Category: Research Stories

SURE Stories: COVID’s Impact on the Communications, Practices, and Goals of Religiously Affiliated Student Organizations

Community Life, Featured, Research Stories, Student Voices

The following blog post was written by fellow UHPer and Spring 2023 SURE Award recipient, Caleb Auerbach (Political Communication Major, ’23). Read on about how Caleb plans to utilize the SURE Award funding to further expand upon his research experience!

 

In fulfillment of my UHP thesis requirement, my research project explores how religiously affiliated student organizations at George Washington and American universities were impacted by COVID. More specifically, through the lens of their online communications materials via Instagram posts, I evaluate how their communications adapted to meet the challenges of the pandemic, and how they use what they learned from COVID in their current communications materials. As a direct result of my SURE funding, I was enabled to incorporate AU student groups into my study, strengthening any generalizability in my findings so that they are not solely in the context of student groups at GWU. In other words, the SURE awards enabled me to expand the scope of my study, which worked to increase the generalizability, and thus the relevancy of my study. I plan on using my SURE funding to help facilitate/incentive the interview process of my study, in addition to using it to recruit additional coders to ensure intercoder reliability for the data collected in my coding scheme. Without the funding, my study would not have been able to take the steps that truly make it significant. I just finished my data collection, which is where the generous SURE funding available to UHP students really proved itself to be an invaluable resource. No matter how strong of a study one has developed, additional funding will always serve as a doorway to greater avenues of success as it expands the definitions of what is possible for you to do. I would like to thank my entire Political Communication/UHP support staff and friends for shining the light and showing me the way to go. Your help and support mean more than you know.

Interested in applying for your own SURE Award funding? Find out more about the application process here!

SURE Stories: The Effect of Education Initiatives on National Identity and the State of Peace in the Taiwan Strait

Community Life, Featured, Research Stories, Student Voices

The following blog post was written by fellow UHPer and Fall 2022 SURE Award recipient, Anais Fang (International Affairs, concentration in Asia Studies, ’23). Read on about how Anais plans to utilize the SURE Award funding to further expand upon her research experience!

 

My research emerged from my long standing desire to marry the disciplines of my undergraduate studies into a comprehensive project. Having studied international affairs, Asia studies, and peace studies separately in the classroom, I wanted to find and explore the real-life intersection of these disparate fields. As a Taiwanese-American, I decided that centering my work around a country I felt connected to made the most sense. That is how my research question was first formulated. I wanted to understand the extent to which education initiatives influenced Taiwanese national identity, and how the shift in national identity altered the state of peace in the Taiwan Strait.

This project aimed to explore cross-Strait relations following the Chinese Civil War (1949-present) from the interdisciplinary perspectives of domestic politics, soft power, and peace studies. It served as a continuation of my work at the Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) and expanded on my research in GW’s Peace Studies program, which were centered around identifying the weight of education initiatives on national identity over the course of Taiwan’s democratization process. The project investigated the Sinicized national identity fostered under Taiwan’s one-party state and its evolution into a nativized identity following the nation’s robust democratization efforts. Once a relationship between education and identity was established, I was able to conduct a comparative study to determine the significance of shifting national identities in fostering and maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait.

This project has provided me with the opportunity to advance my research in a professional direction, seamlessly marrying my interests in international affairs and peace work. My academic endeavors have transcended the bounds of the traditional classroom experience and expanded into a robust process that interacts with the Taiwanese community through conducting expert interviews, seeking primary sources, and exploring alternative mediums of information. It has served as an extension of my work at the Global Taiwan Institute and beyond.

I see this project as an active pursuit of knowledge that will prepare me to translate seemingly abstract concepts into tangible Taiwan policy solutions and bridge the information gap for policy makers. As a continuation of this project, I plan on submitting my final manuscript to the International Journal of Taiwan Studies and proposing my work for a panel at the North American Taiwan Studies Association’s Annual Conference. If accepted, I plan on applying the SURE award to supplement travel costs. I am grateful to the SURE grant, as it has provided me with the resources to fully dedicate myself to my research endeavors. I am excited at the prospect of using the research, writing, analytical, and interpersonal skills I have gained from working on this project to navigate post-graduation career development and a future in public policy.

 

Interested in applying for your own SURE Award funding? Find out more about the application process here!

SURE Stories: Pharyngeal Morphology of Invasive Carp Species

Community Life, Featured, Research Stories, Student Voices

The following blog post was written by fellow UHPer and Fall 2022 SURE Award recipient, Caitlin Garrett (Biology, ’23). Read on about how Caitlin’s utilized the SURE Award funding to further expand upon her research experience!

