A number of presentations incorporarated research that was conducted partially or wholly as part of their study abroad experience.
Several presentations at this year’s Spring Undergraduate Research Forum highlighted projects which incorporated study abroad. Junior Grant Fisher presented Healthy Mouths Promote Healthy Bodies at the morning poster session. Fisher’s research took place during his independent experience in Burundi. Fisher, who plans to attend dental school, introduced the relatively low-cost practices of brushing and flossing to children as a means to prevent costly interventions for serious medical conditions as a result of poor oral hygiene. Fisher’s experience in Burundi was partially funded by the Bruns Endowment for International Service Learning.
Senior Emily Kane presented Personal and Community Impacts of the Ghanaian Cocoa Trade. Kane’s interest in the subject began during her semester at the University of Ghana in Spring 2011. She returned to Ghana in Summer 2012 to conduct interviews with cocoa farmers in three different villages. Senior Anna McCracken who also studied at the University of Ghana in Spring 2011 presented Chinese Development Initiatives in Ghana from 1961-2011.
Seniors Ashton Coats, Michael Pappano, and Amy Kenney presentated on immigrant identity, globalization and French wine, and presidential discourse on immigration. Each drew on their experiences abroad in France. During his time studying in Paris in Fall 2012, Pappano researched changing trends in wine production and consumption. His research included interviews with French blogger and author Olivier Magny. Kenney’s analysis of differences between French and US presidential candidates’ views on immigration drew on her being present in France, and then the US, for overlapping election cycles in the two countries in 2012.
Senior Sarah George presented research on the study abroad experience itself. George, who had studied in Greece for Winter Term 2011 and at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in Spring 2012, presented Perspectives from Students Studying Abroad: Firsthand Accounts of Experiential Transformative Learning. George’s research included a three-part longitudinal study of semester study abroad students and then a focus-group of returned study abroad students. George worked closely with Dr. Thomas Arcaro and the students in his WT 2013 course that focused on the experience of returning from Study Abroad.