Category: SRS Round 1 (January 2024)

Soviet and Russian Propaganda (Prof. Anna Brodsky)

3 students are sought for a project on “Soviet and Russian Propaganda ” with Prof. Anna Brodsky that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

I plan to embark on a book-length project examining the history of Russian propaganda. The project aims to explore how both Soviet and contemporary Russian propaganda systematically targets individuals’ sense of agency and autonomy, reducing them to pawns in the overarching agenda of the ruling elite to seize and maintain power. I will argue that the contemporary ultranationalist and imperialist Russian propaganda owes a significant debt to its Soviet predecessor.

Prerequisites

Some knowledge of Russian

Special Comments

Students are required to have completed at least one course in Russian literature or history by this summer.

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 3

Contact Information: Prof. Anna Brodsky (brodskya@wlu.edu)

Demand Side Management and Renewable Intermittency. (Prof. Joseph Guse)

2 students are sought for a project on “Demand Side Management and Renewable Intermittency.” with Prof. Joseph Guse that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

The transition from carbon-based fuels to renewable energy sources may help society avoid the worst outcomes of climate change. One of the most exciting developments in the past decade is the steep decline in the cost of producing wind and solar power. However, renewable sources (aside from hydro) are intermittent. Therefore, actually using this power to displace coal, oil and gas is challenging. Supply side management options (storage, natural gas peaker plants, new transmission lines) will undoubtedly contribute to a solution. However, such options tend to be expensive. Another approach is to incentive consumers to adjust the timing of their electricity demand in order to better match when the sun shines or when the wind blows. For this project, we consider various demand-side incentive mechanisms and work toward an estimate of the impact on the industry, on electric utility customers and on GHG emissions.

Prerequisites

No.

Special Comments

This is a new avenue of research for me, so I cannot say how much time students will spend on specific tasks. However, an ideal candidate would (1) be eager to learn about this topic area (2) be good at reading and summarizing academic articles and technical documents (3) have good organizational skills and (4) have a strong interest in data collection, cleaning and analysis.

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 2

Contact Information: Prof. Joseph Guse (gusej@wlu.edu)

Creating a new documentary series on compassion in six dimensions (Prof. Stephanie Sandberg)

3 students are sought for a project on “Creating a new documentary series on compassion in six dimensions” with Prof. Stephanie Sandberg that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 8 weeks

Project Description:

At the heart of every thriving society lies an often-underestimated quality: compassion. The Compassion Project endeavors to shift the fundamentals of our societal paradigm, advocating for embedding compassion-based training at pivotal moments in human life. Recognizing the profound impact of early socialization, this initiative emphasizes the need to introduce compassion training at the inception of a child’s educational journey. This childhood foundation is bolstered in adolescence, as middle and high school curriculums are enriched with teachings of empathy and understanding. As individuals continue their path, being a compassionate bystander becomes essential, serving as a bulwark against violence and hate. For those who have faced the brunt of violence, retraining through compassion-driven practices offers a beacon of hope. Moreover, reimagining economics through a lens of compassion ensures our interactions in trade and commerce are grounded in ethics. Finally, as we approach our final years, the Compassion Project stresses the significance of end-of-life practices that recognize and treat individuals as holistic beings, ensuring dignity and respect in the most vulnerable times. The foundational belief of the Compassion Project is the time-honored principle of the golden rule. This universal tenet, which encourages treating others as one would wish to be treated, echoes in the scriptures and teachings of world religions. From the Torah of Judaism to the Analects of Confucianism, from the Bible in Christianity to the Qur’an in Islam, and from the sutras of Buddhism to countless other spiritual texts, the golden rule emerges as a consistent guide. Such a universally accepted belief forms a robust cornerstone for the Compassion Project, emphasizing that compassion is not merely an altruistic ideal but an inherent human value that transcends geographical, cultural, and religious boundaries. To communicate the power and hope of compassion, the Compassion Project seeks to produce a series of six evocative short documentary films. Each film is set to explore a different facet of compassion-driven practices across various spheres of our culture. The films will capture tangible examples of the transformative power of compassion in many spheres of public and private life. These films will serve as both a testament and a toolkit by showcasing real-world scenarios where compassion-based approaches have changed lives. The hope is that viewers will be inspired to incorporate these practices into their lives as they engage with these narratives. In doing so, we can collectively weave a fabric of empathy and understanding, constructing a society that values the well-being and dignity of every individual, from cradle to grave. We will work as a team to create this film series with several Virginia Filmmakers, summer research students at W&L, and AIM students. This first summer will be the research and proof of concept development phase

Prerequisites

No prerequisites, although if the students have any film skills, that would be an added benefit, but I am happy to teach you what you need.

