The flagship program of Occidental's 本科生研究中心 offers students an opportunity to conduct paid research in close collaboration with professors. 今年’s topics run the gamut from totalitarianism in 阿根廷 to vaccine efficacy 和 a recently uncovered Liszt manuscript.
Francesca Rodoni ’24 still finds it “surreal” when she is holding the original manuscripts penned by 19th-century Hungarian composer 和 piano virtuoso Franz Liszt. 今年夏天， 音乐学 和 经济学 太平洋大学的专业, 加州, 正在调查这两份手稿是如何来到十大正规网赌平台的.
2018年，学院的 特殊的集合 uncovered the manuscripts—intermediate drafts marked up with red 和 blue pencil—in a box of miscellaneous letters 和 documents. 附有亨廷顿图书馆馆长的信, 写于六月十二日, 1942, 证明这些手稿确实是李斯特写的. The manuscripts have been dated to 1874-75, but their provenance is a mystery.
Rodoni和她的合作者，音乐副教授 大卫Kasunic，正在调查这个案子.
“We’re piecing together bits of evidence to create a path of these manuscripts from Weimar Germany, 李斯特当时在哪里教书和写作, 去氧,罗多尼说. 到目前为止，她已经在亨廷顿图书馆查看了一些旧信件, ordered scans of manuscripts 和 letters from the New York Public 图书馆, 仔细阅读19世纪的报纸.
碎片, 双腔工程, 和李斯特最著名的作品有很大不同吗, 和 part of this research is analyzing how they fit into his repertoire overall.
“The works are really cool bits of 历史 和 show his progression as a composer,罗多尼说. “他真的在他们身上试验调性.”
Rodoni 和 Kasunic meet twice a week to discuss progress 和 plot their investigations. 卡苏尼奇给了她创作内容的帮助, 她说, 还有关于如何做这类研究的指导.
“This is my first time conducting research at this scale, so I’m a newbie. 但他真的让我觉得我能做到.”
向本科生介绍学术研究
西方的 暑期研究计划 (SRP)，是协会的年度活动 本科生研究中心 (URC)，允许合格的学生进行资助的研究. 今年, more than 100 undergraduates are conducting research in a variety of fields, 包括生物学, 音乐, 化学, 心理学, 历史, 社会学和其他.
参与者在6月和7月进行为期10周的研究体验, 在此期间，他们密切合作 指导老师 设计和实施他们的项目. 学生 attend a weekly workshop series where they can present their research progress 和 receive feedback. This series 和 other planned events also help create a sense of community.
在节目的最后, 学生们在大学科学研究委员会的夏季研究会议上展示他们的研究成果, 哪个是对整个社区开放的. The August 2 event gives students the chance to share their hard work with peers, 教职员工和更广泛的社区.
Oxy是一个如此重要的研究机构. 人们看到“文理学院”就会忘记这一点. 提醒他们是件好事. ——francesca Rodoni(24岁
今年的SRP学员还包括19人 研究早期访问计划 (收获)研究员. 收获, 向所有对STEM学科感兴趣的大二学生开放, 在夏季提供学习奖励和校内住房补贴.
“Oxy是一个如此重要的研究机构. 人们看到“文理学院”就会忘记这一点,罗多尼说. “提醒他们是件好事.”
她强调了SRP在奥施康定这样的小型学院的特殊意义, where students have so much access to their professors 和 h和s-on research opportunities.
“除了奥施康定，我在任何地方都无法做到这一点，真的. 这里的一切都很方便.”
创造一个观察政治运动的镜头
内特·伦德斯特伦，25岁, 厄巴纳-香槟的本地人, 伊利诺斯州, developed an interest in Latin American politics as a high school student living in Chile while his father was on sabbatical there. 作为一个 外交 & 世界事务 和 西班牙语 在Oxy主修, his coursework got him more specifically interested in political 和 cultural movements in Latin America.
今年夏天, Lundstrom is researching the ideological underpinnings of fascism in 阿根廷 和 Italy, 与指导老师和外交教授合作 & 世界事务 Movindri Reddy.
“Both countries have had pretty rough histories of human rights abuses with [fascist dictators] Jorge Rafael Videla 和 Benito Mussolini,伦德斯特罗姆说. “现在他们处于一种过渡性的现代背景下. 在这两个国家, authoritarian tendencies 和 fascism are kind of a dark underbelly that doesn’t really get discussed in contemporary politics.”
他今年夏天的研究主要是文献综述, 在布宜诺斯艾利斯进行案例研究和国际研究, 阿根廷, 他今年秋天要去哪里留学. 他希望明年夏天在意大利做研究 青年学生资助 . 所有这些工作都将通知他 比较高级 项目.
Lundstrom 和 Reddy meet for an hour or two each week to discuss seminal readings like 极权主义的起源 汉娜·阿伦特和 监狱的笔记本 安东尼奥·葛兰西.
“Professor Reddy has been such a great adviser because she’s reading things along with me 和 then we discuss them together,伦德斯特罗姆说. “It’s been really helpful to have someone who’s an expert to bounce ideas off each other after reading the same thing.”
在实验室中发展专业知识
Alyssa Rodriguez, 24岁，a 生物学 Santa Clarita的专业, 加州, 谁想成为一名儿科医生, 知道她本科想做研究. “One of the reasons I wanted to come 去氧 was to work directly with faculty,” 她说.
She took an interest in the research of one of her professors, Professor of 生物学 罗伯塔·波洛克他找到她，想要参与进来. 她在大三的秋天开始在波洛克的实验室工作, 在春季通过自然资源研究中心做过研究吗, 顺利过渡到暑期研究项目.
今年夏天, Rodriguez 和 her fellow student researchers—including two 收获 fellows—come to the lab every day 和 work alongside Pollock 和 Resident Assistant Professor of 生物学 凯伦Molinder. They are determining the effectiveness of a vaccine for horses against the disease pigeon fever, 哪一种是由细菌引起的 棒状杆菌属伪. The researchers are using mouse models to test the effectiveness of different vaccines.
It’s exciting to be able to do things on my own 和 learn new techniques that I wouldn’t have had time for with classes during the semester. ——艾莉莎·罗德里格斯(24岁
The researchers check the mice daily to monitor their overall health 和 response to the bacteria. Rodriguez has also been working to detect the presence of certain proteins in different blood samples from horses that have been previously infected with C. 伪. She analyzes the differences in infection types 和 assesses antibody response. 整个小组每周开会一次，汇报他们的进展.
“The best thing about the experience is feeling much more comfortable doing a lot of the lab techniques,罗德里格斯说. “It’s exciting to be able to do things on my own 和 learn new techniques that I wouldn’t have had time for with classes during the semester.”
“It’s also really fun to work together 和 share ideas with other students who have similar goals.”
