Undergraduate Research at Aresty Symposium and Poster Session
Rutgers undergraduates have many opportunities to do original research with senior faculty members, as early as their first and second years of study. Students are often connected with faculty members through programs at the Aresty Research Center for Undergraduates, which also supports many of these projects financially. 
Ankit Shah, “Alcohol Consumption and Stress Response in the Absence of Osteocalcin”; and Muhammad Shahid, “Osteocalcin and Response to Stress” with Patricia Buckendahl, assistant research professor at the Center of Alcohol Studies. Nearly 9,000 scientific papers have been written about osteocalcin, a protein made by bone cells, since it was discovered in 1975, but scientists still don’t know exactly what it does. In two separate studies, Shah and Shahid, both seniors headed for medical school, each discovered that mice missing the gene responsible for the synthesis of osteocalcin do not respond to stress as well as mice that have the gene.
Sarah Dziamba, "Myth and Mystery: The Capitoline Medusa," with Tod A. Marder, professor of art history. The unsigned Medusa sculpture has been attributed to the 17th-century artist Gianlorenzo Bernini, but this has been disputed. Dziamba analyzed the Medusa myth from Ovid to Bernini's time, researched scholarly sources on the bust and traveled to Rome to examine the Medusa and other contemporary works. Her senior honors thesis in art history concludes that it is plausible to attribute the work to Bernini and that it was meant to instruct the viewer against sin and other moral weaknesses.
Allison Cronk, “White Slavery: Exploitation or Myth? A New Narrative of European Immigrant Prostitutes in Early Twentieth Century New York City.” Working with History Professor Virginia Yans on her senior thesis for the Henry Rutgers Scholars and History Honors programs, Cronk examined deportation records in Washington, D.C., and discovered that immigrant prostitutes expelled under white slavery reform and laws during the early 20th century were not victims of an international trade ring. They had been portrayed as such by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and contemporary reformers, but Cronk concluded that they were willing participants in the massive migration of European workers to the United States who came to earn a living.
Kaitlyn Gengarelly, “Locally Grown Foods at Rutgers University: A Pilot Program for Neilson Dining Hall” with Andrew Pleasant, assistant professor of human ecology; and Kevin L. Lyons, director of purchasing for Rutgers-New Brunswick. The goal of the study was to design a local farm-to-college program to support the farming economy of the Garden State without adding costs to Rutgers. Gengarelly, a senior, conducted in-depth interviews and research at other universities to evaluate their methods in similar programs as well as benefits and barriers they encountered. She hopes her research will contribute to the growing movement toward eating locally grown food.
Matthew Cortland, “Relationship Formation in Drum and Bugle Corps” with Professor Jennifer S. Mandelbaum, associate professor at the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies. Cortland, a first-year student, took his love of theMadison Scouts, a highly competitive, national drum and bugle corps in which he is assistant drum major, and turned it into a communication research project. Using anthropological research techniques, he will film a pair of seat partners, one from Miami and one from St. Louis, on the Madison Scouts tour bus this summer, to explore what communication techniques they use in building a family-like bond.
Aresty scholar and senior Robert Comito, along with senior Jennifer van Saders, have been named Barry M. Goldwater Scholars, an award that recognizes outstanding academic achievement in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. Comito and van Saders were selected for this prestigious award based, in part, on their undergraduate research. For information click here.