Fall 2007
Feature Story:
Great Expectations
Faculty-Student Research Brings Undergraduate Education to New Heights
When Chris Borges '10 came to campus for Accepted Student Visit Day in the spring of 2006, he attended a faculty presentation that left him completely floored.
It was a discussion led by Assistant Professor of Biology Josef Kurtz on cutting-edge immunology research happening right on the Emmanuel campus, as well as student participation in research work on bone marrow transplants at Massachusetts General Hospital. For Chris, whose father had been recently diagnosed with aplastic anemia, and later leukemia, the research had personal meaning. When he went back home to West Milford, NJ, he wrote to Dr. Kurtz immediately to ask how he could get involved. By the fall of 2006, he was a new member of Emmanuel's Neuro-Immunology Research Project (NIRP) group.
"I'm pretty sure that the rest of my life will be spent in immunology and bone marrow transplantation." A double major in biology and mathematics entering his sophomore year, Chris has already decided upon pursuing a career in both medicine and research. He knows that this current research will help get him there. "I am so grateful for this chance."
NIRP is just one example of the opportunities Emmanuel students have to work hand-in-hand with faculty members across disciplines to conduct significant research, and, perhaps more importantly, to gain a mentor who can inspire the type of passion Chris Borges has for his future.
In the fall of 2001, the College formally launched its funded faculty-student research program, allowing faculty members to apply for an undergraduate assistant to contribute to an on-going research project. Since then, the program has expanded each year, allowing faculty to more effectively move their research forward while teaching their courses, and enabling Emmanuel students to gain access to the kind of research experience rarely available at the undergraduate level. At the heart of the program is the College's commitment to offering rigorous academic experiences and preparing students for both graduate school and the professional world.
Dean of Arts and Sciences Nancy Northrup, who has been integral to the development of this program from the very beginning and who has chaired the committee which reviews all faculty applications, sees the program as invaluable for students, faculty and the College.
"It lifts the veil for undergraduates and lets them see what the academic enterprise is all about. It lets them see what makes faculty so excited about their subject, as well as their teaching. The program also puts Emmanuel in an exclusive category of liberal arts and sciences colleges that offer this opportunity to undergraduates."
Joint research is happening all over campus, from Professor of Political Science Marie Natoli's work with Carlo Faccini '07 which will lead to a book on the effects of 9/11 on civil liberties and the expansion of presidential powers to Associate Professor of Psychology Kimberly Smirles' research on gender narratives assisted by Dorothy Shanahan Roberge '07, and Associate Professor of Chemistry Faina Ryvkin's multiple projects with students on such topics as enzymes, water pollutants and forensics.
"This is a different kind of mentoring. It is very focused on developing students' skills, on getting them to understand what research is," said Dr. Northrup. "It helps them to learn how meticulous you have to be in your process. They learn good communication skills and they learn to meet deadlines. For students, it's really the first time they get to understand what it is that drives scholars, the excitement of research."
Dr. Northrup credits faculty members both for their strong commitment to the program and for guiding their undergraduate researchers. "Faina Ryvkin, for example, is not just teaching her students how to conduct research; she's teaching them how to operate in the academic world. She is mentoring them in a way that will help them to be very successful when they leave Emmanuel, mentoring them to be professionals."
The following vignettes illuminate the overwhelming success of the program, and how faculty and students at Emmanuel are benefiting from this unique initiative academically and forming life-long relationships.