How Did You Spend Your Summer Vacation? SUMMER DOESN’T MEAN DOWNTIME FOR WESTMINSTER’S STUDENTS, FACULTY BY ELIZABETH FONTAINE HILDEBRAND ’92 with THOMAS E. FIELDS ’14 AND MEGAN SIMPSON ’19
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t’s a common misconception that when classes end in May and all the final grades have been tallied and submitted, students close their books and faculty members lock up their offices, both not to be opened again until September. The reality is that learning and teaching don’t take a summer hiatus. There is a lot of collaborating, learning, experimenting and teaching happening during the dog days of summer. Many students use the three-month period to participate in internships or research opportunities, while faculty members use their “summer vacation” to prepare for fall courses, conduct scholarly research either independently or with students, write, mentor students, and attend academic conferences. While there may be some lazy hammock days and fun-in-the-sun adventures, many students and faculty members agree that their scholarship work doesn’t end with the close of the academic calendar year. “Hands-on opportunities in the summer are a great way for our students to continue to develop as professionals, to build their skill sets and to enhance their resumes,” said Dr. Helen Boylan, professor of chemistry.
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SUMMER RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES Summer research projects give students—and faculty members—the opportunity to have immersive research experiences that might not be possible during the school year. Through the Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research’s inaugural Summer Research Fellowship Program, six students and their faculty mentors were given an opportunity to conduct research on-campus over the summer months. From the mathematics and sciences disciplines, senior mathematics major Trevor Arrigoni and Dr. Natacha Fontez Merz, associate professor of mathematics, collaborated on a project entitled “Generalizing the Pill Problem.” Senior neuroscience major Bridget Herlihy and Dr. Deanne Buffalari, assistant professor of psychology, conducted research testing the effects of ethanol and methylphenidate on fear memory. Christina Robb, a senior chemistry major, and Dr. Jessica Sarver, associate professor of chemistry, researched the curvature effects on membrane binding of a protein using spectroscopy at the Saxena lab at the University of Pittsburgh. And senior biochemistry major Tristan Toca and Dr. Erin Wilson, associate professor of chemistry, studied how UV