 

Over the winter break, I flew to Austin, Texas to talk about fish, and I loved every second of it! With the support of the SURE Award, I was able to attend the 2023 meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology and present a poster detailing the research I have been working on in the Hernandez Lab here at GW. The main aim of my project is to compare the feeding anatomy of three species of carp and understand how their morphological adaptations help them thrive, causing damage to the habitats they invade and human livelihoods. I’ve spent two semesters and a summer dissecting, working with CT scans, and studying muscles at the microscopic level to figure out exactly what is going on in these fishes’ throats!

Attending SICB 2023 and presenting my poster was an incredible experience. Not only was I able to share my research with experts from the biology community, but I got to soak in four days of lectures, talks, and presentations on brand-new ideas, methods, and findings. The graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and other professionals I met were welcoming and more than happy to offer advice, share how their careers developed, and of course, nerd out about our favorite weirdo organisms. I gained familiarity with the professional academic community that I would not have been able to obtain any other way. I left the conference and returned to GW with valuable insights, new connections, and a refreshed excitement to continue my project. Since the finish line for my undergraduate career is just a few months away, I am currently synthesizing all the work I’ve done in the lab into a senior thesis. SICB 2023 was a hugely rewarding experience and a major highlight of my academic career, and I am so thankful to the UHP for helping to make it happen for me!

 

Interested in applying for your own SURE Award funding? Find out more about the application process here!

Congratulations UHP Sure Award Recipients (Fall 2021)

Community Life, Featured, Research Stories

Congratulations to the following Fall 2021 recipients of the UHP SURE Award, an individual grant of up to $500 to support UHPers’ research activities.

Gigi Baer, Sophomore, Public Health (pre-medicine concentration)
Research Project Title: Scoping Review on the Use of Industry Tactics by E-Cigarette Corporations to Target Youth

Lauren Lundvall, Senior, Criminal Justice
Research Project Title: Behind Closed Doors: A Podcast by Lauren Lundvall

Rushabh Patel, Junior, International Affairs & Political Science
Research Project Title: Analyzing the Impacts of Youth Councils on Municipal Policy

Caroline Pickering, Senior, International Affairs (concentration in Global Public Health)
Research Project Title: Gender and Agroecology: Inclusion, Exclusion, and Future Prospects in Peru

Sarah Racile, Senior, Mathematics
Research Project Title: On the Co-Evolution of Fashion and Philosophy from 1500-1900

Sivahn Sapirstein, Senior, International Affairs
Research Project Title: Nonviolence in Deeply Divided Societies: An Exploration Into the Inhibitory Power of Zero-sum Identities

We look forward to hearing more about their research projects later this academic year and will be sure to keep you posted!

SURE Stories: Hydroponic Farming in Cambodia

Community Life, Research Stories

Check out how fellow UHPer and SURE award recipient Allison Miller (Communications and Graphic Design, ’23) used her funding to conduct a survey among rural Cambodians to help guide the work of the non-profit organization she works for!

Over the last year, I have joined the team of Sa’akom Farms, a start-up non profit organization dedicated to the alleviation of poverty in Cambodia through the use of vertical hydroponic farming. Hydroponic farming is incredibly efficient, which allows our team to be able to pay significantly higher wages than traditional farming. These higher wages offer a transformative social and economic impact for rural Cambodian communities. I am a strong believer in partnering with local communities and listening to their experiences and input in all aid work, so that is what I set out to do with the SURE award. I used the SURE award to work with our Cambodian team member, Ratana, to survey local community members about their experiences and aspirations. The award money was critical to be able to pay Ratana to conduct the surveys, since I do not speak Khmer.

The results of our surveys showed individual goals and aspirations of Cambodians, and incomes that ranged from $1200-$7000 a year. We found that the vast majority of our participants did not have access to a bank account, nor could they take out a loan with their current salaries. In addition, many participants were interested in higher income to be able to afford transportation such as cars or trucks, regularly afford more expensive foodstuffs, and start their own businesses. We hope to conduct these surveys at a larger scale to have a representative data sample and with a rigorous plan of action. My data now is best used as context for my work with Sa’akom, and has helped me to feel better equipped in designing and implementing a sustainable development solution in partnership with these communities. I learned how to design an interview that takes into account cultural norms and sensitivities, and the logistics of development research halfway across the globe.

SURE Stories: Seniors and Digital Media Literacy

Community Life, Research Stories

Check out the following fascinating story about the research fellow UHPer Kylie Fronczak (SMPA ’21) has done about digital media literacy among seniors!

