What is an Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA)?
The Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) are intended to cultivate and support research partnerships between undergraduate students and faculty members. There are 6 awards available to students in the Arts & Science Program, each worth $7,500. This amount is intended to provide for approximately 15 weeks of research-based activity over the summer term. Student award recipients agree to present their research in a poster session in the following academic year.
Why Consider a USRA?
Through an Undergraduate Student Research Award students can obtain meaningful summer employment; explore career opportunities in the research environment; investigate and learn more about an area of interest; gain valuable skills and experience; develop a positive working relationship with a faculty member.
Role of Faculty
It is the responsibility of the student to secure the agreement of a faculty member to supervise the research project. The faculty member may belong to any Faculty at McMaster. In past competitions, students who worked more closely with their proposed faculty supervisor in developing their research project had an increased likelihood of success in securing the award. Please note that the faculty supervisor must sign the application form before it is submitted.
Eligibility
To apply, students must:
- Be a full-time undergraduate student currently enrolled in the Arts & Science Program
- Be eligible to work in Canada
- Normally have a CGPA and Fall/Winter Average of at least 8.0 to be considered
- Preference will be given to level 2 and 3 students and students in level 4 of a five-year program.
- Preference will be given to students who have not previously held a USRA at McMaster.
Evaluation Criteria
Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Clearly articulated student learning objectives
- Clearly articulated process of how learning objectives will be met
- “Richness” of research experience and/or “hands on” involvement of student
- Involvement of faculty supervisor in the proposed research and student learning
- Articulated connection to the student’s academic studies
- Evidence of student’s preparation to undertake research
- Overall quality and feasibility of the proposal
- Academic record
2025 Arts & Science Recipients
Adriana Bozzo
Faculty Supervisor
Dr. Mat Savelli
Research Project
Psychiatrization of Students: Examining Teacher Discourse Around Student Mental Health and the Role of the Classroom as a Diagnostic Setting
Liam Feldman
Faculty Supervisor
Dr. Greg Flynn
Research Project
‘The Weather Made Me Do It’: Applying the Criminal ‘Necessity’ Defense to Climate Activism
Nimrat Kalirai
Faculty Supervisor
Dr. Cansu Ekmekcioglu
Research Project
Deceptive by Design: Understanding Dark Patterns and Their Impact on Older Adults
Graeme Lavrence
Faculty Supervisor
Dr. Suleiman Igdoura
Research Project
Investigating the Role of mTORC1 and mTORC2 in Lysosome Biogenesis in Neurodegenerative Lysosomal Storage Diseases
Vivian Vuong
Faculty Supervisor
Dr. Meredith Vanstone
Research Project
Optimizing Indirect Patient Care to Improve Access to Family Medicine
Sunil Wijeysundera
Faculty Supervisor
Dr. Megumi Harada
Research Project
Math in Context: A Pedagogical Exploration of Multidisciplinary Approaches to Teaching Mathematics
Previous Arts & Science USRA Recipients
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Natalie Chu | Dr. Charu Kaushic | Exploring the Role of the Vaginal Microbiome and Antigen-Presenting Cells in the Regulation of Female Reproductive Health |
| Lina Eltom Mohamed | Dr. Brian W. Timmons | Advancing Health Research Inclusivity: An Exploration of Strategies to Engage Hamilton’s Black Community in Movement Behaviour Research |
| Ekta Mishra | Dr. Michel Grignon and Dr. Byron Spencer | Trends in Canadian Mortality: A Study of Age, Period and Cohort Effects |
| Aliana Niezova | Dr. Dilyana Mincheva | Local Feminist Archiving and Purple-Washing: Shaping ‘Herstory’ |
| Karina Tavernese | Dr. Brenda Vrkljan | Roads Less Traveled: A Comprehensive Exploration of Ageing and Out-of-Home Mobility in Niagara-on-the-Lake |
| Riley Wilson | Dr. David Ogborn | Gaming Nature’s Networks: A Digital Lesson in the Mycelial |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Amanda Dam | Dr. David Ogborn | Artistic Live Coding of Computational and Educational Concepts |
| Zachary Gan | Dr. Travis Kroeker | Confronting the Anthropocene: An Exploration of Climate Change through Ecological Philosophy and Poetry |
| Rana Guler | Dr. Ki’en Debicki | A New ‘Mission’ Statement: Analyzing the Role of Grounded Normativity in Generating Anti-Colonial Relationships to Knowledge and Research in the University |
