Every summer, top undergraduate students at Saint Mary’s win the opportunity to do paid research with professors in their fields.
While the necessary campus closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic means that this summer will be a unique experience even for returning award students, important research work will continue as planned. With some ingenuity, work can and will happen online, and teams can work virtually – not just on campus, in the field, or in labs! A total of 34 awards were granted from a pool of more than 200 applicants. These are 12 or 16-week terms, and each student has been approved by a supervising faculty member.
This year there are four award programs that students were eligible for:
· Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Undergraduate Student
Research Awards (NSERC USRA);
· Dean of Science Undergraduate Summer Research Awards
· Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Explore Summer Research Awards; and,
· First Year Undergraduate Awards
USRA awards, open to Canadian students who have completed at least a year of a bachelor’s degree, are meant to help students develop their potential for a research career in the natural sciences and engineering.
SSHRC Explore awards are open to students studying social sciences and humanities. With these two award programs that are supported by our federal funding councils, combined with the Dean of Science and First Year awards, all Saint Mary’s University students, Canadian and international, have an opportunity to apply for summer research award positions, even after their first year of study.
We note that this year, for the first time, we have also awarded one special joint Science and Sobey School of Business Deans Undergraduate Summer Research Award. We are also in the process of finalizing a partnership between our First Year Undergraduate Awards and a just-launched summer student research training program from Mitacs, a national not-for-profit organization that designs and delivers research and training programs across Canada.
“Saint Mary’s University has a long history of engaging undergraduate students with the research efforts of our faculty, and these experiences are a transformational positive experience for every student that has the opportunity,” said Dr. Adam Sarty, Associate Vice-President, Research and Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research.
“The one-on-one attention from our faculty members and teamwork with peers is a perfect complement to an undergraduate degree, and provides an exceptionally strong foundation for career entry, or future professional/graduate studies,” said Dr. Sarty.
Congratulations to the award winners, and best wishes for a successful, productive summer.
The successful candidates are:
NSERC-USRA
Kathleen (Maiti) McGrath – Astrophysics
Sophia Waddell – Astrophysics
Morgan (Lindsay) MacDonald – Biology
Terrell Roulston – Biology
Patrick White – Biology
Mackenzie Zinck – Biology
Kaleigh McLeod – Chemistry
Tanisha Ballard – Chemistry
Logan Cox – Chemistry
Jacob Hoard – Chemistry
Seamus MacInness – Computing Science
Evan Farrell – Computing Science
Tanaka Akiyama – Engineering
Sahana Kanabar – Environmental Science
Cameron Power – Environmental Science/Physics
Conor Waterfield – Subatomic Physics
Dean’s Awards
Jennifer McArthur – Psychology
Humaid Muhammad Agowun – Math/Computing Science
Adina Gherman – Psychology
Abigail Battson – Astrophysics
Nicola Augustin – Biology
Samantha Bennett – Environmental Science
First Year Undergraduate Award
Bethany Leal – Political Science (Arts)
Jakob Conrad – Astrophysics (Science)
Mayara Mejri – Biology (Science)
Jacqueline Shaw – Psychology (Science)
Aquilya Smith – Accounting (Business)
SSHRC Awards
Shanley Weston – Business
Khoi Anh (Ayden) Pham – Arts
Andres Guardia – Arts
Katheryn Lewis – Arts
Jacob LeBlanc – Business
Yingjun Chen – Arts
Laura Eamon – Business