McMaster students in the Faculties of Social Sciences, Business and Humanities are integrating research and learning this summer with their involvement in the Undergraduate Student Research Awards.

The awards are co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice-President (Research & International Affairs) in partnership with the Faculties and provide students with the opportunity to develop skills, gain experience in the research field and develop a positive working relationship with a faculty member.

Twenty research grants of $5,000 were awarded to students in the three Faculties for the summer term. The award winners were selected based on their research proposals and opportunities that they had created with their faculty sponsors. This year, students will undertake research projects involving topics such as representations of HIV in the media, the access of women into political parties, nutrition, and international labour standards.

“This program is a great example of the Faculty's commitment to experiential education,” said Alan Harrison, Faculty of Social Sciences dean. “The students who participate enjoy a wonderful opportunity to experience research first-hand and are able to relate this experience to their future studies.”

The number of available awards has doubled since the inaugural program launched last year. This year, the Faculty of Social Sciences received 10 awards, the Faculty of Humanities received six awards and the School of Business received four awards.

Anthropology professor Tina Moffat said the research award allows her to expose student Anne Bain to significant hands-on research approaches and work.

“Anne will join a team composed of myself and two graduate students in anthropology working on a SSHRC-funded three-year study called Child Nutrition and Food Insecurity in an Urban Canadian Context,” said Moffat. “We are completing the end of the first year, during which we have been working with three schools in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board investigating the nutritional status of elementary school children in affluent and less affluent neighbourhoods in Hamilton. Anne will work with me to design, collect and analyze children's physical activity recalls. As well, she will do community-mapping exercises with children and an environmental assessment of children's opportunities for physical activities in their neighbourhoods.”

Bain believes the research opportunity will enrich her learning experience and aid her quest to attend graduate school.

“The Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) will enable me to expand my research experience and embrace new academic challenges,” said Bain. “My research schedule includes conducting a literature search, developing a research protocol, collecting and
analyzing physical activity data. This program offers me valuable experience at all phases of the research process, including practical
and ethical considerations of doing anthropological research with children. I hope to attend graduate school and I am certain that this
experience will serve me well in the future.”

Student Award Winners

The Faculty of Social Sciences research award recipients are:

Anne Bain, Department of Anthropology

Research Title: Child Nutrition and Food Insecurity in an Urban Canadian Context

Andrew Burdeniuk, Department of Political Science

Research Title: Ontario NGOs and International Labour Standards

Ian Burnes, Department of Political Science

Research Title: Globalization and Quebec Nationalism

Victoria Dhillon, Department of Kinesiology

Research Title: Speed-Accuracy Relations in Goal-Directed Movement

Krissy Doyle, Department of Psychology

Research Title: Finding Residual Inhibition in Schizophrenic Hallucination

Nadia El-Shaarawi, Department of Anthropology and Health Studies

Research Title: Representations of HIV/AIDS in Media Aimed at Women

Randa Lawrence, Department of Kinesiology

Research Title: Effect of Resistance Training on Arterial Compliance

Paul Maxwell, School of Geography & Geology

Research Title: The Remaking of Canada's Suburbs (1945-1960): The View From a Lumber Dealership

Carly Salvador, Department of Kinesiology

Research Title: Motivational Determinants of Exercise Adherence Among the Elderly

Rebecca Sciarra, Department of Anthropology

Research Title: Evaluating the Effect of Left-Wing Parties upon Women's Access to Elected Political Bodies

The Michael G. DeGroote School of Business research award recipients are:

Massoud Abbasi

Topic: Development of Greener Products: The Role of Partnerships

NanNan Liu

Research Title: Culture Diversity Between East and West

Ryan O'Rourke

Research Title: Measurement and Management of Intellectual Capital: Utilizing Human Resources To Maximize Value In The
Knowledge Organization

Zhaolei Xu

Research Title: Executive Compensation

The Faculty of Humanities research award recipients are:

Julie Hyde, Peace Studies and Women Studies programs

Research Title: The Pedagogy of Peace Studies

Jesse Lagault, Comparative Literature Program and Department of Philosophy

Research Title: Neuroethics: The Ethics of Neuroscience

Julia Nefsky, Department of Philosophy

Research Title: Logic and Humour

Sara Pilip, Departments of French and Modern Languages and Linguistics

Research Title: Digitizing, Annotating and Analyzing Documents for the Multimodal Micmac Cultural Archive

Danielle Robinson

Research Title: Environment of Disaster: Hurricane Hazel and Hamilton

Sarah Roger, Comparative Literature Program

Research Title: The Deconstruction of Time and the Creative Process in Postcolonial Postmodern Literature