Student Research Partners Program
Geared toward incoming first-year students, this program pairs a student with a faculty mentor to work on a project related to the faculty member's research or creative area. Students gain hands-on experience with scholarship in a specific field, and may elect to continue during their sophomore year. Participation is selective, based on high academic achievement. Students are expected to work a maximum of 7 hours per week; a stipend of $800 is provided as compensation for this work.
In the 2011-2012 academic year, 15 SRP projects are available in the following areas:
- Anthropology/Sociology
- Art and Art History
- Chemistry (3 projects)
- Communication Studies (4 projects)
- Geology (3 projects)
- Modern Languages and Culture
- Physical Education
- Psychology
To apply for one of these positions, please download the 
application form , fill it out and return to either Renee Kreger (KC 4686) or Dr. Vanessa McCaffrey (KC Chemistry) by September 9, 2011.
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Dr. Brad Chase Archaeology
Project: My research explores the economic, political, and social organization of the Indus Civilization (2600-1900 BC), one of the world’s first literate, urban civilizations located in the modern countries of India and Pakistan. One of my recent areas of investigation has been the identification and analysis of animal bones from archaeological sites in the region: Were the people hunters, farmers, or both? What species of animal were they raising or hunting? Were different economic or ethnic communities eating different foods? Did these patterns change through time with the emergence and collapse of urban civilization?
Responsibilities: The research partner will assist in the preparation of illustrations of animal bones for use in journal articles as well as for a comprehensive animal bone identification manual in the initial stages of preparation. Most of the work will involve using Illustrator and Photoshop to develop drawings from photographs.
Qualifications: The most important qualities that I am looking for is an ability to work independently, confidence with technology, and a willingness to learn new skills. While some artistic ability and familiarity with Photoshop and Illustrator would be nice skills, they are not necessary to begin—you will develop them!
Associate Professor Gary Wahl, Hosting an Augmented Reality Sculpture Competition in Victory Park in the spring of 2012.
Project Description: Augmented Reality uses technology to blend live data with computer generated imagery. In this case digital 3D-sculpture will be located on a Layar application. These will be viewable from a smart phone or similar device. The viewer will hold up the device and walk through the park to reveal the sculpture. In order to fully view each work, the viewer will need to physically walk around the the grounds and tilt the device up and down to find the limits. We anticipate 18 to 24 individual pieces.
Student Responsibilities: For the student the project will essentially come down to event planning. I expect entries from around the world. The student will also make arrangements for a week long residency for a technical consultant to design the competition and host workshops.
Student Qualifications: The ideal student should have an interest in some combination of the following art, technology, business and event planning.
1) Dr. Andrew N. French Organic Chemistry, Synthesis and Reaction Methodology
Description: Control of the chirality (handedness) of organic molecules is one of the greatest synthetic challenges facing organic chemists. Hypervalent iodine reagents are known to add to carbon-carbon double bonds to give functionally useful compounds. Our lab is interested in making chiral (or handed) variants of hypervalent iodine compounds and testing them as new reagents. The reaction products of these reagents are useful starting materials used in the pharmaceutical industry.
Student Responsibilities: The student research partner will be responsible for assisting Dr. French and upper level students in the synthesis of new reagents. They are expected to participate the operation of the laboratory by learning and performing basic organic laboratory techniques including literature searching, extractions, chromatography, air sensitive reaction preps, and clean up.
Student Qualifications: The student should possess good communication skills, be proficient with a computer, and be self-motivated. Completion of high school chemistry is necessary, AP Chemistry preferred. An interest in Chemistry is also desired. Their schedule should allow for working on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
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2) Dr. Andrew N. French Organic Chemistry, Isolation of bioactive compounds from nature
Description: Working in collaboration with a Junior Albion Student we wish to isolate the anticancer agent Podophyllotoxin from plant materials found in the Whitehouse Nature Center. Podophyllotoxin is a potent drug used in the treatment of a number of Solid tumors. Recent reports indicate that it can be found in Mayapple leaves in as higha concentration as 4%. We wish to carry out the isolation of this drug from natural sources, purify it and fully characterize it.
