| SIS symposium highlights range, quality of student research BY MATT GETTY Cable TV’s impact on Buddhism, the role of women in Hamas, China’s one-child policy, and the role of the Internet in sub-Saharan Africa all took center stage last week at the SIS Undergraduate Research Symposium. And that was only the tip of the iceberg. With 28 students presenting research on six panels ranging from “Ethnic Conflict and Terrorism” to “Development and Democracy,” the nine-year-old annual event boasted a diversity of subjects that, as associate dean Phil Brenner put it, “could rival many professional conferences.” 
Photo by Bill Petros
From left: Jessica Rocher, Katie Moser, Zachary Silverman, Caitlin Crawford, Adam DiClemente, and SIS associate dean Phil Brenner According to SIS professor Nanette Levinson, who launched the annual symposium in 1998, that diversity wasn’t the only thing that could rival a professional symposium. “This is cutting-edge original research,” said Levinson, highlighting the work of two of her own students, Lauren Jacobs and Adam Clemente. Both Clemente’s research into African governments’ use of the Internet and Jacobs’s study of the media’s impact on international conflict, she noted, charted new territory. “These are not your old-fashioned term papers,” she said of SIS undergraduate scholarship. Despite the professional caliber of their research, however, many of the presenters were first-timers. In part, organizers explained, the symposium aims to give students their first glimpse of research’s purpose beyond the classroom. “They get to see their work in a larger context,” said Brenner. “It’s a big leap from just seeing yourself as a student doing exercises for a grade.” That was the case for Jacobs, a junior international relations major who spoke on how real-time news coverage of intrastate conflicts impacts third-party intervention. “It really makes you see how what you’re doing in class here matters beyond the class,” she said of the work she began for an introduction to international relations course but continued beyond the original assignment. “It’s exciting to share something I’ve done with an audience that was interested in the issue. It makes me want to do more research like this.” Similarly, Irene Kaushansky, who presented “T.V. and Buddhism: Comfortable Bedfellows in the Kingdom of Bhutan,” saw the symposium as valuable practice. “It’s an important opportunity to learn how to talk about your writing in an academic setting,” said the international relations major who will begin pursuing her master’s degree next fall. Like the research, the planning and coordination for the symposium were a student affair. Since its beginning, Levinson explained, though the conference has been managed in partnership between the SIS dean’s office and the SIS Undergraduate Council, “students have done almost all the work, and they’ve done it very professionally.” This year Katherine Baldwin ’06 worked with Brenner, who characterized himself as “a nominal supervisor,” and Lee Schwentker, who provided logistical support, to put on the event. “This was her show,” said Brenner. “She got other students excited about it. In previous years, sometimes it took a faculty member to help recruit presenters, but this year it was really all her vision.” Working with other students on the SIS Undergraduate Council, Baldwin put out the call for abstracts, reviewed submissions, and recruited moderators over the last several weeks. Having participated in the symposium twice, she saw the extra work as worthwhile. “It’s a great opportunity not only for the presenters, but also for the students who attend,” she explained. “It’s a chance for us to learn about the world from each other.” Michael Loadenthal, who presented “The Expanding Roles for Women in Hamas” agreed. “I didn’t know that [fellow panelists Sonya Hetrick, Helen Hubbard-Davis, Sarah Marek, Blair Mersinger, and Sharon Marek] were doing work that was complementary to my own,” said the peace and conflict resolution and gender studies double major who argued that Hamas needs to be understood as a broad social movement rather than solely as a terror organization. “This was one of the only times I got to see research before it reached the published level . . . and it’s really an amazing opportunity to share resources with other students who are serious about what they’re working on.” Those comments are gratifying for Levinson. When she conceived of the symposium, she’d hoped that, in addition to highlighting the school’s top student research, it would help promote unique exchanges. “The symposium really represents the kind of learning outside the classroom that’s important here,” she said. “And the dialogue doesn’t end at the end of the panel. Students stick around to talk to faculty and each other about the research . . . That’s the kind of exchange that makes SIS and AU special.” |
