CURCA Steering Committee

Cheryl Buff

Professor of Marketing
Director, Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity
Colbeth Hall 222
(518)783-4277 
Cbuff@siena.edu  

Scott Foster                                                         Alison Larsen

Assistant Professor of Creative Arts                        Serials Librarian

Foy Hall 306                                                            Standish Library

(518)782-6891                                                        (518)782-6765

sfoster@siena.edu                                                  alarsen@siena.edu                               

Larry Medsker                                                     Alfredo Medina

Professor of Computer Science & Physics               Associate VPPA
Roger Bacon 121                                                     Siena Hall 219

(518)782-6593                                                         (518)782-6558

lmedsker@siena.edu                                               amedina@siena.edu

Ashley Provencher                                            Rachel Sterne-Marr

Assistant Professor of Economics                            Professor of Biology 

Colbeth Hall 120                                                       Morrell Science Centher 123

(518)783-4144                                                         (518)783-2462

aprovencher@siena.edu                                          sternemarr@siena.edu

Meg Woolbright                               

Director of FYSM, Professor of English
Kiernan Hall 218

(518)782-6593                                            

mwoolbright@siena.edu

CURCA Quick Notes: August

- CURCA is aware of over 500 student presentations of research and creative activity on campus  (AY 2012-2013).  Includes departmental colloquia and symposia, conferences, Academic Excellence Celebration, and First Year Seminar research presentations.

- CURCA is aware of over 100 student presentations of research and creative activity off campus (AY 2012-2013).  This includes local, regional, national and international conferences.

CURCA News.

- Students and Faculty: Please forward student presentation and publication information to curca@siena.edu .

- Faculty - Do you have a project to post?  Accepting research opportunity postings now.  

- Five students presented at NCUR in April 2012.

EVENTS

Summer Research Symposium

Friday, September 27, 2013

Location: Sarazen Student Union

Time: 3:00 - 5:00 PM

Proposals accepted beginning July 25th

All Submissions Due by September 4th

Submit Proposal Here

For More Information Click Here

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Upstate Regional Undergraduate Research Conference

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Location: St. Lawrence University

Time: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Registration Due by: August 12th

For More Information Click Here

CURCA QR Codes

QR codes are located on the CURCA website under Travel and Research Resources. Please consider using them on your research posters and presentations. To go to the CURCA QR Code page scan the QR code on the left or click here.

CURCA Welcomes Liz Ives '13

CURCA is pleased to welcome Elizabeth Ives. Liz will provide administrative support for all CURCA programs and initiatives. She will host CURCA “drop-in” hours, designed to inform students about research and creative activity opportunities, conference options, and publication venues. Further, she will assist students with travel arrangements and expenditure reimbursement.

Liz Ives '13

CURCA "Drop-in Hours with Liz

Siena Hall 219

Monday & Wednesday: 2:00AM - 3:30PM

Thursday: 10:00AM - 11:30PM

*Additional hours available by appointment

Email: eives@siena.edu

Office Phone: (518)782-5845

CURCA Director's Office - Colbeth 222

"Drop-in" Hours

Tuesday & Wednesday 10:00AM - 12:00PM

*Additional hours available by appointment

To see the full newsletter visit the CURCAnews Webpage.

School of Business Feature: Mary Hartwick '15

     Undergraduate research is more than case studies, experiments, and research; it is an experience. Mary Hartwick is continually reminded of this as she works closely with Dr. Paul Thurston researching the recent merge of Gilda’s Club and the American Cancer Society in the Capital Region. Mary is in the process of writing a case study, which she hopes to get published, about the merger of these two companies. Her case study will include the challenges nonprofits face with developing their sustainable revenue sources that help in their efforts to accomplish the mission of the organization. She hopes that her case study can be used by both students in strategic management classes as well as leaders of other nonprofit organizations. Previously, Mary worked on a different case with Dr. Thurston that studied Mother Myrick’s  Confectionary which has been accepted into the NACRA conference in Victoria, British Columbia this fall. To Mary, undergraduate research has been a learning experience. Throughout her experience she has learned how to conduct interviews, sift through archival data, take enormous amounts of information and write case studies out of it, and how to get case studies published. She also learned how to go through the proper channels in non-profit organizations to get the information she needs. According to Mary, “Undergraduate research is a valuable experience because it allows you to gain experience in a field that you might want to pursue after college and it allows you to gain connections in that field, or come into contact with people that can help you get to the field you want to be in”.