| Serena Habib | Dr. Aly Bailey and Dr. Meridith Griffin | Exploring Lived Experiences of Non-Normative Bodies in Physical Cultures |
| Sydney Szijarto | Dr. Tracy McDonald | Soviet Scars: Russian Collective Memory as it Informs Modern Pro-Democracy Activism |
| Jennifer Zhu | Dr. Christine Swintak | Reflections and Projections: Mapping Narratives of Political Fear and the Speculative Other in Popular Sci-fi Films |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Dalton Bath | Dr. Johannes Steizinger | Evaluating Hegel’s Economic Proposals |
| Anthony Cherubini | Dr. Mat Savelli | An Examination of Syrian Refugees’ Social Integration in Canada: Impacts of Mental Health and Discriminatory Environments |
| Bohm Kim | Dr. Bruce Newbold | Well-Being Support for Refugee Youth during the Pandemic: Insights from the Perspective of Key Informants |
| Sydney Potts | Dr. Mat Savelli | Behavioural Technologies and Pathological Identities: A Critial Analysis of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy |
| Noah Ripstein | Dr. Daniel Coren | Dementia at the Intersection of Ethics, Neuroscience, and Law |
| Maya Verma | Dr. Teresa (Terry) Bennett | The Family Check-Up: Implementing a New Family-Centred Ecological Model within Autism Services |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Tessa Bray | Dr. Mayu Nishimura | Perceiving Music as a Visual Experience |
| Andrew Dissanayake | Dr. Noam Soreni | Investigating Ethnic Disparities in Child and Adolescent Mental Health within the Greater Toronto Area |
| Ryan Edwards | Dr. Jenna Rajchgot | Classifying Kazhdan-Lusztig Ideals through the Combinatorics of Simplicial Complexes |
| Evin Huang | Dr. Matthew Woolhouse | Knowledge of the Twelve Lü on Expectations of Melodic Conformity |
| Morghen Jael | Dr. Philip Savage | A Content and Discourse Analysis of the CBC’s Audio and Video Storytelling at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| Torin Pracek | Dr. Arthur Sweetman | Union Status, Labour Market Outcomes, and COVID-19: Are Canadian Unions Good for Workers in Times of Crisis and Recover? |
| Ryan Tse | Dr. Beth Marquis | Social Media in a Physically Distant Time: The Relationship between Youth, Social Media, and Society during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| Audrey Wu | Dr. Daniel Coren | Evaluating Individual Ethical Obligations in the COVID-19 Pandemic |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Meghan Bird | Dr. Mat Savelli | Narratives of Mental Illness in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction |
| Luke Brenton | Dr. Paul Andrews | Exemplar Priming and Lifetime Depressive Symptomology |
| Mateusz Faltyn | Dr. Ryan Van Lieshout | Machine Learning to Predict Psychiatric Diagnoses |
| Nicole Strader | Dr. Robert Henderson | Pedagogical Differences in Urban and Rural Integrated Curricular Programs |
| Yimeng Wang | Dr. Yana Stainova | Academia, Oppression, and Spaces of Healing: How Community-Building Art Forms Communicate Knowledge |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Maanvi Dhillon | Dr. Karen Bird | Experimentation and Reform in American Local Elections |
| Hannah Feldman | Dr. Mat Savelli | Gender and Communication on Online Parenting Forums |
| Jessica Gut | Dr. Nancy Bouchier | Narrating the City: An Exploration of Literary Representations of Hamilton |
| Anna Lindsay-Mosher | Dr. Reza Samavi | Using Machine Learning to Understand Police Violence in Ontario |
| Lily Martin | Dr. Paul Andrews | Testing an Adaptationist Model of Rumination in a Sample of Clinically Depressed Patients |
| Myfannwy Pope | Dr. Vanessa Watts | Interest-Based Media Discourse Analysis on Indigenous-Canadian Resource Management Negotiation |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| John Cyfko | Dr. Ranil Sonnadara | The Role of Observational Learning in the Acquisition of Complex Motor Skills |
| Mahmood Haddara | Dr. Beth Marquis | The Effectiveness of Canadian Soccer Coaching Education in Improving Player Performance and Experience |
| Marco Handa | Dr. Hans Boden | Research Project in Knot Homology Theories |
| Tianqi Lei | Dr. David L. Clark | Can the University Stand for Peace?: Freedom of Expression, Protest and Dissent |
| Sadie Neufeld | Dr. Louis Schmidt | Temperament and Technology-Based Intervention of Preoperative Anxiety in Children |
| Avery Qurashi | Dr. Susie O’Brien | A Taste of Our Own Medicine: Conceptions of “Nature” Within Naturopathy |
| Hailey Wright | Dr. Patrick Bennett | Neural Processing of Face Perception |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Stephanie Bertolo | Dr. Jim Dunn | Hamilton Neighbourhoods Study Follow Up |
| Sutina Chou | Dr. Karen Bird | Through the Glass Ceiling, Over the Glass Cliff? |
| Benjamin Feldman | Dr. Rob Wilton | Geographies of Enounter in Augmented Reality |
| Rachel Guitman | Dr. Amanda Ricci | Gendered Bodies in Post-World War Two Canada |
