Outside the classroom, undergraduate students are exercising their academic training through Northwestern’s vibrant research scene.
NU’s Office of Undergraduate Research offers the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program, which pays $16.25 per hour for inexperienced students to work on projects under faculty who choose to participate in the program.
For more experienced researchers, the Academic Year Undergraduate Research Grant provides up to $1,000 per student to support independent research expenses under faculty supervision connected to an independent study or thesis seminar.
URAP participants enter the world of academic research
Weinberg freshman Rosa Saavedra said a conversation with her roommate, who also applied, inspired her to apply for a URAP position.
Under Feinberg Prof. Andrea Graham, Saavedra, a neuroscience major, said she is supporting the creation of FoodSteps, an app providing a digital model intervention to support those with food insecurity and eating disorders.
Saavedra said her preconceived notion of research centered around wet labs — experimental labs that work with chemical substances. However, in Graham’s lab, she transcribes interviews of people’s stories and organizes the qualitative data for interpretation to improve the model.
Saavedra said her URAP experience affirmed her passion for the interpersonal connections within neuroscience.
“It really just changed what research meant for me,” Saavedra said. “I want to continue in my human behavior and cognition allied field in neuroscience because I think it really anchors me to what draws me to medicine in the first place, which is the people, the stories and interacting with people.”
Weinberg sophomore Pranav Inampudi, who studies neuroscience and global health, applied to URAP after reaching out to Feinberg Prof. Zabin Patel-Syed to inquire about her research relating to substance abuse.
Because of his global health classes and previous experience with wet lab research, Inampudi said he was intrigued by an opportunity to explore a new avenue of research.
“I really wanted to know about how the clinical and global health side of things works,” Inampudi said. “Taking (global health) classes made me want to work with actual people, so I applied to URAP.”
Inampudi works on Parent SMART, a mobile app that supports parents of children recovering from substance abuse through peer support, professional counseling and therapeutic coaching strategies.
He helps code recorded counseling sessions to ensure standardized, effective support, analyze implementation focus groups and contribute to Institutional Review Board proposals, among other diverse duties.
Inampudi said the project helped him gain valuable skills, including data analysis, team collaboration and practical health research strategies that he hopes to take into his future career. He is currently on the pre-med track and hopes to become a physician, continuing to interact directly with other people.
“Through this work, I’ve learned how important it is to turn research into something presentable and actionable — that’s what gives it value,” Inampudi said.
AYURG recipients pursue independent passions
Weinberg senior Asiyah Arastu studies creative writing and MENA studies with a minor in Arabic. Arastu said AYURG supported the continuation of her senior thesis, a novella inspired by a backpacking trip.
“To develop the natural environment that the story takes place in and the characters’ relationships with the natural environment, I wanted to go on another backpacking trip and take detailed notes and observations of the experience,” Arastu said.
In summer 2023, Arastu said she received OUR’s Summer Undergraduate Research Grant to read young adult novels by or about Muslim individuals to inspire the start of a story that eventually sparked her thesis.
Arastu’s advisor, English Prof. Brian Bouldrey, has played a supportive role in the process. She said she values independence in planning and executing her research. Arastu said she will collaborate more closely with Bouldrey as she starts to incorporate observations into the novel.
McCormick senior Youssef Abdelhalim received the AYURG alongside mechanical engineering graduate student Andy Wehmeyer, McCormick senior Steven Kitchell and McCormick and Bienen senior Spencer Guy, to study how to improve the efficiency of hybrid rocket engines.
Adbelhalim, a member of NUSTARS — NU’s rocketry club — said the club typically purchases pre-made engines and didn’t have many opportunities for research. The grant provided funding for critical components like fuel and engine parts, allowing him to pursue hands-on propulsion research not available through clubs on campus.
Albelhalim said the research will be published in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics journal.
“I want to work in propulsion, so I think this is a very good segue into that,” Abdelhalim said.
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