Special Comments

Because I am primarily a playwright and filmmaker in terms of my creative work and scholarship, this project directly fulfills that vocational calling. Bringing students into that work is always a goal, and in this case, students will have the opportunity to be on the ground floor of the film’s development. I am very interested in our student’s ideas in relation to compassion and how to solve our world’s problems through compassion-based training

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 7/26/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 4

Contact Information: Prof. Stephanie Sandberg (sandbergs@wlu.edu)

Digital Approaches to W&L History (Profs. Mackenzie Brooks and Paula Kiser)

3 students are sought for a project on “Digital Approaches to W&L History” with Prof. Mackenzie Brooks that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

Leyburn Library seeks students interested in institutional history research opportunities for the summer of 2024. Working collaboratively, the Library and W&L students have begun building research portals and digital exhibits on major themes in the history of W&L. This work involves digging into archival material in Special Collections, processing it to make it available digitally, and interpreting the material for a public audience. This summer we will be focusing on the topics of Athletics, Environment Grounds & Buildings, Military life & Veterans (post-WWII), Latino, Latinas history & presence, Native American history & presence, and/or Scotch-Irish Founders. Students will gain experience in library and archival research skills, specifically digitization, metadata, digital exhibit creation, oral histories, digital scholarship, and public history. Students interested in careers in libraries/information science, cultural heritage, public history, museums, education, or creative fields are encouraged to apply.

Prerequisites

No prerequisites, but coursework in History or DCI or research experience in Special Collections is valuable.

Special Comments

Students will be expected to serve as mentors for AIM program. Due to the hands-on nature of working with archival material, students should plan to be in Lexington for the duration of their summer research time.

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 3

Contact Information: Profs. Mackenzie Brooks (brooksm@wlu.edu) and Paula Kiser (kiserp@wlu.edu)

Bioremediation of Emerging Contaminants (Prof. Margaret Anne Hinkle)

3 students are sought for a project on “Bioremediation of Emerging Contaminants” with Prof. Margaret Anne Hinkle that will begin on 6/17/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

Using both biomineralizing fungi as well as the resulting biominerals, we aim to continue our work on coal mine drainage remediation and apply these same principles to rare earth elements sequestration or PFAS remediation, depending on student interest and site availability.

Prerequisites

None!

Special Comments

The research will definitely involve lab work and may involve field work in Pennsylvania depending on site availability and student interest. We will be applying for funds to support a trip to the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. to analyze our samples with their excellent instrumentation.

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/17/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/23/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 3

Contact Information: Prof. Margaret Anne Hinkle (hinklem@wlu.edu)

Linguistic Cues and Emotion Perceptions (Prof. Holly Shablack)

2 students are sought for a project on “Linguistic Cues and Emotion Perceptions” with Prof. Holly Shablack that will begin on 6/1/2024 and last for 8 weeks

Project Description:

The Language and Affective Science Lab will be recruiting for two specific projects. Project one: Prior research suggests that multilingual individuals may adjust their emotion perceptions depending on the context that they are in and language that they are speaking. This study aims to extend this literature beyond emotion perception to examine how individual experience and regulate emotions. Participants will view various visual and auditory stimuli that is meant to induce emotions and will assess individuals self-reported experience of emotions, reactions, and subsequent regulation strategies. Importantly we will manipulate the language that the study is completed in and assess whether individuals’ reactions and regulatory patterns differ based on the language that they complete the study in. Research assistants will be expected to help finalized study design, stimuli, and be involved in data cleanup and analysis. Project two: The second proposed study examines the impact of gender and emotion stereotypes on emotion perception. Prior work suggests that emotion stereotypes influence how we perceive emotions both in others and ourselves. However, much of this work is older and may not reflect current patterns of behavior amongst newer generations, nor does it assess what information is necessary for individuals to access and be influenced by these stereotypes. This project will assess whether manipulating one feature of language may lead to specific emotion perception judgments in a cross-sectional design.

Prerequisites

Familiarity or interest: – in using R for statistical analysis – psychological research and study design – Qualtrics – gaining skills in academic writing

Special Comments

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/1/2024

Estimated End Date: 7/26/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 2

Contact Information: Prof. Holly Shablack (hshablack@wlu.edu)

Modernizing Economics Education (Prof. James Casey)

1 student is sought for a project on “Modernizing Economics Education” with Prof. James Casey that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

Professor Goldsmith and I plan to work on three papers, which are part of our research initiative – “Modernizing Economics Education” – during the summer of 2024. • “Rethinking Public Policy with an Eye Towards Meaningful Work” • “Modelling ESG: Opening the Door of Student Understanding for a Key Topic in Finance Education” • “Monetary Policy in the Age of AI: A Delicate Balancing Act” SRS will participate in virtually every aspect of the research process, which includes: • Development and articulation of research questions. • Collection of relevant literature. • Discussion and critique of current scholarly work. • Development of relevant formal models to address our research questions. • Analysis using the formal models constructed. • Collection and analysis of data to evaluate hypotheses derived from our analysis of various developments using the formal models we develop. • Create a manuscript outline covering; the importance of our work, how it is carried out, what we find, and how it alters the state of knowledge in this area. • Preparation of a slide show to facilitate presentation of the new scholarship. • Contributing to research talks using the slide show they construct. • Discussion of the feedback received, and how to revise work accordingly. • Assist in revision of the manuscript and the slide show – learning persistence. • How to submit research for review including cover letter preparation. • Strategically thinking about what research is next in light of what was learned.