Student Responsibilities: The student research partner will be responsible for assisting Dr. French and upper level students in the isolation of this compound. They are expected to participate the operation of the laboratory by learning and performing basic organic laboratory techniques including literature searching, extractions, chromatography, air-sensitive reaction preps, and clean up.
Student Qualifications: The student should possess good communication skills, be proficient with a computer, and be self-motivated. Completion of high school chemistry is necessary, AP Chemistry preferred. An interest in Chemistry is also desired. Their schedule should allow for working on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
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3) Dr. Vanessa McCaffrey, Organic Chemistry Research
Description: I am interested in magnetism and how you can modulate magnetic strength in small transition metal complexes. In order to make sure that the metals are in the correct position relative to each other, we use organic molecules to coordinate them in place. I am looking for students to help synthesize the organic molecules that are used in the synthesis of vanadium and manganese containing complexes.
Student Responsibilities: The student research partner will be responsible for assisting Dr. McCaffrey and upper level students in the synthesis of new reagents. They are expected to participate the operation of the laboratory by learning and performing basic organic laboratory techniques including literature searching, extractions, chromatography, air sensitive reaction preps, and clean up.
Student Qualifications: The student should possess have curiosity and not be afraid to try new things. The student should also have good communication skills, both written and oral. While chemistry in high school is preferred, it is not required. Their schedule should allow for working on Tuesday and/or Thursday afternoons.
1) Andy Boyan, Communication Media Research
Description: People demonstrate varied reactions to moral violations in sports. Some see cheating, while others see strategic fouling. Factors that explain this difference are explored and a method to test several competing hypotheses is applied.
Student Responsibilities: The student will primarily assist in editing video and audio for stimulus materials. A student with video/audio editing experience would be preferred. The student will also assist in entering and cleaning data. The student will be responsible for keeping the paper surveys organized and labeled.
Student Qualifications: some experience editing video and/or audio on computer software programs, ability to work with minimal supervision, basic understanding of Excel or similar spreadsheet program.
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2) Dr. Jeremy Osborn, Project 1: The “Dark Side” of the Social Network
Research Type: Communication and Social Media
Description: For this project I will be content analyzing data from focus groups in which students were asked about their use of Facebook in romantic relationship development and deterioration. I will specifically be looking at the negative aspects of Facebook, such as its role in creating relational uncertainty. The initial goal is a manuscript for submission to the International Communication Association Conference in Phoenix next May, with a follow-up quantitative study designed around the findings of the initial qualitative analysis.
Responsibilities: The student would be working on finding supporting article for the literature review initially and would eventually (depending on ability) be trained to code the focus groups.
Qualifications: The main thing I need is someone with an interest in communication research. I can train them on the basics of everything else.
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3) Dr. Jeremy Osborn, Project 2: Male Body Image and the Influence of the Media
Research Type: Communication, Media Effects, Health/Nutrition/Etc.
Description: This is an area I have not yet had a chance to begin researching, but I am very interested in it and have several books on the subject. I listed it here because I think it is a subject some students may be interested in and could get started on a lit review and some specific research questions if I had some assistance.
Responsibilities: Searching for articles and summarizing info from books.
Qualifications: Motivation.
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4) Dr. Yuxia Qian, Multitasking in the Classroom
Project: Multitasking in the Classroom
Description: multitasking is a prevalent phenomenon in the era of new technology. This project aims to apply communication theories to exploring the factors leading to the tendency of electronic multitasking in the classroom.
Responsibilities: the student will be expected to search for relevant articles in this area and write summaries, to help conduct focus group interviews, and organize paper surveys.
Qualifications: Good writing, summarizing and communication skills; Ability to search for relevant literature; Well-organized; Interest in this topic.
1) Drs. Tim and Beth Lincoln,
We would like a research partner to spend time working with us on three research projects.
