Every summer, about 100 Puget Sound students take advantage of the opportunity to get involved in research鈥攅ither in science and math, or in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
They work with a faculty member in the spring to craft a proposal and then, if the proposal is approved, they spend 10 weeks working full time on their projects, supported by research funding and a stipend to cover living expenses. Here, we spotlight seven of the students who took on research projects last summer.
Study: Dog Behavior
Devin Anderson 鈥22 spent the summer feeding dogs for science.
Anderson worked with Erin Colbert-White, associate professor of psychology, on a project to understand how humans influence dogs鈥攁nd the extent to which humans鈥 behavior can make a dog override its own judgment.
Study: Methane Mysteries
Clarissa Troutman 鈥22 has spent a lot of time on the Puget Sound, hanging out with friends, but last summer she made repeated visits there for a different purpose: to collect seawater for her undergraduate research project. Troutman has been working with Oscar Sosa, assistant professor of biology, to better understand the unaccounted-for biological sources of methane in the ocean.
Study: Bee Brains
On the rooftop of Thompson Hall, Adam Schmidt 鈥23 emerges in a white jumpsuit, a wide-brimmed hat with a mesh face veil, and thick protective gloves. Carefully, he approaches the hive, a 5-foot-tall stack of wooden boxes located behind a greenhouse near the roof鈥檚 edge. Schmidt, a molecular and cellular biology major, isn鈥檛 interested in these bees for their honey鈥攈e wants to study their brains in an attempt to understand the progression of neurodegenerative diseases in humans.
Study: Xenophobia
Soon after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the U.S., Allie Highsmith 鈥22 started hearing people call it the 鈥渢he China virus,鈥 the 鈥渒ung flu,鈥 and other xenophobic names. As a double major in Chinese language and culture and sociology and anthropology, Highsmith wanted to study how people cope with anti-Asian sentiment during the pandemic. Soon after she submitted her summer research proposal, a gunman killed six Asian women in Atlanta, bringing the subject of hate crimes directed at East Asian Americans into the national spotlight. In the wake of that tragedy and related news, Highsmith felt compelled to study how East Asian American experiences in the U.S. have changed as a result of pandemic-related racism and xenophobia.
Study: Crafting a Novel
As a first-year student in Ann Putnam鈥檚 Introduction to Creative Writing course, English major Daniel Pollock 鈥22 was given an assignment to write about a memory he thought he had forgotten. Not only had the memory he chose stayed with him, but three years later, it would inspire an independent research project exploring identity and belonging, and help Pollock reshape the narrative of his own life.
Study: Classroom Safety
Ruthy McBride 鈥22 is studying a topic that鈥檚 controversial in the education community: the role of police in schools.
McBride, a politics and government major and African American studies and economics minor, grew up in Los Angeles, where police had a significant presence in the schools. 鈥淵ou have it in these very small ways in elementary and middle school, and then I went to a giant high school that was majority Latinx. Backpack checks were a normal thing, random locker checks. Sometimes they鈥檇 bring in a drug-sniffing dog to go through the halls and sniff the lockers.鈥 McBride, who suffers from migraines, needed to keep a doctor鈥檚 note in her backpack along with her bottle of Excedrin, or else she risked a reprimand or even detention.
Study: Courtly Love
Books and movies often portray medieval Europe as a highly regimented, theologically conservative society marked by strict gender roles and a total absence of queer people, but according to history major Chloe Shankland 鈥23, that view isn鈥檛 accurate. While few sources exist, literature from the period hints at a vibrant world of nonheteronormative art and culture.
