Three StFX students who spent the summer exploring their own research projects as recipients of StFX’s University Council for Research (UCR) award say the experience opened up many opportunities and career paths for them and helped them gain valuable skills.
Kristen Marshall, Alexandra Beaton and Victoria Tweedie-Pitre, each received $8,000 in UCR funding, awarded for undergraduate student research across all disciplines. The awards support 14 weeks of research employment for students to carry out their projects under the supervision and mentorship of a faculty member.
“I have always been interested in research, and this award gave me the opportunity to further explore the field while working on a project that is of interest to me. I was able to develop a variety of skills that will be very useful in the future as I continue my honours research and pursue further academic endeavours after the completion of my undergraduate degree at StFX,” says Kristen Marshall, a fourth year human kinetics student from Whitby, ON, who conducted a scoping review investigating the use of extended reality as a training tool in sport officials.
Her supervisor is Dr. Sebastian Harenberg.
“The goal of this project was to identify gaps in the literature as well potential methods to include in the feasibility study I will be conducting as a part of my honours thesis this year,” she says.
Ms. Marshall says the experience exposed her to new aspects of research that broadened her understanding of the field as a whole and has increased her interest in conducting more research in future.
“I am very grateful for the support and guidance I received from my supervisor Dr. Harenberg and his PhD student Maggie Nieto who made this experience both enjoyable and extremely valuable.”
OPENED OPPORTUNITY, CAREER PATHS
“This was such a great opportunity for me. Coming out of my second year at StFX, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my degree. This opportunity has opened me up to further opportunities and career paths that I could follow,” says Alexandra Beaton, a third year human nutrition student from Mabou, Cape Breton, who is supervised by Dr. Marcia English.
Ms. Beaton says she was able to learn and reproduce the necessary lab procedures needed for food science research such as protein extraction from bean flours as well as conducting a Bradford's Assay. “I was also able to gain a working knowledge of various lab equipment. I researched food product development by participating in sensory panels for new products, as well as conducting labs to create new test models of these foods. I also researched nutraceuticals and learned more about functional foods, such as blueberries, and their role in people's health.”
She says the experience has allowed her to see how many different things she could do after her undergraduate degree, and as she continues to work with Dr. English, the list continues to grow.
“I appreciate this opportunity especially because I have also been able to go to my supervisor as a mentor when looking into what I want to do in the future.
“This experience has opened me up to a whole area of the nutrition field that I had not even thought to consider before partaking in summer research. This has led me to the opportunity to gain work during the school year along with other research assistants. I have also been able to consider doing an honours thesis, which will allow me to further my education to graduate school if I so choose it. I continue to gain a new perspective on the nutrition field from this research experience, which will impact my future career decisions.”
Victoria Tweedie-Pitre, worked with supervisor Dr. Russell Wyeth, on a research project, “Peripheral Neuroanatomy of the Pond Snail Lymnaea stagnalsis Revealed by in situ Hybridization Chain Reaction Labelling.”