| Ann Mills | Dr. Louis Schmidt | An Investigation of ‘Willpower’ and Self-Regulation in Preschool Children |
| Thipiga Sivayoganathan | Prof. Anju Joshi | Social Participation and Resiliency within Hamilton’s Aging Community |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Matthew Jordan | Dr. McKenzie Wang | Maxwell’s Equations and the Eerie One-ness of Math and Physics |
| Henry Krahn | Dr. Travis Kroeker | Sojourning the World: Christian Existentialism and a Life Well Lived |
| Clare MacDonald | Dr. Nancy Bouchier | A History of Churches Formed by Immigrants to Hamilton |
| Jonah Nadler | Dr. Paul Andrews | The Role of Personal Illness Models and Rumination in Treatment Preferences for Depression |
| Emily Power | Dr. Jim Dunn | The Effects of Social Mix on Residents’ Experiences of Social Inclusion/Exclusion in Toronto’s Regent Park Public Housing Community |
| Alex Recio-Greenwell | Dr. Eugenia Zuroski | Mexican Literature and Identity |
| Spencer Williams | Dr. John Maclachlan | Exploring the LEED Certification System in the City of Hamilton |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Duncan Chambers | Dr. Brian Baetz | Permaculture Design in Hamilton’s Commercial Urban Agriculture |
| Liam Crummey | Dr. Dennis Hong | First Nations Access to Bariatric Surgery |
| Varun Puri | Dr. Juliana Tobon | Developing an e-Mental Health Program for Early Stage Interventions at the Youth Wellness Centre |
| Joshua Ruf | Dr. Beth Marquis | The Reevaluation of Self After Romantic Relationship Dissolution |
| Jennifer Scora | Dr. James Wadsley | Effects of Turbulence on the Rate of Star Formation in Cold Gas Clouds |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Matthew Jordan | Dr. Deirdre Haskell | Statistical Sampling of VC Density for Definable Sets in the P-Adics |
| Victoria McKinnon | Dr. Ranil Sonnadara | The Efficacy of Video-Based Training in Orthopaedic Surgical Residents’ Education |
| Rabea Parpia | Dr. Allison Sekuler | The Effect of Aging on Perceptual Learning |
| Ana-Maria Qarri | Dr. Karen Bird | Critical Actors in Visible Minority and Immigrant Political Representation |
| Abraham Redda | Dr. Jeffery Donaldson | Canadian Literature and the Empathetic Imagination |
| Saad Syed | Dr. Michael Surette | The Cystic Fibrosis Airway Microbiome: Exploring Polymicrobial Communities from Double Lung Transplant Patients |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Asha Behdinan | Dr. William Scarth | A Benefit-Cost Analysis of Short-term Medical Trips to the Dominican Republic |
| Andrew Case | Dr. Peter Widdicombe | St. Francis of Assisi as alter Christus |
| Stephen Clare | Dr. James King | Authors and their Journeys: Biographical Studies |
| Sean Conley | Dr. Matt Valeriote | Algebra, Logic, and the Constant Satisfaction Problem |
| Rachel Eikelboom | Dr. Beth Marquis | The Art of Hearing: The Place of Music in Medical Education |
| Stephanie Wan | Dr. Laurel Trainor | Auditory Processing in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorders |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Matthew Howe | Dr. Steven Brown | The Effects of Music on Empathy with Characters During Film Viewing: A Functional MRI Study |
| Nolan Matthews | Dr. Christine Quail | A Hamilton Radio Documentary: Stories from the Community |
| Sophie Roher | Dr. Susan Fast | Exploring Feminist Education: Examining the Implications of Changing the Name of a Women’s Studies Program to Gender Studies in Canadian Universities |
| Cristina Silvestri | Dr. Nancy Doubleday | Local Knowledge in the Context of Co-Management and Civic Engagement |
| Kate Sinclair | Dr. Karen Balcom | Edible Identities: Frozen Foods and the Making of American Modern Culture, 1939-1969 |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Neila Bazaracai | Dr. John Waye | A Determination of the Clinical Significance of Sequence Varients of KLF1 gene |
| Harrison Cruikshank | Dr. Michael Egan | Nuclear Power in Ontario |
| Zainab Furqan | Dr. Ellen B. Ryan | Storytelling and Intergenerational Communication in the South Asian Communities in the GTA |
| Anna Kulikov | Dr. Luc Bernier | Meta-Analysis of Surface Mine Rehabilitation Efforts in Northern Ontario |
| Nigel Pynn-Coates | Dr. Deirdre Haskell | Exploration of VC Density in the Context of p-adic Numbers |
Student |
Faculty |
Project |
| Christopher Hilbrecht | Dr. John Varty | The History of the Rhinoceros Party of Canada |
| Sean Lemon | Dr. Darren Scott | Creation of GIS for Riverwood Conservancy |
| Jordan Milko | Dr. Elisabet Service | Phonological Awareness in L1 when Literacy Awareness has acquired exclusively in L2 |
| Shohinee Sarma | Dr. Mark Oremus | Evaluating the Success of the Integrated Child Development Services in Five Indian States: A Systematic Review |