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 27th. 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.
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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.”
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”.
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.”