While most students are excitedly waiting for the semester to come to a close so that they can get a break from their studies, some Tufts students have chosen to stay on the Medford campus for the summer and continue their research.
The Tufts Summer Scholars Program gives undergraduates the opportunity to actively participate in research with professors. Each student receives $3,500 for full-time research that will ideally lead to a senior honors thesis. Additionally, a $1,000 grant is available to each student to help pay for research expenses incurred during his or her undergraduate career, and faculty mentors also receive a $1,000 research stipend.
"By exploring the challenge of creating new knowledge, we bring learning to life," explains the Summer Scholars Web site.
One such summer scholar is junior Zachary Cuttler. A double-major in environmental studies and American studies with a concentration in politics and the environment, Cuttler will work with Political Science Professor Kent Portney in the Tufts Institute of Environment.
"This is a great opportunity to get a head-start on my senior thesis as well as to work with my favorite professor," Cuttler said.
Cuttler's project concentrates on urban governance regimes and their correlation to sustainability. His project focuses on looking at the structure of power within city municipalities and whether or not political leaders take that structure seriously.
"I intend to spend my life in the environmental field, as it has always been my passion, and I am considering graduate studies in political science, economics or environmental law," Cuttler said.
"I'm definitely looking forward to being paid to do my research," Cuttler added. "I'm looking forward to staying in Boston over the summer and being in personal contact with my professor by seeing him a few times per week. I'll fly to at least one to two cities; I'm going to Seattle over the summer."
Junior and Summer Scholar Brendan Bowler echoes many of Cuttler's hopes for the summer.
A physics and astrophysics major, Bowler will be working under Associate Physics and Astronomy Professor William Waller.
"Being a summer scholar will allow me to continue my work and get paid, as well as lay the foundation of my senior honors thesis," Bowler said.
Bowler's project concerns the process of star formation in the Horsehead Nebula; he will study the environment around molecular clouds to determine how it influences the formation.
Bowler will use infrared images obtained from a telescope in South Africa.
"In astronomy, one thing you need is research experience, and it helps you decide if you truly enjoy doing the research or not for the future," Bowler said, adding that he is applying to a Ph.D. program in the fall.
"In high school, I bought a telescope and got interested in the topic, so I took courses in physics and astronomy. I've been taking them ever since," Bowler said.
Sophomore Vincent Weisband is a Summer Scholar who is majoring and doing research in the field of chemistry, the latter being conducted this summer with Weisband's faculty mentor, Molecular Biology and Microbiology Professor Eddie Goldberg.
"I wanted to do research, and this program seemed like a great opportunity," Weisband said. "I didn't know the professor before [becoming a Summer Scholar], and [I] just contacted the professor because he was doing research on chemical applications, something I'm interested in."
Weisband's project has to do with connecting two protein nanorods, the goal being to arrange them in a triangle formation. This triangle is very small and can be used to filter substances, such as arsenic, out of drinking water. It can also be used for medical devices.
"I want to go to medical school possibly, but right now I'm exploring what it would be like to be a researcher as well," Weisband said. "The topic looked interesting to me, and that's how I got into it. I've always been good at chemistry, and people usually like what they're good at."
Sophomore Alexandra Pryor is another Summer Scholar, and she is planning to double-major in philosophy and political science.
Over the next few months, she is going to be working for Assistant Political Science and Community Health Professor Gary McKissick on a project entitled "Medicare and the Challenges of Choice."
"I didn't know anything about healthcare a term ago, but after having taken Professor McKissick's course, and - most of all - learning just how poorly structured our current healthcare system is, I am very interested in learning as much about it as I can," Pryor said.
"[The Summer Scholars Program] allows us to examine a political issue philosophically. Philosophy is my other major, so it allows me to combine my background in philosophy with political science," she added.
"Right now this Summer Scholars research seems to tie in perfectly to my future goals. In the immediate future, I would like to write a senior honors thesis, and I think that working on this research this summer will be the perfect way to prepare myself for it," Pryor said.
"As far as my future goes, I've changed my mind probably five times since I got to Tufts two years ago, but what I think I'd like to do in the future, right now anyway, is [to] work in public policy," Pryor said.
