DAN SEARS ’ 74
past two years. Recent graduate Madeline
Walter ’07, for example, used a grant to
write and stage a play, Mary Brigit Poppleton is Writing a Memoir, which was presented at last summer’s New York International Fringe Festival (related story, page 50).
Another dramatic arts student used two
grants to develop theater projects in the
East African nation of Malawi.
Coble says she reminds dramatic arts students early and often about the existence of
the grants program. “It really does show students that they’re not up against the brick
wall of a department’s economy,” Coble said.
A $3,000 SURF grant sent Trettin, a
senior from Mount Pleasant, S.C., even farther east. Trettin, who is majoring in history
and international studies with an Asian
studies minor, traveled to Moscow two
summers ago to research Russia’s wetlands
policy. Trettin said that experience was
instrumental in helping him return to Russia to intern at the U.S. Embassy’s Office of
Environment, Science and Technology last
summer. The grant gave him practical
exposure to grant writing and field
research, coupled with “the confidence to
jump into these open-ended projects.”
Bold step outside the box
It’s the very open-endedness of research
that can prey on confidence and pose problems for even the best undergraduates.
Accustomed to the clear goals and easily
measured progress of coursework, they can
get bogged down in the vagaries of research.
“When they do homework, they’re
solving a problem that’s been solved 10,000
times before,” Superfine said. “They know
there’s a solution. There’s a different psychology. Research isn’t like that. It’s really
tough on them.”
For that reason, Superfine finds that
grades aren’t always a good predictor of
laboratory success. Instead, he said, “one of
the things we are most concerned with is
initiative and a sense of boldness.”
In that environment, Lauren Hartle has
thrived. The senior physics major from
Charlotte has worked in Superfine’s lab
since December 2005 and embraces what
she calls the “seat-of-the-pants” nature of
research. At the same time, she appreciates
the fact that respect in the lab is doled out
based on ideas and initiative rather than age
or academic standing.
“It’s a totally reasonable expectation for
Patricia Pukkila
an undergraduate to make a significant
impact,” Hartle said. “It was really cool for
me to gain standing in the group.”
Hartle also got a chance to try on a
future career: She calls her foray into
undergraduate research part of a “survey,” a
test of whether scientific research might be
the career for her. The answer, for her, is a
tentative yes. But after his research experience, Philip Howard, the senior statistics
major from Elon, decided to go in a different direction.
Howard, who worked with Michael
Falvo ’ 94 (MS, ’ 97 PhD), a research associate professor in the physics department,
found plenty to like about his research. His
project, he said, “was something that no
one else has worked on before. It was new
territory. There wasn’t a textbook answer.”
In the end, however, Howard found that
lab work wasn’t for him. He found it too
repetitive and the gratification too delayed.
Instead of pursuing a career in academic
research, he has decided to become an actuary. But he notes that ruling something out
is just as useful as ruling it in.“I’ll never
have to look back and wonder and think, ‘I
never explored that side of things.’”
