Celebrating the 2023 & 2024 Arts & Science USRA Recipients

“The opportunity to spend a summer researching a topic you find fascinating, building a relationship with a knowledgeable supervisor, exploring the skills you will need for large research projects, and learning more about the parts of academia you enjoy is spectacular,” says Sydney Szijarto, a 2023 Undergraduate Student Research Award recipient and fourth-year Arts & Science student.

Each academic year, six Arts & Science students receive a Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) and spend their summer working as a paid researcher on a scholarly project of interest to them. The USRAs are designed to cultivate and support research partnerships between undergraduate students and faculty members. Far more than just meaningful summer employment, though, the USRAs give students an introduction to high-level research and an opportunity to explore their interests, often functioning as a gateway to further research endeavours. We are thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2024 Arts & Science Undergraduate Student Research Awards.

2024 Arts & Science USRA recipients:

Natalie Chu

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Charu Kaushic
Research Project: Exploring the Role of the Vaginal Microbiome and Antigen-Presenting Cells in the Regulation of Female Reproductive Health

Lina Eltom Mohamed

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Brian W. Timmons
Research Project: Advancing Health Research Inclusivity: An Exploration of Strategies to Engage Hamilton’s Black Community in Movement Behaviour Research

Ekta Mishra

Faculty Supervisors: Dr. Michel Grignon and Dr. Byron Spencer
Research Project: Trends in Canadian Mortality: A Study of Age, Period and Cohort Effects

Aliana Niezova

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Dilyana Mincheva
Research Project: Local Feminist Archiving and Purple-Washing: Shaping ‘Herstory’

Karina Tavernese

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Brenda Vrkljan
Research Project: Roads Less Traveled: A Comprehensive Exploration of Ageing and Out-of-Home Mobility in Niagara-on-the-Lake

Riley Wilson

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. David Ogborn
Research Project: Gaming Nature’s Networks: A Digital Lesson in the Mycelial

To coincide with this exciting announcement, we also caught up with the 2023 Arts & Science USRA recipients to hear about their projects and their experiences as USRA-supported researchers last summer. Click on the names below to learn more about each recipient and their work.

Amanda Dam

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. David Ogborn
Research Project: Artistic Live Coding of Computational and Educational Concepts

Zachary Gan

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Travis Kroeker
Research Project: Confronting the Anthropocene: An Exploration of Climate Change through Ecological Philosophy and Poetry

Rana Guler

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Ki’en Debicki
Research Project: A New ‘Mission’ Statement: Analyzing the Role of Grounded Normativity in Generating Anti-Colonial Relationships to Knowledge and Research in the University

Sydney Szijarto

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Tracy McDonald
Research Project: Soviet Scars: Russian Collective Memory as it Informs Modern Pro-Democracy Activism

Jennifer Zhu

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Christine Swintak
Research Project: Reflections and Projections: Mapping Narratives of Political Fear and the Speculative Other in Popular Sci-fi Films