Prerequisites

Economics 100 or the equivalent.

Special Comments

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 1

Contact Information: Prof. James Casey (caseyj@wlu.edu)

Sex Work and Politics in the Postwar Era (Prof. Sarah Horowitz)

2 students are sought for a project on “Sex Work and Politics in the Postwar Era” with Prof. Sarah Horowitz that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

I am looking for two student researchers to work with me on a project on sex work and politics in the postwar era. The overall project looks at the emergence of sex-worker activism in the 1970s in France and potentially in the US and UK. I am also interested in the discussions and debates on sex work at this time and how they became ways to express anxieties about race, immigration, women’s mobility, and loosening sexual morality. One student will be researching the secondary literature on sex work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and the related campaigns against trafficking. The second will be researching the contemporary social science and legal scholarship on sex work and human trafficking. These are both large scholarly literatures and provide an essential background to my project. The three of us will come together weekly to discuss what we are working on, what we have found, and how we can weave together the different strands of research in which we are engaging. The students will also be writing annotated bibliographies and at the end of the summer will turn in literature reviews summarizing key points of consensus or disagreement among scholars.

Prerequisites

Students should have taken at least one 200 level class in European history.

Special Comments

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 2

Contact Information: Prof. Sarah Horowitz (horowitzs@wlu.edu)

March Madness and Higher Education Donations (Prof. Joey Smith)

2 students are sought for a project on “March Madness and Higher Education Donations” with Prof. Joey Smith that will begin on 6/1/2024 and last for 10 weeks

Project Description:

We are looking for 2 summer researchers to help read prior research, gather data, and perform statistical analysis in order to advance 2 different projects toward publication. The first involves “March Madness” (Men’s Division I Tournament) where we anticipate adding to our existing data set more variables in an attempt to better model best strategies of picking one’s bracket. The second involves gathering data on fundraising efforts by universities in relation to budget surpluses or deficits that they exhibit. Note that we don’t know exactly where we as a research team will be on June 1 when the summer researcher will start but anticipate being in the thick of things on both projects.

Prerequisites

Knowledge of statistics and regression would be helpful but is not a pre-requisite.

Special Comments

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/1/2024

Estimated End Date: 8/9/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 2

Contact Information: Prof. Joey Smith (jsmith3@wlu.edu)

Understanding Groundwater Arsenic Contamination through Geochemical Reactive Transport Modeling (Prof. MADHUMITA CHAKRABORTY)

2 students are sought for a project on “Understanding Groundwater Arsenic Contamination through Geochemical Reactive Transport Modeling ” with Prof. MADHUMITA CHAKRABORTY that will begin on 6/3/2024 and last for 8 weeks

Project Description:

Arsenic, a naturally occurring heavy metal found in the earth’s crust, poses a substantial public health risk when concentrated in groundwater due to natural geochemical processes such as leaching from rocks and sediments. This issue affects millions of people globally, with severe health consequences, including skin disorders and cancers. Reported as the most severe case of arsenic poisoning globally, the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River Delta, the world’s largest delta spanning eastern India and Bangladesh, is grappling with this alarming health crisis. Arsenic in the delta’s groundwater results from complex geochemical reactions through water-sediment interaction along groundwater flow paths, leading to its liberation from delta sediments alongside other solutes. Despite extensive scientific attention on arsenic contamination in the region, a comprehensive understanding of the varied geochemical reactions driving arsenic mobilization remains elusive. Recognizing this gap, our proposed project aims to contribute towards that direction. The project’s core objective is to delineate and quantify potential geochemical reactions occurring along groundwater flow paths in the Ganges delta, to comprehend the spatial variations in hydrogeochemical environments and arsenic contamination Leveraging one-dimensional (1D) reactive transport modeling, we will simulate chemical reactions and transport processes for various dissolved solutes in the groundwater of the Ganges delta. By systematically characterizing these processes, our project seeks to lay the groundwork for effective mitigation strategies and contribute to the broader scientific understanding of arsenic contamination in complex deltaic environments.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites. But, a demonstrated interest in engaging in software-based modeling experience is preferred.

Special Comments

The project will involve 8 weeks of laboratory work, mostly focused on using computer programs. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me; I’m here to help!

Project Information

Estimated Start Date: 6/3/2024

Estimated End Date: 7/26/2024

Maximum number of students sought: 2

Contact Information: Prof. MADHUMITA CHAKRABORTY (mchakraborty@wlu.edu)