McMaster's undergraduate researchers have studied just about every topic imaginable.

From water delivery in rural Tanzania to the effects of interval training on
hyperglycemia, and from Canadian illustrator Rex Woods' life to gender barriers at the
Voisey's Bay mine, the latest recipients of Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA)
have a wide range of interests. But why do these students give up their summers to
perform such work?

“I absolutely love doing research,” says Erica Hiltz, a sociology student who used her
award to study
stigma-management techniques used by people living with HIV/AIDS. “Getting a USRA has
opened so many doors for me. It helped me to discover my niche in the field of sociology,
and I am now even more passionate about graduate school.”

Hiltz, along with 46 other undergraduate students, took part in a poster session this
week highlighting the research they performed with their USRAs. The awards provide
faculty guidance and funding for undergraduate students to perform the sort of
independent research usually reserved for graduate students, with the goal of giving
undergraduates experience and inspiration at a time when they are still determining their
academic and career paths.

“Getting a USRA allowed me to develop my theatre and writing skills, both of which I
am continuing to develop through the creation of my own theatrical production for my
fourth-year thesis project,” says Mallory Greene, whose research project analyzed how
first-year McMaster students are affected by the Welcome Week play IRIS.

“It gave me the chance to explore educational theatre at McMaster, something I'm
really passionate about.”

J. Paige Byers found her USRA experience so rewarding in 2009 that she pursued a
second USRA-funded project this year. Studying materials science and engineering, her
recent electron microscopy examination of hydrogen-producing bacteria is an extension of
her previous research.

“My academic interests are definitely research-based,” says Byers. “I love solving
puzzles in the lab and it's a great climate to learn new skills in. Without a USRA, I never
would have had the opportunity to do the work I'm doing.”