The Summer Research Fellowship program provides undergraduates with the opportunity to study in a wide variety of disciplines while doing intensive and self-directed research or creative work under the supervision of a faculty mentor. While this year's Summer Research Fellowships look a bit different due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the UK Office of Undergraduate Research is excited to spotlight our 31 Summer Research Fellows!
Q: How did you first get interested in undergraduate research at UK?
A: "I first got interested in undergraduate research at UK by taking a graduate course that Dr. Bartilow taught as it was fueled by research by scholars in the field. Instead of simply discussing theory we also discussed research techniques and the importance of supporting your theory."
Q: How long have you been engaged in undergraduate research?
A: "I have been engaged in undergraduate research for 1.5 years."
Q: Describe what a typical day of remote summer research activity looks like for you. How does this differ from your pre-COVID research activity?
A: "A typical day of remote summer research looks like a lot of time spent at my laptop. Reading journal articles, writing up my research paper, and running statistical models are what my research consists of. This fortunately doesn’t differ from my pre-COVID research activity."
Q: What has been the most exciting aspect of your research so far?
A: "The most exciting aspect of my research so far was creating a theory of my own based on all the research that I’ve read."
Q: What advice would you give to other UK students thinking about doing research?
A: "Don’t be afraid to ask your professor on any research that you would be willing to work on. They’re there to help you and they love mentoring students."
Q: How did you first get interested in undergraduate research at UK?
A: "I was invited to do research into playscape design with Professor Lindsey Fay."
Q: How long have you been engaged in undergraduate research?
A: "A little over one year."
Q: Describe what a typical day of remote summer research activity looks like for you. How does this differ from your pre-COVID research activity?
A: "My research this summer focuses on the design of green spaces and community spaces in urban settings with a focus on European cities and American cities. In a typical day of focused research I spend time using digital resources to understand precedents and existing case studies relating urban design and green urban spaces. I also spend time mapping and visually analyzing those findings for a greater design understanding and presentation. Pre-COVID, my research involved more frequent visits to physical sites and data gathering methods such as taking photographs, observing user interaction within spaces, and sketching design features of the space. I also coordinated more interviews relating to user experience and professional expertise pre-COVID."
Q: What has been the most exciting aspect of your research so far?
A: "Trying to adapt my research focus to engage with evolving issues such as COVID-19 and social issues has made my research experience this summer somewhat tumultuous but also very interesting and exciting."
Q: What advice would you give to other UK students thinking about doing research?
A: "Undergrad is a great time to explore topics that interest you in a supportive and structured manner. It is a great experience and will enrich your other studies as well as providing you with great experience and deeper knowledge. It is also exciting to be able to contribute to new ideas in your field."
Q: How did you first get interested in undergraduate research at UK?
A: "My sister recommended it to me and I talked with my research mentor about it and decided to apply."
Q: How long have you been engaged in undergraduate research?
A: "I've been doing undergraduate research since 2019 at the start of my freshman year."
Q: Describe what a typical day of remote summer research activity looks like for you. How does this differ from your pre-COVID research activity?
A: "A typical day of remote summer research looks like using different platforms to identify the subsections of phosphoglucan-water-dikinase using tools such as the Phyre2 engine to predict protein structure and using the blast database to identify similar proteins to phosphoglucan-water-dikinase. In addition, it also involves reading different pre-existing publications to build up knowledge on what's known about this enzyme. This differs from pre-COVID research as it does not involve the expression and purification of proteins with crystallization trials that I was doing previously. "
Q: What has been the most exciting aspect of your research so far?
A: "The most exciting part of my research so far is identifying the different domains of the enzyme I'm studying. It's fascinating to identify and describe the domains a protein and seeking to understand their functions."
Q: What advice would you give to other UK students thinking about doing research?
A: "The advice I would give to other UK students thinking about doing research would be to research something you are passionate about and not be afraid to fail. Research in my experience has been a collaborative effort, and I've built a lot of independence as a result of great mentorship. I definitely think students of all majors can benefit from doing research."
Q: How did you first get interested in undergraduate research at UK?
A: "I knew from the start that I wanted to go to grad school, and I learned that being involved in research would help prepare me for that. I also knew that I wanted to conduct my own research at some point because of a study I participated in when I was in high school, so participating in research as an undergrad would help prepare me for that as well."
Q: How long have you been engaged in undergraduate research?
A: "I started in the FAD lab the fall semester of my sophomore year."
Q: Describe what a typical day of remote summer research activity looks like for you. How does this differ from your pre-COVID research activity?
A: "Typically, I will spend time looking through the data set I am working with to create a code book that will be used in my senior thesis project. The only way this differs from pre-COVID is that our team meetings are on Zoom instead of in person."
Q: What has been the most exciting aspect of your research so far?
A: "The most exciting aspect has been creating a research question that I have an interest in and knowing that I am getting a head start on what will become a full fledged, (hopefully) publishable paper by this time next year."
Q: What advice would you give to other UK students thinking about doing research?
A: "Do it! It has helped me become a stronger academic in terms of time management, leadership, creative thinking, and so much more."
Q: How did you first get interested in undergraduate research at UK?
A: "Dr. Haglund was looking for undergraduate research assistants to help with her research and I thought her project was really interesting so I applied. "
Q: How long have you been engaged in undergraduate research?
A: "Three semesters."
Q: Describe what a typical day of remote summer research activity looks like for you. How does this differ from your pre-COVID research activity?
A: "My typical day of remote research includes me on my laptop, editing a Qualtrics survey and reading more background information for my project. It really doesn't look that much different that it would have without COVID. "
Q: What has been the most exciting aspect of your research so far?
A: "Finding the right wording for each condition has been the most exciting aspect so far. Participants in my project are given a vignette, so it's been a challenge to make sure each condition gets the point across without being leading or too obvious. When I finally do find the right wording it's very rewarding. "
Q: What advice would you give to other UK students thinking about doing research?
A: "I would tell any UK student who is interested in doing research to talk to their professors and to not be afraid of asking to participate in research. Professors will never know you're interested if you don't express interest."
