Every year the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences hosts the two-month Summer Research Program (SRP) for undergraduates from around the country interested in conducting graduate-level research. This program is hosted in conjunction with The Leadership Alliance, a consortium of thirty-two institutions of higher learning with a mission to “develop underrepresented students develop into outstanding leaders and role models in academia, business, and the public sector.” This summer, twenty-one students joined the program and explored ideas and scholarship in their fields of interest. Many had never been to New York City, while some like Lauren Williams, from Georgia State University, had only visited. “I’ve never been here for this long a time, and explored this much. It’s been an amazing experience.”
Over the summer, SRP students worked with Columbia faculty and graduate student mentors, developing research projects to pursue in the Columbia laboratories (for science) or the Columbia libraries (for humanities). The culmination of their work was a slide presentation, summarizing their research, and explaining the results.
On July 18th, program organizer and Assistant Dean of Academic Diversity and Inclusion, Afiya Wilson, hosted a practice session, where SRP students tried out their talks for an audience of peers. “The SRP is challenging program. It is exciting to see the development of the student’s research, the fruits of their labor.”
One of the presenters was Eesha Alladin, who studies biochemistry at Binghamton University. Her SRP topic was epigenetics and the modification of histones, a type of protein found in chromosomes. Eesha explained, “We work with histone post-translational modifications (PTMs) in normal and cancer cells. We believe that abnormal post-translational modifications can give rise to head and neck cancer.” Eesha hoped that in the future this kind of study could help us “counter head and neck cancer in humans.”
Lauren Williams spent her time at Columbia researching factors that affect Black children with ADHD in Georgia’s public school system. She researched “how funding disparities, access to healthcare, and cultural awareness can influence diagnosis rates, educational support, and overall academic success.” In order to prepare for her slide presentation, Lauren worked with her SRP suitemates, “Even just last night we were helping each other and asking for feedback. Getting more practice in. I really found a family in my suitemates.“
Eesha Alladin also loved working with her SRP colleagues, “I’ve been introduced to a community of scholars–but also scholars I can also call my friends. We have these cohort meetings, and we get to talk and learn about everyone’s research. And to me that’s such a beautiful thing.”
Later in July, the twenty-one SRP scholars brought their research talks to the Leadership Alliance National Symposium in Hartford, Connecticut. Afiya Wilson reported that, “The presentations were wonderful! It was exciting to see how proud each of the students were of the research they conducted over the summer and the future implications of their work.”
Dean Wilson added, “I hope some of them come back to Columbia for graduate school.” Lauren Williams was already thinking about it. ”Columbia for graduate school? Yes, it’s on my list for sure.”