I started my undergraduate career on the heels of the 2016 presidential election when terms like “fake news” and misinformation were just beginning to be discussed. As I grew at GW, studying in the School of Media and Public Affairs, the reality that this spread of online misinformation revealed itself to a major threat. This type of online content has proven itself capable of having real-world, offline implications, from fueling acts of violence to perpetuating demonstrably false ideas such as widespread election fraud and major conspiracies.

It seems as if Big Tech CEOs are being brought to Capitol Hill almost monthly to answer for their roles in this spread of misinformation and governments, advocacy groups, and academics alike are being faced with the major question of how to curb it. It seemed only fitting that I would use my senior thesis as a means of entering that conversation.

There are a number of counter-misinformation remedies – many of which social media users encountered first-hand during this past year when social media companies sought to flag potentially dubious content regarding COVID-19 or the presidential election. However, an alternative remedy is digital media literacy. Research suggests better results with this model for countering misinformation because it teaches users to critically evaluate content for themselves. In addition to testing digital media literacy as a misinformation counter, I chose to specifically evaluate seniors, those who did not grow up in the digital age, since studies suggest that it is older people in general who are the most prominent sharers of misinformation online, despite making up only a small percentage of social media users.

Using a short digital media literacy module designed by AARP, I conducted an experiment testing the effectiveness of this sort of remedy. Some were given the treatment, others were not, then all were asked to look at a series of actual Facebook posts containing news. With funding from the UPH SURE award, I was able to gather the data to answer the core questions of this project. By recruiting over 1,000 respondents, over 250 of whom were over 55 years old, I was able to gain insights based on their evaluations of the posts, along with their likelihood to share them.

While the treatment effects revealed by the experiment may not be as promising as I would have hoped when I first started off with this project, having the opportunity the learn about the research process through first-hand experiences, especially as an undergraduate, has been invaluable. And even though the results of this may not be what was originally desired, I still learned a great deal about misinformation and how non-digital natives navigate the complex online information ecosystem. I am looking forward to defending this thesis before my committee of SMPA professors later this spring to earn honors in my major.

How UHP Students Are Working to Reform Sex Education

Research Stories

Check out fellow UHPer Tim Steves’ discussion of his work with students in the UHP and WLP on researching sex education with Professor Carly Jordan!

My name is Tim Steves, and I am a sophomore in the University Honors Program. Over the course of the last eleven months, I have been working alongside other members of the UHP as well as the Women’s Leadership Program on a project called RESET: Research for Equality in Sexuality Education and Texts. Under the guidance of Dr. Carly Jordan, biology professor for UHP and WLP, our team has been analyzing the most popular North American sexuality education texts for instances of sexism, heteronormativity, conflation of sex and gender, cultural representation, and misinformation. The goal of RESET is to expose the inadequacies and inequalities across these educational texts, advocating for a future of inclusive and free educational materials for all regarding our bodies and minds. Through research publications, conference presentations, and communication with publishers, we seek to put pressure on the authors of these texts to provide more inclusive and accurate information, raising the bar for sex education.

I first met Dr. Jordan during my fall semester of first year. When browsing through the wide array of unique courses provided by the UHP to fulfill my Scientific Reasoning and Discovery requirements, Dr. Jordan’s Human Reproduction course caught my attention. On a whim, I decided to register for this course, acknowledging that my past experience with sex education from a public high school in Illinois had likely left some gaps in information. Dr. Jordan’s fantastic teaching and vocal efforts to be inclusive of all bodies and minds exposed to me for the first time how far-reaching and prevalent inequality in sex education across the United States really is. Dr. Jordan would frequently edit the texts that she distributed to us prior to our reading to ensure that they would be inclusive, and she would often challenge us to learn to recognize instances where the materials were failing to uphold an inclusive standard. I would highly recommend taking this course to any freshmen who have the opportunity.

RESET began with an email from Dr. Jordan in early March of 2020, inviting several students from her Human Reproduction class and the WLP to come to her classroom on the Vern for pizza and discussion of a research opportunity. Today, this cross-program research team is making progress in the massive task of transforming the sex education landscape. Having completed the data collection phase, many members are now in the process of drafting manuscripts for publication. 

