data presentation of what we had found
at that point. It was a great experience
to discuss the work that we were doing
with others from the same field, and
to meet people who were doing similar
work from different parts of the country.
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What’s a typical
day like? How do you go about this research?
Jennifer Venable:
Before I left on my trip, most of my
time was occupied with meeting the requirements
of the Institutional review board on
Human Subjects research. Once I was
in Ireland, I began to meet with students,
attempted to contact more potential
interviewees, made phone calls and tried
to absorb as much information as possible
while I was there. At night, I immersed
myself in the culture by going out,
and talking with people from my dorm
or hostel, and attempted to gain as
broad an understanding as possible of
the lives of University students in
Ireland.
Brian King: I spend
a lot of time at my computer, organizing
information. I sit down with a book,
takes notes from the book about the
different plants that I’m researching,
then I look for new information about
the plants. After this, I begin the
process of transcribing my notes. Then,
I might go out into the field to look
for specimens. I get to look for plants
and be outdoors as part of my project.
Kristina Grooms: I
usually start reading after lunch, and
work on that and take notes until dinnertime.
Then, after dinner, I usually work on
the assignments that Professor Taylor
has given me, and try and get some writing
done. It’s pretty laid back and
informal, sometimes I do the most work
late at night.
Lori White: I get
in around 9 am, get a reaction going,
then I let it run for a period of a
few hours. While the reaction is running,
Professor Kittredge and I sit down and
talk about what we’re doing in
the reaction, what we are hoping to
accomplish and the organic chemistry
behind it. Or we might even leave the
reaction running and go to the library
and do some research. Then we look at
what the reaction produced and if it
created what we were hoping it would,
then we can proceed. If not, then we
try the same reaction again.
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