By Erin DeGregorio '16
One hundred and seventeen Siena students from the schools of business, liberal arts, and science had the opportunity to share their summer research to the academic community on Friday, September 25 at the Fourth Annual CURCA Summer Research Symposium.
The Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (CURCA) promotes undergraduate student achievement via innovative learning and student engagement with faculty and independent research. CURCA’s Summer Scholars Program endorses inquiry and creativity by supporting faculty-student collaborations and funding academic projects and activities during the summer break. Both CURCA and this program provide opportunities to students of any majors to design, explore, and carry out original research, so that personal and academic growths take place during their time at Siena.
Business economics major Matthew Leggiero ’16 focused his research on the environmental impact – particularly carbon dioxide emissions – of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international organization that works for the good of the global environment. This summer research done with the help of Joseph McCollum, Ph.D., was an extension to the research that was examined and conducted in his Business Statistics class during the spring semester.
“It is important [that Siena] provide[s] research opportunities outside of the classroom because it teaches important skills,” said Leggiero. “Some skills include being able to work with a mentor while being provided some independence, critical thinking skills on overcoming projects, and some real world experience in different fields. It is a learning experience and helps to show what real world research is like.”
Through CURCA, Sara Mahar ’17, a physics major with computer science, computational science and math minors, collaborated with Matthew Bellis, Ph. D. to write a program called “ggrade” that grades online tests and quizzes using Google Forms.
“I wanted to get involved because last summer I also did research and loved it,” said Mahar. “It is a great opportunity to learn new things about your field. You get real experience to see if it is something you would want to do with your life. And you get to make new friends with the same major and even other majors.”
Inspired by Thomas Cole’s The Course of Empire, environmental studies major Nicole Sedran ’18 completed a six-week long photography project with Scott Nelson Foster, M.F.A., that focused on ongoing natural and manmade changes in Capital-Region landscape. She will take this summer research and extend the project into an independent study project in the future.
“I believe that it is important for liberal arts student to be given the same opportunity as the science research students,” said Sedran. “Liberal arts students should get more involved in programs like CURCA because it helps further their education and gives them that much more of an advantage in the workforce.”
No matter the topic or specific area of research, all the participating students further improved their research and communication skills through the four-month long process, which will go a long way in their current academic careers and their future professional careers.
"I believe that communicating and sharing insights is almost as important as conducting research," said CURCA Director Raj Devasagayam, Ph.D. "Knowledge creation begs for knowledge dissemination, [to enrich] the lives of others through our research and creative activity. This should be the goal of every scholar, and the Summer Research Symposium provides a great venue to do that."