I have been working alongside Gaia Norman from the WLP, focusing on the conflation of sex and gender in these texts. On February 11th, we presented our findings at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology research conference with over 4,500 attendees. Although the conference was supposed to be in person in Austin, Texas, the online format went incredibly smoothly, allowing us to interact with researchers and experts in gender from universities across the country. Analyzing the anatomy chapters of 7 current textbooks, we sought to quantify how often sex and gender are conflated in sexuality education materials. To collect this data, we defined two codes: C (conflated sex and gender) and U (unnecessarily gendered language). Our C code is for instances where the author used gendered language (e.g. man/woman) to define or discuss biological traits, associating an anatomical feature with a specific gender identity and treating sex and gender as one interchangeable concept. Our U code is for times when the author used gendered language to describe information that pertains to all people, regardless of gender identity. Using these codes, we found that textbooks misrepresented sex and gender an average of 136 times per anatomy chapter, and in 90% of these instances, sex and gender were overtly conflated. 

Overall, the experience of sharing our data with the public for the first time was incredibly rewarding. This event felt like a launching point for RESET, and we are expecting to see multiple publications from the team across academic journals regarding various issues with inequality in sex education in the coming months. Keep an eye out for more RESET related content from the UHP as we continue to work toward a more inclusive future of education and be sure to check out the many honors research assistantship opportunities available through the UHP website. 

Challenges of Virtual Learning – Call for Input

Community Life, Research Stories, Student Voices

Hello all!

Honors program seniors Alex Gunnerson and Krista Nolan are working on a capstone project for their Geography senior seminar about the challenges of virtual learning. As part of this project, they are collecting anonymous survey responses from other GW students to study the geographic distribution of how virtual learning has impacted GW students across the world. They hope that this survey can be utilized by students and the GW administration to understand the unique challenges that students faced this semester to better prepare for the Spring.

Please find the survey here:

Thank you for your help!

History of Labor at the New Museum [SURE Stories]

Research Stories, Student Voices

The following blog post was written by UHPer and SURE Award winner, Jessica Layton.

In 2019, museum media coverage centered labor. With a call to action to end unpaid internships, the collective Art & Museum Transparency circulated a spreadsheet wherein museum employees shared details from their experience, like salary or workplace atmosphere. Activist groups Decolonize this Place and Sackler Pain organized mass and repeated coordinated actions from the Whitney to the Tate to draw attention to the criminal actions of those financially supporting these institutions. Museum employees of cultural institutions like the Guggenheim, MoMA PS1, and at least 10 more cultural institutions ranging in mission, size, and scale began an unprecedented public fight for unionization in 2019.

 

That summer, I, in a much smaller way, began thinking about the daunting task of my senior thesis. As I became more in tune with the realities facing artworkers and increasingly aware of my impending graduation, after which I will likely share these same realities, my research topic became increasingly clear to me. This year, in 2020, the nature of activism in museums has transformed and escalated in different ways. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, mass layoffs and furloughing of art workers ensued. In early April, MoMA fired the entirety of its education department and the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced plans to shrink its staff by 20 percent. The New Museum made similar staff cuts and laid of nearly a third of its staff, 31 of whom were members of the museum’s recently formed union, UAW 2110, which was only just settled upon in the previous October of 2019, after many months of ugly, public facing negotiation.

 

Situated in the broader context of the American art museum in New York City, my research focuses on the history of labor at the New Museum. I am specifically interested in the conflict between the institution’s founder, Marica Tucker’s mission to establish a museum unique in its egalitarian approach to internal affairs and the recent conflict between management and employees over their struggle for unionization. There is little to no recorded literature on the history of labor in art museums and so my primary research focus has been collecting oral testimony from anyone tangentially related to my research topic, particularly those with experience working in NYC’s art world. With funding from the SURE award, I am currently continuing to interview and transcribe these conversations for my own reference in writing my thesis, but also, more importantly, to create a public archive. I am excited by the potentialities of creating an accessible record of conversations that could serve the public, academics, and art workers thinking about collectivizing in important, previously unaddressed ways.

Win $500(!!!) for Research with the SURE Award

Openings and Opportunities, Research Stories

Did you know that Honors students have the opportunity to win up to $500 for their research? It’s true!  Apply to the UHP/Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement Award (SURE) and we might just cut you a check.

Any current Honors Program student who is engaged in research may compete for an individual grant of up to $500 to support his or her research activities. Activities may include (but are not limited to) the purchase of research equipment or supplies; registration and travel expenses for conference presentations; travel to libraries or archives; and videography costs associated with the documentation of performances.

One former winner shares their story on how they used their SURE funding to study the intersection of science and religion here.

The application includes:

  1. Statement of Purpose
  2. Proposed Budget detailing how the funds will be used
  3. GW Faculty Statement of support

The possibilities are endless, but the deadline to apply funding (to be used this fall, spring 2021, or summer 2021) is Friday, October 9th. If you have questions, please reach out to bcrayton@gwu.edu.

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