American Cancer Society photo is from www.dbqfoundation.org

Gilda's Club Photo is from: www.angelasbridal.net

To see the full newsletter visit the CURCAnews Webpage.

School of Liberal Arts Feature: Francis Butler '15

     This summer Francis Butler assisted Dr. Bruce Eelman, Associate Professor of History, on his book project concerning mob violence in response to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln was assassinated, riots occurred throughout the nation as supporters of Lincoln sought to punish those who spoke out against the former President during the war or those who celebrated his assassination. The team researched where they happened, who was involved, and what other reasons provoked the riots. Francis hopes to continue his research with Dr. Eelman during the school year and thinks they could have a paper written in time for the New York State Historical Association (NYSHA) conference in 2014. Francis finds the research process to be rewarding because it allows him to explore and ask and answer his own questions about the American Civil War in a hands-on way. In his research he was able to deeply investigate the lives of the people in which he was studying. Francis discovered that finding a reliable source is a challenge while completing historical research. He occasionally had to research the author of the newspaper article he was reading to decipher the bias behind the article. Francis recently presented in the 2013 NYSHA Conference with his paper titled “To Bleed for a Higher Cause: The Excelsior Brigade and the Civil War.”

 Lincoln Assassination Picture from commons.wikimedia.org

     He found it to be a great experience because he was able to collaborate with several prominent scholars in the field of the Civil War Era Studies. He also made connections with scholars who agreed to help him as he undertakes his capstone experience. When speaking of his undergraduate research experience Francis said, “It allowed me to actually do what historians do and experience learning in a dynamic and unique way where I had agency over my work. I think that if more Siena students participated in undergraduate research it would allow them to develop their skills as research and thinkers and enable them to begin working in their desired field before graduation. I think this experience will be invaluable for me as I go on to graduate school and my career after graduation.”

To see the full newsletter visit the CURCAnews Webpage.

Accepted for Publication: Francesca Romano '14

     In the summer of 2012, I participated in the Summer Scholars Program at Siena working as a research assistant for Dr. Bannon.  Our project examined the results of Dr. David Vella’s article, “Explicit Formulas for Bernoulli and Euler Numbers,” and extended the formulas in Vella’s article to the multivariable setting. At the end of the project, I wrote an article reporting the results of my summer research, titled “More Explicit Formulas for Bernoulli and Euler Numbers,” which was recently accepted for publication to Involve, a refereed journal of mathematics.

     This past summer, I participated in the Summer Mathematics Institute at Cornell University. I spent eight weeks at Cornell taking an advanced undergraduate course in abstract algebra, participating in daily project sessions geared towards encouraging mathematics research, and attending daily lectures from guest speakers. I was able to meet and talk with the guest speakers over dinner, many of whom are well-known in the mathematics community. The SMI program gave me the opportunity to network with professionals in my field, fine-tune my scientific writing skills, and experience the rigorous demands of graduate school.

-Francesca Romano '14

For the full newsletter visit the CURCAnews Website.

School of Science Feature: Danielle Berish '14

     Undergraduate research has brought Danielle Berish experiences that she would not have otherwise had. During the Summer Danielle studied the decay of the top quark using the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with Dr. Matthew Bellis. The LHC is the world’s largest particle accelerator that is located at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN). In the LHC, proton beams are accelerated to high energies and then collide at one of the four particle detectors located around the accelerator, like CMS.

     Danielle has been given the opportunity to be part of an analysis group that consists of undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctorals, and professors across New York. The goal of the group is to measure the likelihood that a top-antitop pair will result from a proton-proton collision. Danielle plans to present her research on campus at the Summer Scholars Research Symposium on September 27^th. She also hopes to present her research off campus at the April 2014 meeting of the American Physical Society. The analysis group Danielle is working with hopes to get a paper published when they are done with their research. Working with the group on a worldwide experiment, Danielle has learned many problem solving methods and material that she would have not learned in the classroom. It has also helped her discover what she wants to do after she graduates from Siena.

     Danielle believes that “students should pursue undergraduate research and creative activity because it is a great learning experience. There are several benefits to research and I strongly believe that it creates linkage to major field concepts, careers, graduate school and the like. It gives students the opportunity to see what is happening in their field first hand. It gives them an idea of what is out there after undergrad at Siena College and it gives them a chance to try out several things so that they can decide what they want to do.”

To see the full newsletter visit the CURCAnews Webpage.