One project is a fluid inclusion study of the metamorphic rocks from the Black Hills. When minerals grow from water, it is surprisingly common for some of that water to become trapped in the growing mineral. On cooling, single fluid phases separate into gas and liquid phases...small bubbles appear in the inclusions, and solid crystals may form. Information about conditions prevailing during mineral growth is preserved in these fluid inclusions. Experiments, conducted on special microscope stage, include heating the inclusion until it homogenizes (which gives information on conditions of entrapment) and cooling it (which gives information on its chemistry). Work will include cutting and polishing wafers to study, and conducting heating/freezing studies.
Another, related project is analysis of a suite of metamorphosed ancient volcanic rocks from the Black Hills. Chemical analysis helps us "see through" metamorphism, and a goal is to compare the compositions of these rocks to those of modern volcanic rocks from a variety of settings. Work will entail sample preparation, cutting, and grinding rocks, and preparing thin sections of rocks using equipment in the geology shop. Work will also including preparing fused glass disks for x-ray analysis of samples, and data analysis.
A third project will be to support ongoing studies of nutrient geochemistry of the Kalamazoo River. This will include assisting in developing a technique to quantitatively analyze suspended sediment filtered from the river using x-ray fluorescence by testing a variety of filtration techniques and preparing a set of analytical standards. We also will continue an ongoing program of sampling the river to monitor levels of nutrients throughout the seasons. Students will collect samples and learn to analyze them using the College's ion chromatograph.
Throughout the year, students will be asked to work on each of these projects, and will thus learn a variety of analytical techniques, used in several branches of geology. We will teach the specialized skills that are needed, but students must be prepared for aspects of sample preparation, instrument operation and record keeping which require care.
SPANISH
Dr. Kalen R. Oswald 20th-Century Spain
Description: I am currently working on a series of projects that require investigation of cultural artifacts of 20th-century Spain and their role in important phenomena such as the urban development of Spanish cities, the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, the development of non-Catholic religion in Spain, and immigration to Spain.
Responsibilities: The student research partner would investigate primary and secondary sources dealing with the aforementioned phenomena of 20th-century Spain; organize and file articles, stories, poems and books; browse and/or read texts in English and Spanish; create an annotated bibliography; and preview and summarize visual and audio materials from Spain.
Qualifications: The student should possess strong communication and writing skills in English and very strong reading skills in English and Spanish. S/he should be an organized, responsible and motivated person who has genuine interest in the country of Spain and the Spanish language.
Dr. Tom Johnson Research Assistant for Campus Wellness
Description: This student will help research other campus wellness, (State and Country) programs looking for positive behavior outcomes, unique and fun. Work with the faculty member to develop programs for Albion College Wellness. Part of this assignment will be to help find out if the programs are making a difference in the lives of the Campus Community (collecting data). In addition this student will help develop the electronic evaluation of programs.
Responsibilities: Research worksite Health/Fitness programs, develop health related programs that are interesting to the greater Albion Community and can be evaluated. Input and analysis collected data.
Qualifications: Above average computer skills, likes people, creative, adaptable, most important is passionate about Health and Fitness.
Dr. W. Jeff Wilson Behavioral Neuroscience
Description: My lab examines behavior and its neural correlates in earthworms. Our primary interest is the extent to which learning occurs in these organisms. We are currently preparing behavioral chambers and electronic devices that will facilitate this research. Upper-level students are conducting studies of escape and avoidance learning in the earthworms. The goal for the next year is to develop a Pavlovian conditioning procedure that will allow the measurement of both behavioral and neural conditioned responses.
Student Responsibilities: The Student Research Partner (SRP) will assist upper-level students or me in behavioral studies. Duties might involve caring for the worm colony, collecting worms from the colony for research, conducting behavioral studies with the worms (under the supervision of me or the upper-level students), or otherwise helping as needed.
In addition, some electronic equipment will be built over the next semester. An SRP with prior experience in electronics could help solder components to circuit boards and test the resulting devices.
Student Qualifications: The student should possess a deep curiosity about nature and a willingness to learn. Responsibility, thoughtfulness, and a love of problem-solving are required, as is respect for living creatures. Student must be willing to handle earthworms. An ability to solder would be nice, but is not required.
