Students Team with Faculty on Research to Improve Life in Garden State

Doing research that benefits the citizens and businesses of New Jersey is an important part of the university’s mission, a lesson not lost on students participating in the Aresty Research Center for Undergraduates.

At this year’s seventh annual Aresty Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 29, presenters will discuss projects on a myriad of topics, including several that address the well-being of residents in communities close to Rutgers' campuses.

The student research covers such concerns as helping people with asthma breathe easier, cutting household energy use, and examining policies that affect how immigrants live and work in New Jersey’s municipalities.

Begun in 2004, the Aresty research program gives students the opportunity to learn research principles and techniques, and then proceed to conduct their own research under the mentorship of a faculty member. The program is named for the late Jerome Aresty, a Rutgers alumnus, and his wife, Lorraine, who provided initial funding.

The 420 students presenting their results during this year’s symposium in the Livingston Student Center testify to the popularity of the program and its importance as an undergraduate offering.

Greg Jackson, interim director of the Aresty Center, cheerfully acknowledges the program’s growth but says it’s just as important to expand the type of students who enroll.  “We want to continue increasing our disciplinary diversity,” said Jackson, who is also an associate professor of English in the School of Arts and Sciences. “The Aresty structure originally seemed more geared toward science, because lab work fit the paradigm we set up. Now faculty from a range of disciplines – the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities – are thinking outside the box, imagining how they might incorporate Aresty research assistants in their research programs. That’s the way we’d like to keep growing.”

While undergraduate students have always been able to do independent research by making arrangements with professors on their own, the Aresty program provides a formal multi-year structure that includes funding and peer mentorship. Toward the end of their first year at Rutgers, students apply to work as research assistants in their sophomore year. In this role, a participating professor mentors them closely in the principles and techniques of research. Then during their remaining undergraduate terms, they conduct defined research projects based on student interest and mentor expertise.

“Usually, the student projects splinter off of the professor’s research,” said Jackson. “The professor says, ‘I wish we knew how this enzyme worked in this situation, but that’s outside the purview of my experiment,’ and the student says, ‘Well, what if I find out?’”

Students also find the program to be valuable preparation for graduate school, because the gain insight and experience in the tasks that go along with research, such as lab operations and grant writing.

Following are profiles of some Aresty student projects that involve New Jersey people, communities, and businesses.

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Rutgers sophomore Shivani Shah has been working with Paul Lehrer, professor of psychiatry at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, helping to enroll patients in a long-term study investigating whether biofeedback techniques could be an effective treatment for asthma. Aresty’s partnership with the medical school dates from 2006. Read the story

 

Rutgers sophomore Amanda Cannella is working with Robyn Rodriguez, assistant sociology professor at the School of Arts and Sciences, examining how local communities – including her hometown of Morristown – became involved in what has become a heated national debate on immigration reform. Read the story

 

Rutgers sophomore Zachary Smith is teaming up with Gretchen Chapman, psychology professor at the  School of Arts and Sciences, to find out whether homeowners who receive immediate feedback when they turn on electrical appliances in their homes are more apt to make the responsible choice and conserve. Read the story