When Christopher Clay '96 is not learning ikebana, the art of flower arrangement, from his Japanese host mother, he is surveying the attitudes of Japanese students at Toin Gakuen High School in Yokohama, Japan.
"I'm writing a survey in Japanese at the local high school to test their attitudes on U.S.-Japan relations and Japan's role in the new world order," Clay said yesterday in a telephone interview from Japan.
Clay is one of 14 students in the Class of 1996 who received grants this year from the Freshman Office to pursue summer research projects. Grant stipends vary with the maximum award being $1,000.
The idea for freshmen summer research grants originated with Dean of Freshmen Diana Beaudoin, who said there was a real absence of special academic opportunities for first-year students when she first came to the College.
The idea languished for several years, but with the cooperative efforts of the Freshman Office, the Office of Dean of Students and the President's Office and funding from the Hewlett Foundation, the program started last year with the Class of 1995.
"For students who have some clearly identified research interest, this is a good opportunity to test their interests," Beaudoin said.
Beaudoin praised the program, saying that she thought it gave first-year students the opportunity to work closely with professors and to take themselves and their ideas seriously.
"I think the opportunity for these young people to see themselves as serious young scholars is what I like about it," Beaudoin said.
For Tara Callahan '96, who is studying the perceptions of women displaced from their work in the defense industry after World War II by advertising propaganda, the project may lead to more extensive research.
"I was really excited to get the grant and the opportunity to do this," Callahan said in a telephone interview from Madison, Conn. "It may branch out and I might write a senior thesis about this."
Callahan said she got her idea from a paper she did for her freshmen seminar. This summer she wanted to further her interest in the topic by doing more primary research. She is currently trying to contact women through ads in the local papers and through senior citizen homes in Connecticut.
Freshmen were asked to submit research proposals to the Freshmen Office last term. Then a committee of faculty, administrators and students were asked to recommend recipients, Beaudoin said. A total of $9,500 was distributed this year to students.
After the summer term, grant recipients will be asked to write final reports and to make oral presentations about their research conclusions.
Grant recipients in the past have been asked by professors who acted as their supervisors to speak in classes or at special receptions, Beaudoin said.
Even though the first-year projects require a serious commitment, it does not need to become a long-term pursuit, Beaudoin said. "It has the potential to become an upper-level pursuit, or major, or thesis for some students, but you don't have to have a long term commitment."
Last year, six members of the Class of 1995 were selected as grant recipients and a total of $4,000 was awarded.
Gretchen Freeman '95, researched low-level nuclear waste last summer in South Carolina and Washington.
"I really enjoyed the chance to explore something I started back in my Environmental Studies 3 class. It was something right in my backyard that I really had an interest in. It broadened my perspective on local environment issues and how I could affect change at home," Freeman said.
Even though the increases in funding and the number of participants in the last two years seem to indicate the first-year summer research project's success, Beaudoin attributes the expansion to other factors.
"We're seeing a lot of interest [in the research project] but that may be because this year students were given a more reasonable time period to respond. Last year, students were given two and a half weeks during finals to submit proposals," Beaudoin said.
