During the winter interim period, Ezra Toback ’14 roamed Tokyo and its surroundings, interviewing priests and collecting materials at over 15 sacred sites. Toback’s travels, funded by the College’s office of undergraduate advising and research, formed an integral part of his Asian and Middle Eastern studies thesis, which looks at the ways in which Japanese shrines and temples market themselves to members of various socioeconomic classes.
For Toback and others who conducted fieldwork for their honors theses over break, the six-week interim provided time to focus on research away from the daily bustle of campus. Students’ main source of funding was the office of undergraduate advising and research, which finances research across disciplines. Of the 42 student research grants that students received in the fall, 25 supported seniors working on honors theses, according to director of undergraduate advising and research Margaret Funnell. Among the seniors receiving grants, 14 planned to use them during the interim.
Each receiving up to $2,000 in funding, students traveled as far as Brazil, Tanzania, England and South Korea. The grant selection process examines how much the student’s advisor supports his or her research as well as the project’s feasibility, Funnell said. The 42 students who received grants were selected from a pool of 48 applicants.
In Miami, Jessica Womack ’14 investigated connections between the work of four Cuban artists and the acceptance of black people in the early 20th century. Although Womack initially intended to do her research in Cuba for her thesis in art history, the government shutdown this fall prevented her from obtaining the necessary travel clearance.
Regardless, she said her trip to Miami was a success, and noted the depth of available resources.
“I was there at a really good time,” Womack said. “People in Miami were looking toward the artists that I wanted to look at.”
The length of the interim was ideal, said Womack, as she was able to see her family, do research and decompress.
The College funded Womack’s trip, as well as another to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic last year, through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, which aims to raise minority representation in academia by increasing the diversity of students pursuing doctoral degrees.
The Rockefeller Center also gave money to seniors for interim research. This fall, the center provided 12 seniors with amounts ranging from $250 to $1,000, according to professor Ronald Shaiko. Subject-specific sources of funding include the Institute for Arctic Studies and the Leslie Center for the Humanities, as well as individual academic departments.
Louis Wheatley ’14 also took time over interim to conduct research for his history thesis. Funding from undergraduate advising and research allowed him to travel to Buenos Aires and Los Angeles, where he studied themes of motherhood in anti-war movements. He discovered that organizations such as Another Mother for Peace and Madres de Plaza de Mayo avoided allegations of being anti-patriotic by embracing themes of motherhood.
While Wheatley had not originally planned to travel over the break, he said it was a productive trip.
“It ultimately kept me focused on my thesis and pushed me to keep moving forward with my research and writing during the long break,” Wheatley said.
Katie Gougelet ’14, who also received a grant from the office of undergraduate advising and research, traveled to Montgomery, W. Va., to do research for her environmental studies thesis. Through interviews with residents, Gougelet investigated health disparities present in communities affected by mountaintop removal mining. She compared their experiences to existing studies that examine the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining.
Her interim research followed a term of research in Hanover, in preparation for the trip. Gougelet anticipates continuing this work after graduation.
“If you spend a year learning about an issue, going into these communities and talking to these people,” she said, “you have a certain obligation to continue to work with them.”
This article has been updated to reflect the following correction:
Correction appended: January 7, 2014
The original version of the article mischaracterized Gougelet's work, which compares the experiences of Montgomery, Va., residents to medical studies, not to fiction and the media. It has been revised to correct the error.
